My latest addition is the Aqara Thermostat Hub W200, and so far I’m really impressed with it!
I’ve been gradually moving more of our home over to Aqara and Apple Home, so the W200 felt like a natural next step. It replaced our older Nest Thermostat E, and the difference definitely feels like an upgrade.
Installation was straightforward, and I love how much functionality Aqara has managed to put into something that is still, first and foremost, a thermostat. The touchscreen looks fantastic on the wall, the interface is responsive, and having the display wake as you approach it is one of those small touches that makes it feel much more polished.
One of my favorite features has to be the integration with other Aqara devices. Having the doorbell camera automatically show a live preview right on the W200 when someone is at the door is awesome. Linking our Aqara door lock to it as well makes the whole setup feel properly connected — being able to see who’s there and interact with the entry system from the thermostat is the kind of smart-home integration I’ve been wanting.
Apple Home integration was also a big reason I chose it. I’m looking forward to making more use of Adaptive Temperature, remote Aqara sensors and the W200’s presence detection as I build out the system.
I also really like that the W200 isn’t just another smart thermostat. Having it act as another Aqara hub, Thread border router and Matter controller means it actually adds to the infrastructure of the rest of the smart home too.
I’m still fairly early into using it, so there are plenty more features and automations I want to experiment with — especially using room temperature and presence sensors so the HVAC can respond to where people actually are rather than just the temperature at the thermostat.
So far though, very happy with the W200. It looks great, works nicely with Apple Home, and the integration between the thermostat, doorbell and lock really shows what’s possible when smart-home devices actually work together.