How I use my Aqara Thermostat W600
I’ve been using the new Aqara Thermostat W600 for two weeks, and I’m quite satisfied with it. Before that, I had an EVE Home thermostat running on Matter, and I still use a Netatmo thermostat for my heat pump, which doesn’t support Zigbee or Matter.
For anything more complex than basic rules, I use Homey Pro. Its visual automation editor makes it much easier to build detailed routines instead of working with simple IF / THEN logic.
The W600 is the updated version of the T1 thermostat. While the T1 only worked with Zigbee, the W600 supports both Thread and Matter. Normally, I prefer using Matter with Homey Pro, but the W600 is still too new. Homey doesn’t recognize it yet. I contacted their support, and they should fix this soon.
(Homey Pro)
To make everything work, I switched the W600 to its Zigbee firmware and added it to my Aqara M3 Hub. This gives me more options and also allows firmware updates. The W600’s Matter firmware is still very limited, so Zigbee is the best choice at the moment.
Once the W600 is paired with the M3 Hub and the M3 Hub is connected to Homey Pro through Matter, the thermostat becomes fully usable in Homey. I had exactly the same case with an Aqara smoke detector, and this trick solved the issue too.
You can add the M3 Hub in Homey Pro as a simple Matter device.
You still cannot add the W600 directly to Homey. The M3 Hub must handle that part.
In Homey Pro, I can read the room temperature, set the target heating temperature, choose the mode (heating or turning off), and check the battery level. Aqara has its own built-in heating schedule (only in Zigbee), but because I have devices from different brands, it isn’t practical for me. Matter doesn’t work reliably yet, so I control everything from Homey.
One of my daily routines is a simple “morning boost”: at a specific time, Homey sets a higher target temperature for about two hours until the room feels comfortable. It works perfectly.
Homey also has a very useful feature: it can send a notification when an action fails. If something doesn’t execute correctly, I’m alerted immediately. This is great for heating management.
Another helpful automation is when everyone leaves the house. Homey lowers the target temperature to 17°C. Aqara can also do presence-based rules, but Homey is simply better when several people are involved.
Right now, Zigbee offers the most complete control of the W600. Matter will probably catch up when both Aqara and Homey improve support, but for the moment this mix—W600 on Zigbee, M3 Hub connected to Homey via Matter—works reliably and gives me all the features I need.
Hop this helps 
