SMLight Ultima — The Smart Home Gateway That Does EVERYTHING

“SLZB-Ultima is a multi-radio, multi-peripheral smart adapter that can replace a whole stack of hubs, dongles, and gateways — and it’s genuinely impressive.” “It’s feature-packed: Thread/Matter over Thread, Zigbee, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Z-Wave (module), and built-in IR — all from one compact unit.” “The modular approach is brilliant: optional 4G, PoE, and Z-Wave add-ons aren’t expensive, but massively expand what the device can do.” “The control panel is extensive yet familiar, and the Home Assistant configuration is ‘super simple’ to copy and paste.” “IR learn-and-replay plus buzzer and ambient light open up fun automation possibilities — and the buzzer test ‘plays great.’”

Transcript

Most smart homes end up being built around a collection of single-purpose hubs, dongles, and gateways — one for Zigbee, another for Thread, something for Bluetooth, and then yet another box to bridge everything together. But what if one device could replace the whole lot? That’s what I’m looking at today: the SLZB-Ultima by SMLIGHT. It’s a multi-radio, multi-peripheral smart adapter that’s absolutely feature-packed. It can handle devices across Thread (including Matter over Thread), Zigbee, Z-Wave (via an add-on), and even Infrared — all from one unit. Honestly, it might be the most overengineered smart home device I’ve ever tested on this channel, and I mean that in the best possible way. In this video, I’m going to explore what the Ultima offers, try it out with a few devices, and see what it can do with Home Assistant. Hey everyone, my name is Simon, and welcome to Bite of Geek — a channel all about Home Assistant and smart home technology. A big thank you to SMLIGHT for sending me their new ultimate multi-radio adapter to test and review. As always, they’ve had no editorial input into this video, and you’ll get my honest thoughts and opinions. On the box, you’ll see a long list of features: built-in Zigbee, Matter over Thread, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth — and it doesn’t stop there. Inside the box you get the adapter itself, which is a lot smaller than I expected based on earlier pictures. It’s actually about the size of a USB hub. The casing is plastic with ventilation gaps all around, and during my testing it barely got warm at all. You also get an antenna for each built-in radio. On the top of the unit you’ll find buttons and status LEDs, the IR transmitter, and a multicolored LED strip. On the front, there are a couple of USB-C ports and the IR receiver. On the left side is space for an optional microphone, and on the right side there’s a USB-A port. On the base there’s an expansion connector (which I believe is related to the UPS), and on the rear you’ve got another USB-C port, an RJ45 Ethernet port, an audio port, and two antenna connections. Out of the box, the Ultima already offers a huge range of features. But one of its biggest strengths is expandability: SMLIGHT designed it to accept additional modules depending on your needs. They also sent me a 4G module. With this installed, you insert a SIM card and the device can use cellular connectivity as a primary or backup connection. That makes it great for remote installations, or for temporary setups where Wi-Fi isn’t available or isn’t reliable. They also sent a Z-Wave module. I don’t personally have Z-Wave devices to test it properly, but if you use Z-Wave in your smart home, it’s a strong add-on to the Ultima. Let me know if you’d like to see more Z-Wave on the channel. The Ultima can be powered via USB-C. However, SMLIGHT also sent the PoE module, which I’ll use to keep cabling tidy — similar to how I already power my Zigbee adapter. Each module comes with the appropriate antenna, so fully loaded you end up with four antennas in total. To install the modules, you need to open the adapter. The official instructions suggest inserting a flat screwdriver near the front USB-C port and sliding the cover off. Personally, this felt too prone to user error. I think it would be much better with a few screws on the bottom of the case. Once open, though, the internal layout is clear and well-marked. On the back-left is the Z-Wave module area. Next to the RJ45 port is the PoE module location. On the back-right is the 4G module space. There’s also a small connector on the front-left that likely supports the microphone module. Installing the modules is straightforward: each one only fits one way in the correct place. You align the module holes with the pins on the main board and press down. The case also has knockout points you push through to route the antenna connectors once the module is installed. After installing the modules, you route the antenna wires, feed the connectors through the case openings, and close it back up. With everything installed, I connected the Ultima via Ethernet and it was immediately available on my network. The web control panel is extensive and looks very similar to other devices in the SMLIGHT range. The dashboard shows radio status, connectivity, and information like chip temperatures. Then you have operating mode controls for each radio. The reason the Ultima works as a multi-radio device is because it uses different chipsets for each radio. Radio 1 uses the Silicon Labs EFR32MG24 and can operate as a Zigbee router/coordinator or a Matter-over-Thread radio. Radio 2 uses the Texas Instruments CC2674P10 and can also be set up similarly — plus it can be configured as a dedicated Zigbee hub mode. Radio 3 uses the Silicon Labs EFR32ZG23 and is dedicated to Z-Wave. You’ll notice the Z-Wave radio is marked as prototype, as it’s currently going through certification. You can also set up a Bluetooth proxy via the onboard ESP32, and optionally enable an Ethernet-to-Wi-Fi bridge if needed. There’s a Zigbee hub option too. This stays disabled unless you enable hub mode on the second radio. In hub mode, the device can run its own Zigbee network directly on the device without requiring an external computer to host the Zigbee stack. That’s useful for self-contained setups or for reducing complexity in hardware and software. When you enable it, the interface clearly explains that you’re bypassing common approaches like Zigbee2MQTT (Z2M) or ZHA while still controlling Zigbee devices. Next are network settings (IP address, DNS), MQTT configuration, and (if installed) 4G configuration — though the 4G section only becomes fully available once a SIM card is inserted. As with other SMLIGHT products, there’s also a configuration page that gives you exactly what you need to paste into Home Assistant, which makes setup really simple. Because the Ultima includes an infrared transmitter and receiver, there’s a section that lets you capture IR commands from remotes and then use them in Home Assistant automations to replay those commands back to your devices. That opens up some interesting possibilities — tell me what you’d use it for. There’s also buzzer control. You can create a REST command in Home Assistant and trigger it in an automation to play a notification sound on the Ultima. The ambient light section lets you control color and effects — and it would be great to control that via REST too, so it could act as an alert indicator. Other settings include security options, built-in WireGuard VPN for secure remote access, dynamic DNS, USB-to-Ethernet passthrough mode, and scripts/automations using the Berry scripting language (with documentation available on GitHub). So how well does the Ultima work with Home Assistant? At the time of recording, the Home Assistant integration for SM Lite devices doesn’t yet support the Ultima. I don’t expect that to remain the case for long, since this is a new device. Even without full integration, you can still use it — you just won’t get every entity and feature exposed automatically. I connected the Ultima to my Home Assistant test instance and set up one Zigbee radio via ZHA. I added an Aqara button and a generic Zigbee plug without any issues — and they worked perfectly. I also tested the IR transmitter. Capturing codes from a remote is simple: point the remote at the Ultima, capture the code, then use the provided data in a Home Assistant automation to send it back. One thing I noticed is that the IR receiving angle doesn’t seem very wide, so placement matters — but it’s still a great built-in feature. I tried sending a buzzer command using an example configuration, and it played great. If you use it in the same room, you’ll definitely hear it. Overall, the Ultima is an exciting device. The add-on module approach is a smart decision: modules aren’t expensive, and they add a lot of functionality while keeping the base unit affordable for people who don’t need everything. It’s not perfect, though. Opening the case could be much easier. For people installing add-on modules, I can imagine some getting frustrated if they scratch or crack the case — or worse, damage a USB port. Four screws on the bottom would have made a huge difference. I also noticed a small 4G module quirk: if you install the 4G module alongside the PoE module, you should insert the SIM card before reassembling the case, otherwise you can’t access the SIM slot. It’s not a major issue, just something to be aware of. Ideally, the SIM slot would be accessible from the back or base. These are minor issues, and for the price, this is an excellent device. Once full Home Assistant integration support arrives, I expect we’ll gain access to even more functionality. If you’re currently using multiple adapters in your smart home, this hub feels like a perfect opportunity to replace them while significantly increasing overall capability. It’s genuinely impressive how much has been integrated into such a small unit. If you use multiple protocols in your smart home, the Ultima is absolutely worth considering. It’s available now, with the base unit starting at around £44 depending on where you buy it. With add-on modules like 4G, Z-Wave, and PoE (as shown in this review), the price is around £76 — which is a strong value for what you get. If you found this review helpful, I’d appreciate a thumbs up. Subscribe for more smart home content — and as always, thanks for watching. See you in the next video. Bye for now.