I follow basically the same logic as the author does - local-only, no messing around with custom firmware, etc. I'm willing to make exceptions for things that are just too good to pass up, but those are few and far between.

Some additional recommendations that fit the general theme:

* Cameras: I use Blue Iris, so anything that does ONVIF is suitable. There's no need to limit yourself to one brand, though sticking with stuff you know is good is sensible - I've got a couple of ReoLink cameras that are good, and I've got some Amcrest cameras that are also good. Keep your cameras, regardless of brand, on a separate VLAN/Wifi network.

* Switches and Lights: Ikea's TRÅDFRI outlets, and bulbs are pretty decent and very affordable. I also recently got a bunch of Sengled Zigbee outlets and am very impressed with them - great form factor (small enough to not block the other outlet), and the power consumption monitoring helps me understand my electricity usage better.

* Sensors: Ikea's motion sensor is decent and I've never experienced the extreme battery drain that other people have reported - I only have one of these though, so maybe I got lucky. Also, Aqara water detectors have likely saved me thousands of dollars thanks to alerting me to issues in places I don't normally look.

* Other stuff: Ikea's STÅRKVIND air cleaner is pretty nifty, and Zigbee-enabled. I've got a handful of Ikea Zigbee buttons (the shortcut button and the five-button 'puck' remote) that work very well.

Also, check out ESPHome[0] - if you can't find a sensor or device that does exactly what you need, this makes it shockingly easy to build one. I've got a water level sensor (ESPHome, ESP32, HC-SR04) on my sump pit that has alerted me to pump failures before damage occurred.

I'm using a ConBee II with deCONZ for my Zigbee gear, but that's more of an implementation detail than anything.

Finally, my one exception to no cloud stuff - the Rainforest EAGLE-200[1]. Being able to monitor and track my home's energy consumption has been very valuable for saving money. You have to use the cloud to set it up, but Home Assistant can do local polling to retrieve the data. You can also, via the cloud, configure it to POST data in real time to a URL, that POST happens directly from the device.

[0] https://esphome.io/

[1] https://www.rainforestautomation.com/rfa-z114-eagle-200-util...