Agree to disagree on one little thing

General
,
1

I’m going against the grain here, but hear me out.

For me personally, I don’t see the value in staying with one brand; I would rather have the best devices for my particular situation, in whatever category. I love my Aqara curtain drivers and indoor cameras, and I have a couple Aqara switches (older home, no common wires). But I don’t have electrical outlets outside (again, older home), so the outdoor Aqara cameras don’t really work for my situation. I have shades and blinds, plugs, a thermostat, light bulbs, lamps, and a humidifier, all from different brands. I also use Google Home for a few things and pull those into Apple Home with a Starling hub (sadly no longer made). One of the most common things in my home is a mini switch used to control LED lights, that I use to adjust lighting throughout the day in my fish tanks, made by a brand most people in the U.S. have never heard of. So I recommend going to multiple forums, and Reddit, and figure out what will work best for you. And if it doesn’t work, you can usually resell it.

I do agree with one thing several folks have said here, which is to figure out what you want the devices to do, and work back from there.

Use ZigBee and Thread as much as possible and practical. Have fun with it. And if it doesn’t make your life easier, get rid of it.

5 Likes
2

@kevroth Totally fair take—and honestly, that “start with what you want the devices to do, then work backward” approach is how you avoid buying a pile of gadgets that don’t actually improve your day-to-day.

On the protocol point, Zigbee + Thread is a solid combo to aim for. A lot of Aqara gear is leaning into that dual-protocol idea now: Thread is what gets you into Matter ecosystems (with the right Thread-enabled Matter Controller), and Zigbee is where you typically unlock the more “Aqara-native” features via an Aqara hub—and being able to switch depending on your setup is the best of both worlds.

One practical caveat for mixed-brand setups (since you mentioned you’re happily mixing brands): Aqara generally doesn’t guarantee full functionality when pairing via third-party Zigbee setups like Zigbee2MQTT/USB dongles, so if someone wants the most predictable Aqara experience, the official Aqara hub route is still the safest bet.

Keep sharing what combinations have worked well for you—real-world “this is what actually works in an older house” stories are gold for people planning their first build-out.