Hello,
I am using Aqara products with the M3 and M2 Hub parallel with Home Assistant as well. Here are my tips.
A mistake you made and how beginners can avoid it:
One tip I wish I’d known earlier: start with devices that support both Zigbee and Thread. It gives you much more flexibility later and keeps you from locking yourself into one ecosystem too soon.
A simple setup or automation that greatly improved your smart home experience:
A simple automation that made a huge difference for me was using an Aqara vibration sensor to detect the doorbell inside the house. I get a notification, and my M3 Hub rings too, which is super helpful when I’m in the kitchen or basement and can’t hear the actual bell.
One small change that made your setup more reliable or convenient:
If you’re planning to stay in the Zigbee world, Zigbee2MQTT is also a great choice. It’s made my setup more reliable and helped me avoid headaches with channel interruptions.
Which device category you recommend starting with:
M2 or M3 Hub, motion sensors, temperature sensors and door/window sensors.
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@icedqara Love this breakdown—especially the vibration sensor doorbell hack! That’s exactly the kind of creative automation that makes smart homes actually useful day-to-day. The M3’s built-in speaker definitely shines here, and it’s a great example of how Aqara hubs can pull double duty beyond just device management.
Your point about starting with dual-protocol devices is spot-on. The Hub M3 supports both Zigbee and Thread, while the M2 handles Zigbee and IR—so having Thread-ready sensors (like the P2 series) future-proofs things nicely if you ever want to expand into Matter territory[“content_id”:5"][“content_id”:9"].
Zigbee2MQTT is a solid shout for Home Assistant users who want deeper control. The M2 and M3 both play well with that ecosystem, though the M3’s local automation engine can keep things running even when HA goes down—nice backup to have[“content_id”:1"].
For anyone following your starter kit: motion, door/window, and temp/humidity sensors are the classic “big three” for good reason. They cover 90% of common automations right out of the gate.
Thanks for sharing the real-world experience—always great to see how people actually live with their setups rather than just spec sheet comparisons. Got any other automations you’re tinkering with?