Aqara G2h Pro Review - Homekit Compatible Zigbee Hub and Camera

Cupertino, January 16, 2022

Sharing is caring! Aqara G2h Pro Review Rating Summary The Aqara G2h Pro is almost the same as the Aqara G2h, which I found excellent. Therefore the same applies here. It's not worth upgrading to but depending on the price it would be worth buying instead of the Aqara G2h Pros. It's the excellent Aqara G2h, but a little better. Cons Not much has changed since the Aqara G2h Pro. the Aqara Zigbee hubs, including the Aqara G2h. Aqara currently lists six different hubs on their product page, this would be the 7th. It seems very exaggerated, but I think it gives buyers as many options as possible to fit their budget and needs. Therefore, the review of the new Aqara G2h Pro won't be much different from all the other hubs, so I'll focus on what's new. What's new? Same design, but with a new LED to notify you of various system features Wider third-party compatibility for HomeKit.

It supports HomeKit Secure Video and now HomeKit Security SystemFull compatibility with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, including streaming to Alexa and Google smart displaysPrivacy masking zone: Configurable in the Aqara Home app, the new feature allows users to select certain parts of the captured image that must be recorded or transmitted to Aqara server and other third party servers (e.g. Amazon, Google); field of view increased from 140º to 146º MicroSD card compatibility increased to 512 GBNAS storage via SambaSupports WPA3 Custom ringtones and timelapse No more power adapter included Set -Setup was identical to the G2h. The Pro model was not in the Aqara app so I had to select the older G2h. You need to select a 2.4 Ghz network and then scan the QR code. That's about it. I was then informed that new firmware for the hub was available.

Samba NAS video recording Unfortunately, at the time of writing, recording to a NAS with a SAMBA share is not available. This is one of the features I would have liked to see that eliminated the need to buy microSD cards and basically gave me unlimited storage space. Homekit / Home Assistant I used Home Assistant via Docker. The camera was quick to set up and register three entities, one for the camera, another a binary sensor for motion detection and then the alarm control panel. On the Home Assistant home page, you will be given the option to enable/disable and view the current status. When the alarm is triggered, you will get a flashing notification.

Alexa Streaming I use Alexa in my house. You'll need to enable the Alexa Skill, and it's worth noting that this has some pretty bad reviews, but so do most of the skills. Enabling this and letting Alexa show me the camera feed worked well. As usual for Alexa, there is a delay of a few seconds, so if you're planning to watch a critical event, it will likely be over by the time the feed loads. Privacy exclusion zone Under the camera settings and then the video settings you can set the privacy occlusion area. This will give you a grid of squares that you can then exclude from the image. Price and availability The Aqara G2h Pro was only announced in December and does not appear to be available anywhere, even through gray import sites. The existing Aqara G2h costs £65 on Amazon. Because of how similar these products are, I hope the Pro model doesn't cost too much more.

Overall, the Aqara G2h Pro is almost the same as the Aqara G2h, which I thought was excellent. Therefore the same applies here. Other than that, it's hard to get overly excited about it because it doesn't introduce any great new features. It feels like most of these improvements could have been made to the existing camera through a firmware upgrade. The new camera may need more processing power, but the HomeKit security system, Alexa/Google streaming, privacy masking, NAS storage, more microSD format support, WPA3, and ringtones all seem like basic software upgrades. There is currently no UK price or availability. If there is no or a small price difference, the Aqara G2h Pro is a logical choice for someone who has already considered purchasing the G2h, but there is certainly no reason to upgrade your existing hardware.

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