Happy Saturday! Stop buying Hue!! 🤣 Buy Aqara stuff instead below!... BUY THE AQARA T1M CEILING LIGHT HERE: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. By buying through any of the links below I will earn commission at no extra cost to you :) UK: amzn.to/3TzR9qV US: amzn.to/4a9qXZF AQARA SPRING DEALS UP TO 27% OFF As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. By buying through any of the links below I will earn commission at no extra cost to you :) UK: amzn.to/4alw48X US: amzn.to/3TqN078 Also!… Checkout my mate for his review and for all things Apple HomeKit 😁
This light along with the G3 hub does not work for me as they seem not to talk to each other. I only bought these 2 items on your recommendation. Funnily enough, my ancient Phillips Hue setup is still working. I'm not a happy man.
Apparently the Aqara T1M ceiling light isn't available from Amazon USA yet. Paul's link doesn't go to the light, it just lands me on my Amazon home page where there is no T1M to be seen. When I do a search for Aqara T1M ceiling light (or any variation) the search brings up other similar lights but not this one. Most often I don't need or want whatever Paul is reviewing, I just come here every Saturday morning to watch Paul's antics while I have my morning coffee. There's always a chance he's going to cover something I can use and if not it's always great fun anyway. It's become a habit that I sincerely enjoy. However, this time this *_IS_* something I'd be interested in. This T1M light would be great for replacing the can lights in my man cave/home theater room. There's a French door (under an awning so very little outside light) plus one tiny window in that room and lighting is a serious issue. Even with the highest powered LED bulbs I can get my hands on it's still dark in places in that room. Colored lights just make things worse so a light that can do both color and white at the same time would be really good. I think these T1M lights would be a fantastic, really cool addition to the room. Sadly I have no idea what they cost in U.S. dollars and can't find them on Amazon U.S.
But, it just works!!!! Is literally a description of every Philips Hue fan. Also, thanks for making fun smart home content I've now been watching for.... 6 years!? (Wow time flies...) You are the main reason I got into smart home, and I greatly thank you for that. Hope you reach 1M subs, you deserve it.
Obviously everyone’s experience is different, but objectively speaking Hue is one of the worst. Rands out there for brightness, saturation of colour and in my personal experience reliability. Below is a copy and paste from an answer I gave to another comment to expand a bit on that… The main issue is the lack of brightness compared to FAR cheaper products, I once did a video comparing their stuff to Lidl’s supermarket brand, and the supermarket brand was significantly brighter on my lux meter 🤣 Other issues include the time I tried to set one of my lights to a Halloween theme in the Hue app and it froze ALL my Hue lights. In order to fix it their customer service team nonchalantly took me through resetting my account without apology at which point I had to recreate every scene and automation. When I complained they shrugged it off as an issue with the “third party” Halloween theme that I found in THEIR app and genuinely refused to apologise. I’m not exaggerating, their customer service team refused to apologise 😳 The ONLY LED strip I own with a dead LED including the 5 quid ones off Amazon is Hue. There are so many more examples, but the main reason I hate them is their disgusting levels of corporate greed. They do everything they can to lock you into their ecosystem and force you to use their products. For example, if you buy any 3rd party product then it arbitrarily doesn’t work with their entertainment system, nor will they advertise it to Apple HomeKit. There’s no technical reason, they’re just greedy. Their stuff can’t be reset without purchasing their remote in some cases, which is utter madness. I could go on, but I think you get the picture; Way too expensive for mostly inferior products, and general greediness. If you google for “the Phoebus cartel” you’ll find that they have been this way for well over a hundred years, and used to work together with other manufacturers to intentionally reduce the lifespan of light bulbs to force us all to buy more! Disgusting organisation with garbage products.
@@paulhibberthi Paul - I had around 50 hue bulbs in my last home. Sold the house with them but never had any problems. Just about to have 1 st fix electrics and going all hue (bar a few strips in cupboards). So many that I need 2 hubs. Sure they cost but they work and play nice with apple home and home assistant. Hue are plenty bright enough and as I’ve designed the lighting (with a consultant) for hue it’s not a problem. Many homes are over lit anyway. Love the channel but Matter sucks !
Never pay for potential or promised future features. If the vendor cannot support something now, the changes are that the support will never come, no matter the marketing speech.
It happens from time to time that they will, the problem is that even if they do, it's on their time line and you have no idea when that's going to be. There's a decent chance that even if they do follow through on it, that you just got rid of it the week before.
@@paulhibbert 😂 "Hi, is that Govee, I've got a great proposition for you... Can you fund all my marketing costs until I reach a million subscribers and I promise to demolish Philips Hue bulbs in every video using one of your LED floor lamps whilst screaming 'Luke, I am your father!!!'... "
I appreciate your insights Paul, always thoughtful. I began building a small Hue ecosystem 6 years ago because I’m an idiot and to me Hue and their app are idiot proof 😆. I still enjoy watching your videos to keep me up to date with the other options out there, specifically the Matter products. Thanks for another great video.
Maybe its a USA vs UK thing, but my Phillips Hue products are the most consistently reliable smart home hardware I've ever owned. I know you don't want to hear it Paul, but here goes: "IT JUST WORKS!"
I have 7 hue devices + hub. About 25 Tuya devices in the same location. Hue stuff was twice the price and not as bright. It is pretty reliable to be sure, but no more than the tuya stuff is.
I've heard people bashing Hue, and yes it's expensive, but I had some of the Gen 1 stuff for quote a few years. When I got it, it was pretty much the only option for lights that you could control remotely without doing a bunch of custom design and installation. I didn't have any issues at all until they discontinued the Gen 1 bridge, which caused a few issues, but I have been able to get it connected up to Home Assistant. The stuff isn't long for this world as it is quite a few years old at this point and starting to flicker, but it's lasted quite a long time and I haven't ever had issues with getting it connected.
For my lighting system I have a full ORVIBO system that I bought on a business trip to China. They offer ceiling, wall lights etc. with features that outclass this Aquara and any Hue lights. Even the wall switches (Mixpad D1) are entirely touchscreens that allow for any custom control of anything in your home. I really hope you can get your hand on some ORVIBO devices in the future and showcase them. They are also the only ones that have insane display wall hubs that can control anything and work fully with home assistant (if set up correctly).
So long as it connects to hues bridge I’m good as that shir works if internet goes down. No calling home for schedules and routines to work with hue bridge.
I've used a workaround for some Govee stuff where I call an Alexa routine from HA. Some Govee stuff is actually visible in home assistant anyway but not seemingly with Aqara
I got a load of Phillips hue switches for a tenner each on eBay. Then put a plastic faceplate on top of all my light switches. The hue switch does a good job. I know it's hue... but they are linked to HA using zigbee instead of the hue stuff. It keeps the other half happy....
I do like this light but I’m not sure how many people want this kind of centre light these days? Just my opinion. Bathrooms and kitchens tend to have an increasing number of spot lights, lounges and hallways often candelabra style fittings or wall lights. It’s great for the intended use case but the old round centre light is IMO a thing of the 70’s era.. perhaps it’s just me. :-)
Aquara shipped these to every single online influencer and everyone has released a video - and they’ve been out of stock everywhere for weeks. Super job on the launch, Aquara. I was ready to give them money but had to get the project done. Missed your shot Aquara.
I installed one of these last weekend. I used the Aqara lightswitch in remote mode, as you mentioned, and it works well. Since it's a double switch I use 1 switch for the outer ring and the other for the main light. The tunable white light is great, although the outer ring isn't anywhere near as bright. That being said the latter is supposed to be a mood light, so that's ok. It was expensive, but it really does fill the room with light. I'll wait for a discount later in the year to buy a couple more, since this was a test purchase. I don't begrudge the cost on this purchase though.
I have this same setup for the bedroom and living room. The main issue I have it's either on or off. The app needs an option 'if held' so you can increase or decrease the brightness, as it remembers the last setting you had set.
Lewis did this lamp two weeks ago. The CRI and Lumens are impressive and despite people moaning it is expensive, a DIY retrofit solution is expensive too. Here is s report of my orignal comment: Shelly Dimmer 30 Euro, 10 Philips 2700K Dim2warm CRI>90 50 Euro, 10 Lamp holder with bracket 25 Euro. Some solid core wires and Wagos 20 Euro. Some nice lamp with metal base plate and crap ultra blue flickering leds but a nice form XX Euro. Drill, rivet gun.... If you find a really nice lamp and just don't like the light quality then go for it. if not pay the 150 Euro for the Aqara. I recently did the DIY and love it.
@@timcxWe know Paul is an English youtuber secret Home Assistant nerd. Lewis is a Scottish youtuber Home Assistant nerd. Nope sorry no published details apart from the text above. I am not about to advise people on how to strip solid core and use push fit e14 lamp holders and Wagos and power drills and rivet guns in 230 Volt land.
After switching to the new M3 hub, I couldn't re-bind the T1M. The T1M Light says turn the light on/off 5 times. I wasn't thinking to do it RAPIDLY. That was my issue. This might help someone else.
Looks cool and £100 cheaper than the Hue version, especially like the fancy effects. Sidenote: Hue does the different light time of day thing as well. Great vid 👍👍
@@paulhibbertit's certainly possible to use a sensor to dmx for the newer aperture lights. The problem as ever is the software, sidus app is a pain, but even worse are all the DMX controllers which are just scripting languages it seems Do you know of any good ones? And I pulling your chain about Aperture. You are an absolutely stunning UA-camr, for all I know you could be presenting for the gadget show and if I ever get well enough not to have to lie in bed regularly that I can stop screaming in pain to actually make some content then I hope on day to be as good as you
Matter is not a comparison to Zigbee. Zigbee is a wireless protocol, Matter is a connectivity standard. One does not replace the other. A device can be Zigbee and be Matter-enabled via a hub.
I feel like you’re both right. Matter is not a competitor for Zigbee but it was advertised as a be all and end all product in the same was Zigbee was originally advertised. So far it has not really ticked that box either
@@paulhibbert I mean I definitely have to interject here. Matter is supported over WiFi and Thread. If Aqara had built this with Thread instead of Zigbee then it would do matter out-of-the-box. However Thread obviously requires a Thread Border Router. Aqara - as you note - has MANY devices that have a Zigbee hub built in, so in terms of adoptability - obviously it makes the most sense to Aqara to release the product with the wireless communication technology that the majority of their customers are already going to have, than it does to release it with Thread and then deal with the massive amount of the non tech people who buy the light and discover that they don't have any way of connecting to it. If Thread Border Routers were more common (and it's likely they will probably start being added to set to boxes and ISP routers) it wouldn't be as much of a problem. What about WiFi then? Well let's be honest, how many smart bulbs or plugs that use WiFi - are actually *that* reliable? WiFi lights and plugs have an annoying habit of dropping off the WiFi network for absolutely no reason, and the cheap ESP chips that they use, still only support 2.4GHz - which is one of the main reasons that they tend to be not that reliable.
@@paulhibbert yeah, I do agree with this. I have a matter Tapo plug for example which lists power monitoring, but this in reality only works via the Tapo app. I know this is down to what the matter spec includes currently but a device that can ‘work with everything’ but one of the main features requires a separate app is… not progess.
I'd love to install us in my laundry room. Do they make a wall switch that's compatible with this? I need to replace the thumb switch in the laundry room with something that won't kill a power to this smart light when the switch is thrown
Nice one! Now I only have to find an excuse how I 'accidentally' put 4 of those in my shopping basket and slipped so unfortunately that I released the order...
Bought and installed one of these a few days ago. Was working great for two days Now suddenly its completely dead and won't turn on. Wired the old light back up and that works fine. Anyone know what the problem could be?
So, i have had nothing but grief with all LED lighting. They are supposed to last years but within a year the electronics usually fail and you get the blinking LED scenario. We had one whole floor renovated on a house we owned and all the lights were replaced with LED. Every one of those lights have failed and i have had to replace at least 7 of them with traditional lights where i can screw in an LED bulb. That way when it fails it is easy to replace.
Hoping someone can help….. I’m at a stage of my house refurb project where I want to add lighting. I previously purchased Philips Hue GU10 bulbs for the living room, a few single bulbs other rooms and a couple of strips which i wish to keep but not sure if I want to go ahead with Philips in others areas of the house. This is mainly because I like strips that can do multi colours at the same time rather than a single colour that cycles. The next stage calls for led lighting in the kitchen and up the staircase and on slatted wall panels on a tv wall. I want this for ambient lighting but also to “dance” with colours if I’m hosting a party. I want the leds that are installed in the slatted wall panels to sync with what I’m watching on the tv whether that be movies or games. Please advise which brand would be best to go with or can multiple lights from various brands be setup to work with each other? Your help is greatly appreciated.
Checkout Govee's range of lighting products. They will sync to your TV but require a camera, other than that one flaw they are the only option for what you're describing.
The one flaw I see is that it requires turning on and off the entire light for pairing mode. Where I'd use smart lights is circuits that are always on, and in fact, have no switch.
what is the point in making a Matter device that only works with their Matter hub? Wasn't the whole point of Matter is that you can use any device with any hub you wish?
Oh, and as you mentioned it. I would just like to have a rant at *all* smart home device manufacturers and just say that the "toggle the power 5 times" to reset and re-pair is really annoying in countries where the mains power is not particularly stable. Its so easy for outages to set all 16 ceiling lights flashing and it a real pain to fix, especially if its a rental property. Would be better if they had a physical button like most curtain motors.
8:25 They sell cheap white and beige switch covers, that are also easily removable (by hand) for times you absolutely must have temporary manual control.
you have lots of video security videos. As of now, what system (one wired and one wireless) do you recommend right now? Also, I am replacing 70's era kitchen tube style lights like the school I went to. I would like your choices for replacing these with better working and looking led lights. I don't want to have to hire an electrician if possible.
I’ll be replacing my bathroom light with one of these and also link it with a motion/presence sensor, so when my kids wake up at night and go in to the hallway, the light can turn on at a low level to not fully wake them up when doing their business.
As it is Zigbee the answer SHOULD be yes, but as it’s Aqara and Hubitat hate Aqaras Zigbee stuff the answer could be no. Not sure if Hubitat have improved the Aqara integration or not
Will the echo show 8 gen 3 work as a zigbee hub for this light? Or does it need an Aqara hub to access all the features? Another entertaining and awesome review. Thanks Paul
I love your Videos, they are funny and you are charismatic. You promoted many years ago Lifx. I bought around 25+ lifx bulbs and Strips and beams. With flic2 buttons. Flic2 buttons are awesome. Lifx has pretty colors. But is not reliable and loses always conection. It is frustrating, worst decision to choose Lifx, they are expensive like Hue. You never told the problems about them. Every person who choose Hue said it just works ...
Please please tell me that thing has a good IP rating. I've not been able to sort my bathroom out as it has a non smart ceiling light and a bloody pull cord. The smart ceiling lights are never IP rated for bathrooms and I've yet to find a smart pull cord at all. Hopefully this will finally let me sort the bloody bathroom light which we forget to turn off constantly
Looks nice but still ridiculously expensive for a basic room light. A$299 here in Australia (US$193 inc tax). Plus as you recommend more for a smart switch. And due to our nanny state rules in 240V territory, more for an electrician.
Will this work with the Broadlink TC3 light switches to keep it always on, or would it have to be programmed as a smart option on a switch not wired to it like you said with the Aqara switches?
You mention using the Aqara Zigbee hub, I'm using a combo stick with Zigbee and Z-wave in my current smart home setup. Will this still work, or do I have to add Aqara's Zigbee hub to connect to it? Just want to make sure before I pull the trigger.
Hi Paul, tahnks for a great video once more! Sadly I have so far been unable to kick that nasty Hue Habit... But maybe I could reduce my HH a bit? Do the Aqara lights work on the Hue bridge, especially with iConnectHue, and if they do, can you keep most of the functionality?
Well this is annoying, i bought one of these awhile back along with a g3 hub. On seeing this i decided to set it all up. The bloody hub wont find the light. I've updated the firmware and am using only 2.4g wifi, still no joy. Pretty pissed off right now.
Hello, I have hue, Aqara fp2, Govee, nest, google, Alexa, and Lutron Casseta, nividia shields.I have a lot of motion sensors as well. Only routines is really turning on home theater. I also have iPhones. Is the Aqara ecosystem best to run everything in? I bought and returned homey pro. It seems good but not USA ready and I don’t right that in depth of routines. I use google and Alexa . Would Aqara hub make everything integrate and easier? Thank you
Hi dude, Have you been able to pair the t1m to your flic twist via mater to remotely control brightness? I was an early adaptor of the twist, and baised on your advice, I'm looking at investing in the t1m.
I use google home app for a better UI to simply manage switching devices. Complete shite for automations though and use Alexa for that. Amazon really needs to upgrade their UI.
Paul love the channel...but...stop giving MATTER a break. It is broke, it sucks, it has not made anyone's life better and they lied to us. Other than that it is fabulous :0
Nothing like watching Paul Hibbert videos on your laptop in a quiet public place with the volume up. I get strange looks when the Amish guy starts chanting "Home Assistant! Home Assistant!! Home Assistant!!!"
I have one question for the automation guys here: what is the easiest way to automate the lights on a ceiling lamp with 6 dumb bulbs to turn on the bulbs as first 1 then +2 +3 +4 +5 +6. bulbs are not smart and needs to stay that way because of design and the actual classic dual swith only does 1+2 and 3+4+5+6 :)
It's nice and all but didn't big ass ceiling lights in the center of the room go out of fashion somewhere in the 90s. Would be nice if Aqara started releasing all kinds of ceiling spots, ceiling strips, wall lights etc. Then maybe they could really call themselves an ecosystem. I would love to go full-on Aqara, but they really don't make enough variety of lighting. Anyways, good news is I have the M2 hub to go with my Aqara door lock and it is pretty awesome, has IR blast support too so I can control my dinosaur AC. Glad you did the wizard cutaway, could see that coming a mile off. 🙂
I wish you would simply say the lumen output instead of calling the light fixture "really bright" or something similar. It seems that this light can emit up to 3450 lm with some unspecified color temperature, probably somewhere around 6000K. I'm still looking for a replacement for my halogen lighting that can do 5500 lm at 3000K per light source. And as halogen lighting obvious has 100 Ra CRI rating, I would want to have something equally good. Yes, halogen wastes electricity but otherwise it's still superior in many ways.
I was looking at the round Hue Surimu lamp with the main draw being the fact it is a big defused RGB Light. Seeing how much brighter this one is, how it integrates with HomeKit dynamic lighting, How much brighter it is, How much cheaper it is and lastly also how simply stunning the auxiliary light is I will go with this one and matching Hub and light switch 100% It is literally €20 for me to buy this lamp with hub and switch than it is to buy a small Hue Surimu lamp BEFORE adding accessory costs. Shows how scandalous hue is.
Aye, it ain’t cheap sadly, but perhaps that’s reassuring. I know Shane had a super cheap Tuya equivalent in his ceiling before and he’s of course swapped it for this
Sure Hue is expensive but I've never had a problem with a single bulb. Add to that, I am unaware of a company that makes a quality RGB pot light (non slim).
Happy Saturday! Stop buying Hue!! 🤣 Buy Aqara stuff instead below!...
BUY THE AQARA T1M CEILING LIGHT HERE:
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. By buying through any of the links below I will earn commission at no extra cost to you :)
UK: amzn.to/3TzR9qV
US: amzn.to/4a9qXZF
AQARA SPRING DEALS UP TO 27% OFF
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. By buying through any of the links below I will earn commission at no extra cost to you :)
UK: amzn.to/4alw48X
US: amzn.to/3TqN078
Also!… Checkout my mate for his review and for all things Apple HomeKit 😁
Links are not working; they only take you to Amazon and not the item?
This light along with the G3 hub does not work for me as they seem not to talk to each other. I only bought these 2 items on your recommendation. Funnily enough, my ancient Phillips Hue setup is still working. I'm not a happy man.
The US one doenst seem to be working
good vid
@@HangingShoesI have two of these and the G3 hub working perfectly.
Do you recommend installing this in the bathroom?
Apparently the Aqara T1M ceiling light isn't available from Amazon USA yet. Paul's link doesn't go to the light, it just lands me on my Amazon home page where there is no T1M to be seen. When I do a search for Aqara T1M ceiling light (or any variation) the search brings up other similar lights but not this one.
Most often I don't need or want whatever Paul is reviewing, I just come here every Saturday morning to watch Paul's antics while I have my morning coffee. There's always a chance he's going to cover something I can use and if not it's always great fun anyway. It's become a habit that I sincerely enjoy. However, this time this *_IS_* something I'd be interested in.
This T1M light would be great for replacing the can lights in my man cave/home theater room. There's a French door (under an awning so very little outside light) plus one tiny window in that room and lighting is a serious issue. Even with the highest powered LED bulbs I can get my hands on it's still dark in places in that room. Colored lights just make things worse so a light that can do both color and white at the same time would be really good. I think these T1M lights would be a fantastic, really cool addition to the room. Sadly I have no idea what they cost in U.S. dollars and can't find them on Amazon U.S.
It was available. It just sold out. Similar to the fp2 when it came out. Think they cost around 140-170US
They’ve been sold out for weeks. Paul is late to the launch party amongst the influencers. The company wasn’t actually ready for a product launch.
But, it just works!!!! Is literally a description of every Philips Hue fan.
Also, thanks for making fun smart home content I've now been watching for.... 6 years!? (Wow time flies...)
You are the main reason I got into smart home, and I greatly thank you for that. Hope you reach 1M subs, you deserve it.
Exactly... there is a reason "it just works" and Hue show up together in a sentence quite often...
Obviously everyone’s experience is different, but objectively speaking Hue is one of the worst. Rands out there for brightness, saturation of colour and in my personal experience reliability. Below is a copy and paste from an answer I gave to another comment to expand a bit on that…
The main issue is the lack of brightness compared to FAR cheaper products, I once did a video comparing their stuff to Lidl’s supermarket brand, and the supermarket brand was significantly brighter on my lux meter 🤣
Other issues include the time I tried to set one of my lights to a Halloween theme in the Hue app and it froze ALL my Hue lights. In order to fix it their customer service team nonchalantly took me through resetting my account without apology at which point I had to recreate every scene and automation. When I complained they shrugged it off as an issue with the “third party” Halloween theme that I found in THEIR app and genuinely refused to apologise. I’m not exaggerating, their customer service team refused to apologise 😳
The ONLY LED strip I own with a dead LED including the 5 quid ones off Amazon is Hue.
There are so many more examples, but the main reason I hate them is their disgusting levels of corporate greed. They do everything they can to lock you into their ecosystem and force you to use their products. For example, if you buy any 3rd party product then it arbitrarily doesn’t work with their entertainment system, nor will they advertise it to Apple HomeKit. There’s no technical reason, they’re just greedy.
Their stuff can’t be reset without purchasing their remote in some cases, which is utter madness.
I could go on, but I think you get the picture; Way too expensive for mostly inferior products, and general greediness. If you google for “the Phoebus cartel” you’ll find that they have been this way for well over a hundred years, and used to work together with other manufacturers to intentionally reduce the lifespan of light bulbs to force us all to buy more!
Disgusting organisation with garbage products.
@@paulhibberthi Paul - I had around 50 hue bulbs in my last home. Sold the house with them but never had any problems. Just about to have 1 st fix electrics and going all hue (bar a few strips in cupboards). So many that I need 2 hubs. Sure they cost but they work and play nice with apple home and home assistant. Hue are plenty bright enough and as I’ve designed the lighting (with a consultant) for hue it’s not a problem. Many homes are over lit anyway. Love the channel but Matter sucks !
Never pay for potential or promised future features. If the vendor cannot support something now, the changes are that the support will never come, no matter the marketing speech.
An mkbhd quote that did not age well for him.
It happens from time to time that they will, the problem is that even if they do, it's on their time line and you have no idea when that's going to be. There's a decent chance that even if they do follow through on it, that you just got rid of it the week before.
Some of the best editing I have seen on a tech video.
Hilarious...
Easily on the road to 1 million subs.
Great advice too.
At the current rate of growth I will be in my 60’s before I reach a million 🤣 might be time for me to start paying for UA-cam’s “promote” feature 💸
@@paulhibbert 😂 "Hi, is that Govee, I've got a great proposition for you... Can you fund all my marketing costs until I reach a million subscribers and I promise to demolish Philips Hue bulbs in every video using one of your LED floor lamps whilst screaming 'Luke, I am your father!!!'... "
@@paulhibbert Noooo... that's what evil Google *want* you to consider
Ahhh yes, the highly coveted hip thrust…thanks for making my Saturday as usual, Paul! 😄
I appreciate your insights Paul, always thoughtful. I began building a small Hue ecosystem 6 years ago because I’m an idiot and to me Hue and their app are idiot proof 😆. I still enjoy watching your videos to keep me up to date with the other options out there, specifically the Matter products. Thanks for another great video.
Before the Aqara ecosystem, you recommended the Tuya ecosystem. I would be nice to hear if the Tuya stuff can still be used in the Matter era.
Maybe its a USA vs UK thing, but my Phillips Hue products are the most consistently reliable smart home hardware I've ever owned. I know you don't want to hear it Paul, but here goes: "IT JUST WORKS!"
I have 7 hue devices + hub. About 25 Tuya devices in the same location. Hue stuff was twice the price and not as bright. It is pretty reliable to be sure, but no more than the tuya stuff is.
I've heard people bashing Hue, and yes it's expensive, but I had some of the Gen 1 stuff for quote a few years. When I got it, it was pretty much the only option for lights that you could control remotely without doing a bunch of custom design and installation.
I didn't have any issues at all until they discontinued the Gen 1 bridge, which caused a few issues, but I have been able to get it connected up to Home Assistant. The stuff isn't long for this world as it is quite a few years old at this point and starting to flicker, but it's lasted quite a long time and I haven't ever had issues with getting it connected.
If you use the aqara light switch and hardwire then how do you turn the power on and off 5 times to connect to device via wifi to the nerwork?
ua-cam.com/video/TjgbADTLrEE/v-deo.htmlsi=KccT-2l25KpDbJ7k is my usual solution for this problem 😊
Looks like a amazing light, my only issue is its 1 giant LED panel that looks like it wont be cheap to replace when it starts to fail.
For my lighting system I have a full ORVIBO system that I bought on a business trip to China. They offer ceiling, wall lights etc. with features that outclass this Aquara and any Hue lights. Even the wall switches (Mixpad D1) are entirely touchscreens that allow for any custom control of anything in your home. I really hope you can get your hand on some ORVIBO devices in the future and showcase them. They are also the only ones that have insane display wall hubs that can control anything and work fully with home assistant (if set up correctly).
So long as it connects to hues bridge I’m good as that shir works if internet goes down. No calling home for schedules and routines to work with hue bridge.
Is there a specific Aqara switch to use or a specific way to set it up so it doesn’t turn off the ceiling light.
Is there a way to pull the scenes into HA? I know they can’t be created there but can you call existing ones?
I've used a workaround for some Govee stuff where I call an Alexa routine from HA. Some Govee stuff is actually visible in home assistant anyway but not seemingly with Aqara
I actually just switched to Hue and LOVE it.
I got a load of Phillips hue switches for a tenner each on eBay. Then put a plastic faceplate on top of all my light switches. The hue switch does a good job. I know it's hue... but they are linked to HA using zigbee instead of the hue stuff. It keeps the other half happy....
I do like this light but I’m not sure how many people want this kind of centre light these days? Just my opinion. Bathrooms and kitchens tend to have an increasing number of spot lights, lounges and hallways often candelabra style fittings or wall lights. It’s great for the intended use case but the old round centre light is IMO a thing of the 70’s era.. perhaps it’s just me. :-)
Aquara shipped these to every single online influencer and everyone has released a video - and they’ve been out of stock everywhere for weeks. Super job on the launch, Aquara. I was ready to give them money but had to get the project done. Missed your shot Aquara.
Aqara doesn't have a "u" ... just sayin' 🤭
What is CRI of the light bulb?
I installed one of these last weekend. I used the Aqara lightswitch in remote mode, as you mentioned, and it works well. Since it's a double switch I use 1 switch for the outer ring and the other for the main light. The tunable white light is great, although the outer ring isn't anywhere near as bright. That being said the latter is supposed to be a mood light, so that's ok. It was expensive, but it really does fill the room with light. I'll wait for a discount later in the year to buy a couple more, since this was a test purchase. I don't begrudge the cost on this purchase though.
I have this same setup for the bedroom and living room.
The main issue I have it's either on or off. The app needs an option 'if held' so you can increase or decrease the brightness, as it remembers the last setting you had set.
Lewis did this lamp two weeks ago. The CRI and Lumens are impressive and despite people moaning it is expensive, a DIY retrofit solution is expensive too. Here is s report of my orignal comment: Shelly Dimmer 30 Euro, 10 Philips 2700K Dim2warm CRI>90 50 Euro, 10 Lamp holder with bracket 25 Euro. Some solid core wires and Wagos 20 Euro. Some nice lamp with metal base plate and crap ultra blue flickering leds but a nice form XX Euro. Drill, rivet gun.... If you find a really nice lamp and just don't like the light quality then go for it. if not pay the 150 Euro for the Aqara. I recently did the DIY and love it.
Who is Lewis? Do you have details of your DIY solution e.g link? Thanks
@@timcxWe know Paul is an English youtuber secret Home Assistant nerd. Lewis is a Scottish youtuber Home Assistant nerd. Nope sorry no published details apart from the text above. I am not about to advise people on how to strip solid core and use push fit e14 lamp holders and Wagos and power drills and rivet guns in 230 Volt land.
Hmmm using it for a timer, can you control the speed? That would be even more epic than a notification the timer has completed.
After switching to the new M3 hub, I couldn't re-bind the T1M. The T1M Light says turn the light on/off 5 times. I wasn't thinking to do it RAPIDLY. That was my issue. This might help someone else.
Looks cool and £100 cheaper than the Hue version, especially like the fancy effects. Sidenote: Hue does the different light time of day thing as well. Great vid 👍👍
Good to know! Thanks man ❤️
@@paulhibbertit's certainly possible to use a sensor to dmx for the newer aperture lights.
The problem as ever is the software, sidus app is a pain, but even worse are all the DMX controllers which are just scripting languages it seems
Do you know of any good ones?
And I pulling your chain about Aperture. You are an absolutely stunning UA-camr, for all I know you could be presenting for the gadget show and if I ever get well enough not to have to lie in bed regularly that I can stop screaming in pain to actually make some content then I hope on day to be as good as you
I didn’t understand-if it supports Matter, then can’t it be connected to any Matter hub?
It communicates via ZigBee to its hub which then communicates via matter, so sadly it is the hub that enables it to be connected to matter
@@paulhibbert Okkk, now i understand. Thank you Paul!
Bloody loved The Wonder Years xxx
So it's zigbee, and acts as a repeater "for other Aqara products"....does it act as a regular zigbee router for non-Aqara zigbee devices???
BIG fan of Aqara. And I’d love to replace my hue lights. Just hope we can get some more outside lights soon.
Any news when Aqara will support above 2.4 GHz. More frequencies.....better connection...?
Not available in the US yet darn, darn, darn! I really want to replace my Phillips hue ceiling fixture with a cleaner brighter light.
Yey! The home assistant fan boi is back!
7:16 so we already see the promise broken, that matter will be what zigbee was not, a true one for all solution
Matter is not a comparison to Zigbee. Zigbee is a wireless protocol, Matter is a connectivity standard. One does not replace the other.
A device can be Zigbee and be Matter-enabled via a hub.
@@benjaminmaiden1347 And both let the producers the opportunity open, to not be compatible with other competing devices using that standard
I feel like you’re both right. Matter is not a competitor for Zigbee but it was advertised as a be all and end all product in the same was Zigbee was originally advertised. So far it has not really ticked that box either
@@paulhibbert I mean I definitely have to interject here. Matter is supported over WiFi and Thread. If Aqara had built this with Thread instead of Zigbee then it would do matter out-of-the-box. However Thread obviously requires a Thread Border Router. Aqara - as you note - has MANY devices that have a Zigbee hub built in, so in terms of adoptability - obviously it makes the most sense to Aqara to release the product with the wireless communication technology that the majority of their customers are already going to have, than it does to release it with Thread and then deal with the massive amount of the non tech people who buy the light and discover that they don't have any way of connecting to it. If Thread Border Routers were more common (and it's likely they will probably start being added to set to boxes and ISP routers) it wouldn't be as much of a problem. What about WiFi then? Well let's be honest, how many smart bulbs or plugs that use WiFi - are actually *that* reliable? WiFi lights and plugs have an annoying habit of dropping off the WiFi network for absolutely no reason, and the cheap ESP chips that they use, still only support 2.4GHz - which is one of the main reasons that they tend to be not that reliable.
@@paulhibbert yeah, I do agree with this. I have a matter Tapo plug for example which lists power monitoring, but this in reality only works via the Tapo app. I know this is down to what the matter spec includes currently but a device that can ‘work with everything’ but one of the main features requires a separate app is… not progess.
Happy Saturday Paul. I’m a bit of a Aqara fan boy so I will be getting this one also.
You won’t regret it, it’s a proper statement piece
Happen know which Aqarua light switch I would need to get? On their site there is like 3 different ones. Not sure which to pick.
Does the effects work in Home assistant yet?
There is a similar light from govee, the H60A1, would you consider doing a comparison?
This looks nice, I bet there's a way to do the alert idea with addressable LEDs. Maybe an Idea for a future video, Paul?
I'd love to install us in my laundry room. Do they make a wall switch that's compatible with this? I need to replace the thumb switch in the laundry room with something that won't kill a power to this smart light when the switch is thrown
Well that's what I get from commenting before I've watched the entire video. In
Nice one! Now I only have to find an excuse how I 'accidentally' put 4 of those in my shopping basket and slipped so unfortunately that I released the order...
This would be great for the kitchen disco on greatest hits radio 😂👍🏻
Thank you for the review. One question how dim can it go for night light ?
I'm waiting for them to release the M3 Hub they showed off at CES in the UK before I get into the Aqara ecosystem.
Bought and installed one of these a few days ago. Was working great for two days Now suddenly its completely dead and won't turn on.
Wired the old light back up and that works fine.
Anyone know what the problem could be?
Works for samsung too?
What is the Alexa routine integration like? Aqara sometimes doesn't get listed in the devices options for alexa routine triggers
So, i have had nothing but grief with all LED lighting. They are supposed to last years but within a year the electronics usually fail and you get the blinking LED scenario. We had one whole floor renovated on a house we owned and all the lights were replaced with LED. Every one of those lights have failed and i have had to replace at least 7 of them with traditional lights where i can screw in an LED bulb. That way when it fails it is easy to replace.
Hoping someone can help…..
I’m at a stage of my house refurb project where I want to add lighting.
I previously purchased Philips Hue GU10 bulbs for the living room, a few single bulbs other rooms and a couple of strips which i wish to keep but not sure if I want to go ahead with Philips in others areas of the house. This is mainly because I like strips that can do multi colours at the same time rather than a single colour that cycles.
The next stage calls for led lighting in the kitchen and up the staircase and on slatted wall panels on a tv wall.
I want this for ambient lighting but also to “dance” with colours if I’m hosting a party. I want the leds that are installed in the slatted wall panels to sync with what I’m watching on the tv whether that be movies or games.
Please advise which brand would be best to go with or can multiple lights from various brands be setup to work with each other?
Your help is greatly appreciated.
Checkout Govee's range of lighting products. They will sync to your TV but require a camera, other than that one flaw they are the only option for what you're describing.
@@paulhibbert thank you. Is there a particular model in their range you’d suggest for kitchen under cabinet lighting?
The one flaw I see is that it requires turning on and off the entire light for pairing mode. Where I'd use smart lights is circuits that are always on, and in fact, have no switch.
Paul do you need the gateway to be able to use on alexa or apple still?
what is the point in making a Matter device that only works with their Matter hub? Wasn't the whole point of Matter is that you can use any device with any hub you wish?
Oh, and as you mentioned it. I would just like to have a rant at *all* smart home device manufacturers and just say that the "toggle the power 5 times" to reset and re-pair is really annoying in countries where the mains power is not particularly stable. Its so easy for outages to set all 16 ceiling lights flashing and it a real pain to fix, especially if its a rental property. Would be better if they had a physical button like most curtain motors.
Hey Paul that lamp would be great idea for deaf people like myself to know when the phone is ringing.
8:25 They sell cheap white and beige switch covers, that are also easily removable (by hand) for times you absolutely must have temporary manual control.
you have lots of video security videos. As of now, what system (one wired and one wireless) do you recommend right now? Also, I am replacing 70's era kitchen tube style lights like the school I went to. I would like your choices for replacing these with better working and looking led lights. I don't want to have to hire an electrician if possible.
I’ll be replacing my bathroom light with one of these and also link it with a motion/presence sensor, so when my kids wake up at night and go in to the hallway, the light can turn on at a low level to not fully wake them up when doing their business.
So it doesn't work with SmartThings ?
Thanks Paul. Happy Saturday.
Video idea for you - smart kit for a kitchen disco setup?
Adaptive lighting sounds like a game changer, I can’t believe I haven’t heard of this before.
Apple have some annoyingly good ideas!
Cheers, do you know if there’s Hubitat support? I know it’s not realistic to expect you to answer all tech enquiries, just wondering 🤗
As it is Zigbee the answer SHOULD be yes, but as it’s Aqara and Hubitat hate Aqaras Zigbee stuff the answer could be no. Not sure if Hubitat have improved the Aqara integration or not
@@paulhibbert cheers Paul, and thanks for my regular Saturday morning entertainment
Still buying hue. Have govee and others and Hue still is the best for speed and reliability.
Will the echo show 8 gen 3 work as a zigbee hub for this light? Or does it need an Aqara hub to access all the features?
Another entertaining and awesome review. Thanks Paul
Oh this is a nice option for my bedroom actually.
I love your Videos, they are funny and you are charismatic.
You promoted many years ago Lifx. I bought around 25+ lifx bulbs and Strips and beams.
With flic2 buttons.
Flic2 buttons are awesome.
Lifx has pretty colors. But is not reliable and loses always conection. It is frustrating, worst decision to choose Lifx, they are expensive like Hue. You never told the problems about them. Every person who choose Hue said it just works ...
Please please tell me that thing has a good IP rating. I've not been able to sort my bathroom out as it has a non smart ceiling light and a bloody pull cord. The smart ceiling lights are never IP rated for bathrooms and I've yet to find a smart pull cord at all. Hopefully this will finally let me sort the bloody bathroom light which we forget to turn off constantly
question, I have HomePods for my matter hub, do I need an aquaria hub or will it work without one, like the g4
What light switch would you recommend for this light? Aqara or just keep a dumb switch always on / remove face plate? Thanks
Both will work, the aqara switch can be put into like a remote mode though, which is a tidy solution 😁
Looks nice but still ridiculously expensive for a basic room light. A$299 here in Australia (US$193 inc tax).
Plus as you recommend more for a smart switch.
And due to our nanny state rules in 240V territory, more for an electrician.
It not a basic room light, but it is expensive.
Will this work with the Broadlink TC3 light switches to keep it always on, or would it have to be programmed as a smart option on a switch not wired to it like you said with the Aqara switches?
You mention using the Aqara Zigbee hub, I'm using a combo stick with Zigbee and Z-wave in my current smart home setup. Will this still work, or do I have to add Aqara's Zigbee hub to connect to it? Just want to make sure before I pull the trigger.
I've been waiting for this one for a while. It would be even better if it were capable of being a bathroom light.
Any word on Aqara releasing the M3 and TBR plugs that they showcase at CES?
What about power draw???
Enjoyed the video Paul.
Love the jokes. 👍🏻
Hi Paul, tahnks for a great video once more!
Sadly I have so far been unable to kick that nasty Hue Habit... But maybe I could reduce my HH a bit?
Do the Aqara lights work on the Hue bridge, especially with iConnectHue, and if they do, can you keep most of the functionality?
US link just took me to Amazon home page. Please give it a check. Love your videos!
Well this is annoying, i bought one of these awhile back along with a g3 hub. On seeing this i decided to set it all up. The bloody hub wont find the light. I've updated the firmware and am using only 2.4g wifi, still no joy. Pretty pissed off right now.
I don’t know what you mean by matter. Is this stuff only for folks who are tech savvy?
God, I loves lights. It’s too bad I’m broke. Otherwise I’d be buying this light.
Hello, I have hue, Aqara fp2, Govee, nest, google, Alexa, and Lutron Casseta, nividia shields.I have a lot of motion sensors as well. Only routines is really turning on home theater. I also have iPhones. Is the Aqara ecosystem best to run everything in? I bought and returned homey pro. It seems good but not USA ready and I don’t right that in depth of routines. I use google and Alexa . Would Aqara hub make everything integrate and easier? Thank you
Hi dude,
Have you been able to pair the t1m to your flic twist via mater to remotely control brightness?
I was an early adaptor of the twist, and baised on your advice, I'm looking at investing in the t1m.
You do know that 'Switchbot' make ceiling lights too right? I know they will read this so they need to bring out a non-Japan only version.
OH! I wonder which room you got this for?
How many lumens?
If these lights had a smart motion sensor integrated, I'd even consider bying one
I use google home app for a better UI to simply manage switching devices. Complete shite for automations though and use Alexa for that. Amazon really needs to upgrade their UI.
Paul love the channel...but...stop giving MATTER a break. It is broke, it sucks, it has not made anyone's life better and they lied to us. Other than that it is fabulous :0
what do you suggest? for lighting?
@@saintreemPhilips hue ? 😅
Nothing like watching Paul Hibbert videos on your laptop in a quiet public place with the volume up. I get strange looks when the Amish guy starts chanting "Home Assistant! Home Assistant!! Home Assistant!!!"
Perfect for your Ready Room xxx
Already installed! 😁 just getting painting and decorating done xxx
@@paulhibbert Dude I’m so excited for you, I know how much you’ve wanted a room like this, so cool it’s becoming a reality ❤️ xxx
I have one question for the automation guys here: what is the easiest way to automate the lights on a ceiling lamp with 6 dumb bulbs to turn on the bulbs as first 1 then +2 +3 +4 +5 +6. bulbs are not smart and needs to stay that way because of design and the actual classic dual swith only does 1+2 and 3+4+5+6 :)
It's nice and all but didn't big ass ceiling lights in the center of the room go out of fashion somewhere in the 90s. Would be nice if Aqara started releasing all kinds of ceiling spots, ceiling strips, wall lights etc. Then maybe they could really call themselves an ecosystem. I would love to go full-on Aqara, but they really don't make enough variety of lighting. Anyways, good news is I have the M2 hub to go with my Aqara door lock and it is pretty awesome, has IR blast support too so I can control my dinosaur AC. Glad you did the wizard cutaway, could see that coming a mile off. 🙂
I wish you would simply say the lumen output instead of calling the light fixture "really bright" or something similar. It seems that this light can emit up to 3450 lm with some unspecified color temperature, probably somewhere around 6000K. I'm still looking for a replacement for my halogen lighting that can do 5500 lm at 3000K per light source. And as halogen lighting obvious has 100 Ra CRI rating, I would want to have something equally good.
Yes, halogen wastes electricity but otherwise it's still superior in many ways.
Good morning geezer, hope your well. What would be the best LED strip light for outside?
Happy Saturday dude! Check out Govee’s outdoor range. They do some really nice stuff 👍🏻
I was looking at the round Hue Surimu lamp with the main draw being the fact it is a big defused RGB Light.
Seeing how much brighter this one is, how it integrates with HomeKit dynamic lighting, How much brighter it is, How much cheaper it is and lastly also how simply stunning the auxiliary light is I will go with this one and matching Hub and light switch 100%
It is literally €20 for me to buy this lamp with hub and switch than it is to buy a small Hue Surimu lamp BEFORE adding accessory costs. Shows how scandalous hue is.
Anyone create a Hubitat integration this gear yet?
Morning dude! I do want one for my front room as that always seems dim. The price does seem a bit steep though.
Aye, it ain’t cheap sadly, but perhaps that’s reassuring. I know Shane had a super cheap Tuya equivalent in his ceiling before and he’s of course swapped it for this
Sure Hue is expensive but I've never had a problem with a single bulb. Add to that, I am unaware of a company that makes a quality RGB pot light (non slim).
One might say, it just werrrrrks
Hope the release a smaller version too
Looks nice not in stock at the moment though