Eve Launches Matter-Enabled Eve Weather Smart Station

[joecomo]

Benefit of this is unclear for Apple users.
Thread is great, but matter currently is very often feature restricted and only valuable for mixed (e.g Android/iOS) households.
This might change in the future, if matter becomes the defacto standard.

 

[joecomo]

I really disagree; Eve products have been completely reliable in my smart home setup. This includes multiple Eve Energy units, multiple motion sensors, 2 Door and Window sensors, and their HomeKit Secure Video outdoor camera.

I only use Matter over Thread where possible, and have several HomePods as border routers. That might help. But general unreliability of smart home products over the years has now made Eve an easy first choice for me.

I agree - since they moved to thread/matter/homekit I really like the Eve products

 

[joecomo]

It is exactly like that and I would not recommend updating the older model to Matter. In an Apple environment it has no benefit. I have a lot of HomeKit Eve Energy plugs in use and a couple of months ago bought a new one that already had the Matter firmware on it. Once plugged in that it broke down the Thread HomeKit network. Every node and end-point device (such as the Eve Weather station) near this Matter enabled Eve Energy would lose its connection - no more connection to the Home app and everything else. I had to unplug this Eve Energy from power to solve the problem. A replacement unit did exactly the same and Eve Support basically denied that there was a Matter firmware issue, even though similar incidents could be found on several forums.



Yeah... well I would like to have it detect if it is starting to rain (or snow). Currently I have an automation that controls the motorised awning and a couple of windows. It uses Eve Weather data (temperature, humidity and trend), a light sensor, sun position and some weather forecast data from the internet. It works most of the time, but it is hard to find the right values and triggers to detect upcoming rain that is very regional.




Naah, I had this option on our Gigaset phones in the house. Turned it off after a while because the same info is shown on the iPhone in the morning anyway and that's what most of us at home look at. I don't see the need for a screen on a speaker anyway.




Netatmo is very overpriced too if you ask me. I agree that Eve Support is bad, tickets get messed up and it seems that only one person is the support employee on the site, not really answering serious questions.
I have considered the Netatmo weather sensor, but I don't like its cloud dependence. When the DSL is down, most functions just won't work any more. Also there's the risk that in a few years the cloud servers simply won't support "older" models. And I don't see why something like weather sensor needs a cloud service. Current small computers are powerful enough to do weather calculations themselves either with or without some other weather data from the internet.

About Eve... I have a lot of Eve devices both HomeKit Thread and HomeKit bluetooth. The Thread enabled ones have a great coverage too. I have a door sensor in the garage and while it is 15 meters from the house, it still triggers almost instantly. Before I installed it, I had used a HUE motion sensor, but that thing was slow and lost its connection very often. HomeKit thread from Eve works great. I don't use Matter (see above).
I'm still waiting for (grid powered) fire/smoke detectors with HomeKit Thread option.

the Netatmo welcome cameras are great value (even if they seem to sell the same hardware now for more than ten years)

 

[Dephibio]

I bought this a couple of months ago and it already had Thread support out of the box. I think they're just rebranding the same product by making it more apparent that it supports Matter.

 

[Powerbooky]

the Netatmo welcome cameras are great value (even if they seem to sell the same hardware now for more than ten years)

It's still dependant on cloud services. I'm still looking a full featured camera or doorbel that can run completely local.
I mean, there are thermostat systems where the heating/cooling schedules just stop working when the internet is down - that is just stupid.

Actually, I would like to see a local iCloud OS from Apple. For example, take a Mac mini M3 or faster that can do all functions of iCloud in but on the local network, storing all the data on a local NAS. It could also work as a local copy of the online iCloud. That would certainly speed up the experience at home for those that have slow DSL.

 

[NightFox]

There's always people crying out for weather stations to include Homekit/Matter support etc, but in reality the lack of support both of those have for actual weather beyond just temperature and humidity is so limited that it's of little benefit. It would be good to see extended support for things like wind, rainfall, UV etc.

 

[GIZBUG]

I’ll stick with my Weatherflow Tempest…..

 

[TwinCitiesJHawk]

What would be the difference/advantage of this vs an Acurite Digital reader besides having matter? Sorry for the ignorance here...

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[Radeon85]

I had an Eve weather station fail after a year (UK weather) and a few months on a new second one was becoming unstable by locking up. Found Siri was a bit sluggish getting the latest tempeature from it as well and this was over thread.

I've now switched over to Netatmo and it's a lot better, significantly cleaner UI as well in the Netatmo app compared to eve, Siri also gets the temperature if I ask by voice far quicker. Picked up the Netatmo rain and wind gauge addon and they seem to be working really well so far. Nice bonus is being able to see all other Netatmo users on a map and see what their stats are. While HomeKit is able to read the Netatmo temperature and humidity, HomeKit has no support for rain or wind yet even though those accessories have been added to HomeKit (reads as unsupported). Apple really needs to start adding support for these things as they are lagging behind compared to Alexa.

 

[AbSoluTc]

I have the non-matter version; it’s utter trash. I’ve had Eve replace it twice under warranty… I’m done with it. A lot of my Eve gear has been replaced with better quality products over the last 2-3 years.

I have their plug in outlets and other than a one or two randomly stop connecting to homekit (not sure if its them or homekit), I've never had an issue. I sadly purchased their eve cam when it first came out - marketed for homekit. It was terrible! The quality was 720p or worse. It was junk. To EVE's credit, they sent me a new one, same issue. Issued me a refund check and kept the cam as well (still don't use it). Their app is great and gives way more info than any other app I have used (and some apps that want you to pay to get the same free info offered by eve). A lot of their stuff is over priced for what it is.

The weather station I just don't see the need for. I have a weather app on my phone and my wrist.

 

[CarlJ]

I am curious about these personal weather stations. Are the weather apps that inaccurate (for getting the current weather status) to warrant purchasing and using these apps?

Perhaps in rural areas, it probably has lots of use. But for typical urban and subarban areas, there are weather stations everywhere and the weather data from modern hyper local weather apps are generally close enough.

Hyperlocal weather apps are made possible, in part, by neighbors taking an interest in the weather and putting "up personal weather stations" (the good ones cost many hundreds of dollars, from companies like Davis, and mount sensors on the rooftop, or similar, and can upload current data to aggregator sites). But if you don't have one of your own, the apps are giving you what the weather is like, a few miles away (wherever the nearest neighbor is who has one). Versus, a remote sensor of your own will tell you what the weather is like on your front porch.

If your interest ends at knowing whether or not it is raining / will rain, and whether it's mostly hot or mostly cold, the apps are fine. Personally, I run a weather station I built myself (Raspberry Pi's, an Arduino, a custom board for reading remote sensors, several off-the-shelf sensors, and a whole bunch of my own python code), because the technology interested me, and because I cool my house mostly through strategic use of fans, and it's highly worth knowing what the temperatures are - outside vs various places inside the house - in real time.

Separately, I also have several HomePod minis, and Apple enabled a feature (last year?) so that their internal temp/rh sensor can be queried, meaning I can ask Siri what the temperature is inside the house, and get a response. I also have an old Eve Weather sensor (used to sit on my desk, when I worked in an office), which now sits on a shelf in my bedroom. It's not as reliable as the HomePods - every so often it becomes unresponsive and I have to reboot it.

 

[Powerbooky]

I am curious about these personal weather stations. Are the weather apps that inaccurate (for getting the current weather status) to warrant purchasing and using these apps?

Perhaps in rural areas, it probably has lots of use. But for typical urban and subarban areas, there are weather stations everywhere and the weather data from modern hyper local weather apps are generally close enough.

Two main benefits may be (1) the data from personal weather station is far more real time than the weather apps and (2) Home automation (although I don't think it allows for conditions like "if it hasn't rained in the last 24 hours, run the lawn sprinkler 30 minutes after sunset").

It would be nice if Apple's WeatherKit and Weather app can also show weather data from these HomeKit devices. Having to use Home or third party app to check the weather data at home is a bit tedious.

I live in an area where rain can be very local. It is possible that there's heavy rain in the nearby town (2 miles from here) and in our place it remains completely dry. All the weather apps just don't have the right resolution and barely have the models to predict developing rain clouds an hour ahead.

I use OpenWeatherMap with HomeBridge and it does have nice forecast data for one whole day, but live measurements are heavily interpolated since the actual stations used are miles away. Maybe the paid version is more accurate, but I doubt it.
I've tried implementing Apple Weather data via a HomeKit script, but it doesn't always work properly. I think I have to be at home with my iPhone to make it work.

There's always people crying out for weather stations to include Homekit/Matter support etc, but in reality the lack of support both of those have for actual weather beyond just temperature and humidity is so limited that it's of little benefit. It would be good to see extended support for things like wind, rainfall, UV etc.

UV sensor would be great for my motorised awning, but also an outside light colour sensor. That could be used for better "adaptive" lighting on rainy and grey days.

I have their plug in outlets and other than a one or two randomly stop connecting to homekit (not sure if its them or homekit), I've never had an issue.

Are those two Matter versions? I have a Matter version Eve Energy plug and indeed fail. Not randomly though, it happens with the hour. And it takes other nearby end-point devices and in between nodes offline too. All the other ones, bluetooth and original Thread homekit versions, work fine for +2 years now. The bluetooth version did react slow at first, as did the bluetooth Eve wallswitch and the Eve Smoke upstairs. They could only connect via the AppleTV 4K (2017) in the living room, Mac's and our iPhones when we were home. But when I installed several HomePod mini's around the house, the response time improved a lot. On most days, these devices react within 0.5 to 3 seconds.
I've had sent several emails to Eve Support about this. I did multiple tests to see what actually happend, but they didn't do anything with all the information I gave them. It is clear to me that there was a big bug in the Matter version THread firmware. Therefore I asked for the option to "downgrade" to the original HomeKit firmware. They declined.
So I've packed the Matter enabled Eve plugs again and maybe after the summer I'll try again.

 

[autumnmike]

I really wanted to love this product, but unfortunately it’s not so good. In the shade it still shows the temperature to be off by 10 degrees or so. In the sun, forget it. It can be 75 degrees in the morning, but by being in the sun it will show 115 degrees. It’s better in winter, but for 80 bucks, it’s been pretty lame.

 

[davidh2k]

I am curious about these personal weather stations. Are the weather apps that inaccurate (for getting the current weather status) to warrant purchasing and using these apps?

Perhaps in rural areas, it probably has lots of use. But for typical urban and subarban areas, there are weather stations everywhere and the weather data from modern hyper local weather apps are generally close enough.

Two main benefits may be (1) the data from personal weather station is far more real time than the weather apps and (2) Home automation (although I don't think it allows for conditions like "if it hasn't rained in the last 24 hours, run the lawn sprinkler 30 minutes after sunset").

It would be nice if Apple's WeatherKit and Weather app can also show weather data from these HomeKit devices. Having to use Home or third party app to check the weather data at home is a bit tedious.

Thats exactly what people use it for.

 

[Erwin-Br]

I have a Netatmo weather station with the additional indoor modules and it is bullet proof. I returned the previous version of the Eve Weather because I realized after I purchased it that it only worked at temperatures above -18 C. In fact, the Weather I tried froze up at temperature well above -18 C. Unfortunately, the operating temperatures of this new Weather hasn't improved. If you live in any of the northern States or Canada, it's useless. Pass.

Yes, I have these as well. Unfortunately my base station needs to be rebooted frequently because it loses the connection with Homekit and then Siri won't answer what temperature it is in my rooms.

 

[sodajerk2]

I really disagree; Eve products have been completely reliable in my smart home setup. This includes multiple Eve Energy units, multiple motion sensors, 2 Door and Window sensors, and their HomeKit Secure Video outdoor camera.

I only use Matter over Thread where possible, and have several HomePods as border routers. That might help. But general unreliability of smart home products over the years has now made Eve an easy first choice for me.

Agreed. I have found Eve products to be among the most reliable and highest quality of all the HomeKit products I’ve purchased. Schlage has been the best - Belkin/Wemo has been the worst.

 

[tiptopp]

I am curious about these personal weather stations. Are the weather apps that inaccurate (for getting the current weather status) to warrant purchasing and using these apps?

Perhaps in rural areas, it probably has lots of use. But for typical urban and subarban areas, there are weather stations everywhere and the weather data from modern hyper local weather apps are generally close enough.

Two main benefits may be (1) the data from personal weather station is far more real time than the weather apps and (2) Home automation (although I don't think it allows for conditions like "if it hasn't rained in the last 24 hours, run the lawn sprinkler 30 minutes after sunset").

It would be nice if Apple's WeatherKit and Weather app can also show weather data from these HomeKit devices. Having to use Home or third party app to check the weather data at home is a bit tedious.

Good question! I've had one for a few years, and it generally goes un-looked at for days at a time. But if I go out in the garden and it feels really warm or cold I'll check it to see how it compares to the forecast for my area. It's often two or three degrees out, which only makes a difference to me when its above or below freezing.

In terms of how I use it with HomeKit - I have a heating system which switches on 30 minutes earlier if the temperature is below a certain number at 5am, and I have an automation to switch it all off quite soon if the temperature gets above a certain number at 7am. I'm sure it could be cleverer, but it works for me and my (cold) family!

 

[tiptopp]

I find all Eve accessories to be garbage. They fail frequently and their customer support in Europe is dire. I have four Eve energy sockets in a drawer along with an old style Eve Weather unit, and my wife bought me the newer style Eve Weather as a gift. It works, but it's pretty crappy.

If you want decent gear, use a Meross socket and a Netatmo weather station if you want proper weather monitoring. It's obviously more expensive, but you get what you pay for.

Overall, I would avoid all Eve products. They are overpriced paperweights.

Obviously a very strong opinion, but I have to disagree! I've had two weather stations - and when one failed well outside warranty they were very quick to give support. I also have three energy sockets in use daily and they've been almost entirely reliable!

Maybe you've been unlucky - or me the opposite...