It's funny how many people mention that they need an offline feature yet they are online on all social media apps, internet browsers, smart Tvs, Alexa, Google and the list goes on. Unless you are living in the mountains with no internet connection, then you are being tracked one way or the other.
@@moltenpros Your point is not lost on me, but with this level of detail, it just crosses a line that puts it in almost the same ranking as 24 hour video surveillance.
@@moltenprost is not just because of privacy. It's also a means of long term use. If it needs a server then eventually the server can die and it's useless or the server could push an update and kill it like older Sonos. I also would like to limit how much data i use since it's not unlimited.
@@probablyanadult7354 The server is not going to die and you know it. By next year you will be using the latest and greatest device, while this one will be in the dump. The data use is very little. Everyone else mentioned privacy and I am sure that is your main point also
Definitely looking forward to future mmWave upgrades for the EP1, having that flexibility is wonderful. Please keep us posted on any developments around that :)
Can confirm PIR inclusion was a very good decision. Makes it easy to detect someone entering the room, then mmwave can take over. My room automation works great by using pir first, also light sensor is brilliant too.
Really good honest review and always appreciate your transparency. I was excited for the FP1 but stock issues and the need to import stopped me from getting any. Having taken delivery of 2 EP1's this week, I am very happy with them and haven't seen anything in any of the FP2 reviews I have seen that would make me think they are worth the money. I'd much rather get more EP1's and the potential to upgrade the mmwave sensors makes them a far better purchase for me. Keep up the good work on the videos and the EP1's!
The EP1 doesn't have zones so that is a big feature of the FP2. They will also improve the FP2 with firmware. Lastly, the EP1 is made by one guy and the FP2 is made from a well known company. I am putting my money on the FP2
@@moltenpros good for you. I like the local control of the EP1 and as it's entirely open source and upgradable, the flexibility vs price is better for me. What's great is we have a choice, and you don't have to buy one or the other, there may be better use cases for each within the same smart home.
Just got one, along with a wall switch and a camera e1, and they are working great. Loving aqara so far. Soon I'll be getting into home assistant to add more functionality. Great video!
Yeah, likewise. My smart home gear is all local and I loved the FP1 using ZigBee for that. Not buying anything that'll stop working without an external server or that will send data outside my network
The below was posted by someone from Aqara somewhere else about 24 hours ago, still trying to get confirmation that this is resolved. While I consider this an extremely odd "bug" if they truly are going to update it to Matter whenever presence detectors are added then LAN functionality is in the specifications. I have zero issues with sending some data to improve a product or software, no smart home devices at this point should ever require an active internet connection. Also, any data sent should have an opt out option also. Please note, the bug, which prevented FP2 automations from being local, was fixed. Feel free to test.
@@JoshFisher567 No, sending data outside your network should be opt-in, not opt-out. Opt-out is how we got to the current situation where almost any "smart" product you buy will report detailed information about what you're doing with it and you have to dig deep into menus to even find out what's getting sent, let alone disable it.
These MM wave sensors are all pretty cool. What I do not see much in the smart home community videos is automations when you have pets. I assume with 2 cats and 2 dogs that all these automations are pointless. The animals would be triggering automations all the time. Is there anything that can allow you to specify the size of an object via the MM wave sensors? Thanks for all the cool videos!.
It drives me absolutely nuts when companies put a USB-C connector on their devices and don't put in the resistors, so you have to pass it through USB-A first.
Could you make a video about how different devices handle pets? Is there a big difference between PIR and mmwave? Can mmwave detect the size of the object? I'm interested in presence detection, but not if my cat would trigger the lights.
I have the same exact behaviour in the bedroom with EP1 going long periods of time without detection and I have been trying to find a way to visualize the data from the mmWave sensor. It looks like the zones feature from FP2 is exactly what I need on EP1 (maybe in a future firmware update?). I have been tweaking parameters for weeks now, without much success, which of course means my placement is sub-optimal but I'm really limited about that. EP1 is a great sensor though, it has shown it's potential when I tested it in other situations and I wouldn't change it for any other sensor, including the FP2! Keep up the good work and the honesty when reviewing!
Join the discord, I'm sure I can help you to fine tune it! There is also a way to get detection data though much more rudimentary than the FP2s version
Yes please, an explanation of the FP2 performance, settings and modes would be excellent. This type of tutorial would save many a great amount of time. Thanks!
Regarding the lux sensor, one of the first customizations I made to the EP1 is setting a 5-second update interval for illuminance. It's sometimes helpful to have that as close to real-time as possible for automations, so it's great to see Aqara has speedy updates.
what do you use the light (lux) reading for? I have never found a use for it, except in a public space where people liked to turn on lights in the middle of the day in a large room that has plenty of windows, so the lights do almost nothing. In that case, I simply don't allow the lights to be turned on when Lux values are high enough :)
@@marcusone1 lol, isn't that good enough? I have the same. Several A/B automation actions that turn on the lights either all the way, or more dimly based on lux. It's like an added condition other than just relying on time of day.
Almost fell from the couch laughing, short bursts of energetic movements indeed. Love my EP1ˋs.. they are great. Now, if esphome where to support motion zones, that would be a big win.
@@EverythingSmartHome Would be even more awesome if he actually shared his board design so people can actually get one. Like kinda how he keeps insisting other people or companies make their design open source.
Looking forward to the future videos and am interested I Aqaras response to if they intend FP2 to work only locally, without an internet connection, something I look for in every device.
No Zigbee, maybe Matter someday (who even knows anymore...) and it only works with internet AND it requires the Aqara app? :( I dunno, to many downsides for such an expensive product. The EP1 sounds great though.
Thank Lewis for this in depth review. Once again confirms that you are one of my very favourite RU-vidrs. Would love a follow up video. Really cool product and great to see it compatible with Home Assistant via HomeKit controller. I would really like an EP1 in circular design for ceiling or wall mount. For now it is mainly the design preventing me from buying one.
Could the enclosure not be printed in a circular design? Obviously radius would be determined by the rectangular shape of the current enclosure but still.
i have an fp1 in my bedroom and it looses presence all the time not only when sleeping but also when reading on the bed or watching youtube and it is mounted at the ceeling in a corner with perfect view of my bed
I think I only need one initially for my home office - its a classic ‘sit still for long periods’ and ‘pop in and out during the evening’ where we forget to turn off lights and computer etc. If only in one room I think a higher price is reasoable if it offers the features needed. Interference zones for curtains could be valuable too
The issue i'm experienciong with this no matter how i position in, or what room i put it in, are the ghosts! Every so often, there will be a ghost that just stays, until i reset. It doesn't seem to be related to any interference sources as the ghosts appear in random positions, like sometimes i'll be walking around, then, i'll split into 2 and have a ghost randomly wander around.
Hi Lewis. Two questions Does it work through glass? Like for instance the glass on the bathroom shower? And @ 7:56 which lights are u using? Is it Aqara? Or does it work with other brands? And If so, how do u configure them... In the Aqara App or like in google home app. Or maybe HA? Thanks
My personal experience with the FP1 is that, it's not as magical as I thought it would be... It get stuck with presence quite often, and sometimes it thinks I'm out of the room or it takes some time to give feedback... Maybe wifi could be worse, I don't know. But I think its better to have more cheaper simpler sensors, maybe an array of mm wave modules in a ESP, than only one sensor that may fail some times and break all the automations of the room. That being said, I'll stiil wait for more info about this sensor, and maybe I change my mind...
The everything presense one was wifi and it worked better than the FP1, at least in my personal experience but being able to block out areas like ceiling fans is a huge plus that was needed due to MmWave sensors being too sensitive
@Everything Smart Home Other than price, the one thing preventing me from using these or yours is that I'm concerned about the likelihood of false alarms created by pets. I'm planning to get a dog in the next few months. I'd love to see some suggestions for preventing this.
I have a few of ZY-M100 Zigbees around the house and they seem to overcome the issues with regular PIRs for me. Speed of detection, cool down and continuous detection seem to work in my use cases so far at least. The FP2 and others have other useful features, but for some, their costs are something to be considered. For the said price of a single FP2, four ZY-M100 can be had.
10:21 DONT sleep on this issue. I really hope peope avoid buying the sensor until this is addressed. Please keep us updated on if they remove the requirement for a constant internet connection.
Ty for the video. It would be interesting to see what kind of entities this product creates in Home Assistant and figure out what's is the best way to create some automations
My oldest son is disabled. I can't wait to be able to use MMW with AI video processing to be able to tag people and track locations. We have had a few scares where he as eloped out of the house and having these two technologies play with one another is going to be huge. Same thing with elderly. Thanks as always for your hard work... soooooo hows the PoE EP1 coming? =D
Great review, well done as always. I’d love to see you review the Tuya ZY-M100 to see how it stacks up. Perhaps even a roundup video of the Tuya ZY-M100, the EP1, the FP1 & the FP2? Love your content. Thanks again!
I know that there are so many people that will be picking up one because of availability. Really wish that EP1's were more easily accessible here in Cananda
still waiting for EP1. missed the last pre-order by only a day and it is sold out. hopefully you can restock and have more availability in Canada. Cheers!
Hey taking into account that FP2 has an ESP32 and the EP1 also has it... could you also include that in your software so that it detects more than 1 person? Has it given you better ideas for your EP1?
If someone builds custom firmware for these I may try them. I prefer local control. I am still waiting on the FP1's going back in stock. I missed the last batch.... Need several. Edit: Just realized I put fp1 instead of ep1. I need about 3 ep1's.
Another amazing video!. Informative and enjoyable to watch. Still waiting for you to lean into the Scottish accent more and roll your Rrrrs among things. 😝 Maybe in one of the always funny blooper takes at the end? 😉😉
Multi person and fall detection make it worthwhile to me. Matter doesn't matter(and never will). Needing internet (even for only some features)is almost a deal breaker. I'll be scouring the net for alternate firmware if they dont correct that,and I certainly won't buy a 2nd one until that is fixed.
Hi great video as always. I'm still keen to pick up a EP1 kit when they become available, can you let me know how both the EP1 and FP2 cope with cats or dogs, I'm not keen on the animals triggering my automations.
@@EverythingSmartHome true though supposedly by reducing the sensitivity it stops detecting small children, at least that's what another reviewer found with the fp2
@@EverythingSmartHome yeah pretty much, and they have huge investments overseas too. Pretty sure they have a large steaks and/or ownership in riot games and epic games. And that's just what I know off the top of my head. They're huge and their reach is even larger
I got the FP1 after your review and I'm having very poor sensing with that one too. Like two meters distance long periods without much movement (studying on a desk) and it will still turn off the lights. So I'm not getting this one either if it doesn't get you in bed. Seems the same probably.
Didnt i tell you previously that you will sell more than 10000 units? You should have gone for the plastic injection case. Congrats anyway!!! Great job!
Maybe it isn't even a issue in general, let me know if I worry about nothing. But how is this, and other solutions with pets? I don't want my cat turning on the lights all around the house if I start to smartify it.... Will this be a problem? Will the mmwave be the thing that can make it see "hey this is just a small cat, and not a full grown human" can the pir already do this? If anyone can tell me, and/or point me in the right direction to where I can learn more it would be cool! ty.
Hi Lewis. Thank you for the videos. They are helping as I start working through my home automation project with home assistant. You mentioned this device does not work when the Internet is blocked. I was wondering if you have a video or list of devices that work when the Internet is disabled? Thanks.
Home Assistant has their list of integration types and I was expecting they could be filtered by the connection type but not on the main list unfortunately (though if you open each one's page up that is an enumerated field set so is easy to filter on if it was available at the top level).
Great review! Do we know the wattage this device pulls? Since I do not have power outlets in the vicinity of where I would want to place it, can you use a power bank and use it that way in usable manner?
can you use some bluetooth usb c antenna dongle instead of the cable? or some other usb c device to be plugged into the FP2 and have data packets send through wireless to the router or a hub
Hi and many thanks for this review. I am wondering if it is possible to install more than one device in a room? The reason and purpose would be, for example, to cover a larger area because a device has a limited range. And in addition, if the software would support the function of grouping several devices together, this probably also could increase the accuracy of the position detection!? Wouldn't several devices in a room interfere with each other with the microwaves? thx
Great coverage on the new mmWave sensor, the FP2. Couple of ?’s, will your or Aquara being working with SmartThings as I’m only using ST’S and Amazon in my Home Automation? Thanks
The below was posted by someone from Aqara. While that's a big "bug" IMO it's good that it appears that internet access is no longer required for the FP2 to function properly. Not sure if that requires a firmware update or not. I have zero issues sending data to a company that may help or improve their product but at this point nothing smart home related should ever require an active internet connection. Sending debig data or errors so they can possibly make their product better in future software or firmware updates, that's fine, but an active internet connection is not. I actually had a chance to order one when they were in stock but that prevented me from doing so. Will just have to wait until they are back in stock. From Aqara: Please note, the bug, which prevented FP2 automations from being local, was fixed. Feel free to test.
@@EverythingSmartHome What region are you referring to? At least in the US, the EP1 costs $77 + $9 for the case = $86 + shipping And the Aqara FP2 is priced at $83
@@EverythingSmartHome Not adjusting price based on regional VAT differences makes price comparisons less consistent. It appears regions without VAT have the FP2 available cheaper (since Aqara adjusts the price accordingly), whereas the EP1 is generally cheaper in regions with a VAT.
Having zones in EP1 will be a matter of replacing the mmWave sensor or is "just" a firmware update? (I guess is HW change). I just got the EP1 in the last batch (still waiting for it to be shipped! :D), but I was really excited about the zones when I saw FP2 that I'm thinking about getting a FP2 too, although I really don't like that it doesn't work without Internet... Anyway, I hope you've that zones improvement in your roadmap and will us (more) happy soon (and for a reasonable upgrade price xD)!
I’m looking to get one of these and if I understood you correctly I don’t need to have anything other than this (or a hub) and some smart lightbulbs for it to control. Is this correct?
