The Koogeek E26 8.5W colour changing dimmable wifi Smart LED Bulb. Compatible with Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit and the Google Assistant. No hub required. Voice Control, Remote Control, Schedule On/Off, Create Scenes, 16 Million Colours, 800lm, 2700-6000K, AC 90-120V US.

Set custom schedules for a light or a scene to turn connected light bulbs on or off at a specific times automatically. For example: turning on the living room bulb at dusk, and tum off all the bulbs when you are sleeping.

Offer 16 million colours to choose from and every colour is dimmable, dimming range from 1 % to 100%. It can be used as an LED light and you can also change the colours and brightness to adjust the atmosphere of the room.

It only takes a few minutes to setup, no hub required. When configuring, screw it into a standard E26 light socket and use the Koogeek Home app to connect It to a 2.4GHz Wi -Fi network. You can remotely turn connected light bulbs on or off , change colors, or adjust brightness using the Koogeek Home app, Siri, Alexa, or the Google Assistant.

With the Koogeek Home app and on the same Wi-FI network, without setting up any home you can automate connected light bulbs or scenes to turn on or off through triggers such as time of day, HomeKit-enabled sensor detection, or the action of a HomeKit accessory.

The post Koogeek LB3 Colour Smart Bulb appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

So whilst there are plenty of things you could do help mitigate the effects – air purifiers are one example – it’s always good to know when levels get higher than they should, and this is where devices like the Koogeek A1W Environment Monitor can help. It has sensors to pick up both PM10 and PM2.5, as well as sensors for temperature and humidity – high or low humidity left unchecked can cause health problems too in fact. It also has other sensors, which I’ll touch on later, but for now, the unboxing…

UNBOXING
A short while ago I reviewed the Koogeek FL1 Fingerprint lock and I mentioned that a copy of the homeKit code was stuck to the outside of the box, which was a bit strange, to say the least. Well, with the A1W they did it again! I can’t see the logic of doing this when they could just as easily stick it to the inner of the lid, as Vocolinc do. Aside from this anomaly, the packaging for the A1W is much the like the FL1, with the same overall design; product on the front in a minimal way, along with the HomeKit badge, and specs on one side, and bulleted features on the other side, with icons for each function;

• Light (ambient light sensor)
• Sound (sound sensor)
• PM2.5 (sensor)
• PM10 (sensor)
• LED night light
• Temperature (sensor)
• Humidity (sensor)
• Smart Wake (function)
• Real-time monitoring (selling point)
• At-a-glance display (selling point)

I’ll come back to them shortly, but there’s certainly a lot there to sell itself to a casual shopper.

Upon opening the box, as with the Smart lock, Koogeek has wisely chosen very dense, impact resistant foam rubber to totally enclose the device. This is great, considering it’s protecting something a lot more sensitive than a padlock, with a lot of sensors inside. After lifting the small circle of foam rubber, you get the device itself, complete with a plastic film protecting the screen. All good so far!

Underneath the first main level of foam, you’ll find the manual, complete with HomeKit code (the second of three). The manual comes translated into six languages – English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Simplified Chinese. Beneath that is a USB-to-micro-USB cable and a rather bland and cheap looking USB power supply. The A1W has a built-in battery, so you don’t always need it constantly plugged in, but given the number of sensors it contains, the battery isn’t going to last too long, so it’s better to keep it permanently powered if at all possible. Basic specs for the power are as follows;

• Input: 5V 1A
• Battery type: 18650 Lithium-ion
• Battery capacity: 2200mAh
• Frequency range: 2412-2472MHz
• Max. wireless output power: 17.52dBm

THE DEVICE
On first impressions, the device is fairly similar in many ways to my current PM2.5 monitor, the Kaiterra Laser Egg 2, although the Laser Egg 2 has a larger rear section, almost like the old, colour iMacs, whilst this is flat at the back, which is the reason for the kickstand. With the box and the manual each having a HomeKit code on them, the third instance of the code is to be found on the back of the unit, where you’ll also see the micro-USB port for charging/powering the device. The front of the device has the screen, which measures roughly 65mm/2.8in diagonally across. It’s nowhere near retina quality, but it has colour and does the job of displaying the data well enough. The device has a built-in fan that samples the surrounding air through the front around the circumference of the screen, and ejects the sampled air via the vents at the back.

The front of the device is also home to the touch button, below the screen, which when briefly tapped, turns the screen on and changes the main number to switch between the PM2.5 level and the current temperature. The other levels will change around accordingly when you press the button. Above the screen are three sensors, with the sound sensor, a large motion sensor, and an ambient light sensor.

The screen itself shows all the data in one place, so at the top of the screen you have the lux levels for ambient light, the sound levels in dBs, a motion sensor icon that will turn red when detecting motion, the time in 24hr mode, a wifi icon and a battery percentage level along with a colour battery icon. the main number in the middle, as already mentioned, is the PM2.5 level, or the temperature level. At the bottom of the screen (if you have the main number set to PM2.5) you’ll see the PM10 levels, the temperature (in Centigrade or Fahrenheit), and the humidity levels.

If you long press the button, you get access to the settings section, along with settings for a couple of additional features;

• Smart Wake If this is turned on, when motion is detected between 2300 – 0700, the screen will turn on.
• Night Light If this is turned on, and if the light intensity is less than 5lux, when motion is detected or when the Home button is pressed, the night light will turn on.

The other settings are for language, reset to factory settings and the motion threshold, which is the amount of time before the motion sensor resets to ‘no motion. The options for this are 5, 15, 30 and 60 seconds, or  5, 10 and 30 minutes.

INSTALLATION
This was installed directly via the Home app, and afterwards opened in Koogeek’s own HomeKit app to check for any available firmware updates, for which there were none. Once installed, the A1W will produce six separate tiles in the Home app, representing PM2.5/PM10, Humidity, Ambient light, Motion and Temperature, with the sixth tile being the Night Light. That’s comes to only 5 sensors of course, with the sixth sensor being sound, but because HomeKit doesn’t support sounds sensors in iOS12, there’s no tile for it. In the Koogeek app, the sound sensor does produce a separate tile, however, if you press any of the seven tiles that represent all of the referenced sensors, including the night light, you get to the same settings page, which then lists each sensor along with the relevant settings for each one. The sound sensor has no settings that you can change, however, so at this point it seems pretty useless, and even with the arrival of iOS13, there still seems to be no support for sound sensors in the betas that have been released so far, so all that you can gather from the sound sensor tile in the Koogeek app is the decibel levels.

IN USE
I’ve had this on test for about a 10 days now, so I feel I’ve gotten use to the device fairly well. I have made a few observations about the device; First of all, generally the temperature and humidity sensors seem to work fine, and are within an acceptable margin of error when compared to other sensors that measure these two metrics. With the light sensor, it’s hard to know whether it’s measuring the light accurately, although it does react instantly when I turn the lights off or cover the sensor, for example, so I know it’s working. To me, ambient light measurements don’t need to be spot on, down to the individual lux points, so that’s not an issue.

The front of the unit also includes an LED ring of light around its circumference and will turn on (in white) when you press the night light tile in the Home app. This will also turn the screen on, which only stays on for approximately 60 seconds at a time. Pressing the tile turns the light on and off, although turning the night light off, doesn’t turn the screen off. If you want to have the screen permanently on, you simply need to turn the night light on via the individual tile, which will stop the display from turning off after 60-seconds.

This ring of LED lights also serves as a visual indicator of PM2.5 levels; According to the manual, if the levels of PM2.5 are between 0 – 35 the ring should be green, but it never is, and so far I’ve not seen the ring as green once. Between 36-75, it will go to orange, between 76-115 the light will turn red, and for concentrations from 116 upwards it will be purple. Having tested the sensor out, I can say it works, although the reading were different to the Laser Egg 2 in tests. The ring will also turn orange if you have the main display in the centre set to temperature whenever the temperature is 29ºC or above.

As already touched upon, when it comes to the sound sensor, it’s not going to be of much use right now, although you can access the sound sensor in some 3rd party apps, and possibly set up an automation, although I’ve already tried one app and it just didn’t work.

When it came to the motion sensor, I did find it very sensitive, and there seems to be no way to adjust the sensitivity in the Koogeek app unfortunately. You can of course use the motion sensor to work at only certain times of the day, if you’re in need of something that can pick up motion, but I did also find that whilst it can be sensitive, it can also miss motion at times, so I’m not entirely sure it’s of much use other than to turn the display and night light on in dark areas – just make sure you set an automation to not turn the display or night light on when you sleep!

There have been some early reports of people finding the built-in fan to be too noisy, and have returned their units on this basis, and I can say that you can hear the fan, although I personally don’t find it to be irritating at all, but then that’s down to the individual. Where I am, which is next to Keelung river, Taipei, there’s plenty of noise from both insects and humans, and as it’s hot and humid for much of the year, we’ve either got the AC or some fans on at night, not to mention the air purifier, so I really don’t notice it.

SUMMING UP
I’m happy that I bought the unit, if for no other reason than I love my HomeKit gadgets (in case you didn’t notice…), and I already have an Eve Room (1st gen) that can read temperature and humidity, as well as VOC levels, which the A1W can’t, a Kaiterra Laser Egg 2 for PM2.5 levels, and a Mijia multi sensor that covers PM2.5, VOCs, temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide levels, so I’m already well covered. It is another device to get me a better idea of pollution though, and living in Taiwan, this is a big concern unfortunately. If I were to compare it to the most similar product of the other two devices mentioned, it would be the Laser Egg 2. I’ve had this product for nearly 18 months now, and I do like that you can see the average PM2.5 levels for where you are, to compare with indoor levels, and that it has an app that allows you to customise the display, as well as set the Air Quality Index standard (AQI) to either China, US or India, none of which the Koogeek can do. On this point, I would guess that the A1W has been calibrated to Chinese standards, but that’s just a guess, based on the different numbers I see between the two devices. That being said, it’s a fair bit cheaper than the Laser Egg 2, and it has more functions for the price, so it’s a toss up on more sensors for you money or more reliable readings – but only based on my guesses.

The post Koogeek A1W Environment Monitor (review) appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

UNBOXING
Like a lot of companies of late, Koogeek doesn’t skimp on their packaging, and have clearly taken the Apple aesthetic to heart, with a simple understated design for the front; the name of the product, the product image, and the ever important ‘Works with HomeKit’ badge. The odd thing you may or may not notice is that the box shows the product code to be L3, where online – including their own website – it’s listed as the FL1. The abandoned Koogeek Door Lock was given the L1 product code, so maybe there was another lock type product that didn’t see the light of day (L2), with this possibly coming last, hence the L3 designation. Who knows (or cares), but this is now known as the L1 and that’s the end of it! The rear of the packaging has a lifestyle image and a bit of legal text about the company and the importers, so nothing to see there. The one side of the box that wasn’t obscured (in this instance) by a large white sticker, simply lists the features of this device, namely;

• You can unlock the device with your fingerprint
• Up to 50 fingerprints can be stored (that excludes Candido then I guess…musicians’ joke*)
• Can be controlled via Siri
• 1 Year limited warranty

So as you can see, whilst it sounds great, there’s not a lot to this device. Still, almost in a class of its own.

* if you get the joke, let us know…

With the box opened, you first get to see the instruction manual, that also contains the HomeKit code on the front. Bizarrely enough, an instance of the same code was stuck to the outside of the box, which is a bit disconcerting and not the norm! either way, aside from the code on the front of the booklet, there is no other instance of it, so do make a note, or better still, get yourself a copy of Aaron Pearce’s essential HomePass app to quickly scan and store all of your codes (seriously, just get it).

The manual has multiple languages (English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Japanese), and while this is a simple product to use, it’s wise to keep this in case of resetting or simply setting things up, as it’s not as obvious as it might seem. Beneath the manual is the lock itself, surrounded by super dense foam as though it was some kind of very expensive guitar. It nice to see this level of protection, even with a device that’s meant to be strong. Along with this, you get a sim pin, which you’ll need for initial setup or resetting of the device.

THE LOCK
Onto the lock, and the first impression you get is that, yes, this feels like the kind of solid padlock you would expect of its dumb equivalents, with a fair amount of weight to it (coming in at just under 200g/7oz), and nice, shiny zinc alloy and stainless steel. The height/width of the body of the lock comes in at 50mm/2in, with a total height when the lock is closed, of 85mm/3.3in, and 105mm/4.1in when fully opened. the depth of the lock is 25mm/1in. The front of the lock has an inset plastic front surrounding the square-shaped fingerprint sensor, which is itself surrounded by a slightly raised chrome border.

When I first got my hands on the lock, as I’d bought it from AliExpress, I suspected I’d been sent a used one, as the black front section looked marked and a bit dirty, however, it turned out to simply be a thin protective plastic coating that I was able to peel off (phew). Of course, the first thing I did, was to test it with a press of one of my fingerprints, and it opened immediately – odd, I hadn’t even set up a fingerprint! It turns out that this is the default state until you register your own fingerprint(s), after all, how can you set it up if you can’t open it, to begin with, right? Other than the front, with the sensor, which is more matt in appearance than the surrounding black plastic, there is a small LED light above the fingerprint sensor, that’s off, for the most part. Aside from that, there’s not a lot to see. The rear of the device is all chrome, save for the ugly sticker stuck to it.

The base of the device is where you’ll find a rubber cover that protects the micro USB port, which you’ll need for charging the built-in lithium battery, along with a small pinhole for resetting the device. This rubber door, whilst not tightly fitting, isn’t that easy to get open so you’re going to need to prod it with the sim pin or similar to get it to pop out. It’s important to note that the lock is not supplied with a micro-USB cable, so you will need to buy one if you haven’t got one lying around already.

SETUP
To set up the device, you should initially use the Koogeek Home app, although you probably can just first add it to the Apple home app, and continue with setting it up in the Koogeek app after. After adding the device to the Koogeek app, you will then need to start registering at least one fingerprint;

• Make sure the lock is in the unlocked state, with the lock fully opened.
• Inset the sim pin into the reset hole at the bottom of the lock and hold for 2 seconds
• The LED on the front of the lock should turn green and stay on
• You then have to register a fingerprint – press the same finger five times
• each of the five times you register the fingerprint, the LED will flash once
• The LED will flash twice to let you know you’ve successfully registered a fingerprint
• From there you simply need to repeat these steps to register subsequent prints

INITIAL USE
Once I’d registered a fingerprint, I tried it out and it worked fine. It has to be said, the tech used for the sensor is not going to be of the quality you’d find in an iPhone that uses Touch ID, but it works fast enough. It’s also not as accurate as Touch ID, so I’ve found you need to place your finger squarely on the device to get it to work the first time. If it doesn’t recognise your fingerprint initially, the LED will flash twice. If it fails to recognise your fingerprint six times in a row, then there’s a timeout period of 60 seconds, before you can attempt to open it again. Once it does recognise your print, you’ll hear the lock mechanism unlock inside, although the shackle won’t physically pop open, so it will still appear locked. You then have approximately 30 seconds to pull the lock open yourself before the L1 locks itself for security purposes. This is the default length of time before it locks, but you can adjust this between 1 to 100 seconds in the Koogeek Home app.

IN THE HOME APP
After the Koogeek app setup procedure, I hopped over to the Home app and as I’d already added it to the Koogeek app using the HomeKit code, it was already present. This device works via Bluetooth (4.2), so it doesn’t require a wifi network to work, although if you’re using this at home, you’ll need a Home Hub (Apple TV4+, HomePod, iPad) for remote access. If you’re using this away from your HomeKit home, then the only way you can open the lock is either via your fingerprint, via Siri, or via the Home app (or any third party HomeKit app). All of these options require you to be within range of the Bluetooth signal. All of these options require you to be with the lock, essentially. When it comes to using this anywhere other than your home, it’s important to note that there’s no mention of this device being waterproof, so it may not be suited for locking a bike outside or use with the door of a garden shed, for example. It can probably be used if it’s under cover, but Koogeek doesn’t specifically mention anything like this on their website*. In the Home app, you get to see the FL1 as a padlock icon, just as you would any HomeKit door lock, with the tile and icon ‘greyed out’ when locked, and in colour when open. You also get access to the slide control when you long press on the icon. In the settings page, there’s not a lot to see, but luckily it does show the battery percentage, as well as whether it’s charging or not. As for the battery, it seems to do a good job of keeping its charge for a while. I probably open and close it about 3 times a day and in the month I’ve had it, the battery level has maybe dropped by about 30%, so I’m looking at over 3 months before the battery needs to be recharged. Not bad. Recharging takes 3.5 hours. Koogeek claims you can up to 30,000 lock/unlock events before needing to recharge.

* UPDATE: Since this review was posted, I reached out to Koogeek to find out if the FL1 was waterproof to any degree, and I have had a reply from Koogeek simply stating that it is waterproof. However, they did not mention what kind of IP rating the lock had, if any.

IN THE KOOGEEK HOME APP
I rarely use the Koogeek app, despite owning a few of their products, but it may prove beneficial in this case, as you can not only access the battery and charging status of the padlock but check the logs for when the lock was opened and closed. Other than that, I can’t see me using the Koogeek app, as the Home app has everything else, to be honest, but it’s there should you want that record.

DAY-TO-DAY USE
I did actually buy this just for the purposes of this review and didn’t really have a use for this lock, although I do anticipate using this if I go on holiday at some point, and want to secure something that’s left in a hotel room for example. There are some other use cases that would suit other people of course, and as long as these are for indoor or covered use, I can see this product being rather handy. In the time I’ve had it, there have been no real issues and while occasionally the lock will take a little longer to open if it has been sat dormant for a while, like many Bluetooth-based devices, it generally opens fast, and the notifications from the Home app are fast to pop up. The only problem I have encountered so far was from a recent firmware update. After installing this update, all my fingerprints were wiped and the lock became open to any finger presses. I’m not sure if this is by design, but I did have to re-register my fingerprints, which whilst a tad annoying, didn’t really take long to do except for having to open the Koogeek app (ugh!).

The post Koogeek FL1 Fingerprint Lock (review) appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

• Never Get Locked out: Your fingerprint is your key to get into your house with possessing Koogeek fingerprint lock. Never need to carry the heavy keys or remember the complicated password, and don’t have to worried about get locked out because the keys were stolen or forget the password. Just in 0.8s you can unlock the door, and don’t have to spend too much time to find the right key from lots of keys.
• Works with Siri: Parcel arrived? Don’t get up from the couch. You can lock and unlock your door from your iPhone via voice command to ask Siri, or download the Koogeek Home APP in iPhone，iPad，iPod touch and Apple Watch which has Bluetooth, as long as you are home within Bluetooth range of your smart fingerprint lock.
• Share Secure and Keyless Access: Your housekeeper, dog walker, or family members can share the access with you, via the Koogeek Home APP, because you can add up to 50 fingerprints in Koogeek fingerprint lock. In addition, You can receive instant alerts when you unlock/block, and view the last 100 actions and track the lock/unlock time to check whether the door is locked when you are rushing off to work.
• Durable and Rechargeable Battery: Farewell to replace the battery frequently with Koogeek fingerprint padlock, the 280mAh rechargeable lithium polymer battery can operate for up to 1 year or support up to 30,000 lock/unlock operations. The battery level and charge status can be viewed through the Koogeek Home app. The smart fingerprint lock can be charged via the Micro-USB interface.
• Solid Quality: Koogeek fingerprint lock can protect your privacy and valuables, with the 1/4″ diameter stainless steel latch and zinc alloy body. It can help prevent unauthorized unlocking, minimize cutting, shackling, shredding and sawing, and ensure valuables are protected. Koogeek offers a 1-year limited warranty and lifetime technical support.

The post Koogeek FL1 Fingerprint Lock appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

My first impression of the packaging was that it’s pretty standard for a lot of HomeKit capable devices; Sturdy, elegant and probably pretty expensive to print. I don’t want to be generic here, but a lot of companies in this day and age have stepped up their design game on packaging. I think that’s a good thing in this particular case since you can buy a really cheap, remote-controlled LED light strip from China. Most of my friends have done this, and at least a couple have made them smart after the fact using IR (infrared) blasters.  All in all I was impressed with how snuggly protected and well put together the packaging was. Nice.

We live in a digital world and I am a digital girl or boy or whatever. My point is we often don’t think about the analog set up when we get a new product. In terms of light strips that means maybe some measurement or buying the correct size. This product really works best with 50″ TVs (if you are using it on a TV) or smaller, in my opinion. Even then on most you are going from half way down on the vertical sides on both sides. I put one under my couch and didn’t bother affixing it. It’s ‘peel and stick’ as far as that goes. I did want to mention that, just like my ex-wife, it didn’t take my efforts very well, that is when I tried to power it with my old TV it shorted the TV out and turned it off. Hey, we can’t all be winners, am I right? Just to clarify, I did try it on multiple old sets and most of them did not power this device. If that’s a deal breaker, I recommend testing. Set up in the Home app was as to be expected for the most part – add accessory – tell it what room – give it a name and off we go. I had an issue with one of them and had to restore it to factory settings and change my router settings to 2.4ghz. Neither of those things were hard to do, but if that sort of thing bothers you perhaps pay 2 – 3 times as much for a different product. Time to watch Tron and pretend we are inside of a games machine. 

Day-to-day actions are as you would expect. It looks good, has 16 million colors available in its spectrum etc. and so far I’ve had no real issues. I have bought inexpensive led strips that weren’t smart before, and this seems about 30 percent brighter than those. If you like ambient light or just setting the mood in general you won’t be disappointed.

The product comes with a free app download. To some extent the app can be useful in set up for newcomers or if you’re not using HomeKit and you have an Android phone, but I found it to be a little bit off-putting just in terms of the app layout etc. I did want to at least give it a once-over for the sake of anyone not used to adding their devices solely from the home app when possible. It asks you for permissions and is pretty streamlined in that quality. I didn’t care for it, but that’s just me. It does try to educate a new user, so perhaps they think that is their target market.

As for HomeKit and Siri, the strips work great! Ask Siri to do what you want her to do and Boom! it happens – unless it’s the color “red”, every member of our 4-person family tried that by voice on three devices; “Siri TV Strip Red” – This command shut’s off the strip for no reason. The lights can turn red, but Siri can be a little bit of a slow learner. On the other hand, automations work well. For example, if you have a switch attached to a voice command “TV On” for example as the “switch” you can make that turn the strip on automatically even if you have it plugged in to the wall.  Assuming that switch somehow turns on your TV they both come on even if your TV is several years old.  Good programming always beats old TV. That’s what my Grandma used to say. She also used to pee herself all the time, but I think that’s a different subject.

These products are solid and sold at a fair price. If your equipment is old, keep that in mind I always realize when I visit the nursing home I might end up empty-handed. I STILL GO! Anyway I digress. Sometimes you get what you pay for, but I feel like these are a bargain. However, they are a bargain for the right buyer. If you want to buy a hub and pay a networking engineer to only use a more expensive brand then you should. If you want to learn to DIY, then you should. If you don’t mind taking it slow and easy, this might be the perfect product to watch Star Wars in the dark to. As always, enjoy your home and your HomeKit!

The post Koogeek LS1 Light Strip (review) appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

My first impressions of the packaging were good; The box was Satiny, like a Victoria’s Secret catalog “wink wink nudge nudge” – probably just as expensive too! Koogeek is a company that I think tries to externalize it’s intelligence, in that the packaging for their products, even if they have similar “types” of customers, lets them know up front the information they need to know. So not only is the packaging stylish it gives a decent amount of technical information such as electrical requirements, for example what apps or platforms you must be using to warrant the purchase of the product. This isn’t that common, especially at this price point. Since they are aware of the customer who is buying the device, the HomeKit code is both on the item and in the box as well. I was not unhappy with that. The device also looked pretty elegant though my first impressions had me worried about the size. 

Setup was pretty simple on the tech side, but  a little odd on the non tech side. I handed it to my wife to plug in to her surge protector, which is on her side of the couch. She couldn’t get the plug in all the way and put a bunch of force on it. I explained to her you have to jiggle it and not force it if your surge protector has the two different sized holes for the power plugs. After that, the setup is as you would expect in the Home app, if not even quicker than usual. Scan the code – pick a room – name it as you please and bask in the glory of another finely added product (cue violins playing music from some 80s movie where the protagonist just won the day, or the girl, or maybe it’s a religious movie and something good happened or something – I don’t do the music part guys). 

I’ve always said size doesn’t matter, but then my psychiatrist tells me I’ve been lying to myself my whole life. In other news – smart plug news that is – size is a huge deal (Huge get it?!). Because of that, I tried this plug out in a few scenarios. Will it work in a two port standard US wall with another plug. Will it work with another “wallwart” etc?  The answer: Yes and no. It will work in most plugs with a two prong plug above it, however it will be tight and chances are the physical power button will be blocked. If your plug is small but a “wallwart” and two prong, you are good to go. If your plug is three prong or anything not close to a small “wallwart”, you really aren’t going to have much luck.  

In terms of how the plug behaves with HomeKit and Siri it’s pretty much as you would expect, via voice control and touch/computer control in the Home app. Koogeek do also provide their own app of course, but I’ll admit I deleted it almost immediately after seeing it. Your mileage may vary with the Koogeek app, but I wasn’t a fan. This thing works great with automations in the home app. It never lags, and it’s not one for guzzling wi-fi (as it is a wi-fi device) data. as it throttles down to 1mb per second. It’s connection – even far from either the signal or the hub – is solid.

I think it’s a great device for what it does. It’s not too big, it’s not too small, it works fast and reliably. I have two other products from Koogeek and they work pretty well too. My only complaint would be that it would be nice if they could have got it just a touch smaller. Aside from that, it’s a great product.

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Koogeek have been churning out quite a few products over the last couple of years, and if you follow their progress, you’ll see there’s plenty more to come, with a smart padlock, camera, a new white bulb and an air quality monitor, so do start saving! As for the current batch of products they have already available, this is one product I find really useful – in fact I’ve got two of them – and they’re really handy when you’ve got a set of regular lamps that need that automated touch. In my case they’re used for a corner tall lamp, and two floor lights on either side of our sofa.

Starting off with first impressions of the box itself; now ordinarily you wouldn’t need to concern yourself with the box that the device comes in, but considering a lot of people buy online these days, which in turn means these are shipped – in many cases, long distances – it makes sense to know that the box that your device comes in has at least a modicum of protection. This box doesn’t really provide a lot of said protection to be honest, and although both of mine arrived without any damage, you could see the bashing that a delivered item can sustain, even when surrounded in bubble wrap, so not great in terms of protective packaging. The design itself is very ‘Apple’ though, so that’s something if you’re into the aesthetic side of things. Importantly You have the ‘Works with HomeKit’ branding on the front, with a few bullet points on the back, listing some of the features of the Power Strip, like Independent Control, USB Charging, Energy Monitoring and more, which we’ll touch on later.

One you’ve opened the box, it’s clear there really isn’t a lot of protection provided, being that the Strip itself comes in a simple latex bag with elastic bands to keep everything in place. Despite this, once unwrapped, the Strip feels really ‘tough’; I’ve owned a lot of power strips over the years, and this definitely feels a lot more substantial than any of those. The power cord feels very thick and durable too, so this soon leaves you feeling a lot more confident.

Setting up the device is super easy, if you’re used to installing devices via HomeKit; All you need is to plug the device into the mains, and have your HomeKit code at the ready. This is provided inside the accompanying booklet (not pictured) and on the device itself, but seeing as you might be placing this in a more difficult to reach place, the code inside the booklet suddenly becomes very handy. As is standard with a HomeKit device installation, it’s a breeze, with the now familiar ‘Add accessory, Scan Code’ scenario. Once you’ve gone through this simple process, you’ll have to name each of these outlets, starting with the 1st outlet, being the one nearest to the ‘Koogeek logo (or the one furthest from the USB ports). As all three outlets are on one device, you can only choose one room for all three outlets to be in, obviously. Once the outlets are named, they are ready to use.

The Power strip allows for three individually controlled outlets, along with three physical buttons with corresponding LEDs to control the power and indicate the power state. All fairly straightforward. Along with these outlets you get three USB ports, two of which are labelled ‘iPhone/iPod’ along with a third, more powerful port labelled ‘iPad’. The ports themselves provide 1 amp of power for the first two ports, and 2.1 amps for the iPad port.

These US ports cannot be individually or collectively controlled, so they’re as dumb as it gets in terms of ‘Smarts’,  however they do free up sockets that otherwise might be used solely for a USB charger, so in that respect they’re very welcome. The iPad port is powerful enough for me to power my basic 3m LED light strip, so this also saves me finding a USB plug and the use of an outlet to plug it into.

On the back of the device at the bottom, you have the details of what the device is capable of and what kind of power it’s designed to handle. At the other end, the HomeKit code along with serial number and MAC code are also provided. At the side of the device there’s a circuit breaker, useful in the event that the device is overloaded, it would cut the power, allowing you to use this button to reset the device to receive power again, which you tend to find on most power strips these days. On the subject of power, the Power Strip does protect against power surges. The rated current is 15 amps, with a total rated power of 1800 watts. Finally, it should be stressed that this is designed for indoor use only.

Overall, this is a really great piece of kit, which not only provides three outlets for just a little more than the price of one smart plug, in some cases, but as the power plug itself is standard, it doesn’t take up two wall outlets. This being the US version, its input is rated for 120v AC and 60Hz, but Koogeek have since released a version suitable for the EU, with a UK version in the works, allegedly.

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• Operates using Wi-fi
• Full HD 1080p
• 120º viewing angle
• Two-way audio communication
• infrared night vision
• 128gb TF card slot
• motion detection
• automatic video storage

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Works with Apple HomeKit
Apple HomeKit technology provides an easy, secure way to control the connected lights using the Koogeek Home app (Apple Home app) and Siri on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Apple Watch.

Dimmable
You can match the light brightness to your mood and personalize your home. Create your desired atmosphere by dimming or brightening the light bulb.

High Brightness & Energy Saving
High color rendering provides vivid and natural color. It can replace a 60W incandescent bulb, saving up to 88% on electricity bills.

Create Scenes with Multiple Bulbs Simultaneously
Create scenes and control multiple HomeKit-enabled light bulbs to match the situation or your mood.

Remote Control
You can set up your HomePod, Apple TV 4K, Apple TV (4th generation), or iPad as a home hub to realize remote control. Never worry about leaving the lights on when you are away from home.

Support Voice Control
With Apple HomeKit technology, you can control connected light bulbs and scenes with Siri voice commands directly.

Automate Light Bulbs
With the Koogeek Home app and on the same Wi-Fi network or by setting up a home hub, you can automate connected light bulbs or scenes to turn on or off through triggers such as time of day, location, HomeKit-enabled sensor detection, or the action of a HomeKit accessory.

Create An Unified Ecosystem with Others
All HomeKit-enabled accessories are compatible with each other. Koogeek smart home devices work with all of them to create your smart home system.

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