Hey everyone,
I’m curious, if you could pick one Aqara product that made the biggest impact on your smart home (not just for you but for others in your household), which would it be and why?
Looking to expand my setup and would appreciate your recommendations and real-world experiences.
Thanks in advance!
Two products are far ahead. On the one hand, the FP2 with its perfect division of several areas in my house. This simply switches the lamps at different twilight times. Here no one needs to operate a light switch anymore.
The second is the Smart Look u200. Perfect because we never need a key again. You can add all people by PIN and fingerprint. And the best is the solution for the holiday. For this you don’t need to give anyone your key anymore, just the self-configured once code.
For me it is definitely the FP2 presence sensor, at least when you can hide the power cable. He lets me automate my light scenes e.g. in my home office and it spares me the pressing of several switches.
Now I am waiting for the wireless FP300 to automate more rooms.
Edit:
Independent of the manufacturer the smart lock ist the most useful device in my smart home. Since many years I use the Nuki smart lock and carry no more keys because my smartphone opens my home and my car when I am approaching.
That’s not an easy question — in a Smart Home it’s rarely a single device that makes the biggest difference, because you usually need a combination of a sensor and an actuator. But for me, three stand out:
Smart Lock: In our house, keys are a thing of the past. Just like my car, the front door uses my phone as a key — or alternatively a fingerprint or PIN. It’s literally impossible to lock yourself out, something I managed to do once or twice in the past.
Presence Sensor: All hallways, toilets, storage rooms, laundry rooms, etc. are equipped with presence sensors. No more fumbling for a light switch in the dark while your hands are full. And on the toilet, you can sit still for a while without the lights suddenly switching off — something that used to happen often with traditional motion sensors.
Aqara Air Quality Monitor: This one I imported from China. It measures not just temperature and humidity in all bedrooms, but most importantly CO₂ concentration. When CO₂ gets too high, it sends a Matter signal to Home Assistant, which then controls a decentralized ventilation unit from SIKU. Depending on the outside temperature, it either brings in fresh air or vents out stale air to keep CO₂ levels under 1000 ppm — a key factor for good sleep quality.
But in the end, it’s the smart combination of — in my case — over 400 devices that really makes the difference in our home.
Always remember: “If your car is smarter than your home… you’re driving into the future while living in the past” 
For me it was the FP2 presence sensor. I placed it in our main bathroom and now never have to worry about the lights staying on to long or even turning off in the middle of a shower.
I also have them set to turn the lights on dimmer in the middle of the night so no one gets blasted with bright light when they walk in. This one definitely one of my must haves for sure!
We need some sort of wall art exclusively designed to hide power cables… 
FP2. I have them all across my home
For me it’s the small temperature/humidity sensors. There work very well, I use many of them
The door lock !
For me, it’s the doorbell
I think it’s the presence sensors as well. That’s a big whole in the lineup of smart home products.
I just setup an FP1E in an area with no zones and it’s been really responsive. Excited to setup an FP2 in my office and living room!
Fair! Yeah I have a HomeKit home and have been using the new ThorBolt X1 and it’s been phenomenal. That Sam sure the Aqara lock is awesome.
And they work through the curtain? I imagine so? I know my old PIR sensor required me having two sensors one for the shower are and one for the rest of the room due to the glass / curtain obscuring motion.
I’ve gotten in the habit of drilling two 1” holes vertically and using a fish ball chain to chain the wire through. Works great but also sort of against fire code. YMMV
Planning to use them to turn in exhaust fans when humidity goes up (e.g. showers etc)
It’s really simple but we have 4 wireless mini switches through out the house and probably 30 different actions between them. My wife has one on her nightstand that does different things depending on the conditions. I travel a lot so if she presses it when I’m not home it runs a script to shut down the whole house. But if I am home, but not in bed it just turns off the bedroom. If the bedroom lights are already off it turns on her nightlight. It has 4 different actions just from a single press based on different conditions.
Smart Lock (U100) - no longer have to deal with re-keying every time the kid loses the key 
Agreed. It may sound boring, but the U100 has made all the difference for us. It’s such a luxury not having to carry keys all the time. Also, now I never have to wonder if I locked the door, because I set it to lock automatically every time (simple setting in the app).
For me it is the outdoor camera. The video quality at night is so much better than my Nest cameras I had previously. I now have two of them, and those convinced me to start modifying my whole home monitoring system to mostly Aqara products.