Eve Updates HomeKit-Enabled 'Eve Room' Air Quality Monitor With Thread Support

[MacRumors]

Eve today announced the launch of its third-generation Eve Room, a HomeKit-enabled indoor air quality monitor that now comes with Thread support. Eve Room is designed to track air quality, temperature, and humidity.

Design wise, the updated Eve Room looks similar to the existing second-generation Eve Room, with an e-ink display that shows the current room conditions. The major new addition is Thread integration for better connectivity with other smart home products. According to Eve, it now offers 10 products that work with HomeKit over Thread.

Eve CEO Jerome Gackel said that Thread has been "a spectacular success" for Eve, and in the "not too distant future," a Thread network will be "just as common as Wi-Fi." Eve Room is designed to join a Thread network automatically, and it works with both Bluetooth and Thread. Note that for Thread connectivity, a device that serves as a Thread Border Router is required, such as the HomePod mini.

Eve Room is able to detect volatile organic compounds in the air, which can be harmful to people and pets. It also provides temperature readings and allows users to keep track of humidity. Data can be viewed on the device itself, and it also syncs to the Eve app.

The third-generation Eve Room is available from the Eve website for $99.95.

Article Link: Eve Updates HomeKit-Enabled 'Eve Room' Air Quality Monitor With Thread Support

 

[m.x]

I’ll never understand this company…
„Mmh, we have this Air Quality Monitor, which does the same like the $10 Aqara sensor, but ours has to be charged every 6 weeks, has micro USB and a cheap display, what do we charge for that?“
„$100“
„Sounds right, it’ll be $99,95“

 

[AbSoluTc]

I’ll never understand this company…
„Mmh, we have this Air Quality Monitor, which does the same like the $10 Aqara sensor, but ours has to be charged every 6 weeks, has micro USB and a cheap display, what do we charge for that?“
„$100“
„Sounds right, it’ll be $99,95“

Yeah, I don't get it either. I got the Aqara sensors (I have a bunch of Aqara stuff and rarely have an issue).

My experience with Eve started and ended with their Homekit camera. It was junk. The quality was terrible. My (at the time) Arlo Q's blew it away. My current cams, Eufy Indoor 2K also blow it away. Eve did replace it and refunded but the replacement camera had the same issue. The reviews online for Amazon also mention issues with quality. I did not expect such bad quality for what it cost. Eve as a company stands behind their product but the cost is not worth it when you have other products like Aqara that also do the same for half the price or less. Same quality of service as well.

 

[hanser]

I don’t understand what is political about this story? Home air quality is so controversial it’s entered the political realm?

This article says HomePod mini…does Apple TV work with thread?

The newest 4k version from 2021 should work with thread

 

[m.x]

Yeah, I don't get it either. I got the Aqara sensors (I have a bunch of Aqara stuff and rarely have an issue).

My experience with Eve started and ended with their Homekit camera. It was junk. The quality was terrible. My (at the time) Arlo Q's blew it away. My current cams, Eufy Indoor 2K also blow it away. Eve did replace it and refunded but the replacement camera had the same issue. The reviews online for Amazon also mention issues with quality. I did not expect such bad quality for what it cost. Eve as a company stands behind their product but the cost is not worth it when you have other products like Aqara that also do the same for half the price or less. Same quality of service as well.

I had the same experience with their Eve Energy. Had two of them, extremely slow, very weak signal strength. They did cheap out by using Bluetooth instead of Zigbee. Their solution for my connectivity issues? Buy an additional "Eve Extender" for €50. Yeah of course I'll do that I sold the stuff and I'm now much more happy with the Hue Smart Plugs, although they can't monitor the energy consumption, but I care more about reliability...

 

[ignatius345]

Interesting idea but I'm not sure what I'd do with this information. I have an air purifier running and it ramps up automatically if air quality dips (usually when we're cooking or vaccuuming). And if I didn't have an air purifier, I guess I'd just use this to tell me... to open a window?

And that's not even getting into the the bigger question of why the hell I'd ever need to monitor my apartment's air quality when nobody's home.

I guess other people have different needs than me, but I think we're seeing a lot of "smart" products that are really of dubious utility.

 

[cambookpro]

Still micro USB?

I have the old version and think it's great, but think it's the only thing I now own which requires a micro USB cable to charge it. Disappointing.

 

[Squuiid]

has to be charged every 6 weeks, has micro USB and a cheap display

Seriously. All 3 are huge dealbreakers for me.
Especially micro USB. That has no place in 2021. Even my cheapo espresso scale charges using USB-C.
And a 6 week battery is laughable. Who has time for that?!

 

[Koni17]

This would be much more useful if it measured CO2 level, you could use it to increase the delivery of fresh air through your central air supply systems or open windows automatically. Pretty limited use cases with just VOC measurements.

 

[_Spinn_]

I've been waiting for this to be updated to thread. Now they just need to do their North American wall switches.

I have been very happy with my thread enabled Eve Energy and Eve Weather devices. I currently have and Eve Energy outside in a weatherproof box running my Christmas Lights.

 

[orbital~debris]

Interesting idea but I'm not sure what I'd do with this information. I have an air purifier running and it ramps up automatically if air quality dips (usually when we're cooking or vaccuuming). And if I didn't have an air purifier, I guess I'd just use this to tell me... to open a window?

And that's not even getting into the the bigger question of why the hell I'd ever need to monitor my apartment's air quality when nobody's home.

I guess other people have different needs than me, but I think we're seeing a lot of "smart" products that are really of dubious utility.

Opening a window is often a good solution to sensors alerting you to elevations of certain readings.

With that said, outdoor air quality can often be bad too, so you can check in  Weather for AQI.

Monitoring AQ when no-one's home could be useful, if you're trying to pinpoint the source of pollution (e.g. heating that activates at certain times before people get home, neighbourhood events that decrease AQ indoors if windows left ajar - such as barbecues, bonfires etc.).

And if your vacuum is a trigger for dipping AQ, that would suggest it's leaking dirty air back into the room. A vacuum cleaner with a fully-sealed HEPA filtration that captures a near-total amount of pollutants would be a good item to upgrade to.

 

[ignatius345]

Monitoring AQ when no-one's home could be useful, if you're trying to pinpoint the source of pollution (e.g. heating that activates at certain times before people get home, neighbourhood events that decrease AQ indoors if windows left ajar - such as barbecues, bonfires etc.).

Sorry, not buying it. I mean, if you work hard enough I'm sure there's some weird edge case one can invent as a "reason" to look up one's indoor air quality from the office. But again, if you're not home you 1) aren't breathing the air and 2) can't do anything about it anyway except 3) let your air purifier run which it would probably just do automatically using its own sensor.

And if your vacuum is a trigger for dipping AQ, that would suggest it's leaking dirty air back into the room. A vacuum cleaner with a fully-sealed HEPA filtration that captures a near-total amount of pollutants would be a good item to upgrade to.

It's a Dyson with a HEPA filter. Even with a good vaccuum, you're disturbing things and dust is going to get into the air. All you have to do is vaccuum in a sunny room to see that happening.

 

[orbital~debris]

Sorry, not buying it. I mean, if you work hard enough I'm sure there's some weird edge case one can invent as a "reason" to look up one's indoor air quality from the office. But again, if you're not home you 1) aren't breathing the air and 2) can't do anything about it anyway except 3) let your air purifier run which it would probably just do automatically using its own sensor.

This is true. I was just trying to indicate a possible use.

It's a Dyson with a HEPA filter. Even with a good vaccuum, you're disturbing things and dust is going to get into the air. All you have to do is vaccuum in a sunny room to see that happening.

You are cleaning the filters in water & completely drying them once a month, right? 😛 But yeah, you're right the exhaust can cause some un-vacuumed dust to become airborne.

 

[ssspinball]

I’ll never understand this company…
„Mmh, we have this Air Quality Monitor, which does the same like the $10 Aqara sensor, but ours has to be charged every 6 weeks, has micro USB and a cheap display, what do we charge for that?“
„$100“
„Sounds right, it’ll be $99,95“

Can you link to this $10 Aqara air quality sensor? I searched and am not finding anything but a $50 sensor and most of the Aqara stuff seems to require a hub, which is not a direct comparison with the Eve product here.

Closest product I see is the Aqara TVOC air quality monitor, which is $45, requires a hub, and has terrible ratings on Amazon.

 

[name99]

I’ll never understand this company…
„Mmh, we have this Air Quality Monitor, which does the same like the $10 Aqara sensor, but ours has to be charged every 6 weeks, has micro USB and a cheap display, what do we charge for that?“
„$100“
„Sounds right, it’ll be $99,95“

The difference is that Eve stuff is hassle-free.
Not all of it -- the Eve Button is a LOUSY product, their bluetooth extender even worse. But most of the stuff (like the room monitoring and the smart plugs) just does what it is meant to do, reliably and without drama.

This doesn't sound like a very high bar, but you would be amazed... It works properly with HomeKit, reports battery status properly, updates FW properly, doesn't require its own stupid hub, doesn't require a once-a-month dance of some sort or power-cycling because it's stopped working, etc etc

Some of us are just so tired of so much poorly performing s#$t out there that we are willing to pay extra for stuff that just works.
And the things you knock are real pluses. I bought the Eve monitor precisely because I wanted BOTH
- can put it next to the bed to see temp and humidity at a glance
- but also can use it to trigger automations
- and also can see long-trend history in the Eve app.
All three of these are valuable, and the first requires both a screen and battery (so I can place it where it's convenient).
(And claiming charging every six weeks sounds very high to me. I'm not tracking it closely, but I'd say it's closer to perhaps every four to six months.)

 

[name99]

Interesting idea but I'm not sure what I'd do with this information. I have an air purifier running and it ramps up automatically if air quality dips (usually when we're cooking or vaccuuming). And if I didn't have an air purifier, I guess I'd just use this to tell me... to open a window?

And that's not even getting into the the bigger question of why the hell I'd ever need to monitor my apartment's air quality when nobody's home.

I guess other people have different needs than me, but I think we're seeing a lot of "smart" products that are really of dubious utility.

(a) you can see trends in temperature and humidity
(b) you can easily see the temperature at a glance, no looking at your phone
(c) you can use the humidity sensor to trigger a humidifier to turn on and off. (This requires a "dumb" humidifier which just runs [or doesn't] depending on whether it has power, but these are available, eg the classic Honeywell round red one)

(Of course you could also trigger automations from the temperature sensor, but most people have a thermostat for that -- though you might, for example, want to control blinds?)

If you don't want all of these, it may not be the product for you, But some of us do want all of these features.

 

[3listone]

I have the first gen Eve Room & the older Eve Degree.
Room needs to be plugged in all the time, when it dies the screen stays on and looks like it is giving off readings but it is not. Which is why it has been plugged in permanently.

Compare with degree which is battery powered, it lasts months & when it dies screen goes off.
I don't think I would ever buy an Eve product that does this kinda thing until it became battery powered again.

These are just a few of the issues with this product.

 

[bviktor]

I’ll never understand this company…
„Mmh, we have this Air Quality Monitor, which does the same like the $10 Aqara sensor, but ours has to be charged every 6 weeks, has micro USB and a cheap display, what do we charge for that?“
„$100“
„Sounds right, it’ll be $99,95“

Cheap display? It-s e-ink, dude. Way better for this purpose than LCD. And it's way more expensive lol. It won't emit light so won't distract you during the night, and also doesn't drain the battery at all while it's on, only a little when changing the values (i.e. once every few minutes). It was designed for e-book readers, because it's also much easier on your eyes.

 

[silvetti]

I’ll never understand this company…
„Mmh, we have this Air Quality Monitor, which does the same like the $10 Aqara sensor, but ours has to be charged every 6 weeks, has micro USB and a cheap display, what do we charge for that?“
„$100“
„Sounds right, it’ll be $99,95“

Can you link this Aqara Air quality monitor?
Having a hard time finding it.

 

[macleod199]

(a) you can see trends in temperature and humidity
(b) you can easily see the temperature at a glance, no looking at your phone
(c) you can use the humidity sensor to trigger a humidifier to turn on and off. (This requires a "dumb" humidifier which just runs [or doesn't] depending on whether it has power, but these are available, eg the classic Honeywell round red one)

(Of course you could also trigger automations from the temperature sensor, but most people have a thermostat for that -- though you might, for example, want to control blinds?)

If you don't want all of these, it may not be the product for you, But some of us do want all of these features.

Exactly (C). I got an ecobee thermostat because of its relatively highly rated HomeKit integration and I though (erroneously) that a Canadian-based company would be on top of things like Canadian time-of-use rates. The temperature sensors are pretty good, but they don’t seem to have a way to add humidity sensors beyond the one in the thermostat itself. I have two dumb humidifiers on Meross outlets in different parts of the house, but so far they’ve been both tied to the one main sensor, which is not useful when one is in an often closed room with an en suite shower with poor ventilation, for example. So I just picked up one of these to have an extra independent humidity sensor.

I agree it’s a little pricey, but appreciate that it doesn’t need another separate sensor hub, and the emphasis on keeping data in one’s house rather than on a cloud somewhere. I’ve had their outdoor sensor for almost a year now, and it does what it does simply, and it’s not opening up a whole bunch of unnecessary attack vectors to my network and personal data. Being trained as a communications engineer there is also a certain nerd factor to see how Thread is working and evolving.

Also, another aspect that endeared Eve to me is that until very recently HomeKit wouldn’t allow one to set humidity-based triggers within the Home app. The free Eve app let me set rules for that before I even bought any of their stuff - so it opened up underlying HomeKit functionality without requiring me to a buy one of their devices, let alone a hub. Even now the Home app only allows one to do it in increments of 5%, whereas the Eve app lets you set them in increments of 1%.

 

[name99]

Exactly (C). I got an ecobee thermostat because of its relatively highly rated HomeKit integration and I though (erroneously) that a Canadian-based company would be on top of things like Canadian time-of-use rates. The temperature sensors are pretty good, but they don’t seem to have a way to add humidity sensors beyond the one in the thermostat itself. I have two dumb humidifiers on Meross outlets in different parts of the house, but so far they’ve been both tied to the one main sensor, which is not useful when one is in an often closed room with an en suite shower with poor ventilation, for example. So I just picked up one of these to have an extra independent humidity sensor.

I agree it’s a little pricey, but appreciate that it doesn’t need another separate sensor hub, and the emphasis on keeping data in one’s house rather than on a cloud somewhere. I’ve had their outdoor sensor for almost a year now, and it does what it does simply, and it’s not opening up a whole bunch of unnecessary attack vectors to my network and personal data. Being trained as a communications engineer there is also a certain nerd factor to see how Thread is working and evolving.

Also, another aspect that endeared Eve to me is that until very recently HomeKit wouldn’t allow one to set humidity-based triggers within the Home app. The free Eve app let me set rules for that before I even bought any of their stuff - so it opened up underlying HomeKit functionality without requiring me to a buy one of their devices, let alone a hub. Even now the Home app only allows one to do it in increments of 5%, whereas the Eve app lets you set them in increments of 1%.

If you want to fully nerd out on HomeKit automation, the best app is Home+.
It's riddled with bugs :-(, but it is the only app out there that allows you to exploit the full '"programming capacity" of HomeKit Automation, along with related matters like easily duplicating an Automation or a Scene (which you can then modify), or organizing Automations.

 

[rikscha]

Still micro USB?

I have the old version and think it's great, but think it's the only thing I now own which requires a micro USB cable to charge it. Disappointing.

This is for me a reason not to buy it.

Companies need to be punished for making stupid decisions.