Review on Aqara Door and Window Sensor - Zigbee Connection, Mini Contact Sensor for Smart Home Automation, Apple HomeKit & Alexa Compatible, Works with IFTTT – REQUIRES Aqara Hub by Greg Muin

So before I start I guess I'm a fan of custom smart home but wanted to share with those who are like me. When I decided to make my home smart, all items I consider must meet two criteria: 1. Affordable2. I can bypass their proprietary systems, accessibility is self-explanatory, but the second point is necessary lest I end up pigeonholed with a company that may or may not go broke. Also, for the tinfoil type, I tend to like devices that don't call the mothership when they feel like it. I started with Wi-Fi enabled devices and then started reading about Z-Wave and Zigbee. I chose Zigbee because of the longer range - my Zigbee device sits in a basement closet and I refuse to buy a standard hub. Since I've been working on this project for a few weeks, I'm already using Raspberry PI 4 with OpenHAB, so a custom approach made sense. After a long research I decided on a Zigbee gateway with a ConBee II USB dongle and installed zigbe2mqtt on my PI. After opening and long pressing the button to pair, the device was immediately recognized by my PI/zigbee2mqtt. After that, it took a bit of reading, trailing, and bugging to get it working with OpenHab, but it's important to note that it interacts with zigbee2mqtt out of the box. I've since ordered 7 more extras for other windows/doors in my house as I'm doing some sort of disconnected security system. Now that I know the Aqara pairs easily with my setup (and without its proprietary hub), I plan to switch to motion/temperature sensors. Anyway, wanted to share as I have a non-standard setup. Might make life a little easier for another hobbyist** Updated on 07/20/2021 **I have now switched from OpenHAB to Home Assistant and am very satisfied. These little guys integrate so well with zigbee2mqtt and HA without any fuss or fuss! I now have 15 (!) of these devices installed on all doors and windows throughout my house and none of them show less than 90% battery after 10 months of use! Well worth buying if you make your own security system!