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.

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.

UNBOXING | CONTENTS

As with the P1, the Air Purifier 2 (herein referred to as the AP2) comes in a decent box to protect it from being damaged, and in my case, this seems to have been shipped halfway across the United States, before being sent over to Hong Kong, and finally Taiwan, with no damage at all, thankfully. The box did look a bit grubby, but that’s ok. The box tells you pretty much all you need to know, including compatibility (Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple HomeKit), along with features and specifications.

The AP2 is a bit of a sight to behold, with a metallic blue/grey colour and gold base, with the air vent at the top matching in a slightly darker blue/grey. Whereas the P1 came in two colour options, the AP2 only comes in the one finish, but it looks great, so no complaints there. Aside from the AP2 and an included filter, there’s really just a power cable and the manual in English and Spanish.

In terms of size, it’s 200mm (7.87in) taller than the P1, at 563mm (22.17in) tall, compared to 362.5mm (14.27in) for the P1, with the AP2 being slightly wider/deeper than the P1. With the extra size comes a new filter, and of course more capacity to clean;

AP2 vs. P1

• Pollen CADR – 208CFM (353m³/H) | 150CFM (250m³/H)
• Dust CADR – 196CFM (333m³/H) | 130CFM (220m³/H)
• Smoke CADR – 196CFM (333m³/H) | 130CFM (220m³/H)
• Room Size – 279~484 sq ft (26~45m²) | 180~320 sq ft (17.5~30m²)
• Rated power – 40w | 30w

Another difference is in the materials used for the main body of the device. The P1 uses a metal shell, whilst the AP2 is in plastic. This does make sense, as using the same materials as the P1 would make the AP2 considerably heavier.

THE AIR PURIFIER

Speaking of weight, to replace the filter in the P1, you would have to lift and turn it on its head in order to access the filter for replacement. Not so with the AP2, which has a door on the rear, which is opened via an easy-to-operate latch. This removes the door entirely, enabling you to pull the filter out with relative ease. This is also where the one and only instance of the HomeKit QR code can be found.

For power, the AP2 can be used anywhere, with it accepting 100-240VAC @ 50/60Hz. The provided cable, which in my case uses the North American type A plug, comes with what I typically describe as a ‘cassette player’ power lead – one that you would also find used with an Apple TV. However, the one provided here comes with one half of the plug squared off, so you can only plug it in one way, which I assume is the whole reason for the design.

The back section is rounded off with a laser particle sensor designed to measure particulate matter (PM2.5/10). Next to that is a small hole that houses temperature and humidity sensors. These are not exposed to HomeKit unfortunately, so you only really see them in the Smartmi Link app. Above that is a button that can set the display to one of three levels – Light (full brightness), Shimmer (low brightness), and Off (only the two buttons remain lit). Above the button are four small holes that house the TVOC Sensor.

The top of the AP2 is where all the action is, with the combined control panel & display sitting bang in the centre of the outlet fan, just like their original air purifier, and the P1. With the control panel/display you can both see data for the surrounding air, as well as control the AP2 itself;

• Around the edge of the display is a colour LED ring designed to give you an overall view of general air quality (combined VOC and PM2.5 levels). This changes colour depending on these levels, with;
  • green – excellent air quality
  • yellow – good air quality
  • orange – moderate
  • red – unhealthy
• A ‘pollen’ icon, designed to do much the same as the LED ring, but more focused on PM2.5 and PM10, which includes pollen.
• Below is a readout of the actual PM2.5 levels;
  • 1~20µg/m³ – excellent
  • 21~35µg/m³ – good
  • 36~55µg/m³ – moderate
  • >55µg/m³ – unhealthy
• Directly below that is a strip to specifically show TVOC levels. Under normal circumstances, a little square will show, but as the VOC levels get higher, one, two or three bars will reveal themselves in one long strip.
• Either side of the previously mentioned two sections is buttons.
  • The left button cycles through three different modes;
    • Sleep mode – the lowest fan setting
    • Manual mode – the fan spins at the speed you set it at in HomeKit or the Smartmi Link app
    • Auto mode – the fan spins and changes speed based on the air quality readings
  • The right button is merely for power, however, pressing and holding both buttons will reset the device.
• Below that is an icon to show which mode the AP2 is set to;
  • A ‘Moon’ icon for Sleep mode
  • An ‘A’ icon for Auto mode
  • A ‘Heart’ Icon for Manual mode
• A WiFi icon to indicate that the AP2 is connected to your home WiFi network. The AP2 only connects to the 2.4GHz WiFi band.
• A temperature reading – The temperature is shown in ºF or ºC depending on your settings in the Smartmi app.
• Finally, a UV icon to let you know if the built-in UV light is active or not.

When you first plug the AP2 in, or re/place the filter, upon powering up, the screen will briefly display the filter life in terms of a percentage.

It’s hard to fault the control panel (aside from the ºF vs. ºC issue), as it gives you almost total physical control of the AP2, as well as giving you pretty much all the info you need, to the extent that it would barely be noticeable if it wasn’t a smart device as such, in many ways. The one aspect you can’t control is the speed of the fan in Manual mode. To control the fan in this mode, you need to use a HomeKit app or the Smartmi Link app.

One possibly interesting find is that when you adjust the fan speed in either Smartmi Link or Apple Home/HomeKit, you can adjust in 1% increments. This might seem normal, but in actual fact, some air purifiers can only change speed relating to the specific preset speeds they’re designed with. So in the case of the Vocolinc PureFlow, it has 5 speeds, which means when you adjust the slider it will snap to 0% (off), 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, or 100%. The 20% – 100% steps directly correlate with the 5 speeds available on the device. If you try to get Siri to set the PureFlow to 55%, for example, it’ll round up to 60%. The AP2, on the other hand, can be set to 55% – or any other speed – without any problems.

Unfortunately, Smartmi decided to remove two useful features from the display that are found on the P1, namely an option to cycle through three different preset fan speeds (plus Auto), as well as a feature to set the AP2 to run for 1, 2, 4, or 8 hours before automatically shutting off. These can still be achieved from within the Smartmi app, but not the control panel/display. Whilst that might seem a shame, we are talking about a device designed to be used as part of a smart home ecosystem, so in reality, setting automations to do much the same things is sort of the point, with physical control almost a secondary option, so it’s not as big a deal as it might seem.

In HomeKit and the Home app, you get the one tile to represent the AP2. A long press reveals the standard on/off toggle switch and a slider for the fan speed. Scrolling further down reveals the settings page, revealing two ‘accessories’, which I guess could be described as services.

The two aforementioned ‘accessories’ are for the AP2, and air quality details, so for the AP2, you get a repeat of the basic controls we see initially, namely the toggle switch and slider for fan speed. If you scroll down, this reveals a little more, with separate buttons for manual and auto modes, as well as a horizontal slider for the fan speed, and details on filter condition and filter life.

The Air Quality tile, once pressed, reveals overall air quality, which is a combination of VOC and PM2.5 levels, and a specific reading for PM2.5 density. What you don’t get are specific numbers for VOCs, temperature levels, or humidity levels. Ultimately this isn’t a big deal for me, as I prefer to keep an eye on TVOC levels with an independent device, which is also the case for temperature and humidity levels, especially given that I have devices for these readings dotted about the house anyway.

As is usually the case, the native app for Smartmi offers more, although personally, it’s of little use without better automation options, which I’ll mention later. The main screen for the AP2 shows you an animated device (if it’s on) with a ‘sliding carousel’ control bar that allows you to select Auto, Sleep and Custom modes (Why is it described as Manual on the device, but Custom here?). Custom mode allows you to increase the fan speed, although in this case it’s reflected in terms of the size of the room it needs to cover – the larger the living space, the faster the fan, basically.

You also get to see the temperature and humidity readings from the on-device sensors I mentioned earlier that aren’t exposed to HomeKit.

Pushing up on the temperature/humidity section reveals a lot more; from there you can check the filter life, adjust the screen’s brightness, set timers for the device to turn on or off, and select delayed off presets (1, 2, 4, and 8 hrs). You can also turn the UV lamp on or off, deactivate system sounds (I recommend doing so, as the ‘beep’ is quite loud), and deploy the child lock function. On the home page screen, you can also check which devices within the Smartmi app are linked to HomeKit.

At the top of the home page, there are three icons, the latter two of which, once pressed, reveal rudimentary graphs for TVOCs and PM2.5, respectively. Whilst it’s nice to have these, aside from the colour of the lines, you don’t really get an idea of the numbers for these readings, so you have to just treat them as rough historical data.

There’s a lot to like with the AP2, one of which is the ability to remove the top grille in order to give the inside a bit of a clean. The grille itself is held by a small screw on the rear, and once removed still sits tightly in place until you rotate it anti-clockwise. They probably don’t need the screw, to be honest, and as I was removing the small screw for the first time, I thought to myself, I bet this drops to the floor and will be a bugger to find. No soon had I thought of it, than it happened! So, you’ve been warned.

In a time when certain viruses are at the forefront of many people’s minds, the included UV light is a welcome, timely arrival. As I stated at the start, there’s no way for me to test whether bacteria and viruses possibly trapped in the filter are being chemically dismantled by the UV interaction, but it’s unlikely the company would make such claims without the proof to back them up, and as this technology is already proven to work, I feel I can rest assured that it’s certainly not hurting to have it turned on.

WRAPPING UP

Despite a couple of shortcomings, I have to give some credit to Smartmi for pushing HomeKit to this latest device. It looks really nice – nicer in fact than the model it’s an upgrade from, with a larger display, better intake design (albeit very subtle), and the increased display screen. I like the choice of colour too, and this has already replaced my Vocolinc PureFlow in the bedroom (the PureFlow resides in our living room now). Speaking of the PureFlow, I recently replaced the pair of filters, which came to US$80 plus shipping, so I’m looking forward to having just one filter at around half the price for a while. It’s also a lot more budget-friendly than the now slightly ageing PureFlow, which looks a tad old-fashioned.

What’s lacking is at least some of the features that are accessible within the Smartmi Link app. I appreciate that not everything can be exposed to HomeKit, but I think the display should be able to be turned off via an automation, which isn’t even possible within the company’s own app as an automation, and only by turning the display off via the button on the rear.

There is one major bug that I’m sure is fixable via an update, where the device detects VOCs and shows less than clean air via the Smartmi app and the AP2’s display, however, in my tests, the VOC levels in HomeKit never reflected this, always showing ‘Excellent’ regardless of how bad the VOC levels were. This definitely needs to be fixed, as there’s currently no way to create an automation using this sensor to trigger the fan. You’re probably wondering, why I don’t just have the AP2 on Auto mode. Well, that would make sense, but in my tests, unlike high PM2.5 detection, which would send the fan to a fast speed, when the AP2 detected high VOCs, the fan would increase its speed by only a little amount. This is ultimately why I think it’s best to use external sensors to detect things like this and via automations take the appropriate action.

If Smartmi can fix these issues, this would make Air Purifier 2 the device of choice for larger rooms.

Full disclosure: Smartmi provided HomeKit News with Smartmi Air Purifier 2 for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was made, requested or has not in any way influenced our opinion of this product.

The post Smartmi Air Purifier 2 (review) appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

• Wide Coverage & Improved Performance: Our smart air purifier 2 features Nanoguard Technology and 360° air intake. It is also equipped with a filter that is capable of refreshing air 3 times per hour in rooms as large as 484 ft² / 45 m². It effectively removes airborne particles 0.08 micrometres in size with a CADR of 380 m3/h, and also purifies rooms with Volatile Organic Compounds(VOC) and large pollutants. You can now say goodbye to impure air at home.
• Multiple Levels of Purification: One of the first-ever allergies air purifiers with TÜV Rheinland “Allergy Care” Certification. The H13 True HEPA Filter works alongside the Pre-Filter and the High-Efficiency Activated Carbon Filter to capture 99.98% of airborne particles, such as dust, pollen, pet dander, smoke, odour, etc., ensuring that everyone, especially people with asthma and allergies, breathes safe, healthy and pure air. (CADR: Dust 224 CFM, Pollen 206 CFM, Smoke 224 CFM).
• Additional Layer of Protection: The built-in, short-wave UV-C light kills germs, bacteria, and viruses that are airborne and trapped in the filter for deep and thorough cleaning. The UV light disinfection provides an added layer of protection and can be turned off anytime via the app. It’s your great choice of our air purifier for home.
• Quiet and Efficient: This smart air purifier consumes 40W of energy and is whisper-quiet, with noise levels ranging from 30dB to 64dB. You can choose from 3 modes: Auto, Favorite, and Sleep. The nighttime option in Sleep mode is the lowest setting that operates in virtual silence, and with panel lights that can be completely dimmed at any time, it ensures you can sleep in a noiseless, comfortable environment all night long. Fan speed in the Favorite mode can be adjusted manually.
• Easy App Smart Control: With the free Smartmi Link app, you can control your Smartmi Air Purifier 2 from anywhere. Adjust settings while you’re in another room, at work, or out walking the dog. It is also compatible with Alexa, Google Assistant, and Homekit. Please refer to the product guide and video on the page for instructions on connecting to the app. Additionally, you can always contact us via Amazon if you need any assistance.

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• 414 ft² – 710 ft²
• NanoGuard Technology
• TVOC Clean Air Delivery Rate  (250m³/hour)
• Clean Air Delivery Rate (550m³/hour)
• Air quality monitor and capitalized display

Detailed specs

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• 334 ft² – 581 ft²
• NanoGuard Technology with UV Sterilization
• TVOC Clean Air Delivery Rate  (150m³/hour)
• Clean Air Delivery Rate (450m³/hour)
• Air quality monitor and capitalized display

Detailed specs

• Type – UVC Air Purifier
• CADR – CADR 450 m³/h | TVOC CADR 150 m³/h
• Room Size – 334 ft² – 581 ft²
• Filter Type – Jya NanoGuard Technology
• Smart Sensors – Laser Particle Sensor/Gas Sensor/Environment Sensors
• Display – OLED / Touch Screen
• Air Quality Monitoring and Display – PM 2.5 / PM 10 / TVOCs / Temperature / Humidity
  • On-screen numerical display
  • Air Quality Indicator Light
• Additional Features – UV light sterilization | Hidden Omni-directional wheels
• Maximum Noise Level – < 66 dB(A)
• Smart Connectivity – Works with Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Smartmi Link
• Dimensions (mm) – 290 * 260 * 535 mm
• Rated Wattage – 48W
• Weight (kg) – 6.5kg

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With many of us spending more time at home, improving our indoor air quality has become even more vital to our physical and mental wellbeing. STARKVIND air purifier is the latest addition to the IKEA Home smart range and a smarter way to control our indoor air quality. Pollen, dust particles, pet hair and dander, and even fumes and odours from cooking and cleaning all contribute to indoor air polution and can negatively affect our physical health. STARKVIND air purifiers combine our extensive knowledge of home furnishings with indoor air quality control technology. It’s attractive, effective, and connects with the TRÅDFRI gateway and IKEA Home smart app to allow you to control your home’s air quality.

Available in two models – Both the floor and side table models of STARKVIND air purifiers are designed for modern living. They can be connected to the TRÅDFRI gateway and IKEA Home smart app, have clever functions and design solutions such as built-in air quality sensors to detect airborne particles, filter change indicators, child lock setting and cable management. Pollen, odours or all of the above? STARKVIND comes equipped with a particle filter for filtering dust, pollen and other airborne allergens. An optional gas filter can used with the particle filter to help clear the air of gas, fumes and odours.

Settings to suit your needs. With the STARKVIND air purifier, you have flexibility in controlling your home’s air quality. Choose how you prefer to adjust it — manual or auto mode, which monitors air quality thanks to the air purifier’s built-in sensors which detect particle levels in the air and adjusts the fan speed as needed. STARKVIND air purifier has five settings — the lowest being quiet enough for a good night’s sleep.

The post Ikea Starkvind Air Purifier appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

Today’s product, the QingPing Air Monitor Lite, does indeed detect both PM2.5 and PM10, but it’s also one of the few devices to measure C0² or Carbon Dioxide. We breathe out C0², but C0² can easily build up in confined spaces over a period of time (which I’ve found out myself since testing this device) and can lead to some less than ideal side effects. Most of these in almost all cases aren’t life-threatening, but at a minimum, can lead to difficulty in concentration, mild headaches, and general fuzziness, for want of a better description. Ok, so you know what we’re looking at today. If this interests you, read on…

PACKAGING/UNBOXING

Having already covered the company’s E-ink temperature and humidity sensor, I knew felt comfortable expecting this to be a decent product, which judging by the packaging, already hints that this will be the case. The box protects the contents really well, being that they use a really solid card. Although I’ve got the Chinese version, hence the Chinese text on the back, the version that is now available on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, and Amazon.de is exactly the same. The packaging clearly states that the Air Monitor Lite (henceforth referred to as AML in this review) contained sensors for temperature, humidity, PM2.5/PM10, and Carbon Dioxide (Co2). Below are the specs;

• connectivity – Wifi 2.4GHz & Bluetooth 5.0
• Screen type – OLED
• Screen size – 59.9 x 49.9mm / 2.36 x 1.96in
• power input – 5V/1A
• Power connection – USB-C
• Battery – lithium

As you can see, the AML uses both Bluetooth and WiFi. I’ll get to that later, but to put you at ease, this is a WiFi device in terms of basic connectivity.

In the box, you simply get a manual, a USB-A to USB-C cable, and the device itself. The manual comes in Simplified Chinese and English, although there may be more languages that come with the internationally available version. The manual comes with one instance of the HomeKit code.

THE DEVICE

Although I first reported on this device last year, I wasn’t fully able to appreciate the design of the AML until I got it in my hands. To me, this really does exude Apple in terms of the minimalist approach and the modern – yet also retro – design. I’m already very impressed with the look and feel of it before it’s even plugged in, basically! In the hand, it feels really solid, with no hit of loosely put together parts. the AML has a decent weight to it, which belies the size of the device – 55 x 64 x 46mm / 2.17 x 2.52 x 1.81in (H, W, D), and coming in at just 147g / 5.91oz.

Although the front appears to be ‘all screen’, only a small portion of it contains active LEDs, but due to the OLED technology, when it’s on, you can barely notice where the border ends and the screen begins. The pixel density isn’t particularly high, and so you can easily make out individual pixels when you look close enough, but the designers have chosen to make this work in their favour, using square text and a rather 70s style font for the main readings, that is more than a little reminiscent of the numbers you might see on the back of a soccer player’s shirt.

At the top of the display, you get a WiFi strength indicator on the right, and a series of five dots indicating the sequence of the five sensors the AML displays. To the left is a battery icon, which will show an additional symbol when it’s being charged or plugged into mains power. The centre of the screen is taken up with the number for the relevant sensor, and directly below this is the name of the relevant sensor. At the very top is a thin LED strip that changes colour to indicate how good or bad the readings are for a particular sensor.

As you can see from the images above, the levels for PM2.5, PM10 and Carbon Dioxide are all good, which is not only indicated by the numbers but also the green LED above the display. This colour strip will display a different set of colours depending on the particular sensor;

PM2.5 & PM10

• ► Excellent, ► Good, ► Slightly Polluted, ► Moderately Polluted, ► Heavily Polluted, ► Severely Polluted

Carbon Dioxide

• ► Normal, ► Slightly High, ► High, ► Very High

In the case of the images above, you can see that the temperature is deemed ‘slightly high’, and the humidity level is ‘humid’, with the LED colours for the strip corresponding to the readings (Taiwan is hot and humid for much of the year).

Whilst the readings can be viewed from a reasonable distance, the colour strip is also viewable from a good distance, so it’s great that they’ve included this as an extra visual indicator.

Temperature

• ► Low (< 20ºC), ► Slightly Low (20 – 23ºC), ► Suitable, ► Slightly High, ► High

Humidity

• ► Very Dry, ► Dry, ► Suitable, ► Humid (60 – 80%), ► Very Humid (> 80%)

As with many of the recent devices I’ve reviewed, the AML comes with a USB-C port. It may not seem like a big deal, but given this can function using its built-in battery, you’re going to find yourself plugging in the cable at some point, and so anything to make that as quick and easy as possible is welcome, which is something you get with USB-C.

Alongside this port is a small power button. This can both turn off the whole device, or simply turn the display on or off. Completing the back section, and something that is indeed pretty much all of the back section, is a grille that allows the surrounding air to be taken in and sampled for the purposes of PM2.5 and PM10, for example.

With the AML having five sensors, it was wise for QingPing to not attempt to cram them all onto one display (something the Koogeek air monitor is guilty of). Instead, the device allows you to switch between any one of these five sensors with the help of the touch-sensitive control surface at the top. Essentially, this control surface takes on the appearance of a shallow groove in the main body of the device, with a line going from one end to the other, capped off on either and with a dot. To switch between the displays for each sensor, you can either slide your finger left to right (or right to left) or simply tap on either of the dots. It’s incredibly simple and easy to use, and also very responsive, which once again is a great testament to the designers of this product, and what they’ve put together. Overall, the only way I can describe the design is that to me it’s reminiscent of a piece of furniture you might have found in Habitat in the 1970s – but in a very classic, and not ‘badly aged’ way.

QINGPING+ | HOMEKIT | MI HOME

QingPing is a provider of smart products to Xiaomi for their Mijia/Mi Home platform, and whilst that continues, QingPing does have its own app that works with their products as well. I touched on the QingPing+ app previously when reviewing their aforementioned E-Ink Temperature and humidity sensor, and it’s possibly one of the nicest looking, most well thought out apps on my iPhone. I don’t tend to use it a lot, but whenever I do open it, I’m always impressed.

Their HomeKit compatible E-Ink sensor didn’t work with Mi home, so you could only use it with their app and HomeKit. In the case of the AML, it can work with HomeKit, Mi Home and QingPing, although there are a few caveats; First of all, if you want to use it so that it can trigger devices in Mi Home (eg a Mi Air Purifier), then once added to Mi Home,it won’t be exposed it to HomeKit or the QingPing+ app. If you add it to the QingPing app, you can also use it in HomeKit. I mentioned earlier that it uses both WiFi and Bluetooth 5.0, and there are a couple of reasons as to why. In all cases, it uses WiFi to transmit data to/from any of the three apps, and for general connectivity. If you add it to Mi Home, Apple Home or QingPing+, it uses Bluetooth for initial pairing. However, the AML does have an additional function if you use the QingPing app, which allows it to act as a Bluetooth Gateway for its other Bluetooth products. If you utilise this option in the QingPing app, it ceases to be able to work with HomeKit, so unless you’re solely going to use this device within the QingPing app, and also have their other devices, then this functionality is pretty limited in scope and usefulness. Still, it’s good to see a company adding ostensibly useful functionality to a device.

On the main page of the QingPing+ app, you get an overview of conditions for your local city, or any city you choose. Below that (in my case) are ‘overview cards’ for each device connected to the app. You can see the AML at the top of this list, with three of the company’s HomeKit sensors below that, in addition to their Mi Home sensor at the bottom. Delving into the AML page, you get a slightly more detailed overview of the five sensors, followed by recommendations based on the device’s readings.

Below this overview are sections for each sensor that cover twenty-four hours at a time, with the sensor readings split into 15-minute intervals. Each of these 15-minute lines can be selected to show the relevant measurement, which is displayed in the upper right-hand corner.

You can also get a more broad picture with the option to view data over 30-day period, with each slot representing a day, with the high and low points for the sensors on that day. Once again, if you click on one of these 1-day slots, you’ll get the lowest and highest reading for each relevant sensor.

There are quite a few options to customise the appearance of both the device and the app, including options for a screensaver, auto-off (in battery mode), scree auto-off schedules, an option to switch to either Fahrenheit or Centigrade, and more. You can also switch between the two most common Air Quality grading standards – China or the US.

Moving over to the Home app, and general Air Quality details can be found in a tile that also houses the sensor details for PM2.5 and PM10. Temperature and humidity have their own separate tiles. The C02 sensor is kept separate for some reason and is lumped together with my Carbon Monoxide sensor section, presumably as it’s a gas, and as such is deemed worthy of being used for alerts.

within these tiles, you then get access to more details, as can be seen above, so the particulate density for PM2.5 and PM10 are listed, whilst C02 is shown in Parts Per Million (PPM). Temperature and humidity are shown in degrees and a percentage, respectively. All of these pages also show the battery level, as well as whether the battery is being charged or not.

PERFORMANCE

When I initially installed this device via the QingPing app, everything seemed fine – for a couple of minutes. However, after that, I noticed that the device was showing up as ‘no response’ in the Home app. I checked for an update, of which there was one, and which I tried to apply, but I kept getting a note saying the device was ‘offline’…

I then thought about adding it to Mi Home, which also worked. I also then had an update waiting, which I was able to implement. Once I’d updated it, I removed it from the Mi Home app, reset it, and went about re-adding it to QingPing. There seemed to be another update available, but once again, it said the device was offline, so I couldn’t update. Quite frustrating. I already read about this issue, so I simply kept trying to update it by turning the device off, then on again. Eventually, the device appeared online long enough for me to update to the latest firmware. Whilst it was an unacceptable hassle to go through, once it was fully up-to-date, it didn’t lose connection at all and has behaved itself, thankfully.

So putting that to one side, is it accurate? Yes, after pitching it against a couple of other devices that show the same kinds of data (Kaiterra Laser Egg 2, Mi Smart Multi-Sensor), I was able to see that the sensors were fairly accurate. The humidity sensor was a little higher than the others, but temperature and PM2.5 sensors seemed to be in tune with the other two devices.

I don’t have another C02 sensor to test the accuracy of the levels, however, I did notice that our bedroom experienced high levels of C02 when we were sleeping, as, besides my wife and I, we also have both dogs stay in the room, and with the windows and doors closed, the little amount of ventilation we did have, was not enough to prevent these levels from climbing. When levels get high in the daytime, which they can do, opening the window results in the C02 numbers drop noticeably.

If you watch the accompanying video to this review, you’ll see I did a quick and simple PM2.5 test by lighting a match, before putting it out so that the resulting smoke would trigger the sensor, which it did almost immediately, with the numbers zooming up rapidly, along with the LED strip changing colour to match.

I’ve also tested the device in a location where it was reasonably far from the WiFi signal, and it still managed to pick up a signal, which is more than I can say for some of my remaining WiFi-based devices.

Whilst it’s sort of a shame that all sensors in the Home app are lumped together, forcing you to delve deeper to see the relevant levels, it’s good that the display is clear enough that you don’t really need to do that.

WRAPPING UP

I think in this day and age unless you’re lucky enough to live in an area where pollution isn’t an issue, PM2.5 sensors are an important part of a smart home. Whilst there are a few options nowadays compared to what was available when I purchased my Katierra Laser Egg, back in 2018, the one thing I also like about the QingPing Air Monitor Lite is the C02 sensor. I spend a lot of time indoors in front of a computer and due to a variety of factors, I don’t always have a lot of windows open, and so the build-up of C02 does occur. It’s only since getting the AML that I’m able to really notice it in black and white (no pun intended).

It’s certainly cheaper than the Kaiterra model (roughly half the price) that has a C02 sensor  (Kaiterra Laser Egg+ Co2 – US$199), although Kaiterra’s own Live Air app is also very good and nicely designed. One thing that the AML has over the Kaiterra is that you can schedule the display to turn on and off at set times, which is something you’re unable to do with the Kaiterra. I do prefer the design and display of the AML, and assuming it behaves itself, I can not only definitely recommend this product, but for peace of mind in terms of what you’re breathing, it could be deemed essential.

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The Aqara TVOC Air Quality Monitor has three built-in sensors that are developed via advanced electrochemical and semiconductor technology solutions to ensure stability and accuracy. The temperature and humidity compensation algorithm can effectively reduce the influence of environmental change and the reading resolution can be refined to 0.01 mg/m³.

Specifications.

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What are VOCs?
Volatile organic compounds (VOC) are organic chemicals that have a high vapour pressure at room temperature. High vapour pressure correlates with a low boiling point, which relates to the number of the sample’s molecules in the surrounding air, a trait known as volatility.

VOC’s are responsible for the odour of scents and perfumes as well as pollutants. VOCs play an important role in communication between animals and plants, e.g. attractants for pollinators, protection from predation, and even inter-plant interactions. Some VOCs are dangerous to human health or cause harm to the environment. Anthropogenic VOCs are regulated by law, especially indoors, where concentrations are the highest. Most VOCs are not acutely toxic but may have long-term chronic health effects.

You would typically find that sources for VOCs in the home are from fresh paint when you redecorate, cleaning products like polish, rubbing alcohol or bleach, or even new furniture, where chemicals have been used in the processing of the fabric or wood.

Aqara isn’t by any means the first company to make a TVOC sensor of course, with both Kaiterra and Eve making devices that either contain a TVOC sensor or are have a TVOC sensor as the core of the product. I’ve had the Eve Room (V1) for a few years now, which gives data for VOCs, temperature, and humidity and it has served me well, even though it does get through batteries like Alan Partridge got through Toblerones (Google ‘Alan Partridge’ and ‘Toblerone’…). The Eve Room V1 also has no screen and uses Bluetooth, so two disadvantages are clearly evident here. To see what the Aqara TVOC sensor brings to the table, read on.

PACKAGING

The TVOC sensor is, for what you get, quite reasonably priced (it’s currently on Amazon.de for just under €50) and can be found in a few online stores in Sweden. By contrast, the Eve Room (v2), is selling for practically double the price, and as of the time of writing, still uses Bluetooth. Putting that topic to one side, the version I have here today is the Chinese version, hence the packaging sporting most of its text in Simplified Chinese.

As with all Aqara products these days, the packaging outlines the features with neat little icons.  This includes the device using Zigbee 3.0, intelligent linkage (as it’s smart), different mounting options, temperature & humidity sensors, an E-Ink display, and a TVOC sensor. So, just like the Eve Room, the TVOC sensor’s E-Ink screen provides excellent contrast between the text/imagery and the background, compared to a standard LCD display. The display can also be read at much more acute angles than a typical LCD display.

The contents of the box all centre around the sensor itself, being the parts to help you mount it, although it can just be stood on a shelf if you prefer. Aside from the sensor is a manual in Chinese (there is one in English too), you get a magnetic plate and a matching double-sided adhesive sticker. The magnetic plate can be fitted to a wall with either the sticker or the two included pin-tacks. The circular magnet sticks to the back of the Sensor so that it can attach to the magnetic plate.

THE TVOC SENSOR

I’ve had the sensor for around 5 months now, but when it first arrived, I was actually quite surprised at how small it was, which I’d describe as roughly the size of two boxes of matches lined up side by side. The official measurements are 41.6 x 76 x 14mm / 1.64 x 2.99 x 0.55in (H, W, D). Aside from the clear plastic screen, the rest of the device is white plastic. The screen itself is a lot smaller than the main body, at 48 x 24mm / 1.89 x 0.94in (250 x 122 px), and is surrounded by a large white border, with just the Aqara logo at the bottom. It may not matter to many, but I’m happy to see Aqara placing their logos on their products in a much more subtle way than some companies do. After all, it’s not like you need to advertise the brand in your own home.

The screen shows a standard set of information, which can be switched to one of three different display modes by simply double pressing the button at the top of the device. one of the modes has the top portion of the display showing the TVOC readings using five instances of a ‘leaf’ icon, with 5 ‘dark’ leaves being excellent air quality and five ‘clear’ leaves reflecting the worst-case scenario. The second mode shows much the same information, but the icons have been replaced by numbers for the TVOC density. The third mode simply shows the temperature and humidity, with no mention of the TVOC details.

To the left of this information, there’s a small icon that shows that the device is linked to an Aqara hub and functioning correctly. In the first two modes, the bottom half of the screen is made up of the temperature and humidity readings. Somehow I feel the TVOC readings should be more prominent than the latter two, as its main role is to report on VOCs. So, if I had a say, the TVOC display would take up two-thirds of the screen, with the temperature and humidity numbers relegated to the top 1/3rd of the screen.

The sensor uses two CR2450 coin batteries, which should last at least twelve months. To get to the battery compartment, there’s a small slot on the base that can be pulled open by hand – unless you have no nails like me…

Both sides of the sensor feature slats that allow air in, so as to permit the sensors to monitor the temperature, humidity and air quality. The top of the device features a button, although its main purpose is to pair the device to an Aqara hub, change the display mode, or confirm its link to said hub. That’s essentially it in terms of its appearance!

IN HOMEKIT AND THE HOME APP

The TVOC sensor in HomeKit is much like most other sensors in that with the arrival of iOS14, practically all sensors were removed from the tile section of the Home app, and placed above and collated into sections. This unfortunately means seeing the readings involves going into the relevant ‘circle’ and tracking down the appropriate sensor to check its readings. I can still see the logic, but I’m not sure it helps when you have a heap of sensors throughout the home. This is not the fault of the sensor of course.

When you do get access to the individual tiles, you can dive into them and get a little more detail. Each of the three sensors shows the battery level for the device, and show the relevant basic data – temperature levels, humidity percentage, and Air Quality along with VOC density.

If you’re already familiar with HomeKit, you’ll be aware that as of iOS 14, the Home app still doesn’t make it easy for you to create automations based on temperature or humidity levels. The TVOC sensor (and any ‘Air Quality’ sensor for that matter) is an exception. For the TVOC sensor, you can create an automation based on whether the air quality ‘rises above’ or ‘drops below’ a set level. These levels are fairly general, which are broken into five descriptive sections labelled Excellent, Good, Fair, Inferior, and Poor. You would also find this with Air Purifiers like the Smartmi P1 and the Vocolinc PureFlow for example. So, if you have an air purifier with a filter that can remove TVOCs, then an automation telling the purifier to turn on, based on the readings from the TVOC sensor, would be one example of how it can be used with other HomeKit devices.

IN THE AQARA HOME APP

As you can imagine, there’s more to the sensor when viewed in the Aqara app. You get the same basic details on the main page for the sensor, although the battery level isn’t shown in any detail, so I guess the Home app has a slight advantage there. There are the usual set of options on the settings page, amongst which you’ll find details on the device’s Zigbee signal strength.

Where the Aqara app adds value is via the data it accumulates for practically all its devices, so in the case of the TVOC sensor, you have graphs showing readings over 24 hours or 7 days. You can also get a log of any changes to all three sensors on a day by day level. You can also view any of these graphs in landscape mode.

You can set the TVOC sensor to show one of two settings regarding the measurement for VOCs, as well as switch the display to Fahrenheit or Celsius.

Even though potentially high levels of VOCs can’t do much harm in the very short term, you could have an ongoing problem, that the source of the issue hasn’t been identified, so it’s good to keep an eye on things with the options for graphs. However, should you experience sudden high VOC levels, you may want to jump on things to find the source, and a good way to do this within the Aqara app is with push notifications. This saves you from glancing at the sensor’s display every few minutes.

These push notifications allow you to set the conditions under which a push alert is triggered, which includes the levels at which they should trigger, and the time of day or days of the week. You can also set a standard push notification, or set a custom one for yourself.

PERFORMANCE

One thing I’ve generally been disappointed about with my original Eve Room is that due to it using Bluetooth Low Energy, it would only report back to the app roughly every 10 minutes, so even though VOCs in the room aren’t exactly the kind of thing you want instantaneous notifications on (it’d still be nice though), to check the Eve app to see any reporting back of a spike in VOCs is really only a way to look back on what occurred rather than what’s happening. Of course, the Eve Room v2 solved this with a built-in display, like the Aqara, so this is welcome on both devices.

In our home, without going into too much detail, we have two dogs, with one of them a rather elderly Beagle, adopted by us after spending much of his life in a testing facility, and so the combination of these two ‘factors’ means we regularly have to ‘clean up’ after him, which involves using rubbing alcohol. This alcohol spray sends all of our TVOC sensors crazy of course, including the Aqara model, so from this basic test, I know that it definitely works. I’ve got a total of three sensors in the home – the Aqara, the Eve Room v1, and a non-HomeKit device by Xiaomi, which contains all manner of sensors, including a TVOC sensor, and all of them react, although with the Eve Room, I have to check the data in the Eve app (I’ll update to V3 when they finally add Thread…).

Does it compare in terms of the readouts? Yes and no. What I’ve noticed is that the way the TVOC count is displayed in the Aqara app seems to be at odds with the way my Xioami unit shows; so the Xiaomi device might, for example, show a reading of 2.7mg/m³, whereas the Aqara sensor would show the reading as 0.27mg/m³. This suggests to me that somehow, whilst it’s working, there’s a bug that is displaying the readings with the decimal point in the wrong place. I did wonder if it could be that the Aqara sensor was correct, but it’s hard to fully determine, as the Xiaomi device shows mg/m³, whilst the Eve device shows readings in PPM (parts per million), and it’s not clear from a quick Google search if these measurements are comparable (1,400 ppm = 1.4mg/m³). If someone has a simple and definitive answer, please let me know! I can live with that if it’s accurate, and so far it seems to be, when comparing the Aqara to both of the other sensors, with the exception of the point just mentioned.

What’s not working in the app, is that you have the option to switch between mg/m³ and PPB (I assume Parts Per Billion), but the graphs in the app never switch, instead, staying set at mg/m³. This is not the case “on-device”, so the sensor will show either PPB or mg/m³, depending on what you’ve set in the app. It’s only a minor thing to me, but it does need fixing. As regards temperature and humidity, they seem to be almost ‘spot on’ when compared to the other sensors, although when you first install the sensor, it will take a while to settle and start reporting accurate data.

One other oddity is that when it comes to sampling the air for any of the three sensor values, there seems to be no set period of time that it checks; in the early hours of the morning, for example, there was a sample reading taken at 01:49hrs (41.1% humidity), then another at 04:03hrs (40.3% humidity), and third sample reading at 06:47hrs (41.8% humidity). I can only assume that it’s taking these sample readings only when there is a change of at least half a percentage point, in terms of humidity in this case. It’s important to note that the sample points are different for each sensor, so it doesn’t take one random sample reading for all three sensors at the same points in time, which goes closer to backing up my guess that sample readings are taken when the sensors detect big enough changes.

WRAPPING UP

Other than the previously mentioned issue, I’ve not noticed anything out of the ordinary, and if nothing else, the battery life being at 88% after 5 months of use seems pretty good, so the estimated one-year battery life is selling its longevity a little short. As for the design of the product, whilst it fits with the general aesthetic of most other Aqara products, and even seems to have garnered a couple of design awards, I personally find it a bit bland and underwhelming, design-wise, mostly when it comes to the display. It’s not like I’m going to be looking at it all the time, to be honest, but I’m a fan of the colour display of the Xiaomi product, despite it not being HomeKit compatible. I’ve also had zero connectivity issues with this device, which is usually my experience with Aqara’s Zigbee products, so that counts for a lot, although even with a disconnection, the screen will still show you any issues, regardless.

The bottom line for me is that at half the price of the Eve Room (which currently uses Bluetooth until they update it with Thread), the Aqara is probably a better purchase.

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