ZigBee2mqtt and then your automation platform of choice that can communicate via mqtt. Nodered is my favorite. Home Assistant is popular as well.

What exactly are you taken aback by? The only issue you’d possibly run into is on the 2.4ghz band, but even that is rare.

I don’t think the value is there if that’s what you’re looking for, but they are by far the best sensors, looks, and overall features that you’ll find. Up to you on what that’s worth.

Your first two options listed are simply ZigBee coordinators, not “hubs”: you’d need to run ZHA or ZigBee2mqtt on a computer (could be as simple as a Pi) to use them. Home Assistant is usually what people pair this with for automations, but I prefer the combination of ZigBee2mqtt + mosquito (MQTT broker) + nodered.

Lutron Serena is all made to measure.

Why solar? Ok, I know the answer is some level of “convenience”, but they are all junk that will last a season at best. Do a little research into real,12v landscape lighting. A simple outdoor power supply that plugs into an outdoor outlet and then use a shovel to slit a shallow trench through lawn (or anything else) and cheap outdoor cable to wire it up. It’s really quite simple and the low voltage keeps it safe.

I have pretty expensive, local copper fixtures throughout my property, but have purchased some cheaper items from these guys that I’ve also been happy with:

https://kingsoutdoorlighting.com/

Inovelli has a new ZigBee (and zwave version) motion dimmer in development that will use mmwave:

https://community.inovelli.com/t/zigbee-matter-motion-switch-project-linus-blue-series/

Downsides:

1. Likely won’t begin shipping until late Q1 from my best guess.

2. mmwave performance is unknown especially w.r.t. how fast it will trigger.

3. Expensive

I’m taking the risk with them as they’re the only wired motion-dimmer game in town for us with Hue/zigbee bulbs using zigbee binding.

I have a handful of those ge/jascos and never had a problem, but do think they are pretty ugly and looking forward to finally swapping them all out for a consistent look.

They won’t be as reliable. Buy once cry once.

Unfortunately, Smart Bulbs only make sense in situations where the light isn’t controlled by a switch.

Not true at all: ZigBee bulbs plus ZigBee wall switches (and then binding them together, of course) is the common, standard way of running whole-home circadian smart lighting