Best Smart Home System For Beginners

When I first started my smart home I made 5 BIG mistakes that cost me a lot of money. They're the same mistakes everyone makes, and this is how to avoid them.

This video is sponsored by Aqara, all opinions are my own

This video also serves as a review of Aqara's T1 LED strip, and includes brightness tests of Philips Hue versus Govee M1 versus Aqara T1. The Aqara T1 works with Amazon Alexa, Works with Google Assistant, and Works With Apple Homekit, but because it's Zigbee I can also add it directly to Home Assistant using my conbee stick.

BUY THE AQARA T1 LED STRIP BELOW:
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 :)

Other Aqara products:
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 :)

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THE ULTIMATE SMART HOME LIST!
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 :)

SWITCHBOT PRODUCTS

CONBEE STICK (ENABLES ZIGBEE DEVICES TO CONNECT TO HOME ASSISTANT):

OUTDOORLED STRIP (REQUIRES TUYA ZIGBEE HUB OR CONBEE STICK AND PI)

AQARA ZIGBEE MOTION SENSORS AND DOOR SENSORS (REQUIRES AQARA HUB OR CONBEE STICK & PI):

AQARA LIGHT BULB E27 (REQUIRES AQARA HUB OR CONBEE STICK & PI):

AQARA LIGHT SWITCH (REQUIRES AQARA HUB OR CONBEE STICK & PI):

AQARA BATTERY REMOTE LIGHT SWITCH (REQUIRES AQARA HUB OR CONBEE STICK & PI):

FLIC BUTTONS (SMART BLUETOOTH BUTTONS):

BUY A RASPBERRY PI HERE (TO HOST HOME ASSISTANT):

BROADLINK RM4 PRO (TO CONTROL INFRARED DEVICES SUCH AS TV & RF DEVICES SUCH AS PROJECTOR SCREENS)

ZIGBEE PLUG SOCKET (REQUIRES ZIGBEE HUB SUCH AS HUBITAT OR SMARTTHINGS):

REMOTE CONTROL CANDLES (INFRARED CAN BE CONTROLLED USING A BROADLINK RM4 PRO)

DECORATIVE BULBS FROM SHELLY

ZIGBEE SPOTLIGHTS & RGB REMOTE

ROBOROCK ROBOVACS

SOMA SMART BLIND MOTOR:

LOCK COVERS (MARRIAGE SAVERS)

4K HORIZON PRO PROJECTOR IN THE BEDROOM

AMAZON ECHO 4TH GENERATION:

ECHO SHOW 10

0:00 - Intro
2:22 - What's This All About?
6:34 - Why I Use Aqara
10:50 - Aqara T1 LED Strip Vs Govee M1 Vs Hue
11:40 - What's Wrong With it?

#aqara #smarthome #smarthomegadgets #review #futuretech #technology #smartgadgets

[paulhibbert]

Happy Saturday everyone! This LED strip is awesome! If you want one check out the links below…

BUY THE AQARA T1 LED STRIP BELOW:
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 :)

Other Aqara products:
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 :)

[ugh]

I'm a computer geek. My first hub was Home Assistant. I stumbled on Aqara and love their buttons and sensors! I'm loving Shelly for switching though. Both their light switch and small relays.

[jezlawrence]

Paul - do you think you could do a video about how you power all this stuff?

Like: how many plug sockets are you having to dedicate, how do you manage the limitations in terms of number of sockets, how many USB power hubs have you got vs little power banks or onboard solar/batteries for the outdoor stuff, how do you manage the various cables in terms of keeping things presentable - all that.

[enriquerobles]

I'm in the middle of replacing my Aqara temperature sensors because they continue disconnecting from Smarthings. Apparently it is a known issue with some Aqara products because they don't follow 100% the zigbee standard.

[leopold]

It’s a fair point. I’ve often overlooked Aqara when getting smart home gadgets, but the times I have gone there, I’ve yet to be disappointed. Their light switches are beautifully simple in design and work really well, and are much nicer to look at and use than those glass touchy things that need a neutral wire to work. I might just review my home setup and see if I can go more Aqara

[xmacleodx]

I got started in home automation because we have an old gas log fireplace with a remote and my wife wanted to be able to turn it on from our bedroom to start the house warming up. So I got the good old Switchbot push button arm things, and they worked great from our phones. I didn't want to buy the Switchbot hub (there were really expensive at the time), so I started my long journey learning homeassistant and had it controlling the switch using BT. Fast forward 3 years and now I have over 300 sensors, 25 lights and over 70 automations and it's still growing, have a few light gangs I still need to get my sparky in to replace/upgrade to smart. And to top it off about a year ago I got a Switchbot hub to make it easier for HA to control without needing to rely on BlueTooth haha. I have now also started making my own smart devices using Shelly Uni's. Made my own garage door opener, and pool solar controller, and now I am slowly putting the parts together to make a bin detection system to yell at me if I forget to put the bins out.

[vicmadeira]

I stumbled into the Aqara universe by needing a great camera to watch my doggies. The fact it's a hub allows me to add Aqara door sensors, motion sensors, and the T1 light strip. I like it so much I'll buy 2 more. Of course I'll look for the links in this video. Aqara never disconnects from wifi and Alexa easily adds new devices. Thanks for the vid.

[Tactical_Koala]

Thanks Mate been thinking of upgrading my smart home items

[john.o]

More American Paul ❤️! Excellent video! Just ordered one to try out— thanks for the discount code!

[MAMDAVEM]

Been on a similar journey Paul, and I agree with your points. I would say the biggest mistakes people make when getting into Smart Home are.... (1) buying Phillips Hue bulbs rather than smart switches for lights. (2) using a closed ecosystem particularly one that requires internet (for example Amazon or heaven forbid Google) (3) relying on using multiple hubs and Apps. As a HomeAssistant fan I would promote this but in reality it is not for everyone, in fact I would say it is really only for those who are prepared to spend quite a bit of time on it. I have used smarthome products from Aqara, Phillips Hue, Sonoff, Shelly, Lifex, switchbot, Ikea, Meross as well as devices that are Tuya and Broadlink controllable. I would say Aqara is by far the best of the bunch and I have used them for cameras, temperature sensors, blind controllers, door sensors, radiator thermostats, switches and relays, they are my go to brand next to Shelly and Sonoff.

[BlindZubat]

As an American, I love when people who aren’t from here make fun of our measuring system. Freedom units always makes me smile and laugh.

[davebuchanan]

I started with Aqara 4 years ago and it gave me the backbone of a smart home with security system too. Still add bits. I‘m sure I saw a „used“ sock under your bed btw.

[karlmee]

100% agree with you about Aqara products. I use Home assistant and replaced all the Wi-Fi products I had before with Aqara equivalents because they just work. I also use Aqara on the their app separately for my G3 cameras, also set up some G3 cameras at my parents place for them and they love them. As always, great stuff Paul, keep up the great videos :)

[Bluebuthappy]

Yea I have a few things from Aqara and I have to say so far I'm very impressed.

[todieinhope]

Was about to pull the trigger on a hue order. Thanks for the save bro

[johngeib]

As a HA nerd, I started with how to do everything local to avoid buying idiots extra yachts. Decided on Zigbee products, therefore started early on with Aqara. I use them for all my sensors and modular plugs. Have never had a problem with them. Everything has worked and works well. Most of the sensors still have 60%+ battery after 1 year of use. I use the ConBee stick instead of an Aqara hub. At ~$8/ foot it's a bit pricey for me (I'm REALLY cheap) but may pick up a couple for my next lighting project.

[tonnnn]

Thanks to your earlier videos i have started out with pretty much all Aqara stuff, light switches, the cube and motion sensors. If they did smart plugs and smart light bulbs they would have absolutely everything you need for a complete smart home! Hopefully now they have ventured into light strips, bulbs will come next! And then plugs please (UK ones).

[wengu]

Hi Paul
Excellent videos always! What would you recommend actually; Zigbee or Broadlink fastcon as in in earlier video you highly recommended?

[socratesrocks]

I got the Aqare camera and homehub. It stopped working after another brownout (rather common in this are when it rains). The cube worked if you were prepared to wait over two minutes AFTER you'd turned it to do anything. I gave up and went back to my tapo camera, with the cube now in a drawer somewhere, gathering dust. You may have had fun with these things, I found them useless. Everything else works great, reconnects easily after brownouts, but not those. The fact my IT whizz friend sat with the cube for four hours trying to make it behave and couldn't (yet he built and networked my computer, which works perfectly) tells me I either had a duff one, or it's just bad. I'm not wasting any more money finding out.

[MikeCorsten]

Aqara is the bomb when it comes to cost versus quality. Superb stuff.