New smart sensor is also Matter compatible
Aqara has revealed the latest weapon in its smart home arsenal: the Aqara Motion Sensor P1.
A revamped version of the Chinese brand’s best selling motion sensor, the P1 adds Zigbee 3.0 to the mix and its makers claim the battery life is a whopping 5-years.
The other big news with the Motion Sensor P1 is that it is Matter ready; the Matter smart home standard is set to go live later this year.
Explainer: What is Matter for the smart home
Back in September last year, Aqara revealed that the HomeKit compatible M2 and M1S Hub will be Matter enabled, via an OTA software update, with the hub duo acting as Matter “end devices” and exposing their connected sensors to Matter.
An Aqara spokesperson confirmed to The Ambient that while the M2 and M1S smart home hubs themselves won’t be Thread border routers; they will therefore need to connect to another gateway.
Guide: Best smart home sensors
But, while you’ll need the M2 or M1S Hubs for Matter connectivity, the Motion Sensor P1 will, of course, work across the spectrum of Aqara smart home hubs that are available, including the Camera Hub G2H Pro and the G3, which both went on sale earlier this year.
Unlike the previous Aqara motion sensor, which only featured a minute time-out counter, the P1 will let you set the detection timeout between 1 to 200 seconds through the Aqara Home app; making it more useful for lights on/off scenarios and smart home routines and automations.
You can also tinker with the sensitivity level (high, medium or low) which alters the distance from which the P1 will seek to detect movement from.
Medium, for example (the default setting), provides a 170-degree field of view, up to 2 meters, or 150-degrees for up to 7 meters.
The new Aqara Motion Sensor P1 costs $24.99 direct from Amazon (use promo code MOTIONUS to get 10% off that price for a limited time).
