We have nearly a dozen outside doors (house, garage, shop, mechanical room, storage, etc.), about half of which we use routinely. We live out in the boondocks so do not lock the doors behind us, but I sleep better knowing the doors are locked at night. I have several different smart locks because I have not been satisfied enough with any of them to purchase more than one, and certainly not satisfied or dissatisfied enough to replace a functional lock. But this last week I needed a new lock so decided to get the U400.
Mechanical installation was no better or worse than any other. I did appreciate having the printed parts diagram / instructions rather than having to scan a code and play online instructions that annoyingly walk me through installation with slick ‘lefty-loosey, righty-tighty’ level of animations. As with all mechanized locks, making sure the deadbolt is perfectly aligned and operates smoothly cannot be overstated.
The part of the installation I always dread is binding something new to the ecosystem. In this case I read ahead enough (and had the forum instructions) so everything went exceedingly smoothly. I am using an apple homepod mini as my thread hub and used the barcode scan to bind the lock into apple home. I then used apple home to bring the lock into home assistant. There may have been a little fumbling or something may have taken more than one attempt, but all in all it worked as it should with little or no frustration.
I had not planned on using the aqara app at all, but then noticed the 77% charging ceiling bug and the state of charge and charging status not being updated in apple home. I need to use the app to turn on the beta firmware switch. It is disappointing that this would require buying another hub (and specifically an Aqara hub) to use the app across the network. While somewhat inconvenient, i used the bluetooth connection to enable beta firmware and download the version that [mostly] corrected these minor bugs.
Of the several smart locks I currently have installed, this is the only one that I am planning to buy more of the same. The UWB works flawlessly. At this location I have two doors facing each other and about 12 feet apart (on opposite sides of a breezeway) and the U400 can easily distinguish which of the two doors I am approaching and only unlock itself when I am intending to use that door. I really like the USB rechargeable batteries and simply plug the USB into a receptacle behind the door and let it charge overnight.
Finally, I appreciate that Aqara support is attentive and is accepting user feedback. That is something certainly missing when facing issues with kwikset, yale, schlage, etc.
My only suggestion is that Aqara needs to coalesce all of the critical platform installation information into one document that is highly visible and readily available, e.g., this document needs to be referenced on every purchase platform with a visibility at least as high as the lock features. The information is there and aqara is obviously making an effort with this forum, but getting a complete understanding currently requires some digging. This document needs to clearly state what support equipment is required, e.g., the aqara hub is only supported if the intent to use the aqara app.