Also, in our testing with SmartThings the reaction time was very slow6 to 8 seconds. You cant ask about temperature or motion, or access any of that information in the Google Home app. It seems changes to the SmartThings platform are causing this delay. To pair a sensor with a SmartThings-certified hub, first check if its compatible, select Add a device in your SmartThings app, follow the steps to include it in your network, and then install it and check that its responding correctly. Motion sensors can also trigger based on the lack of motion, so that lights will turn off if no one is in the room. Wyze tells us that it plans to release them without a subscription as a successor to the original Wyze Sense line, although there is no release date yet. The most useful place for this is in a hallway to turn on lights as you walk past, but as most outlets are in the middle of the hall rather than at the beginning, youll be walking in darkness most of the way. Worry that your smart-home devices may be acting sneaky? The advantage is that theyre especially energy efficient and therefore support long battery life; they also create a mesh wireless connection, which means each device shares its wireless connection with the sensors closest to it. It is much more expensive than competing models, but it is the most functional temperature sensor we tested. One of our picks is less expensive and can be more easily placed in a convenient location to measure temperature. (For more info on how to set up devices with HomeKit, check out How to Build an Apple-Based Smart Home System With the Best HomeKit Devices.). The person-specific trigger is a great aspect of HomeKit, one that most other hubs dont offer, and it makes sensors much more useful in multiperson homes. Set arrival or departure scenarios to activate from your ZigBee smart hub. The Centralite Micro Motion Sensor is also inexpensive and a good option if you are already using Samsungs SmartThings platform; it can also pair directly to any Zigbee-enabled Alexa smart speaker in lieu of using a hub (see FAQs for a deeper explanation). All Rights Reserved. Heres how to pick. We are reader-supported and may earn a commission from a link you click. We will test them when they are available. The Aqara Motion Sensor cant be paired directly with Alexa. Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant make listening to radio, controlling smart devices, and creating reminders as simple as asking for it. Then you can link the sensor to your other Alexa-compatible devices with Routines. Once youve set up sensors in your home, you can use the Home app (preinstalled on all iPhones and iPads) to create Scenes and Automations that then use those sensors to tell your home how to react to motion and activity (HomeKit doesnt offer temperature as a trigger but you can use a free third-party app, such as the one from Eve to set this up). It does require an Aqara hub. Arrived with only 37% battery left, which is disappointing. It is also as responsive as our pick. The downside of using sensors with Alexa is that the Alexa app offers no direct access to a sensors controls, so you cant adjust motion sensitivity, nor can you find logs of the temperature over a time period or of activities, such as when a door is accessed. It may work for some HomeKit homes, and because its IPX3 water resistant, its a solid choice for potentially wetter spaces. It pairs directly with a Zigbee-enabled hub, including Echo speakers, and when we first tested it it worked reliably. And you also arent able to trigger Google Assistant Routines. The company also has an outdoor motion sensor with the same capabilities. 2022 Wirecutter, Inc., A New York Times Company, This App Turns Any Smart Device Into a Multitasker, How Wirecutter Vets the Security and Privacy of Smart Home Devices, Best for Zigbee-enabled speakers and SmartThings, Centralite Temperature and Humidity Sensor, Ecolink Z-Wave PET Immune Plus Motion Detector, Ecolink PET Immune Motion Detector Zigbee, Ecolink Door/Window Contact Zigbee Sensor, How to Build an Apple-Based Smart Home System With the Best HomeKit Devices, Smart Home Sensors Differ From Other Types, The Best Alexa-Compatible Smart-Home Devices for Amazon Echo. Our journalists combine independent research with (occasionally) over-the-top testing to save people time, energy and money when making buying decisions. My problem with this device is that its contact sensors at the Pairs With SmartThings and Alerts Are Accurate. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. It has to be paired with a compatible Amazon Echo or Zigbee hub for connectivity and will need that devices app for setup and configuration. But it can also trigger an Automation or Routine, which will cause one or more smart devices to react. This way nothing goes out of rangea huge issue youve probably experienced if you cant get on Wi-Fi in certain corners of your home. The Onvis Motion Sensor is a motion sensor that also measures temperature and humidity. Aqara says it will support Thread wireless, and has a battery life of up to 5 years. I'm totally blind. In addition to discussing sensors that work with smart-home platforms, we included in this guide a few sensors that work with their own app, as well as some that work with multiple platforms, so you dont have to be locked into just one. That can be as simple as sending an alert to let you know that a door opened, or it can be more complex, like telling your HVAC system to turn off whenever you open the windows (and back on when you close them). This is the Motion Sensor your Smart Home needs. Other sensors we are testing for the next update of this guide include the C By GE Motion Sensor, the Lutron Caseta Motion Sensor, and the Vocolinc Contact Sensor (HomeKit only). Sign up to be notified about special offers, helpful hints, and more! Smart sensors are a great option for everyone from smart-home newbies to devout enthusiasts. But it was not reliable in our testing, we had to reconnect it multiple times, and its app verges on useless. Temperature sensors are also great for closely monitoring a sensitive space, like a babys room, a wine cellar, or an artists studio. We plan to retest previous sensor picks from Aeotec and Fibaro, along with other Z-Wave and Zigbee sensors when the new Aeotec SmartThings hub is available, as well as with a different Z-Wave hub. Best for Zigbee-enabled speakers and SmartThings. This mimics some of the functionality you can get from a motion- or contact-sensor-based automation. A motion sensor detects when something crosses its path and can be used to turn on smart lights whenever someone enters a room. Noticed looking at the hub interface it had a firmware update. Put a motion sensor in the room and get alerted whenever shes going rogue. Since 2016 Ive spent countless hours testing smart-home gadgets for Wirecutter, including smart thermostats, smart garage-door controllers, smart sprinkler controllers, and smart smoke alarms. You can use them to set the system to come on after motion is detected at a specified light level based on the time of daysay, dimmed in the evening, brighter in the morning. Magnet Dimensions: 1.75 (H) x 0.55 (W) x 0.46 (D) in., Sensor Dimensions: 1.75 (H) x 1.31 (W) x 0.58 (D) in. With a temperature sensor, changes in temperature and humidity in a specific area can trigger a thermostat to adjust, a smart fan or heater to turn on, or smart blinds to lower or raise. After a week of having this plugged into a set of LED lights behind my entertainment center, they have worked flawlessly. If you want to make the jump from dull lighting to smart lighting, here are some easy ways to get started. The EcoLink Door/Window Sensor Z-wave Plus also provides a brown option, though we found it larger and less attractive than the Fibaro sensor. Home AutomationHome Automation SystemHome Security SystemsHome Monitoring SystemHome SecuritySmart Home Devices. Door sensors are a convenient and affordable way to add another layer of security and function to your home. The Looria Grade (A - F) accounts for multiple factors, including sentiment, helpfulness, and more. Is a user's identifying data (such as their email address or Wi-Fi info) encrypted when stored in the cloud? The Ecolink PET Immune Motion Detector Zigbee is large, hard to mount, and rarely if ever worked to trigger routines through Alexa, which it pairs to directly without a hub. I purchased this product because I wanted something to monitor my sump pump for failures and notify me if my sump pump failed and the water level was rising. We also restricted our search to devices that had strong user and professional reviews, as well as any we had selected in the past in the three existing guides to smart sensors (this guide is a consolidation of those previous guides). I has one of these from later 2019/early 2020 and it worked well. You can pair directly to HomeKit by scanning the HomeKit code on the hub and then the sensor. There were also sensors that performed poorly in our tests, including the following. Anyone who uses an iPhone and is interested in a smart home should start here to find the best options and advice for getting started. Sometimes. Alexa app does not have an option for water leak sensor and thinks that is is a motion detector. However, we wouldn't recommend purchasing a smart speaker just for this function. The Aqara Door and Window Sensor is the smallest contact sensor we tested, as well as the cheapest, and we found it easy to mount unobtrusively on a drawer or a door. Compatibility: Amazon Alexa (Zigbee-enabled speakers only), Samsung SmartThings, Zigbee hubs. My previous sensor (which died) only took a few seconds. Whether it's finding great products or discovering helpful advice, we'll help you get it right (the first time). Ive been a journalist for more than two decades and focus on the smart home and connected living. There are no questions yet. At under $25 it is the least expensive HomeKit-compatible motion sensor available without a hub, and because its a Bluetooth 5.0 device it responds really quickly, even at a distance. The fourth generation Echo smart speaker has a temperature sensor built in, as do Echo Show displays and Echo Plus speakers. Is a username and password required to use the device? It has a great battery life and a 45-foot range, but its touted pet immunity failed in our testing. It worked reliably and consistentlyin large part because of its Thread connection (in earlier testing of the Eve Degree, this devices predecessor, we had trouble maintaining a reliable connection over Bluetooth out on the porch). It can, however, be paired and used in a routine to detect water and report. If youre interested in sensors for home security, see our guide to the best home security system. But it uses an expensive CR123A battery and had just as slow a response time in our testing. Learn more. The Aqara communicates using Zigbee wireless signals and has excellent range, but youll also need to purchase an Aqara hub, though that is able to support up to 128 sensors. The hub can support up to 64 devices, and includes 19 ringtones and a 90dB adjustable siren. Sensors need to be set up using a smartphone app, and there are several software ecosystemsoften called platformsyou can use with them that in turn are compatible with a whole bunch of devices made by a whole bunch of different companies. You can also tailor those actions to the time of day and who is at home. Similar to Zigbee and Z-Wave wireless, Thread is a wireless system that enables devices to share signals with each other, but unlike those systems Thread devices will connect directly to the internet, though youll still need whats called a Thread Border Router that lives on your home Wi-Fi network (currently only the HomePod Mini and 2021 Apple TV 4K are available). That makes them a solution for fine-tuning climate control systems in homes that have only one centrally located thermostat. At the most basic level, these small, battery-powered devices offer simple solutions to common problems. In our testing, the motion sensor turned on Philips Hue bulbs in our living room within a second of entering. Copyright (C) 2008-2022 Ezlo Innovation. Welcome back! 2022 Connectivity Standards Alliance. In the meantime, if you have a Z-Wavebased smart home we recommend considering sensors from these companies as they worked well in previous testing.