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Aqara is a top-tier HomeKit sensible dwelling system producer. Window/door, temperature, movement, and vibration sensors are among the many objects you should buy from them however if you put a tool just like the Digital camera Hub G2H Professional within the combine, now you can join every part while not having a separate hub. That and a few sturdy privateness and safety features make this an indoor safety digicam properly value taking a tough take a look at.
Aqara Digital camera Hub G2H Professional: Value and availability
The Digital camera Hub G2H Professional is at present out there on Amazon within the U.S. for $69.99 and in any shade you need, so long as it is white.
Aqara Digital camera Hub G2H Professional: Specs and options
What I like about Aqara and this digicam hub is their consideration to privateness options and ease of use. Going into the Aqara House app, you’ll be able to faucet into the video settings and arrange a privateness occlusion space. Let’s say you’re in a condominium and your kids’s bed room home windows are on the primary flooring. You need to place a digicam however don’t need them recorded, solely the window. Faucet into the privateness occlusion space characteristic, and utilizing a grid, you’ll be able to drag as much as three areas on the display screen which is able to place black bars over your recordings. No picture, or motion/movement can be recorded within the occluded space. You possibly can even disable audio recording to present you much more privateness.
For a 1080P digicam, the video is fairly good. There’s higher on the market, however in the end HomeKit Safe Video takes all these 2k and 4k cameras and information in 1080P anyway. Mounted reverse a big sliding glass door, the sunshine streaming in from it washes out some particulars on that aspect of the room, however you’re going to take care of that from many cameras to various levels. Particulars in movies like lettering on an image on the wall, and faces are straightforward to make out inside round 20 toes from the digicam, however the additional out you go, they’ll lose high quality element.
Supporting Siri, Alexa, and Google House makes this an important digicam for somebody like me who makes use of iOS primarily, however whose spouse prefers Google and Alexa. Utilizing Ark 2.0 makes this a singular possibility for failsafe automation utilization.
In a nutshell, Ark 2.0 permits a few of your gadgets to connect with others by way of a mesh community and nonetheless run native automation even when the web connection goes down. This can be a important safety operate as a result of there are these with nefarious intentions who use Wi-Fi jammers to knock out internet-connected cameras earlier than breaking into a house. And people jammers are pretty straightforward to return by for these desirous about committing property crimes.
By way of connectivity, the G2H is 2.4GHz Wi-Fi solely, with a built-in Zigbee 3.0 hub. It’s powered by a dated microUSB to USB-A cable.
Aqara Digital camera Hub G2H Professional: Construct and appears
The Digital camera Hub G2H Professional is a plastic affair, however I have never seen a bunch of destructive opinions or Reddit posts complaining about long-term sturdiness. It is smaller than Aqara’s G3, and E1, standing a diminutive 3.24 inches tall by 2 inches vast, except you elevate it up on its extendable base.
The underside of the G2H Professional contains a magnet that’s sturdy sufficient to connect to many metallic or iron surfaces. I mounted mine to an iron apron hook thingy in my kitchen/eating room space, and it feels fairly strong there. Additionally, on the underside, you will discover a microSD slot that helps as much as 512GB of storage and, subsequent to that, a reset button.
Aqara Digital camera Hub G2H Professional: Ease of use
Aqara’s Digital camera Hub G2H Professional is simple to arrange and use. Opening the field, you’re met with a micro USB to USB A cable, however no energy adapter, a 3M patch for mounting to numerous surfaces, the guide, an ejector device, and a steel plate. I didn’t use the steel plate or the 3M sticker for mounting; as a substitute, I used the highly effective magnet to connect it to an apron hook mounted on the wall between my kitchen and eating room. Mounting there felt fairly safe and gave me views of my eating space, front room, and a portion of my kitchen.
Connecting the digicam to the Aqara app and HomeKit was as straightforward as scanning some QR codes, and following the prompts, which took lower than 10 minutes to do.
As soon as linked to Wi-Fi, you’ll be able to undergo the Aqara app and configure all the privateness and safety, automation, movement/irregular sound detection, and customized ringtone settings. Because the Hub G2H Professional now helps Apple HomeKit Safety, you’ll be able to soar into the Apple House app and arrange automation and alerts based mostly on the four-alarm modes supported in that app. With these alarm modes and any movement or sound detection configured, you need to use the out there onboard storage, as much as 512GB by way of microSD, to run your video repeatedly 24/7 or per alarm occasion. You’ll get a few week’s value of video in the event you run it 24/7.
Aqara Digital camera Hub G2H Professional: Competitors
At $69.99 the Digital camera Hub G2H Professional doesn’t actually have a direct competitor as a result of it consists of the Zigbee 3.0 hub. That mentioned, for $40 extra it is best to check out Aqara’s Digital camera Hub G3.
The Hub G3 additionally helps reference to as much as 128 Aqara sensible dwelling gadgets, but it surely advances each characteristic the G2H Professional has apart from picture occlusion. The G3 additionally provides pan and tilt to the equation. And if a $40 distinction appears steep, a fast take a look at historic pricing reveals that the G3 has been on sale twice within the final 4 months for $87.49, which is barely a ~$15 distinction.
Aqara Digital camera Hub G2H Professional: Do you have to purchase it?
You can purchase this if…
- You’re invested within the Aqara ecosystem
- You need a digicam with nice mounting choices
- You need a digicam with nice privateness choices
You shouldn’t purchase it if…
- You need pan/tilt/zoom performance
- You need 5GHz Wi-Fi connectivity
Aqara Digital camera Hub G2H Professional: Verdict
A built-in Zigbee 3.0 hub, versatile mounting choices, nice privateness controls, and good video make the Aqara Digital camera Hub G2H Professional an important possibility for these desirous to fill their dwelling up with Aqara’s wallet-friendly sensors and digicam choices. And the $69.99 worth level for all of that isn’t unhealthy both. Add onto that HomeKit Safety and Ark 2.0 help and you’ve got a strong hub, digicam, and primary safety system to assist watch over and defend what’s treasured to you.
For those who’re simply leaping into the market, I’d recommend trying on the newer Digital camera Hub G3, however you might not want all that has to supply. Both approach, the G2H Professional is an effective buy in constructing out your sensible dwelling safety.
The underside line:
The Aqara Digital camera Hub G2H Professional is full of sensible privateness options, seems to be good in daylight and no gentle, and may management as much as 128 Aqara gadgets. You will not discover significantly better at this worth!