I have been impressed with the Aqara products I have reviewed recently. The Zigbee based system is perfect for anyone looking for an affordable way to set up a smart home. While Zigbee is a fantastic smart home protocol, there is a new kid on the block called Matter, which is backed by the Zigbee…
Today, Aqara have added another Zigbee hub to their product lineup with availability on the Amazon US, Canada and France. It should come to the UK in the next few weeks. Buy from Amazon: The new camera is a 2K, pan-and-tilt camera with the local facial and gesture recognition features, and it integrates a built-in…
This week, Aqara announced their latest Hub E1 and is the most affordable hub they have launched on Amazon to date. Currently, this would make it the firth hub they have on Amazon but they have around eight different hubs in total, which seems a little excessive. The new Smart Hub E1 is priced at…
Today, Aqara have announced their latest affordable Zigbee hub, the USB-Powered Hub E1. Hub E1 is Aqara’s smallest hub so far, and it serves as the control centre for a wide range of the classic and the latest Aqara accessories, connecting up 128 child devices. The new hub is available on the Aqara Amazon brand…
Shortly after reviewing the £1k+ Luxaflex PowerView automatic blinds, Aqara offered me a more affordable alternative, the new Aqara Roller Shade Driver E1. This is an adaptor that will convert existing roller blinds that have a beaded chain into automatic blinds. As the Luxaflex blinds let in too much light during the daytime, I decided…
The world of home automation has always been a little confusing thanks to all the competing technologies. The two big ones are Zigbee and Z-Wave, but you then also have Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and many proprietary systems from the likes of Philips Hue, Lightwave, Den Automation and others. To make things simpler, but also more confusing,…
Most of the smart home tech I cover leans towards the more affordable end of the spectrum that most consumers can implement themselves. However, higher-end products are always in demand giving buyers more options. I recently was had the chance to try out Luxaflex PowerView for a basic installation in my spare bedroom. This is…
Following my review of the Aqara Camera Hub G2H, I have been checking out the Aqara M2 Smart Hub and the new Aqara Smart Wall Switch H1. The Aqara Smart Wall Switch H1 model I have used is the no neutral, double rocker EU variant. It is exactly the same as the standard H1, but…
Aqara has been a popular, affordable smart home ecosystem for a few years now. They recently launched their official Amazon UK store, so there is no more waiting around for imports with most of the devices available via Amazon Prime. I have been checking out the Aqara Camera Hub G2H hub with some of the…
Aqara has been a popular smart home system for many users looking for an affordable solution for a while now. In the early days, this meant buyers were importing products from various grey import sites such as AliExpress. In recent years the brand has expanded into the European market, with a large range of official…