Review on Aqara Smart Plug by Janis Cerins ᠌

Name: Aqara Smart Plug
Item: Aqara Smart Plug
Rating: 5

May 13, 2023

A really necessary purchase, I'm glad I found this product.

I bought a pair of sockets for 2090 on sale from a supplier. Expensive, of course, but in conjunction with temperature sensors, it has become a necessity to control a comfortable climate in the bedroom and office in the conditions of our "hospitable and warm spring of 2022"))). I am extremely satisfied with the purchase, the packaging and delivery of  is beyond praise - everything came safe and sound (delivery through a branded parcel locker in a store near the house). I will order more, but as soon as the price drops to acceptable limits. I recommend to buy!

Pros

The design of the socket, one might say, is ideal: a European standard with grounding, round, without unnecessary protrusions, not as big as other sockets, and at the same time it accommodates all the declared functionality. Inside there are protective curtains from small children. The quality of materials is excellent. Pairing with a smart home from Alice occurs without problems at a distance of about 10 meters through 2 walls in a straight line. Inside is a mechanical relay, not a solid state one. Without a Zigbee hub, the socket can be turned on and off with a button on it, there is a status indicator. According to the description, there are load monitoring functions and a memory of the last state after a shutdown - I have not set it up yet, but in some cases it is useful.

Cons

The price of 2990, in my opinion, is high for such a device. After all, this is not a small household appliance designed to solve several tasks within the framework of its functionality, but just an equipment on / off device. For me, the price of 1000-1500 is the very edge for such devices. The power of 2300 watts covers most of the needs for switching home devices, however, some equipment (for example, a microwave, a slow cooker, a grill, a washing machine) can no longer be connected through it, which is very useful when you need to de-energize everything quickly and guaranteed when leaving home. I would like to have a device with a current carrying capacity of 16 amperes. I just started to master the topic of smart home along with a new station from of the second version. In the proprietary application "House with Alice" a number of functions are not available, such as monitoring the load and setting the memory of the last state of the outlet - I will try to reach the functions through other applications.