That’s good to hear 
I will take that into account when I buy my Z-Wave controller around Black Friday. I’m Not sure how big your property is but you might also consider looking into LoRa like @WildBill was suggesting. I know some of them can go up to 9 mi in rural areas. That might suit your situation really well for certain things.
For one thing, it jacks up prices for something needlessly when I can get the same item using a Zigbee card instead for a lot cheaper. I have often seen the exact same item from a company, where they will offer it with one or the other protocol and the price differences can be fairly significant in certain cases, particularly for smaller devices like a contact sensor, though it may not matter so much for something bigger and more expensive like a washer and dryer. It partially depends on the use-case.
Another risk is what happens when the company stops selling the old deprecated model device and starts selling a new model If they don’t keep paying the ongoing licensing costs for all their past models, they lose official support, and the devices will become inoperable with future updates to the Z-Wave protocol. Even DIY’ers can’t really fix that since it’s all proprietary. But if a company DOES keep paying the ongoing licensing fees for old deprecated models they no longer sell, then they will continue to compound more and more financial liabilities. These can add up and put them in a tough spot where lots of old devices are costing them a lot of money, while not bringing them in any more income to offset those costs. They’re just pure losses. So they will have to subsidize those losses somewhere else, usually making their future products more of a rip off to pay for their costs for other things that don’t even benefit them anymore and are ongoing liabilities.
All of that affects the consumer, and can be a concerning reliability concern in the long run. This is part of what I am talking about when I say pay to play licensing and certification requirements can be a big downside, risk, etc. I much more strongly support opensource as an ideal, such as just making things use the Open Home Foundation (Home Assistant) Natively at the highest level of integration (ie: Platinum quality integration that is completely asynchronous and can also work locally and function without relying on external servers or requiring ongoing pay to play certification/licensing). But that’s just the high ideal PREFERENCE I believe in when possible. It is not the sole consideration I go by as I have mentioned many times here and elsewhere. I am just trying to explain my reasoning for why I give a slight preference to other options over ongoing pay to play certifications and how they can and do affect consumers (directly and indirectly) in the long run by leaving a risk to the consumer that the device may eventually not be compatible with Z-Wave in the future when/if a company goes out of business or decides the yearly fees aren’t worth paying for a device that they no longer earn income on. I much prefer more open options that are more guaranteed for the long term, and more affordable up front too. Double bonus.
It’s no secret. I own my own business and only work for myself. I choose my own clients (none of which are currently in the technology or smart home industry at all), and work on my own time. Currently, I mostly do bookkeeping, though I have investments in other companies. 
I have no investments in Zigbee, Thread, LoRa, etc. Closest related investment would be that within the last couple of weeks I came to own a percentage in a private mobile phone provider, though that has no influence over any of my opinions related to Zigbee, Thread, Z-Wave, Bluetooth, LoRa, etc.
However, if any of the above protocols were going to pay me as is being inferred, then it would be one of the proprietary pay to play groups like Z-Wave, and I have mostly been advocating for the more affordable and open and free standards with long term viability. That should demonstrably indicate that I get no benefit from those opinions. I get nothing from anyone making any choice (Zigbee, Thread, Z-Wave, LoRa, etc)…other than me sharing with other people in general why I think certain standards are better than others and hope more people continue to lean toward open standards as their primary because I think it’s better for society overall. That’s what I get out of it. It does not directly affect me if someone has a different opinion, and nobody is paying me for my opinions.
Even as a Wyze volunteer, Wyze has not asked me defend them or say positive things about them. On the contrary, I was told specifically by Wyze that I may continue to have and give my own personal opinions about Wyze, including criticism where I feel it is warranted, and I have done so plenty of times. One of my most famous instances of this was this post related to “Wyze has lost it’s way” which currently has 49 likes as of this writing. More recent examples include me chastizing Wyze for paywalling the local/Edge AI on the new V4 cam, not fixing the cooldown on the WCO’s in almost 10 months now, and more. I actually have had Wyze founders ask me to apply for a job, but I politely declined. Truth is that Wyze couldn’t afford me, and they would have to pay me something ridiculous like high MULTI-6-figures per year for me to even consider going to work for them instead of doing what I do, and they would be crazy to pay me that much instead of hire multiple others for cheaper. I would tell them up front that they were making a horrible mistake hiring me (not that I wouldn’t do a great job, it’s just not a wise financial decision IMO compared to alternatives). So no, I don’t work for them either and have declined to even apply, and they do not ask me to change my opinions, defend them, or be anything other than myself in using my knowledge about them to courteously help other users on here as I enjoy doing and plan to continue doing.
My opinions are solely my own. Nobody has ever paid me a salary and directed me to post anything I have said on here or elsewhere.
I’m sure you were joking, but I might as well clarify anyway. I quite literally only work for myself. 
I do not have a “boss”…other than my wife and my bossy little toddlers I have a soft spot for. 
I agree, very stable and reliable as I have said in almost every post in this thread so far.
Now you’re getting it! 
But I am not totally opposed to them either. I plan to get one this fall. There are actually a couple of Z-Wave devices I really want that aren’t available with any other protocol. I also think Z-Wave is pretty good for really expensive devices like large Smart Appliances. I think that’s a fantastic use-case for it.
Absolutely, my long-time forum discussion acquaintance, as do I. Who knows, when I get mine later this fall, I may fall in love with it. 
It might leave a slightly bad taste in my mouth in the same way that Matter does, but I still think Matter is a wonder step in the right direction despite it also being pay to play in the same way Z-Wave is. I still think direct Open Source compatibility with something like Home Assistant is the best way for any company to go, but second best is Matter even though it’s got the same Pay to Play issues as Z-Wave.
I would actually enjoy hearing more about your experience with Z-Wave over the coming months.
I have always suspected…
.,… But I’m still testing it, so I reserve the right to change my opinion 
Congratulations, man! Sincerely. 