I’ve had the U600 installed for a few weeks now as part of the UK trial, so thought I’d share how I’ve got on with it now it’s officially launched.
For context, this is my first smart lock and my smart home is mainly Google Home and Home Assistant. I don’t have an Aqara hub, so I’ve probably approached the U600 slightly differently to some other testers.
The lock itself
The main thing to say is that I’ve been really impressed with the U600 as a lock.
Fingerprint recognition has been excellent – quick enough that I’ve very quickly got out of the habit of reaching for a key. Passcode access works well too and it’s useful having several different ways of getting in.
One important point given what I’m going to say about connectivity below: I’ve never had an issue actually using the lock.
There have been times when it has shown as unavailable in Google Home/Home Assistant, but fingerprint, passcode and the other local functions continue to work regardless. The connectivity issues have affected the smart-home side, not the basic operation or reliability of the lock.
Matter and Thread
This has probably been the most interesting part of the trial for me.
I initially added the U600 to Google Home over Matter using my existing Nest Thread network, and then shared it with Home Assistant using Matter Multi-Admin.
It all worked, but the connection hasn’t always been consistent. Home Assistant would occasionally show the lock as unavailable, sometimes for a reasonable length of time. Checking Google Home at the same time normally showed it offline there as well, so it wasn’t just a Home Assistant issue.
I also have an Aqara FP300 running over Matter/Thread on the same network and that’s generally been very stable, which made the U600 behaviour a little harder to pin down.
I did quite a bit of resetting and re-pairing while trying to work out what was happening. Aqara support were helpful during this and also confirmed that I can use the Aqara Home app locally over Bluetooth alongside the Google Matter connection without an Aqara hub.
An interesting development today
My Home Assistant Connect ZBT-2 arrived today.
I’ve added it as a Thread Border Router and it has joined the same existing Nest Thread network rather than creating a separate one. I didn’t have to reset or re-pair the U600.
Home Assistant is now showing the U600 connecting through the ZBT-2 and the difference so far has been quite noticeable. The lock is responding much more quickly and, so far, the connection has been much more consistent.
Big caveat – it’s only been a few hours! I’m not going to claim it’s fixed based on that.
I’ll keep monitoring the Home Assistant history over the next few days. If the improvement continues, it looks like Thread coverage/topology may have been a significant part of the problem. The lock is obviously mounted on an external door, so adding another Border Router in a better position may simply have given it a much stronger route onto the Thread network.
I’ll update the post once I’ve got a few days of data.
What would I like to see added?
The big one for me is Android digital key / Google Wallet support.
Fingerprint is probably still going to be my main way of unlocking the door, but I’d really like to be able to add the U600 to Google Wallet and use my Pixel or Wear OS watch as a key.
That feels like the main thing missing for those of us using the Google ecosystem and would be a great addition in the future.
Overall
I’ve really enjoyed testing the U600 and it’s staying on my front door.
The Matter/Thread side has taken some troubleshooting, but the lock itself has been solid throughout and the connectivity issues have never stopped us getting into the house.
Fingerprint access is probably the feature that’s won me over most. It’s one of those things that very quickly becomes normal and you wonder why you were carrying a key around before.
I’m also interested to see what happens with the ZBT-2 over the next few days. If the improvement I’ve seen today continues, that’s probably the most useful thing I’ve learnt during the trial – having a Thread network doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve got good Thread coverage everywhere you need it.
Thanks to Aqara for the opportunity to take part in the trial and also for responding to the feedback and questions I’ve sent over while testing it.
