Again in January, at CES 2025, Aqara unveiled an avalanche of recent units, with the likes of the Panel Hub S1 and the Presence Multi-Sensor FP300 stealing a lot of the headlines.
Nevertheless, it’s the Aqara Hub M100 that will show to be the largest hit from the CES launch bonanza, because it affords an extremely wallet-friendly method – at lower than $20 – of leaping on board the Matter good house motion.
What’s extra, it’s not only a Matter bridge for Aqara-branded units, it additionally boasts Thread border routing capabilities too, just like the flagship Aqara Hub M3.
Meaning it may possibly additionally management non-Aqara Thread units as properly; suppose Nanoleaf good lights and good locks just like the Kwikset Halo Choose, and it additionally acts as a Thread extender to spice up the mesh community.
Aqara tells us that the M100 can join as much as 20 Zigbee units and 20 Thread units on the similar time.
Clearly, Zigbee isn’t a part of the Matter normal so, on that entrance, it could act as a Matter bridge to allow you to management your Aqara ‘little one’ units inside a Matter good house system, whether or not you employ Alexa, Google Dwelling, HomeKit, Homey, SmartThings or Dwelling Assistant.
You’ll be able to, do you have to want, ignore Matter utterly, and easily use the M100 as a devoted Aqara hub to regulate or develop an Aqara good house system too.
When you did that although, you’d miss out on some nifty bells and whistles because the M100 additionally offers you entry to Aqara’s not too long ago introduced Superior Matter Bridging characteristic.
Initially launched on the M3, it permits you to switch automations and triggers out of your Aqara system, into different Matter platforms.
You could possibly create a digital swap to kick begin a robotic vacuum and have it as a part of a routine in a Google Dwelling Matter setup, for instance, or have particular person recognition from the likes of the Digicam Hub G5 Professional act a a set off for actions in a HomeKit system.
Wanting loads just like the Aqara Hub E1 that went stay again in 2021, the M100 is a USB-powered controller that merely plugs into a daily USB-A port (minimal 5V, 0.5A) to fireside up.
It’s 2.4GHz solely, and there’s no IR blasting nor Edge computing abilities just like the M3, nevertheless it’s lower than 20% of the price of Aqara’s high canine, so some compromises are to be anticipated.
At $19.99 Stateside and £19.99 within the UK, it’s a really enticing possibility for anybody seeking to construct of develop a Matter good house system. You will get it direct from Aqara, or from Amazon.
In addition to the M100, Aqara has additionally taken the covers off of the Local weather Sensor W100.
With a 3.4-inch show on board, you’ll be capable to see issues like temperature and humidity readings, and person there are three buttons accessible for the likes of HVAC management or scene activation.
The W100 is a local Matter machine with each Thread and Zigbee in-built.
It’s $39.99 / £39.99 and is offered direct from Aqara, or from Amazon now.
The ultimate little bit of Aqara information to carry you is the launch of the Digicam Shield Package Y100 bundle, which contains the Digicam Hub G3, the Door and Window Sensor, Movement Sensor P1, and Vibration Sensor T1.
It’s $139.99 / £139.99 and, like the 2 new launches above, is offered from Aqara instantly or by way of Amazon.
