OP here. I called ecobee and got great answers immediately from them. Their customer support is really good.

They said the both the Taco and Honeywell zone controllers work well but recommended the homeywell because of how its transformer is set up. Makes wiring easier.

I can have one thermostat location and have it respond to sensors setup in appropriate locations in the rooms that need it. It can also run the fan via air quality monitor (VOC) although I may end up doing this via home assistant via a dedicated co2 sensor.

I went with the inovelli switches but just checked out the site really liking the Lutron blinds. Thanks for the tip.

Thats really good to know. I ordered Blues but wasnt aware that it could be converted. Thanks.

Awesome thanks for the advice. Id seen conflicting info on zwave vs zigbee for switches. One of the main things was wifi interference, but i live in a remote place and dont have a ton of wifi devices or outside interference. Also ill most likely be running a ubiquiti ap cause i use ubiquiti at work and am comfortable with it. Should be super solid.

Ah i see what you’re saying. No I dont think apple provides a known backdoor to french police.

The NSA had a program called DROPOUTJEEP according to an article in Der Spiegel. Think it came out with Snowden? Fuzy on details but you can look into it. It did include camera access but i dont think it could be installed remotely. Id be surprised if theres anything the NSA cant intercept but thats obviously what they would want us to think and Im just a guy.