(mmWave) sensing is a non-contact system of using mmWave radar sensors to measure movement, acceleration, and angles as small as a fraction of a millimeter. This system requires a mmWave radar sensor to transmit and receive pulses of millimetre electromagnetic wave energy, detecting targets and motion from the reflections it receives back.

So as you can see, simply shallow breathing will be enough to let a Presence Sensor know you’re still there, and not leave you in the dark – literally. today’s product review is for the Aqara FP1E, which can both be considered the successor to the FP1, which was only released in China, and a scaled back version of the Aqara FP2 (review HERE, video HERE).

If you’re keen to know how it performs, and how it differs from the other two Presence Sensors just mentioned, read on…

PACKAGING | CONTENTS

Aqara’s packaging is fairly standardised now, with the product front and centre, a sort of ‘disclaimer’ below, and logos for compatible ecosystems. this is where some Apple Home users might be confused, as the ‘Works With Apple Home’ logo is not present alongside the Alexa and Google logos. That’s due to the FP1E using Zigbee 3.0, which in turn means it would require an Aqara hub, which is point of entry to Apple Home. I have to assume that Alexa or Google are a bit more easy going about their logos being on the box than Apple, as the disclaimer text does state “To connect to third-party ecosystems such as Apple Home, Amazon Alexa and Google Home, an Aqara Zigbee 3.0 hub is required”. So don’t panic, it definitely works with Apple Home – as long as you have one of their Zigbee 3.0 hubs.

The rear of the box is a little more technical, showing the sensor’s radar detection range, whilst the sides offer up features and specs;

Features

• Accurate presence detection
• Active spatial learning
• Hassle-free setup for all
• Versatile mounting options

Specs

• Model: PS-S03E
• Ports: USB-A
• Input power: 5V 1A
• Wireless protocol: Zigbee (3.0)
• Dimensions: 57 x 50 x 37mm
• Operating temperature: -10~40ºC | 14~104ºF
• Operating humidity: 0~95% RH, no condensation

Inside the box you get the FP1E of course, a metal plate with two holes for fixing it to a wall using screws, a matching double sided adhesive patch, and the manual in multiple languages. Both the metal mounting plate and the base of the FP1E’s stand are magnetic, so once you’ve mounted the plate the FP1E will cling to it very well. If you’ve ever used the G2H or G2H Pro, you’ll be able to attest to the magnet’s strength at holding fast. THere’s no power brick, as you may have come to expect these days.

The FP1E uses the now tried and tested stand you find in products going way back to the days when early Xiaomi cameras came out – you know, the ones that were released years before Wyze used the same camera design and repackaged it…

This stand is still in use with the Aqara camera Hub G2H Pro, and the cameras that preceded it – the G2, and the G2H – so it’s clearly a good design, and offers versatility for the placement of the FP1E at many different angles. Along with the option to angle it in the vertical plane, it can also be rotated, making it really exceptionally handy. The underside has a simple but easy to press reset button.

Unlike its big brother, the FP2, the power cable is fixed to the device, and as such can’t be replaced for another cable. The cable it comes with is probably more than long enough for most use cases, coming in at a bit under 2 metres.

If you’re an owner of the FP1 (I have three here myself), then you’ll immediately know the design has not changed at all with the introduction of the FP1E. It differs from the FP2 visually, but also in terms of functionally too though, which I’ll get to shortly. It has improvements over the original FP1 too, although perhaps less perceptible.

IN AQARA HOME

Compared to both the FP1 and the FP2, the FP1E is a lot more streamlined, both in terms of the options within the app, and in terms of functionality. Whilst the FP2 offered an array of functionality, including creating a detailed map of your room or living area, along with icons for furniture etc, the FP1E has none of that, and in some ways is better for it. Also unlike the FP2, which offered up to 30 separate zones – all exposed to Apple Home, I might add – the FP1E simply covers one area, which can be adjusted.

The main page for the device is quite simple, with three main accessible options shown. The first of these is a log of presence and absence events. It’s very simply laid out, and as such is easy to understand. The Detection radius setting is really simple to use, and a lot more intuitive than was offered by the FP1, which had a screen that represented your room/area, like the FP2. However, the UI for the FP1 was really difficult to get a grasp on, as through trial and error you had to work out the edges of its detection range. This for me involved standing in four corners of the living room, to check whether I was within range or out of range of the sensor, then adjust the map boundaries accordingly. It was pretty tedious, if I’m honest.

The FP1E does away with that, and just has  slider that represents the complete detection range, from zero to six metres. When you’re in the sensor’s range, a little icon would appear above the slider to show where you are in relation to the sensor, and therefore allow you to adjust the sensors detection range. This means if you wanted it to only detect presence within two metres of the sensor, even if the room was  four metres deep, then this allows for that. Of course, it’s not as detailed as the FP2 with its 30 zones, but for some people and some use cases, this simple setup is exactly what’s needed, and no more.

For the last few weeks, I’ve been testing it in a few locations, but primarily in the bathroom. The reason for testing it here is that the bathroom offers the perfect circumstances for testing how well it adheres to the limits set for its detection range. when going from the living room to the other bedrooms, we would pass by the open sliding door of this bathroom, and so for a standard motion sensor, there’s going to be the strong chance that it would pick up motion even when you’re not actually in the bathroom, merely passing by.

Not so with the FP1E! Before anything else, you should set the device up, then clear the area of any type of moving object, be that a person, a pet or a fan. Then with the help of AI, the FP1E will build up an image of the area in question as a starting point. It only take around 20 seconds to do this. after that’s done, you can go into the Detection Range Settings page, and set up the limits for the sensor.

As you can see from the last two screenshots above, I’ve set it so that anything outside of the bathroom is set so that it won’t trigger anything based on presence, even though it clearly can detect when I’m outside of the range I set it at. This has worked incredibly well, and I can stand right outside the door to the bathroom without triggering the automation I set up for it, which incidentally turns on the Aqara wall switch controlling the bathroom lights.

IN APPLE HOME

There’s not much to report on with the Apple Home side of things, so in essence, if you’re going to use the FP1E in Apple Home automations, it’ll act like any motion or presence sensor to trigger other devices, depending on the detection of presence or absence. It’ll still abide by the detection limits you set in the Aqara app, however.

One thing the FP1E lacks versus the FP1 is that the latter does offer both presence and motion detection. Motion detection is almost on a par with a standard Zigbee motion sensor in terms of speed, which is quicker than a presence sensor for initial motion detection. You can see the two separate sensors listed here in the Eve app, with the FP1E only showing presence as an option. The FP1E doesn’t have such an option, however, whilst presence detection still isn’t as fast to react compared to a PIR sensor, it’s a massive improvement over the speed of presence detection with the original FP1. In most cases I may end up using a standard PIR sensor in combination with the FP1E, unless response time isn’t a top priority.

Ultimately, the options in Aqara Home are superior, as long as the automation is working with other Aqara devices of course. There are options for presence and absence, but also ‘presence for’, ‘Absence for’, ‘Moving’, ‘Still’, ‘Moving for’, and ‘Still for’. Additionally, you can even trigger a couple of options with the FP1E, which you don’t normally see. So, you can, for example, use an Aqara smart button to trigger the FP1E to relearn its Spatial Learning, thereby resetting the absence status, or you can even restart the device. That’s impressive.

THE FP1E IN USE

As previously mentioned, I have three FP1s, two of which are in use. Both are used in small spaces, like our en-suite bathroom (not the one used in the tests), and our entrance area. I never reviewed the FP1 for two reasons; I found the device hard to set up to my liking, and found it inaccurate some of the time, especially for larger areas. I also didn’t review it because it was only available in China, and didn’t want overseas readers buying one off the back of my review, despite it being a largely negative review if I’d written it. With the FP1E, things have changed considerably, and I’m glad that Aqara saw fit to release this internationally, as it does the job well. Yes, it’s not as comprehensive as the FP2, but for use in a bathroom or kitchen, where you may not require the zones feature offered by the FP2, this does a great job. It’s way more easy to set up than either the FP2 or the FP1, and on that basis it works as well as I could have hoped for. I’m also glad they stuck with Zigbee for this device as opposed to WiFi as is found in the FP2, or Matter over Thread for some of the company’s newer devices. Not that I don’t like Matter or Thread, but I know where I stand with Zigbee, and it rarely lets me down, which is of paramount importance to me, and I should imagine to other users too.

If I were to find any negatives, it would be the fact the power cable is permanently fixed into the sensor, but I guess Aqara decided to stick with the design they already had in the FP1 and just upgrade the internals, which definitely seems to be the case in my experience. Other than that, its highly recommended.

The post Aqara Presence Sensor FP1E (review) appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

What we have here is an update to their Bluetooth enabled motion sensor, but with a few additions aside from the obviously welcome Thread update. So, if you’re in the market for a beefed up motion sensor, with a nice trick up its sleeve, read on.

PACKAGING | CONTENTS

As you can see from the packaging, this is a Thread device, which is a welcome change from Bluetooth, although the latter is used for initial pairing and as a backup, should your Thread network go down. It’s also only HomeKit compatible, so Google and Amazon users are out of luck until the company deem to release a Matter version.

In addition to Thread and the standard motion detection, the SMS2 includes both temperature and humidity sensors, as before, but also contains a rudimentary light sensor that can distinguish between light and dark. This isn’t exposed to HomeKit, and can’t give you light measurements – even in the Onvis app – but it can still be used in some circumstances, as I’ll explain later. What makes this product stand out in some ways is the option to schedule detection. The SMS2 can be used in scenes to turn off it’s motion sensing capabilities, based on the status of other devices or as part of a larger automation, which can be a lot easier than setting up ‘conditions’ in third-party HomeKit apps for you other motion sensors.

As with the SMS1, the new model still uses two AAA batteries (which are thankfully provided), that should give you around a year of average usage, depending on how busy the sensor is. The SMS2 is designed for indoor use, with an upcoming outdoor version in development.

The dimensions of the SMS2 remains the same, at 64 x 50 x 37mm (2.52 x 1.97 x 1.46″), so not quite as petite as some motion sensors, but certainly on a par with the Eve Motion sensor.

In the box there’s the SMS2, a manual with an instance of the HomeKit QR code, a SIM pin for resetting the device, and a spare adhesive sticker, as the back comes with a n adhesive patch already in place.

The SMS2 has its main motion sensor window on the front, with most of the rear taken up by the easy-to-access battery compartment.

Users of the original model will notice that the company has taken their advice and significantly reduced the size of the Onvis logo on the front. Fair play! You can see the approximate difference between the two above.

As this is a HomeKit device, there’s a QR code on the side which is also home to the reset hole. The rear battery cover opens easily enough, which you wouldn’t think would be an issue for most devices, but still is for some.

The top and bottom are home to a series of vents for the humidity and temperature sensors, with the top also hiding a small light sensor, as seen above.

As with the original SMS1, due to the nature of the shape of the device it makes placement a little limited. So, if you choose to have it high on a wall, it’s going to struggle to pick up motion that’s quite close, so some form of plastic wedge would have been useful. That said, if it’s on a shelf or similar, it would probably work well enough to pick up pretty much all the motion required, whilst avoiding motion events from pets, so it really depends on a few different factors.

INSTALLATION

Adding the SMS2 is pretty easy, and as it uses Thread you don’t need to worry that you’re connected to a 2.4GHz WiFi band. This was also the case with Bluetooth, of course, but with Thread you’re going to get better range (as long as you have Thread Routers if this is placed far away), better and more consistent response times, and hopefully better battery life, although the batteries for my original Bluetooth model lasted for ages, and a lot longer than the twelve months suggested for this model. As it has additional sensors, you can name these as you like too.

All three sensors are exposed to HomeKit as though they were individual devices, so they can be used in automations, as standard. Each sensor will also display the battery life, which is good. All sensors are also visible via the room the SMS2 is located in.

A quick look at the Thread network in the Eve for HomeKit (and Matter) app shows the SMS2 listed and is confirmed as an ‘endpoint’ device. This means whilst it can connect to either a Thread Border Router or a Thread Router device (essentially a repeater for the Thread network), it can’t extend the Thread network itself.

THE ONVIS APP

The Onvis app is useful for customising various options for the SMS2, even if the design leaves a lot to be desired. This includes an option to have the motion active or inactive (more on that later), show the status of the light sensor and other sensors, and even allow you to set the cooldown period for the sensor, which is the time from when it detects motion to it resetting it’s state for the next motion event. You can set it as low as zero seconds, though I don’t see much benefit in doing so, or as high as just a second under three hours. There’s a log section for quick access to recent motion events in a list format, although you can access more details in a different manner via the hard to see icon labelled ‘Stats’ which is just a bit below the HomeKit icon. Both the temperature and humidity sensors also have their own pages, as well as log data.

Further customisation options are available, which includes turning a small LED on or off that is triggered by motion, an option to link motion event triggers with the state of the light sensor, a schedule option that allows you to set times for when the motion sensor is either active or inactive, and a pretty useful pair of options for calibrating the temperature and humidity sensors, by allowing you to compensate for any discrepencies between these sensors and ones that you know to be accurate. To cap things off, you get details on battery life – an overall rating and battery levels.

ACTIVATE/DEACTIVATE THE SMS2

The one feature that does sort of set the SMS2 apart from other sensors – at least as far as I’m aware – is that you can automate whether it detects motion or not. So in this case, the ‘active’ feature is exposed to third party HomeKit apps, like the aforementioned Eve app, the state of which can be used in a scene. I’ve created two scenes here, one to activate the motion sensor, and another to deactivate it.

These scenes are then automatically exposed to the Apple Home app for use in automations. In the instance above, if the ‘Cove Light’ turns off, then the SMS2 is set to be active. The Cove Light in question is situated in the living room, and when it’s on, the corridor (where the SMS2 will eventually reside) is light enough that you don’t really need to turn the corridor lights on. With the Cove Light turned off, it’s too dark in the corridor, hence the need for activating the SMS2, which in turn will then be ready to turn the corridor lights on when motion is detected.

Some might argue that with a workaround, this can be achieved with any motion sensor, which is true; you only need to set conditions in an Eve app automation, but generally speaking, when conditions are used in automations, they tend to slightly slow the automation down – not by much, but enough that something like a motion automation lags slightly, which isn’t great for a motion sensor, where speedy reaction times are crucial, in my opinion. You can also do all of this in the Home app using an automation and ‘Convert to Shortcut’ but once again, this does slightly slow the reaction times down. The option presented here allows the sensor to simply turn on or off dependent on the state of another device. So far, in my testing, it has been incredibly responsive.

SUMMING UP

Even with the original model using Bluetooth (not ideal), i found it to be pretty reliable, and along with the extraordinary battery life, it was hard to knock. Now with the added features of Thread, the light sensor (should that be ‘lite’ sensor’…?), and Active mode, this takes things considerably further. The boxy design isn’t great if I’m honest, which does make placement more of a challenge in some circumstances, but, so far, I haven’t encountered any issues, either with missed motion events, dropping off the Thread network or even any false triggers, so I once again find it hard to knock.

The Onvis app is useful for updating the app and customising the settings for the SMS2, but it’s far from a daily driver, so install it but just try not to look at it! All in all, it’s commendable to see a company like Onvis taking a step above some others, which is hard to do with sensors of most types these days, so good on them. Recommended.

The post Onvis Smart Motion Sensor w/ Thread (review) appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

PACKAGING | CONTENTS

If you’re in possession of the company’s other Thread-enabled device, the Airversa Purelle (video HERE, review HERE), you’ll be familiar with the Apple-like packaging, which pretty much everyone seems to do these days. Still, the box gives you pretty much all the info you need;

• 5.5l water tank
• Dual mist streams
• Essential oil tray
• suitable for large rooms up to 500 sq ft
• BPA free
• Apple Home compatible
• Auto-humidity
• Smart ring light
• Touch control
• Sleep mode
• Scheduling
• Humidity and temperature tracking

As with the Vocolinc Flowerbud and almost all the products that followed it, the Humelle utilises colour LEDs that can be used in a variety of ways, which I’ll go into in more detail later. It’s probably worth pointing out that the Humelle is offered in three finishes for the water tank, with Pebble Grey, Crystal Clear, and Arctic Blue being the current three options, although the latter of these won’t be available until later in the year.

The Humelle, or AH1 as I’ll forthwith refer to it, is pretty futuristic looking, with a large glass-like water tank taking up around three-fifths of the unit, surrounding a central funnel. The bottom two-fifths are made up of the mechanics, which are largely hidden from view until you remove the water tank.

Aside from the Humidifier, you get a power supply designed for your region (if supported), a manual in English with QR codes inside that link to the manual in other languages, a brush for cleaning some parts of the unit, and a couple of ‘aroma pads’. These, as you’ll see later, are designed for use with essential oils. Whilst many smaller aroma diffusers allow you to add essential oils directly to the water, this is not the case with the Humelle, with the oils only designed to be used with these pads.

THE HUMELLE

The front of the AH1 features two touch-sensitive buttons for the mist and the LED ring, in addition to three LEDs to indicate different working states. The rear is home to the HomeKit QR code, some slats hiding the temperature and humidity sensors, and the coaxial port for the power supply. The Upper and lower sections can only fit one way, with two small arrows to show how the two parts line up.

The top section of the AH1 has a removable mist nozzle, which has two sausage-shaped holes for the mist to be directed outward. This nozzle, which is actually more plate-shaped, is adjustable to allow the mist to go in other directions, and can also be removed, giving access to a carry handle, which is useful when the tank is fully loaded with water.

The large top section which is the water tank, is filled from underneath, so you have to remove the water tank, flip it upside down, remove the water tank cap, and fill it with distilled, demineralised, or purified water.

The bottom section stores a percentage of the water fed from the water tank, where the nebuliser breaks it up into a fine mist.

One of only two moving or moveable parts in the bottom section aside from the nebuliser, is the water level sensor. I assume this works with the use of a magnet within the foam ring, so once the water level is low, the ring (and magnet) make contact with another magnet hidden inside the base, which in turn triggers a notification that the water level is low. The stem and the ring are both removable for cleaning, as indicated by the lock/unlock icons.

The other part that can be removed and cleaned is the essential oil tray. As already mentioned, you can’t add oils to the water tank, so instead you add a few drops to the aroma pad that sits inside the tray, which itself sits in a holder below a vent for the built-in fan. The fan blows air just above the aroma pad, which then sends the essential oil smells and the fine water mist up through the central ‘funnel’ in the top section, and out to the room. The underside of the bottom section is home to an LED ring light, which we’ll look at in a bit.

Summing up my initial impression, the whole package – so to speak – looks and feels great, from the glass-like plastic water tank, which I really like the design of, to the understated design of the touch-sensitive buttons and internals. All feel well-made and sturdily put together.

IN APPLE HOME | HOMEKIT

If you’re an Apple Home user, you’ll probably know the score as regards what’s generally exposed to HomeKit, so in the case of the AH1, you get two devices – the humidifier and the LED ring. You can display them as separate tiles like I have pictured above, or combined. As the AH1 has temperature and humidity sensors built-in, you can see them listed at the top. Pressing on the humidity icon brings up the current humidity, but also brings up the AH1 again, which I guess is due to it being a humidifier.

As standard, there’s a slider for the humidifier, which doesn’t control the strength of the mist as such, but instead sets the target humidity level. If it’s set to 100% humidity, the AH1 will simply keep pumping out mist until the tank empties, as it’s virtually impossible to reach 100% humidity for this device. Below that is a simple on/off button.

The settings page also gives you access to the fan speed, which essentially controls the strength of the mist output. When it comes to the LED ring, even though it’s capable of multiple colours, in Apple Home it’s not possible to access multiple colour controls, so solid colours and brightness levels via the slider are the only options here. All standard stuff, basically.

In the ‘Eve for HomeKit’ app, you can see the AH1 shows up via your Thread network as not only a Thread device but also as a Thread Router, which allows it to be a sort of Thread ‘access point’ for Thread endpoint devices (mostly battery operated) in the absence of a full Thread Border Router.

IN THE SLEEKPOINT APP

As you can see from the first screenshot above, I’ve already got the Airversa Purelle (review, video), and the Holomarq HK1 (review, video) in addition to the AH1, in the Sleekpoint app. The bottom section gives you access to a few different areas – schedules, charts, power, light, and settings. The rest of the main screen for the AH1 offers a large amount of control and information, including the current temperature and humidity, with the latter primarily taking up the top section of the screen. You then have three mist streaming modes (manual, auto, sleep) along with a nicely designed rotating knob to adjust the mist stream strength.

Speaking of the streaming modes, when you select ‘Sleep’ you get a further three sub-options; Whisper, Quiet, and Default, with Whisper being the quietest of the three sleep levels. Even though you can set on/off times directly in the Home app, or most other third-party HomeKit apps, the Sleekpoint app goes the extra mile when it comes to recurring options that also include the use of the LED ring, as well as what mode and mist strength should be applied, so in this regard it’s pretty powerful.

If you’re a bit of a devil when it comes to monitoring temperature and humidity levels, you can check out records for each of these metrics via the Charts section, where both are broken down into 24 hours, 7 days, or one month. It doesn’t seem as though you can export this data, however. The general settings tab covers the basics, like the product name, timers, Fahrenheit or Celcius, feedback sounds, and plenty more. There’s also a device cleaning reminder, that prompts you to clean the device every three days by default.

Onto the settings for the LED ring, which are also quite extensive; The AH1 comes with a series of preset ‘themes’ that are collected into groups – Ambience, Fantasy, and Energy – with more to come hopefully. All of the themes can be saved to a favourites section which can then be quickly accessed via the button on the front of the AH1. Each of these themes can also be customised and saved as new themes by the user if desired.

There are slightly different lighting options depending on the theme selected, so the top section will change and offer different options according to the theme. Either way, you’ll almost always get access to changing colour via the colour wheel, RGB sliders, or even by typing in a specific hexadecimal number. You can also save your colours here for recall later. The only option that doesn’t offer up the colour wheel is ‘RT Humidity’ which automatically changes the colour of the LED depending on the humidity levels, with blue when humidity is high, green when humidity is acceptable, and orange when humidity is low.

As already mentioned, the options change depending on the theme, so in the case of the ‘Jellyfish’ preset, you can choose the brightness, the speed of the animation, and the colour, as well as sync the colour to the humidity levels. ‘Gradiant’ (sic) Offers the same first two options (brightness and animation speed), plus tying the colours to the humidity levels, but also has a ‘DIY’ button that allows you to select your own collection of colours with a maximum of eleven in total.

In the case of the ‘Wheel’ preset you initially get only the animation speed option, along with syncing the colour to the humidity levels as before, but you also get an option to change the direction of the animation, along with colour options (DIY). This preset offers two colours divided into two segments – Base and Top – so along with the animation, the segments give the appearance of a moving wheel I guess. When you select the ‘top’ option, you can also adjust how many sections the wheel preset is divided into, with a minimum of two segments and a maximum of twelve segments.

Even though these animations can’t be directly accessed in the Apple Home app, some third-party HomeKit apps, like Controller for HomeKit, can access your favourites created in the Sleekpoint app, and then be included in Scenes, which will then show up and be accessible within Apple Home. To see this in action, you can check it out via the video below starting at 7’13”;

HUMELLE IN USE | WRAPPING UP

As I pointed out at the start of the review, there’s very little call for humidifiers here for much of the year, but from the tests I have performed, the results are more than adequate in the more controlled ways I was able to test it for humidifying purposes. Even then, due to the climate where I live, the results can be slightly skewed. I did find it would struggle with anything more than 70% humidity, but anything over 60% is not advisable in normal home use, so that isn’t actually an issue for the vast majority of people who will only need it during the winter when humidity levels can get pretty low.

The mist stream appears more powerful than previous humidifiers I’ve tested, and with the adjustable mist nozzle, you can direct the stream away from potentially problematic areas without having to move the whole device.

It does work much better as a humidifier than a diffuser, given that essential oils are not designed to be added to the water tank, so if you wanted this for making the room smell nice more than for humidity, you might be better of with one of their non-smart waterless aroma diffusers.

In terms of connectivity, it has been exemplary so far, which doesn’t come as a surprise to me, as the Aiversa Purelle and the Holomarq HK1 are just as reliable in this regard. I generally don’t have issues with my Thread devices, but if I do, the issue usually centres on the HomePods, not the Thread devices themselves.

It has been argued in the past that Thread isn’t necessary with a permanently powered device, but as it is powered, it gives your home another means for an endpoint Thread device to connect to, so to me it’s a definite bonus, whilst also being one less device bogging down my WiFi network.

The design itself, whilst not perfect in some ways, is to me the best-looking humidifier out there right now, especially when you look at offerings from other HomeKit manufacturers like Meross, Vocolinc and Switchbot, all of which look a bit dated and just not very stylish really. It also has the largest tank compared to other HomeKit-enabled humidifiers, with the Vocolinc MistFlow coming at 3.0 litres less than the Humelle with a paltry 2.5-litre capacity. The Smartmi Rainforest Humidifier, which I recently reviewed, is a real thing of beauty in my opinion, but only has a slightly larger water tank at 3.0 litres. Nevertheless, the Rainforest is more than twice the price, and as it uses evaporative humidification, it does take longer to reach the set level. It doesn’t trigger PM2.5 sensors though, which is an unfortunate side effect of diffusion-based humidifiers like the Humelle.

the one thing to take into account is that it does require regular cleaning maintenance – every 3 days is recommended in fact – so this could be a chore for some. You should also use some form of filtered water, which isn’t something everyone has easy access to, even if they should.

All things considered, whilst the AH1 is more expensive than most of the HomeKit humidifiers available, it uses Thread not WiFi (a big plus), it does have the largest water tank, and it comes with the potentially very useful multicolour LED ring. The design may or may not be to everyone’s taste, but with the very clear view of your water tank on display, I think it looks very cool. I just wish I could make use of it for more of the year!

The post Airversa Humelle Smart Humidifier W/ Thread (review) appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

BOX | CONTENTS

As with most decent manufacturers, the box follows the same minimalist rules; the product on the front, floating against a white background. Only the Qingping logo and ‘Works with Apple Home’ badge go some way to breaking things up. Looking around the packaging, I immediately noticed there was no Thread logo to be seen. As I’d been sent a review model, I was informed this was probably not the final packaging, hence the missing Thread badge. It’s a Thread device though, trust me!

the back states wireless connectivity uses Thread and Bluetooth. The latter is only used for initial setup and as a fallback option, should Thread go AWOL.

The sensor uses not one, but two CR2450 batteries, which are thankfully already provided.

Aside from the sensor, which we’ll look at in more detail, you get the following; a mounting ball joint, a circular double-sided sticker, and a manual in English, German, Chinese, and Japanese. The ball joint is magnetic, allowing the rear of the motion to hold on magnetically, whilst also allowing the sensor to be both easily angled and removable. It comes with an adhesive backing.

The circular sticker is designed to allow the user to mount the sensor directly to a surface without the need for the ball joint, although this means the sensor can’t be angled.

THE SENSOR

I’m not quite sure how to describe the shape of the sensor, other than it’s a bit like one of those bullet cameras you see on the outside of buildings I guess. Either way, it’s still not large overall, measuring just 38mm in diameter and 36.5mm in depth. When compared to the Eve Motion, which is the only other motion sensor utilising Thread right now, I’d say it’s around 3-4 times smaller.

There’s a HomeKit QR code on the side, which answers the question of whether this uses Matter – it does not, at least not right now. It may get an update for Matter, but nothing has been officially announced so far.

The rear of the sensor has an indent to marry up with the ball joint, which is also the battery cover. The inside of the cover has a magnet that ensures it connects to the wall mount magnetically. This cover unscrews with a light touch, so getting inside the battery compartment is easy.

As it uses two coin batteries, the way these are installed is via a separate battery holder, that can then be removed separately. Once again, this is quite easy to remove, with a small turn anticlockwise. To one side is a small blue tab which is actually the reset/pairing button. This is a little harder to get to, especially if you have very short nails, or have the proverbial ‘sausage fingers’, but a small screwdriver is usually enough.

IN HOME | HOMEKIT

I did mention the name of the product at the start but it’s probably a good idea to reiterate that this is a motion and light sensor. In Apple Home, you get access to both sensors, and both can be used in automations of course.

In the Eve app, as long as you have at least one permanently powered Eve Thread device (Eve Energy for example), you can view some details of your Thread network. In my Thread network, you can see I’ve highlighted the two Qingping motion sensors I have set up, as well as the Thread details for one of those devices.

As these are basically HomeKit over Thread devices, they currently only work with HomeKit. If they do get an update to become Matter over Thread, as has been the case with a few Eve devices recently, then they’ll work with any Matter-capable platform, including Google, Amazon, and SmartThings. However, if you’re a strictly Apple Home user, in essence, this is more than good enough.

Also note these are labelled as ‘endpoint'(s), which means these can’t share or extend the Thread network, only receive the signal. This is due to them being battery-powered. If they were in a position to be ‘routers’ (i.e. helping spread the network and pass on info between devices and a Border Router) the batteries would last weeks at best. This is why only mains-powered devices are generally set up as Thread Routers.

THE QINGPING+ APP

I do like the Qingping+ app, probably more than most other proprietary apps, although I’ll be the first to admit I don’t use it that often. My workhorse is the Home app, and that’s that. Still, if you really want to keep track of motion and light data, this is the app for you. You also don’t have to create an account and still access pretty much everything. It’s so well laid out, I find it a joy to use, with quick look cards for both sensors, as well as 24-hour and 30-day readings for light.

Motion detection history is also very detailed, although possibly not as nice to look at, as it’s just a list. I should note that as Thread and Bluetooth are about the same when it comes to how much data can be transmitted, it can take a while to download the historical data to the app. You can also export the data as a .csv file that’s sent via email. there aren’t too many options for you to change, but one option is to change the countdown period, which offers as little as five seconds before resetting, to five minutes, with the first 60 seconds offered in five-second increments, and thereafter,  increments of one minute.

Whilst all motion sensors have a countdown or cooldown period, many sensors in this countdown will be ‘blind’ and won’t detect motion or the lack of it during that period. The Qingping (along with the Eve, Hue motion and a couple of others) allow the motion sensor to continuously detect motion or no motion during that time, which can be quite handy in many circumstances.

So, if for example, you have your Qingping set to 45 seconds between the moment it detects motion, and resetting to no motion, if you move in front of the motion sensor, that 45-second countdown will restart. Sensors that don’t have this ability will just begin the countdown until it’s complete, and then become active again.

SENSOR PERFORMANCE (MOTION AND LIGHT)

In my tests (which you can see in the video review) the motion sensor was pretty much on par with the Eve Motion. I did notice that the detection range was a little shorter than I’m used to, but then I always found that the original Aqara motion sensor always reached a little too far for my use cases, so this is no bad thing in my opinion. I have one situated in the corridor, and another near the doorway to the main bedroom and so far I’ve encountered no issues as such, which includes any instances of automations failing to trigger, or indeed a lost connection.

The light sensor did stump me a little, however. In the tests I performed, I compared it to the light sensor built into the Hue motion, Eve Motion, and a dedicated Mijia motion sensor that uses Zigbee. At low levels, all three were comparable in their readings, but in medium and bright light, the Qingping displayed much higher readings – pretty much double the readings from the other three, which for the most part were all within the same ballpark for all levels of light. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the Qingping is giving false readings as such – it could actually be more accurate perhaps, but if three of the four sensors match up, then it’s probably more likely they’re providing accurate readings. This shouldn’t matter in one sense, as assuming you’d solely use this particular light sensor in a room without another light sensor, you simply adjust your automation to work at the levels the Qingping provides, so it’s a case of adjusting in essence.

COMPARISONS TO THE EVE MOTION

It seems fair to compare this to the only other device with much the same features, namely a device with Thread, and separate motion and light sensors. That would be the Eve Motion of course.

• The Eve is currently priced at US$49.95, which is double the price of the Qingping T, so that can have a lot of bearing on some peoples’ choices.
• They both use Thread, but only Eve can offer a Matter update, which makes it more enticing for users of platforms aside from Apple Home, and those that might run more than one platform.
• Size is a consideration, so if you’re looking for small and discreet, Qingping has that on its side.
• Both can be mounted, but Eve only offers hanging it from a screw or nail in a wall, whilst the Qingping can be stuck anywhere, whilst also offering adjustable angles.
• Eve offers an IPX3 rating, which isn’t totally outdoor/weatherproof, but does offer a measure of water resistance that Qingping doesn’t.
• Finally, Eve has options to adjust the sensitivity of the motion detection, which isn’t offered by Qingping.

As you can see, both have their positives and negatives.

IN DAY-TO-DAY USE

I’ve had two Qingping motion sensors running in my home for a while now, and initially, I did have two instances where one went offline. I never got to the bottom of the reason why. I did move the motion sensor around the apartment a fair bit, so losing connection to the Thread Border Router it may have initially been connected to could be the reason, but now they’re both in a regular location and thankfully this has not been an issue since, for either of them.

Personally, I prefer the design over the Eve motion, partly due to the size, and ease of mounting it at different angles. Having it Matter compatible is low on my list of priorities, even though I think this is ultimately the way things should be going, so in HomeKit it has performed well enough, with no hint of lag normally associated with Bluetooth-based sensors. I didn’t have the previous Bluetooth version of this sensor, as it wasn’t HomeKit compatible, so it’s hard to measure the change, but let’s be honest; Bluetooth has never been up to the job when it came to speedy response times, so I have no doubt it’s an improvement.

I like their app, even if I don’t use it too often, although it does come in handy with my Qingping Air Monitor Lite (video HERE, review HERE), as I like to keep tabs on both PM2.5 and CO², which using this app can be an eye opener, especially with the latter. Having not had these long enough to see how well battery life is, I can’t tell you if it’s good or bad, but I am a little surprised to see it use two of the larger CR2450 batteries, although I’m equally happy they didn’t go for the CR2430 which seems to be harder to buy in shops than the CR2450.

All in all, it has been fine for my use cases, and even though the Aqara FP2 has highlighted the shortcomings of PIR sensors like this one, they do still function well for basic tasks.

The post Qingping Motion and Light Sensor w/ Thread (review) appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

Interestingly, however, it doesn’t currently work with the Aqara Home app. This is because, for any device to work on a platform using Matter, you need a Matter Controller. Aqara doesn’t yet have one until early next year when they plan to release the M3 Hub, which will not only work with Aqara’s current Zigbee devices but work with Matter devices too, as it will also be a Matter Controller. It’ll also contain a Thread Border Router, so this would then allow Matter over Thread devices to work in the Aqara app. If you’re interested to see how this device fares, read on.

PACKAGING

This is the P2, the actual successor to the Aqara Contact Sensor P1, which was only ever released in China. As such, I guess you could call this the successor to Aqara’s standard contact sensor, although once again that too was supplanted in China long ago with a T1 and even an E1 version, both of which use Zigbee 3.0. However you want to frame it, this is the new kid on the block, with the first example of a Matter logo on the packaging for an Aqara product, and almost certainly not the last. If you’re familiar with the original Aqara contact sensor, you’ll see from the image on the front, this has a very different design.

the rear of the box is also home to another first for Aqara, namely the Thread logo. One side features the specs, which are;

• Model: DW-S02E
• Battery: CR123A
• Wireless Protocols: Thread, BLE
• Dimensions: 77 x 22 x 22mm (Sensor Main Unit)  |  36 × 11.5 × 7.3mm (Sensor Accessory Unit)
• Operating Temperature: -10°C ~ 50°C (14°F – 122°F)
• Operating Humidity: 0 ~ 95% RH, no condensation

If you’re not so familiar with Matter or Thread, don’t panic at seeing the Bluetooth logo – Thread and Matter both utilise Bluetooth for initial pairing/commissioning/onboarding to your smart home platform, and in the case of Thread specifically, Bluetooth is used as a backup for when either Thread somehow fails, or you simply don’t have a Thread Border Router in your arsenal of smart home equipment, which in the case of Apple Home is a HomePod Mini, HomePod (2nd gen), or Apple TV4K (2nd gen or 3rd gen w/ 128GB).

Contact sensors are amongst the most basic of smart home devices, but still very useful. You’re going to find the best use case for this device on doors or windows, and although you could use it on other things that have the option to be opened or closed, like drawers or cabinets, the size of the P2 isn’t going to lend itself to this job as well as the original option.

WHAT’S IN THE BOX

Aside from the contact sensor and the accompanying magnet, you get a manual in assorted languages, and a small piece of magnetic metal. This can be used when you might have a window that you can have in two different closed positions perhaps. The manual comes with a Matter QR code, and whilst this looks very similar to a HomeKit QR code, this is an 11-digit code, as opposed to the 8-digit code found in HomeKit. The result is the same, however, so scanning it via the Home app will add the device in exactly the same manner. As the process is pretty much identical, I’m not going to go into detail on adding it, although I’ll go into some details regarding other platforms later in this article.

THE SENSOR

The P2 does, for want of a better description, look like a large suppository! The reason for the change in size and design is not without reason, however. First of all, the battery used in the P1 and P2 is a CR123A, which is almost like a half-size AA battery. This should give the sensor decent battery life before you need to replace it, although Aqara doesn’t seem to specify how long that is.

The second reason is that the large pairing button will eventually be updated to become a programmable button. If you were to try and add a smart button like the one here to the original contact sensor, it wouldn’t be possible in my estimation, due to the size restrictions. At present, this button is only for pairing or resetting the sensor, so the programmable button function will only arrive via an update or more likely when the Aqara Hub M3 is released, which will then allow the P2 to connect to the Aqara app.

WHY THREAD AND NOT ZIGBEE?

Many people – and I include myself among them – are fans of Zigbee to a large degree, so Thread has had to prove itself worthy. I’m always open to new things and am quite happy to use Thread. I have around two dozen Thread devices currently and they’ve been very well-behaved, but then so have my Zigbee devices, so what’s the difference? Well, if I were to choose one word to describe the difference between the two, it would be ‘de-centralisation’. So, if you’re familiar with how Zigbee works, you’ll know that Zigbee child devices need a Zigbee hub, and in the case of Aqara and Hue – to name just two – their child devices will for the most part only work with their own hubs, at least when it comes to integration with HomeKit. Putting that to one side, when a set of child devices are connected to one of these hubs, if that hub goes offline or just dies, the child devices go offline too, until you reset them and add them to a new replacement hub, which is time-consuming. Zigbee child devices are therefore tied to a specific hub and ‘will go down with the ship’, so to speak.

With Thread devices, they still connect to what could be described as a hub – a Thread Border Router – but assuming you have at least two border routers connected to your platform of choice (mine are four HomePods Mini, connected to Apple Home), if one of those routers goes down, the Thread devices simply reroute to the next available Border Router. So, you can see, Thread is sort of decentralised in that it’s not tied to a specific hub or gateway, and so (in theory) your Thread devices just stay connected, as they aren’t betrothed to the hub that went down.

IN APPLE HOME

The settings for the P2 are the same as you’d see with other contact sensors with two noticeable additions due to it being a Matter device. First of all, you see at the bottom the ‘Turn on Pairing Mode’ option. This is so that you can pair the device with additional platforms if you wish. Pressing this button generates a brand new Matter code. The code that comes with the device can only be used when it’s paired to the first platform or if it has been removed from all platforms and reset. You can then use the new pairing code generated here, which is then needed to be used for any additional platforms you want to use it with. In this case, the sensor is already connected to both Apple Home and Google Home, as can be seen in the ‘Connected Services’ section above.

Unless you’re very new to Apple Home, or for that matter any smart home platform, you’ll know what a contact sensor does. If a door opens it will be able to instruct other devices (via an automation) to do something, so in my case, the P2 is on our bedroom door and so when we open that door between 6~11pm, it will turn the corridor lights on at 100% brightness. If the door is open between 11pm~12.15am, then the lights come on at 70% brightness, and between 12.15am~5.30am, the lights come on at just 10%. In each of these scenarios, the lights will turn off when the P2 sensor changes its status to ‘closed’ or 60 seconds have elapsed.

IN GOOGLE HOME

I was able to add the P2 to Google Home as I have a Google Nest Hub Max that is both a Matter Controller and contains a Thread Border Router. That’s all great, however at the time of writing, Google doesn’t give you the option to use the sensor in Routines, so it’s pretty much useless for Google Home users right now. To add insult to injury (as we say in the UK) the sensor state doesn’t update itself in the iOS version of the Google Home app until you physically refresh the app by pulling down on the UI with your finger.

SAMSUNG SMARTTHINGS

I was originally able to add the P2 to SmartThings too as I have the SmartThings Station, which like the Google Nest Hub Max, is both a Matter Controller and a Thread Border Router. However, during testing, it lost connection and just wouldn’t reconnect. I suspect that as I only have one Thread Border Router for this particular platform, when I moved the sensor to a location beyond the reach of the Thread signal it must have lost connection. You’d think it would reconnect once within range, but sadly not. I suspect this is mostly an issue with the state of Matter right now, and less a reflection on the Aqara P2, although it should have reconnected at some point.

I did try adding it again using a new code from both Apple Home and Google Home, but it repeatedly failed. Once again I think this is an issue with Matter.

As regards Amazon Alexa, I don’t have a Thread Border Router for that platform, although if you read this article on a recent Nanoleaf firmware update, that may have changed things. I wasn’t able to test it at the time.

PERFORMANCE | IN USE

I can only really attest to its performance in HomeKit, as it can’t be used for anything in Google yet, and I can’t get it to reconnect to SmartThings, but it may come as no surprise to hear that it works just as though it was a standard Zigbee sensor. It’s pretty much the same in terms of reaction times, and as it works directly with Apple Home right now, there’s no need for an Aqara hub, the downside of which is the inability to use specific Aqara automations, which in many ways are superior to most other platforms. Still, it’s mostly about doors opening or closing, and turning lights on or off for me, so it doesn’t make any real difference right now.

I’d be interested to see what use cases you could use with the programmable button once it becomes an option. For example, I think if it was placed on a front door and placed not too high, it could be useful for Setting your alarm system, or for turning off all the lights perhaps. It’s not as though we don’t already have many options to do this, so whether sacrificing the compact size is a good tradeoff for the button, remains to be seen.

The post Aqara Contact Sensor P2 w/ Matter over Thread (review) appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

PACKAGING | CONTENTS

The FP2 has launched with a new packaging design and colour scheme, with the sensor pictured on the front. This is also where the ‘Works with Apple Home’ badge is placed, but the FP2 does also work with Amazon, Google, and IFTTT. No word on SmartThings at present, although once the FP2 gets an alleged update for Matter, it should work with SmartThings hubs capable of being Matter controllers, like the SmartThings Station.

One side lays out the feature set of the FP2; multi-person detection, Built-in light sensor, fall detection, zone positioning, interference compensation, and local automations.

The other side of the box is largely just legal text, but you’ll also notice a Bluetooth logo. I suspect that a Bluetooth chip has been put in place for future Matter support, as Matter (and Thread) devices usually utilise Bluetooth for initial setup (commissioning).

I’ll quickly run through the features mentioned on the box;

• Multi-Person Tracking: The FP2 is designed to be able to detect and track up to five people simultaneously, although it’s also stated that three people is the optimum number for smooth operation. Unlike the FP1, which was only able to track one ‘signal’ the FP2 can individually track people as they move around inside the detection area. More on why that’s useful in a bit.
• Built-in Light Sensor: Light sensors are already found in most of Aqara’s motion sensors, but this is the first sensor with an included light sensor (that isn’t already a light sensor) that’s exposed to HomeKit. Like multi-person detection, the light sensor can be used in a multitude of ways, that involve detection in a specific zone, but only trigger an automation if the light levels are above a certain number, for example.
• Fall Detection: this speaks for itself, and could be of use for monitoring the elderly or infirm without having to watch them on a smart camera, for example. It should be noted that this feature only really works if the FP2 is ceiling mounted. This option actually limits the range of detection, and you lose the ability to use zones and track multiple people, so it’s really a case of which feature is most important to you.
• Zone Positioning: The Aqara app breaks the FP2’s detection range into a grid of 320 separate squares. You can select and group these squares to create zones. These zones can in turn be used to trigger automations. Each zone is also exposed to HomeKit as a separate presence sensor.
• Interference Compensation: This feature allows you to designate certain areas of the detection range as ‘interference sources’, so if you have a standing fan in one part of the room, that when active, triggers the FP2, you can create one of these interference zones where the fan is, so the FP2 can ignore it.
• Local Automations: On this last point, I have to mention that in my tests, automations involving the FP2 and some devices in the Aqara app are cloud-based, not local, although after bringing this up with Aqara, they assured me this was a bug they’re working on fixing, so it could already be a non-issue by the time you read this. Automations in the Home app/HomeKit are local anyway of course.

Aside from the FP2, you get two circular magnetic plates and corresponding double-sided stickers, a single screw and rawl plug for more long-term mounting, a 2-metre long USB-A to USB-C cable, and a manual in a whopping fourteen different languages.

The FP2 is a circular, puck-shaped sensor with a cutout at the top that’s home to a large status LED, which I understand also houses the ambient light sensor, at least it appears that way in the manual. The base is magnetic, and is smaller in diameter than the main section out of necessity, as the USB cable that powers it needs to pass in between regardless of whether the stand – which is part of the base – is extended or not.

Although the stand looks similar to the ones you might have seen on the Aqara G2, G2H, and G2H Pro, as well as the FP1, this stand is slightly different as it doesn’t allow the main body of the FP2 to rotate. The base is home to the HomeKit QR code, so it can be added directly to HomeKit, although you really are better off adding it via the Aqara app, so you can add it to HomeKit, and then bind it to the Aqara app and server in one pass. Even though it can be added just to HomeKit, you’re not going to get much use from it without the Aqara app, as most of the features already mentioned need to be set up in Aqara Home.

FP2 IN THE AQARA APP

As already stated, the Aqara app is pretty essential, at least for initial setup, so starting with the FP2 there, I’ve set up two tiles – one for the FP2 showing its status, with a separate tile for the light sensor, showing the current Lux value. Tapping on the FP2 tile opens up the main UI for the sensor;

• At the top is a floor plan broken down into a grid of 16 x 20 tiles. In my case, you can see I’ve already set up my detection area, with furniture icons, zones, doors/exits etc. along with the edge of the detection range, as defined by the user (that’ll be me then…).
• Below there are half-width buttons labelled ‘Installation Mode’ and ‘Zone Management’, and two full-width buttons, one for detection status, and the other for illuminance, or brightness levels as reported by the light sensor.

As you can see from the last two screenshots, one shows absence, whilst the other shows presence, with a small icon on the floor plan to indicate a person.

The Installation Mode button will simply show you the current type of installation option you selected when originally setting it up, along with what you can expect in terms of coverage. As previously mentioned, you can have this positioned so it’s facing forward, either stuck to a wall or on a shelf, or ceiling mounted. You could also have it placed in a corner, although that would essentially just be a variation of the wall-mounted option. That said, having it in a corner does mean that any blind spots caught behind the 120º detection area won’t matter, as they’ll be just walls (assuming the corners of your room are at 90º to each other).

The presence/absence status button opens up a log of detection periods covering a day or a week, along with any potential offline times. Similarly, the Illuminance button shows a log of ambient light readings in Lux, covering days, weeks, months, and years.

Tapping on Zone Management is where it starts to get fun, although it’s really important to set up the ‘edge’ of the detection zone, or you may well have an issue later on with detection and more. The ‘edge’ tells the sensor to ignore any presence beyond its boundary. This could be useful for areas that you don’t want detected, but can still pick up presence, like through a ground floor window, for example, as the FP2 can detect presence through things like glass. With the edges set up, you can proceed.

Here you can adjust various aspects of the floor plan, so with the Template icon on the bottom, Aqara give you preset layouts that you can use as starting points, complete with icons for the relevant furniture (beds, desks, stoves, sofas etc). the Sticker icon allows you to add up to 20 graphics to your floor plan, including the aforementioned items in addition to plants, TVs, lamps, toilets, and even doors etc. I feel there could have been a few more icons, but these probably cover the basics.

When it comes to creating zones, these are managed by selecting the relevant squares on the grid, and choosing a colour so you can differentiate between zones. You can attach an attribute to the zones – Detection Zone, Interference Source, Exits and Entrances, and Edge, as previously mentioned.

Interference source is useful if you have a standing fan, or anything that might fool the sensor into thinking there’s presence when there isn’t. Simply create the zone and assign it as an interference source so it can be disregarded.

Exits and Entrances are also useful, as these help the sensor realise why a person being detected/tracked might suddenly disappear, which should help the FP2’s algorithm.

The Types option gives you the option to assign preset descriptions to zones already created, although you can name them yourself. As you can see in my example, I’ve kept things uncluttered by using simple two-letter codes (KT = kitchen, LR = living room, etc).

If the fact that the FP2 can track your location within the detection range, whilst also allowing you to create individual zones (for the purposes of advanced automations) wasn’t enough, each zone can be set to one of three levels of monitoring sensitivity – High, Medium, Low. Amazing really.

Going back briefly to ‘stickers’, and in the example above, you can see I’ve added a sofa. When you add a sticker, you have four options – you can rotate the position of the graphic, which allows it to turn at 45º with each tap. You can also increase or decrease the size of the graphic with the plus and minus buttons. Finally, if the graphic is no longer needed, you can tap the trash can to delete it.

When you’ve got your room set up to your liking, you can save it for later recall, if for any reason you either messed up somehow or inadvertently delete it. You can also take a photo of the sensor’s location for future reference.

If you’ve used any Aqara products before, you’ll be familiar with the structure of devices in the app, and so in ‘More Settings’ you get access to pretty much all the options you’ll need for the FP2. You can turn off the LED light between hours set by yourself, which would be useful in a bedroom at night. There are options for overall sensitivity and fall detection monitoring.

The working mode can be changed here, with zone detection being the recommended default. You can also set the FP2 to detect direction, which is something the FP1 was also capable of. There’s also a ‘Reset Absence State’ button, which can be used if for some reason the sensor is detecting presence when there is none, which in my case has been rare, although less rare for some it seems. When it comes to the zones and what you’ve named them, there’s an option to have the names synced between Aqara Home and HomeKit, with options to sync in either direction.

AUTOMATION OPTIONS IN AQARA HOME

One thing I’ve always liked about the Aqara app is the expansive amount of choices offered, and given what you can achieve with the FP2, you may well be overwhelmed by the choices combined with zones and the sensor. So not only do you have options for basics like Presence and Absence detection, as well as zone-based detection, but even more specific things like Enter, Leave, Someone is Approaching, Someone is Going Away, Someone Falls Down, as well as options involving the light sensor. On top of that, when it comes to zone detection, you can get granular by selecting specific zones for your automation.

Within these specific zone automations, you then get the granular options found in the previous menu. It’s quite mind-boggling what you can do, although you do need to bear in mind this is all for the benefit of other devices in the Aqara app – which are only going to be Aqara devices in the main, so you can forget about using these with non-Aqara devices outside of this ecosystem.

When it comes to the options for detecting ‘presence (or absence) for some time’, you can set the amount for that ‘time’, with the ability to go as low as one second, or as high as just under four hours (3h 59m 59s).

All of these options are available as triggers in an Aqara automation (the IF section), but you also get one option to use the FP2 in the ‘THEN’ section. In this case, you can choose to have the FP2’s absence status to be reset. There can’t be too many reasons why this would be necessary, but I guess if you’re leaving home, and for some reason, there’s an errant presence detected that you know is wrong, you could just have it reset when you turn off some lights or lock a door on your way to work perhaps.

THE FP2 IN APPLE HOME/HOMEKIT

As you might expect, when it comes to HomeKit, automation options are a lot more stripped back. That doesn’t mean you can’t have fun with the FP2, as each zone created with the FP2 in the Aqara app is exposed to HomeKit as a separate presence sensor. So you don’t have to scroll back through this article, I’ll tell you I created a total of nine zones;

• Living room (LR and LR2)
• Kitchen (KT)
• Dining Area (DA)
• Corridor (CF)
• Entrance
• Prayer Area (PA)
• Windows (W)
• Sofa

Each of those, as you can see, is showing up as sensors in the Home app. You’ll also notice that I’ve got additional sensors listed on this screen. Abode OS is simply an Abode motion sensor, but for some reason, it’s exposed as an occupancy sensor. I also have the FP1 listed (FP1 L). Additionally, the FP2 shows up as a separate sensor, that I assume covers the whole area, not just zones.

You can also see that the light sensor shows up in HomeKit, with the Lux readings listed in the details section.

The light sensor can be used in automations, with options for when the Lux readings rise above or drop below specific levels. These levels are fixed in the Home app, but I’m not sure having them to be so specific is necessary. When it comes to the presence sensors, you simply get the same kind of options as you would with a motion sensor – detects or stops detecting occupancy.

Even though the options for HomeKit-only automations are more limited, you can still make use of the option to ‘convert to Shortcut’ within the Home app, which does give you a lot more choices.

THE FP2 IN USE

When I first started to use the FP2, like many other people it took a while to get it how I wanted it, with a lot of moving around so as to make sure everything on the floor plan matched real life. What was told to me before I even set it up was how important it is to get the edges set up. Without doing this, you can leave yourself wide open to all sorts of false detections, ghosts occupancy events and more. That’s not to say the FP2 has been perfect even with this, and there have been occasions where the sensor – or rather the app, it seems – gets stuck, only to catch up with all motion events, and display ‘figures’ on the floor plan darting at high speed from one end of the room to the other. Using the ‘Reset Absence State’ button may not seem ideal, but it would seem that over time, the algorithm learns from this, and begins to report less and less false information. This is something I feel has happened in my case, and as a result, things have improved to the point where I largely don’t have any issues with the FP2. It would seem a recent app update has made things a lot more reliable.

One issue I’ve seen reported by some users was the initial setup not going well, with some people simply not being able to add the device to either HomeKit or Aqara. It’s hard to know what might have gone wrong in most cases, as there are so many variables at play, not least among them human error. I, fortunately, had no issues with this. I do have another one to set up though, so maybe it’ll be my turn to suffer, but I tend to have relatively few issues with this kind of thing for whatever reason.

I think the one thing that could be a possible bone of contention is the price, but of course, any company is free to set the price they see fit, and we as consumers are not obliged to buy them if we don’t like the price, so I can’t really see an argument in this instance. Before anyone says “Well, you got yours free!” I’d like to remind you that a “free” product comes with a lot of testing, video editing, and writing, so I’m not sure it could truly be considered free – all that aside, I still paid for my Chinese model with my own money. There are other options for occupancy sensors, like the FP1, or the LifeSmart Presence sensor (video HERE, review HERE), although both of these options require a hub, as they utilise Zigbee.

All in all, this sensor fixes a few issues that simply aren’t as easily achievable with standard PIR sensors, and the fact that you can split this into up to 30 zones, thereby giving you the equivalent number of presence sensors in HomeKit, really shows you that you’re getting a lot for your money.

I’m not so sure it would be of much use in a small bathroom, for example, and I’d probably recommend the FP1 for simpler tasks, but for large rooms, especially open-plan areas like the one we have here, it’s a bit of a godsend.

The post Aqara Presence Sensor FP2 (review) appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

PACKAGING

The packaging has that now quite ubiquitous ‘Apple’ look at the front (not so much with the other sides), with just the Purelle facing towards you, so much so, that if it weren’t for the fact it states ‘Smart Air Purifier’ on the front, you might be left guessing what exactly it was. Be that as it may, the top of the box features the badges you want to see i.e. ‘Works with Apple HomeKit’, but also includes both a Bluetooth logo as well as the ‘Built on Thread’ badge. Don’t worry about the Bluetooth part! Thread relies on Bluetooth only as a fallback if for any reason your Thread Border Router goes down, which wouldn’t be an issue if you had more than one border router anyway.

If you’re in the position to buy this off the shelf in a physical store (unlikely these days, but still), you’ll have all the information to hand with a lot of details on pretty much all aspects of the Purelle; the device uses a pair of True HEPA filters that comes in three parts to capture hair, pet dander, and other larger fibres, particulate matter (AKA PM2.5), and finally, odours, that are tackled by a layer of carbon.

In terms of specs and features, the main one here is that it works with Thread. Whilst it’s exclusively HomeKit compatible, there is an app that gives you access to some of the features that aren’t available in the Home app (but are via third-party apps). It comes with a built-in PM2.5 sensor, which you’d think was a given, although it would appear Meross didn’t get the memo on that one…

There’s a multicolour LED ring, and all manner of details via the digital display, which we’ll get into in more detail later, five fan speeds, plus a Sleep mode, and a child lock.

THE PURELLE

The Purelle is as minimalist in the ‘flesh’ as it appears on the box, at least from the front, with just the Airversa logo to punctuate the off-white plastic. The rear is almost as minimal, with a small coaxial port for power, and a small vent for the PM2.5 sensor. Both sides of the Purelle feature three rows of slots designed to take in the surrounding air, which is then cleaned by the two filters, before being expelled out the top of the purifier, via the fan, which surrounds the aforementioned digital display, that also acts as a control panel.

First impressions count, as they say, and all in all, the Purelle feels well made, considering it’s of typical moulded plastic. I didn’t feel any loose joints where the different parts meet, which isn’t the case with the Sensibo Air Purifier, which by contrast I found has ill-fitting sections and an overall loose feel to it. The top section contrasts with the off-white plastic body by using a mid-grey colour (absence of colour…?).

To access the filters, you do have to turn the unit upside down, so it’s just as well the Purelle only weighs around 3kg / 6.6lb. The digital display is slightly recessed, so turning it on its head shouldn’t scratch the display, although I’d still recommend laying a piece of cloth down first. A quick turn of the large lever in the centre of the base removes the whole bottom section, to then reveal two filters, as seen in the second image.

To replace them, you simply pull these filters out by the little attached material tabs found on both ends of the filters – making sure you also remove them from the plastic bags before using the machine.

Some people might prefer the tubular filters that you find in most of the other air purifiers on the market, and whilst they (in theory) give 360º coverage, the sheer size of them does present a bit more of a challenge when shipping compared to a pair of filters for the Purelle. Sure, we have free shipping these days for most things, but the extra size means more packaging and more costs for shipping, even if you’re not paying for it directly, so I’d suggest these are a tad more eco-friendly. They’re also reportedly cheaper at around US$25~30 for a pair of filters, compared to anything between US$40~60 depending on the purifier you have that uses the tubular-designed ones.

THE DIGITAL DISPLAY

Whether you like automations to trigger your devices, or occasionally just prefer to control the devices from your phone, there’s going to be a point where it’s just easier to control it ‘on-device’. This is where the digital display comes in handy, with controls for almost every feature the Purelle has to offer.

• The bottom has a power button that’s on at all times except for in Sleep mode. To the left of that is a symbol to show that the device is connected to your (Thread) network. This is also on at all times except for in Sleep mode.
• The centre of the display is mostly taken up with the PM2.5 reading, with buttons for the different functions surrounding it.
• Starting with the first icon to the right of the display is an icon that will flash when your filters need changing. Aside from that, the icon is just lit up, doing nothing else.
• Above that is a padlock icon, representing the child lock. You have to press this button for approximately 5 seconds to activate/deactivate the feature. When it’s active, no buttons will react to presses, simply resulting in a ‘double beep’ warning sound.
• Above that is a fan icon. Tapping this cycles through the five standard fan speeds, with the central display temporarily changing to the relevant fan speed number, before switching back to the PM2.5 levels.
• Right at the top is an Auto mode button. When this is active, the Purelle will simply adjust its fan speed depending on the PM2.5 levels.
• Further to the left, we have a clock icon that represents a delay-off timer. Each press of this button adds an hour to the time the purifier will turn off. The maximum is 24 hours, after which the timer will revert to zero hours – off, basically. Even though the timer increases in increments of one hour, the company’s Sleekpoint app allows you to set the timer in minutes as well.
• Below that is a moon icon. This is Sleep mode. Pressing this turns off all display elements, including the LED ring. The Sleep mode icon will also eventually turn off as well. Tapping on the display will turn this icon back on, with any subsequent button press turning the display fully back on.
• In between the power button and the PM2.5 display are five dashes. These represent the remaining life of the filters. As there are five of them, it stands to reason each slot represents 20% of the filters’ lives. Above the PM2.5 display are three wavey lines to indicate the fan is on. They flash in turn, and the faster the fan speed, the more frequently the lines flash.
• The LED Ring that surrounds the display is full colour and will change depending on the level of pollution, thereby giving you a quick visual representation of air quality from a distance, without having to check the display.

Both the LED ring and the display have options to be adjusted for brightness. In the Sleekpoint app, you can set the LED ring and display to one of five levels, each independently, or set them to ‘Adaptive’, where they react to the ambient light levels in the room the Purelle is located in, and adjust their brightness accordingly.

IN HOME | HOMEKIT

As you might expect with HomeKit and the Home app, things are very ‘vanilla’, with much the same options as any other purifier; You get a single tile to turn it on or off quickly, with a long press revealing a screen with an on/off button, and a slider to control the fan speed. The slider snaps to 20% increments to match the five fan speeds (plus off), so 100% on the slider is equivalent to speed 5 on the Purelle, for example.

The settings panel is as you’d expect, with all the standard settings for automations, naming the device and selecting the room it needs to be in. In addition to this, however, is an ‘Accessories’ section, with two accessories listed.

These two accessories are the air purifier again, which I know is confusing, but the fault lies partially with Apple and HomeKit in some ways, and the Air Quality sensor. Starting with the latter, you can see that once you dive into this section you get access to the Air Quality levels and the PM2.5 density. Both of these parameters can be used in automations directly within the Home app. The PM2.5 density gives accurate readings, whereas the Air Quality is based on general levels – Excellent, Good, Fair, Inferior, Poor.

If we go into the Air Purifier ‘accessory’ you get the same controls we’ve seen before, although instead of a power button we get a toggle switch. Going deeper into this section you then get access to manual and auto modes, with buttons for each mode. You also get access to the child lock. Both of these parameters can be used in automations within the Home app.

Some other third-party HomeKit apps get access to additional settings not available in the Apple Home app. Eve for HomeKit gives you options for turning the Purelle’s system sounds on or off, and also gives you filter maintenance details. You also have access to the child lock, although it’s on a separate screen.

AIRVERSA PURELLE AND THREAD

Staying with the Eve app, if you have at least one Thread-enabled Eve device and a HomeKit compatible Thread Border Router of course (HomePod mini, 2021 Apple TV4K), then you can access detailed information on your Thread network. On the first screen, you can see my Thread network, which currently comprises three Nanoleaf Essentials bulbs, a Wemo Stage Scene Controller Smart button, A Wemo Smart plug (Studio Lights), A couple of Eve Motion Smart Blinds, an Eve Energy Smart Plug, and at the bottom, four HomePods Mini. You can also see that the Airversa is listed as a ‘Router’, meaning it can act as a router for nearby Thread end devices, whilst also helping expand the Thread mesh network.

• One thing to note, is that I’ve found that some Thread devices will show as being connected to Bluetooth, not Thread, when initially set up. To fix this, I find that simply rebooting your phone then shows the device connected over Thread after that.

THE SLEEKPOINT APP

The Sleekpoint app isn’t a third-party HomeKit app like Eve for HomeKit, Controller, or Home+, for example, so you can only control devices that are part of Sleekpoint’s smart product lineup, which is just the Purelle right now. There are two other Airversa products, but neither is ‘smart’ and therefore can’t even be added to the app. So, at present, the main screen shows only my Purelle. If I had more, they’d all show up here of course.

Previously, you were required to set up an account in order to use the app, but a new update now provides Express mode, which allows you to access all the same features without having to set up an account. It should be noted, however, that if you go for Express mode, then, later on, decide you do want to create an account, the only way to do so is to delete the app, and reinstall it, to get to these options on the screen (screenshot #1).

Clicking on the device opens up a panel dedicated to the Purelle, which reveals a series of buttons at the top – power, Auto mode, Sleep mode, Child lock, and settings. Below are the PM2.5 levels. I’m currently using a beta version of the app, and as such there are a couple of issues, but I’m told Airversa are fixing them, one of which is the PM2.5 numbers being slightly out compared to what’s seen on the device’s display.

Below this section is a chart to show air quality levels over time, with daily, weekly, and monthly data.

One thing that’s missing from this main screen is quick access to the fan speeds, which I feel is a bit of an oversight. It is available, but you have to go into the settings page to access it, which seems odd. Alongside this option, you get access to separate controls for the brightness of the display and the LED ring. Both can be set to one of five levels of brightness, as well as have them set to ‘Adaptive Brightness’ that adjusts these levels depending on the surrounding light. The difference between levels 1 and 5 is not that large, however.

Where the Sleekpoint app is at its most useful is via Timers and Schedules; Whilst you can set timers directly from the digital display, you can only set timers in one-hour increments, whilst via the app, you can fine-tune these countdown timers to the minute. With Schedules, you not only get the option to set the device to turn on and off at certain times of the day and days of the week, but you can also set start and end dates in which these schedules will work. So, if for example, you’re away from home for a few days whilst you’re having a new bathroom fitted, perhaps, you can limit a specific schedule to work on the specific days that you’re out of the house, whilst also having regular schedules for other normal situations.

The other nice thing with Schedules is that you can have custom settings for pretty much all the other parameters, so you can set a specific fan mode and speed, as well as set the display and LED ring brightness to your liking. Whilst this may not seem of massive use, it does give you a level of customization you won’t get as easily in other apps.

PERFORMANCE / WRAPPING UP

Having had this on test for approximately 9 weeks now, and in terms of connection, the device has been almost totally rock-solid. There was an incident early on where the device lost connection and was only able to reconnect to the Thread network and HomeKit by power cycling it. This only happened once, however,  and happened within the first three weeks of use. Since then I’ve been using the device with updated firmware, and have so far not encountered this issue again. We’d all prefer a 100% success rate in this area of course, but even with the most reliable of devices, you’re likely to encounter an issue like this at one time or another, so I think this is a good sign for the Purelle.

In terms of its cleaning ability, as I don’t really have the kind of lab equipment to test in great detail, it’s hard for me to check the accuracy of the claims on cleaning efficiency. Still, when it comes to what tests I was able to do, it worked as expected, if not in any particularly dazzling manner.

I performed a few smoke tests to check that the PM2.5 sensor was capable of effectively picking up on the smoke, and it worked as expected. In these same tests, I did also measure the PM2.5 levels with a separate device (the QingPing Air Monitor Lite – review HERE, Video HERE). The levels were at a high level during the air pollution test, as expected, and would go down once the Purelle got to work, although as this is designed for small to medium rooms, how fast this change takes place will vary. What I also did was check the difference between the surrounding ‘polluted’ air, and the relative cleanliness of the air being filtered and pushed out through the top of the Purelle. This test clearly shows the air to be a lot cleaner, which is expected of course, but also confirms that it’s working.

In terms of schedules and automations, I had the Purelle working via schedules in both HomeKit and via the Sleekpoint app and had no issues with failed or delayed running times. All in all, I would say that the Purelle performed its required tasks perfectly well, so in that respect, there’s really nothing to complain about. It would be nice to have more of the extras exposed directly exposed to the Home app, but I suspect much of this lies in the hands of Apple.

I’d love to see a larger version too if that is a possibility, but given Airversa is a new brand, we’ll have to give them a bit of time to find their feet perhaps. As Thread is still being adopted at a slower pace than many might like, it’s refreshing to see a company not only embrace this new technology out of the gate but be the first to deliver a brand new product category in the Thread arena, so all kudos to them for that.

The final point, which I try to not focus on too much at present, is Matter, as it’s still not here, so it feels odd talking about something that’s yet to show itself. Still, Matter is on the minds of many who are wary of buying a product that’s only compatible with HomeKit at this time, when Matter is just over the next hill. After having spoken to the company, they’ve informed me that whilst they don’t have immediate plans to look at Matter just yet (sort of understandable for a company with only one product) their plans for future products all involve Thread, with the aim to go ‘all in’ on the protocol. They also informed me that, unlike the relatively recent news that Nanoleaf’s Thread-enabled Essentials lineup (bulb and light strip) aren’t powerful enough to become Matter compatible, the chip used for Airversa’s products is capable of being updated to work with Matter, once they’re in a position to tackle it. Bear in mind that in many ways, it makes little difference for HomeKit users as to whether this is Matter compatible or not, at least that’s how I’m currently viewing the landscape as it stands, as I feel that Matter is going to be a longer and slower process than many care to believe. That’s another conversation of course, and as far as the Airversa Purelle is concerned, for now, this is the only Thread-enabled air purifier in a small sea of purifiers that are sticking to 2.4GHz WiFi, so the company are taking a leap of faith, that many other more established companies still aren’t ready to commit to. I’ll get off my soapbox now…

The post Airversa Purelle Air Purifier with Thread (review) appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

• Control lights, devices and entire scenes with movement, or even depending on brightness or time of day.
• Receive notifications when motion is detected; review motion time and duration in the Eve app
• Eve Motion has a 120° field of view, up to 9 m / 30 ft detection range and can be flexibly placed indoors, outdoors and wall-mounted thanks to wireless battery operation and IPX3 water resistance. Set the sensitivity of the motion detector individually by location.
• HomeKit technology: Joins your Thread network automatically (supports Bluetooth and Thread); HomeKit-enabled for unparalleled ease of use and advanced security; get up and running in a flash with a quick & easy set up and no need for a bridge or gateway.
• 100% Privacy: No Eve cloud, no registration, no tracking. Local intelligence and direct communication without bridge or cloud dependency.

The post Eve Motion with Thread appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

It doesn’t end there, however, as you get a premium device for a budget, with a smart home product that is literally brimming with features – all at your fingertips, via the Purelle’s clear digital display. the touchscreen is designed for simple control as well as keep you informed on the quality of the air in your home, to keep your family’s health in check, all with the smart capabilities offered by Apple Home and Thread.

The Purelle’s large digital display gives you everything you need to keep air quality in check, so you can protect your family’s health with just a quick glance.

• Fan Speed – 5 speeds, including Auto and Sleep modes
• Timers – Set the Purelle to automatically turn off after between 1-24hrs in 1hr increments
• Child Lock – Prevents your toddler from inadvertently activating the Purelle
• Air Quality – Large numbers display the PM2.5 levels
• On/Off Control – Turn the Purelle on or off directly from the screen
• Filter Life – View the remaining life of the filters and get alerts when they need replacing
• Connection – Check to make sure your Purelle is connected to your Thread network
• LED Ring – A large colour ring surrounds the display, changing colour depending on the quality of the surrounding air

If you’re building up your smart home, many of the devices offered today will use 2.4GHz Wi-Fi for connectivity. However, It only takes a small collection of Wi-Fi smart bulbs and smart plugs before your home network begins to creak under the strain of all these connected devices, vying for your router’s resources.

Purelle deals with this by utilising Thread, a brand new wireless protocol that takes the strain away from your Wi-Fi network, and creating what can be described as a special Mesh Network, separate from Wi-Fi. As you add more Thread devices to this network, it actually becomes more robust, and more reliable, as well as seeing fast response times.

To utilize Thread with Apple HomeKit, all you need is a Thread Border Router – currently a HomPod mini, or an Apple TV 4K (2021+ model). The Purelle will connect to one of these routers and other Thread devices to spread and enhance your Thread network. If you don’t have one of these, you can still use the Purelle via Bluetooth.

The post Airversa Purelle Air Purifier appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

PACKAGE/CONTENTS

Having received the package – which also included the company’s HomeKit compatible Zigbee hub we’ll see later – it did come across that this product is/was originally intended for installers only, as it’s not retail packaging as such. No matter, but also of interest is that despite LifeSmart selling this only in China at present, the specs are also listed in English on the side of the box which gives rise to the hope that this will start to filter to Western outlets at some point;

• Model: MIR-HE200
• Size: $80 × 47mm (ceiling cutting size $65mm)
• Operating voltage: AC100-240V
• Wireless protocol: ZigBee 3.0
• Detection type: Millimetre-wave doppler radar
• Operating temperature: -10~55°C
• Operating humidity: 5~95%
• Mounting type: Ceiling recessed

As you can already gather from the specs above, this is a Zigbee 3.0 device, which is why I was also sent the LifeSmart Smart Station, and whilst it uses Zigbee for communication, the method used for detection is something called mmWave (Millimetre Wave) technology, which is a form of radar I’m told, the source technology of which is actually a lot older than you might realise (EHF – Wikipedia). As it can use 100~240V AC, it’s also suitable for anywhere where there’s electricity!

CONTENTS

There are only two things in the box; the Human Presence Sensor itself (referred to forthwith as the HPS), and the manual, in English and Simplified Chinese.

The manual, although small (with correspondingly tiny print…) goes into great detail on the product and what it’s capable of, which is somewhat of a rarity I’ve found.

THE PRESENCE SENSOR

The HPS takes on a similar form to a downlight in that the body fits through a hole in a ceiling, with only the front-facing portion being visible, and almost flush with the ceiling. This is going to be an issue with some users of course, but if you do have recessed lighting of similar dimensions, and can afford to remove one of them in place of the HPS, you should be ok, especially given that the wires can just be hooked up to existing ones with very minor adjustments.

Whilst the FPS has two wires for permanent power (no batteries), there is a small compartment secured by one screw that contains receptacles labelled A and B, I assume, for two wires. There’s no mention of this part in the manual, but I’ve seen something similar with an Aqara Gas Leak Sensor. If anyone has an idea what these are for, let me know in the comments!

Other than the two spring-loaded handles, there’s only the front-facing portion that has anything of note; for the most part, the sensor is quite minimalist looking, with a flat face punctuated only by a couple of circular devices – a pairing/reset button, and an ambient light sensor. Yes, the HPS also includes a light sensor, and better still, it’s also exposed to HomeKit. Just below the pairing button, there’s a hidden red LED that you’ll see when pairing, and when the device is set up and detections motion.

A QUICK LOOK AT THE ZIGBEE GATEWAY

The LifeSmart Smart Station comes in more standard retail packaging (I forgot to photograph it…) and contains almost everything you’ll need to get set up.

The gateway itself is a fairly plain box with just the LifeSmart logo on the top, a small reset button on the back that accompanies an RJ45 port, and a coaxial port for power.

To power the gateway, there’s a USB-A to coaxial power cable, although they don’t provide a USB plug, which has become ‘de rigueur’ across the tech industry. You do get an ethernet cable, however, as the gateway can only connect to your network via a modem, router or internet switch, as there’s no WiFi capability. Finally a manual in English is provided.

As with practically all hub-based setups for HomeKit, you add the gateway to the LifeSmart app, which also includes scanning the HomeKit QR code (found on the inside lid of the box and the base of the gateway) to get it exposed to HomeKit. Once that’s in the bag, any compatible devices added to the gateway are then exposed to HomeKit. This is exactly the case with the HPS.

THE HPS IN HOMEKIT

As the HPS is ‘all sensor’, In HomeKit/The Home app you’re no going to get a tile to represent it, so it’ll appear at the top along with other sensors. As it also has an ambient light sensor, this also means these two sensors are located in different places. The light sensor appears in the bathroom alongside the light sensor within the Hue Motion Sensor. Just a side note: the reason for the different readings is that the Hue Motion sensor is pointed more towards a window, whereas the LifeSmart one is pointed towards the ground.

You may also notice that whilst HomeKit has separate categories for motion and presence/occupancy, for whatever reason, the LifrSmart offering has been assigned to the standard motion category. This could be an error on the company’s part, although as the device is able to detect motion as well as presence, it sort of makes sense to include it. It doesn’t affect the usefulness or functionality of the device at all, as automation options for occupancy/presence and motion appear to be the same in HomeKit.

THE HPS IN THE LIFESMART APP

I actually started using LifeSmart products back in 2017, as was a contributor to this site – Kevin Patenaude. In that time, I’ve seen the LifeSmart app change quite a few times, and I’ll be honest and say that whilst the UI has improved, when it comes to automations, it’s far too complicated. That said, as I’ve only currently got a set of LifeSmart ColoLight Plus tiles running in HomeKit, there’s not a lot of need for automations in the LifeSmart app. The HPS has its own tile, and once pressed, reveals a small section with tabs for Motion and Luminance. These take you to the relevant sections that record data for each sensor. Pressing the three dots in the corner takes you to the Setting page.

As mentioned, the separate tabs take you to the relevant pages that reveal data for both motion/presence and luminance. For both of these there’s a wealth of information available, with the overall layout of them appealingly designed (in my opinion). Whether this kind of data is of importance to you is another thing, but it’s good to have it if needed.

If you click on the ‘Settings’ option within the ‘Settings’ page (…!) you get access to two further options – Sensitivity, and Scene Pattern. The former is fairly straightforward and allows the sensitivity of the ‘motion detection’ functionality of the HPS to be adjusted. The Scene Pattern option is where things get a bit more interesting, as it allows the presence sensor to be adjusted for various preset types of scenarios;

• Default
• Area detect
• Toilet
• Bedroom
• Living Room
• Office
• Hotel

If you look at the third screenshot above, after each preset there are three variables – W, N, and O – each followed by a number that differs depending on the preset. According to the manual, the HPS has three detection angles, a Wide angle (W), a Narrow angle (N), and an Oblique angle (O). The numbers themselves refer to the diameter of the detection range.

If you imagine the detection area of the HPS to be an oval, the Wide and Narrow Angles refer to the widest and narrowest areas of detection. In the image above, the arrows refer to these detection angles, so the placement of the sensor is actually just as important as the location. What purpose do these detection angles serve, you may wonder. Well, as far I’ve been able to make out from the manual, different areas might have specific requirements as to how far the sensor can detect. For example, the bathroom I’ve got it temporarily set up in, it’s quite small, but the bathroom itself has a sliding door that’s usually open. This means that it’s possible for the HPS sensor to detect initial motion beyond the confines of the bathroom. However, by placing the HPS so that the ‘Narrow’ detection angle is positioned so that it’s aimed toward the bathroom doorway, I can eliminate this problem. So going back to the presets and the numbers that follow them, you can see the different presets offer different detection ranges, depending on your needs. It would seem that these detection ranges cover the motion detection range only, with the presence (or Static Detection Range, as it’s called in the manual) being the same for all presets, which is W 4m | N 3m | O 3m. The manual also states that there’s a distance tolerance of ±0.5m.

So, it would seem that for the best results, generally speaking, you would need to place the sensor according to the relevant dimensions of the room it’s placed in, with the Narrow angle covering the narrowest part of the room – unless it’s perfectly square of course! One other use case for these different detection angles is that due to the nature of how mmWave works, it’s entirely possible that the HPS can detect presence through low density materials. If for example you have this set up in a small room that has been annexed from another room with plasterboard, it may well detect presence on the other side of that wall. It just depends on the wall’s materials. If it were a brick wall, it wouldn’t be able to penetrate past the bricks. the HPS can also detect presence through glass, so unlike a motion sensor that might not detect motion through the glass partition of a shower, the HPS is more than capable.

WHY A ‘HUMAN’ PRESENCE SENSOR?

According to the manual, the detection algorithm detects presence and determine whether that object is a human or not. This may be based on the shape, size and height of the object, as adult humans generally don’t walk on ‘all fours’ like a dog or cat would. As an example, a dog would create a different detection shape and area, along with its height compared to a human in most cases. In my tests, which you can see in the video, when my dog walked into the bathroom, the Hue motion sensor was triggered, but not the HPS. As soon as I walked in, the HPS was triggered.

Assuming this works well and is accurate for most of the time, this could really make the difference when detecting between an intruder and a pet, if you’re away from home. That said, some non-human devices like standing fans or otherwise moving objects like AC units can create false triggers, so once again, placement is really important.

HOW DOES IT COMPARE TO THE AQARA FP1

This is in some ways a bit tricky to answer. As presence sensors, they both work really well, and will know whether you’re really in a room or not, even if you fall asleep. They both have different plus points however; For example, the FP1 has an option to map out the room it’s monitoring, with the ability to create sections that it can ignore for the purposes of detection. So if you have a fan that’s on for most of the time, sat in one corner, you can select the region of the room layout in the Aqara app and set it as a non-detection area. This is quite handy, although actually mapping out your room is a bit of a thankless task, when you try to work out the edges of the detection range. The FP1 also has other functions that are supposed to detect the direction in which an object is moving. Unfortunately, in practice this simply doesn’t work most of the time, at least in my experience. It does have to be permanently powered, but as it comes with a USB-A plug on the end of a fixed cord, it’s probably more convenient to place this than the HPS.

The HPS has the presets, which seem to work well, but what really pushes it forward compared to the FP1 is that it is consistently able to detect motion as fast as a standard Zigbee PIR motion sensor (fast!). The FP1 generally takes around 5-6 seconds to detect motion, although to be fair, you can set motion detect to be much faster, depending on the type of detection option you select in an automation. This is only an option in the Aqara app, and therefore can only be used to trigger other Aqara devices, so in HomeKit, motion detection is stuck at 5-6 seconds, which is far too slow, so you’d have to use the FP1 in conjunction with an Aqara motion sensor perhaps if you want to trigger other non-Aqara HomeKit devices in a HomeKit automation. Not so with the HPS.

The downside to the HPS when compared to the FP1 is that the time the HPS takes before it resets to ‘no presence detected’ is anything between 75-100 seconds. The FP1 on the other hand, can detect the lack of presence within a few seconds.

WRAPPING UP

As previously stated, I began using LifeSmart products back in 2017. At that time the original LifeSmart Smart station wasn’t officially compatible with HomeKit, but the app had this sneaky little ‘beta’ feature that allowed the app to generate a HomeKit code, which would then allow the gateway to be added to HomeKit (non-certified of course). This allowed a lot of its other child devices to also be exposed to HomeKit, which back in 2017 was great, as there wasn’t the abundance of devices for HomeKit like there is today. As the amount of compatible devices grew, and once Aqara came on the scene, my LifeSmart devices got less and less use, so it’s a bit strange to be revisiting the company again. What’s great is that in doing so with something fairly unique right now, and something that does what it needs to without any problems to date.

All in all, I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how well it works, especially since the FP1 failed on many of the extras it offers, so it’s hard to fault it. As previously stated, the fact that it’s ultimately better to have this ceiling mounted (you can work around it, but it looks odd) is going to put some people off, and as it can’t just be magnetically mounted anywhere like the FP1 can, does present a challenge. That said, if you are ceiling mounting this, you’re unlikely to be moving it around, so mobility isn’t such an issue.

With the addition of the light sensor being exposed to HomeKit to make even better and more intricate motion/presence based automations, it’s actually a really decent device to have. LifeSmart aren’t as easy to find in the West, as say Aqara, but the company are working on that, and if their Cololight Strip and tiles are anything to go by, they’ll achieve this without many issues. Recommended.

Full disclosure: LifeSmart provided HomeKit News with LifeSmart Human Presence Sensor for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was made, requested or has not in any way influenced our opinion of this product.

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