Rating My BEST and WORST HomeKit Devices

Tapo2k does have HomeKit support. The one that is sold on Amazon doesn’t support . The one that is sold on Best Buy supports homekit

Stephen your channel is one of the best. Another great video!

Fortunately haven’t had the issues you’ve experienced with my U100 lock (I also ise the M2 hub). I went from old Nest Yales that were just super reliable, (but had to use a Starling hub for HK).
I was lured by the Aqara price point vs features. I really wanted the Schlage because I’m pretty sure it was Thread enabled. But I need 4 of them. ☹️
I’m curious. Why only 4 for the Hue? Of all things I have, they have always been my rock solid gem. Is it the price/hub requirement? Again…just curious-not necessarily disagreeing.

And thanks for all that great information. I’m looking into the Lutron’s right after I type this. I know they are pricey, but they really seem worth it.

I had three U100 since initial release. After few firmware updates, it has been working solid for me. I had one U100 exhibit excessive battery consumption, I contacted Aqara Support, they replaced it, and all working fine now. I think the initial batch of the U100 may have some hardware issues. In all I will definitely give the U100 the 5 stars.

I have the same issue with the Wemo remote. It worked really well, but it was constantly dying. It’s the one thing I don’t use anymore.

If you're using rechargeable batteries that might be the battery issue with the aqara u100

I wasted so much money on Leviton light switches. They ALL constantly needed to be reset, even with no power outage. Total junk. I've replaced them all with Kasa (via Home Assistant) and Lutron.

Do you have the solar panel on your SmartWings Shades? Would you recommend them at the additional $100 price per shade?

Same battery issues and random auto locking here with my Aqara U100

Have you tried Kasa light switches/smart plugs? I have had great luck with them but rarely see videos on them

Great video as always! The Aqara U100 has been awesome for me. I purchased it in November of 2023 and the battery is 52%. All methods to unlock are exactly as advertised. The lock recently starting have "phantom touches" but it could be because of the cold temperatures and wind in my area right now. I would rate it a solid 4/5. You don't seem to be the only one mentioning the battery issue and the auto-locking (mine has done the auto locking despite it being off)

Great video mate!

I love my Aqara lock.

I don’t think it was a good idea to show the front of your house on the internet. There’s people out there with a lot of time in their hands and might not be well intentioned.

Hi, Thanks for the effort off making the video. It's so helpful to get reviews from real users. I saw you have a Flic Twist button, I wonder how you feel about it? And is it the Flic first Gen or Flic 2 you're using? Thanks again.

I am a fan of all of the Eve devices, so I was pleased to see your experience warranted a 5 for many of their devices. On the other side, I think my wife and kids (15 & 11) would rate the Aqara U100 as one of their favorite devices in the home. All of them love the myriad of ways you can unlock the door (my 11-year old cycles through all of the options, except the keys he doesn’t get that!), the quick lock finger swipe, its reliability vs. previous smart locks, and even the look. Compared to our previous August lock, the battery life is good (around 6 months) though you get very little forewarning that it is about do die. My Schlage lock on the office door is equally reliable but the battery always sounds like it is at its end of life.

See how many hubs you have is why I use home assistant

Aqara U100 has been awesome for me. Got it in October. Haven’t replaced the battery yet. Daughter uses keypad daily, my wife uses fingerprint daily and i use Apple home key daily.

Have to agree with the masses. The Aqara U100 is 5/5 for me as well

I used the Meross garage door opener for about a year and a half before we sold our Oregon house. As with you it was rock solid. If you have an extra smart plug laying around you might consider sticking it between the Meross and the ceiling socket. I only had my Meross go non-responsive once in all the time I used it, but having to get the ladder out to power cycle it was a pain. With a smart plug you could power cycle it if needed from your phone. Also, we have purchased a new home in Delaware and I am thinking I will give the new Tailwind GDO a go. It gets amazing reviews and have sensors you can get to place in your car that will open the door when you arrive etc. This eliminates the need for location-based automations.

Ive had the Aqara U100 installed for over a month and it’s been fine for me. No auto lock issue and haven’t had to change any batteries. Maybe you have it set to lock when you leave the house in homekit

I gotta disagree on the U100. I've had good luck with battery but I also have it paired to a hub. There is a feature in the Aqara app for the auto lock as well.

Have anyone told you you sound EXACTLY like snazzy labs? My brain didn't comprehend anything for like 10 seconds 😂

Aqara gets lower ratings, some good, most not so good

Just installed the Aqara U100, hopefully I have better luck than you.

I did want to ask, do you have any videos on how you setup your homebridge on your Mac mini? I would really love to see more on this. I installed HB on my Mac last week and had all types of issues. Likely user error 😂. I saw a video where you had your Mac mini in your server room/closet. Thought that was a wonderful idea.

Don't laugh ... but what is the "pad" device you have on your iPencil ... seems like that is exactly what I need ... and love ALL of your videos!!

Your u100 maybe faulty mine going on a year and have yet to change the batteries.

Great video

I was quite surprised with U100 being the "bad" product in your list. For me, it's one of the few devices on my home that never failed me. It works just as I expected. I have 2 of these in my house, both installed around 4 months ago, and they're at 91% and 93% battery life, so I'm foreseeing over 2 yr battery life (amazing!). Keep in mind I live in Alberta (Canada), so for most of the past 4 months that lock has been exposed to below freezing temperatures (with 2-3 weeks below -25C/-13F). Among the "expensive" HomeKit devices that I have, the one that has been a bit disappointing to me is the SmartWing cellular shade. I would say around 10% of the times I try to control it through HomeKit I got "No Response" messages. So, not reliable, at all. Also, in the 3-4 months I've been using them, I already had to recharge the ones from the bigger/taller windows around the 3 month mark. I still believe it's the best product for the price, so I wouldn't return them (if I could), but I had higher expectations.

Have any experience with a homekit RF blaster? Not ir….but RF. Is there even such a thing as I can’t find one that works natively with homekit.

Thanks!

For the smart home devices, are you assigning each of the devices a designated IP, or using DHCP?

I found my smart home devices have far less connectivity issues when I assign them a designated IP

Tried all the locks and the Aqara is easily the best. Zero connectivity issues and my battery meter barely shows any gone and it’s been 3 months. It’s on my main most used front door.

I am planning to buy smart lock, I am in canada. What’s your recommendation. Thank you

Saw another review on the Aqara U100 and they had the same issue. They contacted customer support and deemed it a factory defect and sent a new one, and the new one worked a lot better in terms of battery life.

Should probably try a different device if your experience is so different from everyone else before making a video like this and influencing potential new purchasers. The Aqara U100 is an amazing HomeKit lock and after 1 year I haven’t changed the batteries one time and it’s on my main door with 3 kids and auto lock enabled.

Not a good look for a reviewer

Wow I thought I was the only one with a super shitty Aqara U100… can’t wait to replace it with a new U1 chip lock soon.

I have the Meross garage door opener and I have constant connectivity issues. I even find it extremely frustrating trying to reconnect it. I’m glad it’s working for you, but my experience is the opposite of yours.

My experience with Meross has been pretty bad and I don’t recommend them to my clients. They are terrible

Weird you are having such bad issues with Aqara lock.. our has been flawless since launch and still has “High” battery life as of this video. Maybe try a new one, Aqara usually has great customer support but you probably waited too long now

I’m not really defending the Aqara u100 because I have issues with it as well but for those that are stuck with one using lithium batteries fixes the battery life issues as well as a lot of its common issues.

Also as far as connectivity, I think you need a better WiFi network and I’m not talking about crappy mesh stuff
You need prosumer devices like unify or tp-link Omada and hard wired access points
I run Omada and never have connectivity issues with smart home devices.
With 100 devices you probably need high density APs and at least a few of them depending on the size of your home

Have you tried/used Aqara light switches? They seem to look decent - not sure if I missed it but it seems odd that you wouldn't have tried any of them. Good info in the video. I'm just getting into smart home stuff, decided I'm going to focus on Homekit, and then am trying to decide if i go whole hog on the Lutron swtiches or if I throw in some Aquara ones.

It's been a while since I bought a Doorbell cam for Homekit, what would you recommend? Seeing mixed reviews between the Ecobee and the Aqara.

I building my home from scratch with home apple kit .. my goal is only use thread and Apple HomeKit..with out any other brand hubs is my goal .. the good thing i can get a lot of home automation gadget months before available as building home in Vietnam

I had a similar issue with the battery life, but then I updated it and it seemed to solve my issues

I know that my Aqara Lock uses about 0.114% of its battery each day (with the lock being used up to 15 times daily). I’ve been using Energizer Max batteries, and they typically last around 15 months before needing replacement. I know I could go longer without replacing them, but I’ve noticed that once the battery level drops to around 50%, the device starts to behave erratically.

I’ve had a couple of issues with the lock where I needed to reset it due to connectivity issues. The lock is exposed to the sun for about 8-9 hours a day, and we’ve been consistently reaching temperatures of 90-100 degrees due to heatwaves. The sun has been wreaking havoc on the unit, and I’ve started to notice some delamination around the edges of the keypad.

The U100 has been very reliable for me, but I might switch to a Yale Thread lock for aesthetics in the coming months.

can i pay shipping and you send the devices you no longer use? i was horribly injured at work and can no longer work....long story...

Have you tried any nanoleaf bulbs? I see you like matter and thread so I thought maybe you experienced them. Also between Eve motion blinds and Smart wings do you have a preference? The Eve motion only annoys me because you veto run a cable up there to charge the battery, no solar power panel or no removable battery feels like a missed opportunity. I presume the fabrics are better than smart wings a though? Zemismart blinds also matter and thread if you have ever tried that I would also be interested in your thoughts ✌️

Nice reviews. Tell me about the geometric wall art things behind you? I'm guessing they are sound dampers. I really like the look of them and could be good in family room with home theater to dampen reflections.

Would like to see your Meross gdo install. I recently went with the ratgdo over Meross because the wiring looked like a mess. Yours is very clean.

Great overview. I really wanted to avoid additional hubs but it sounds like I will not be able to. I’ll see if you have a video on how to connect a manufacturer hub to HomeKit.