+8 votes
by (550 points)
I am considering getting the Xiaomi or Aqara DWS, PIR, temperature & humidity and switches. 1) is there any preferences between Xiaomi & Aqara for them to work with Smartthings Hub V3 (2018)? 2) there are several DH, which is the right one to use 3) what is the maximum devices ST V3. 0 (2018) can support? 4) Many discussion on Ver2 hub, it will work well with V3 too right? They're very cheap in price, I've seen many reported they work equally well if the pairing is done correctly directly to the hub Thanks in advance for helping
I am considering getting the Xiaomi or Aqara DWS, PIR, temperature & humidity and switches.

5 Answers

+3 votes
by (12.9k points)
I found Xiaomi Aqara to be the most unreliable zigbee devices I've ever used.  
0 votes
by (1.7k points)
I thought Xiaomi and Agara were the same devices with different branding. I have three. Two work flawlessly and one won’t stay paired. I use the v2 hub.  
by (550 points)
@tosspot there are device handler for both and I remember they are slightly different? I'm not sure
+5 votes
by (21.2k points)
Not worth the cheap price
+2 votes
by (550 points)
The reasons I'm asking is that ZigBee, is ZigBee. There must be some work around to make it work. There are some forum reported that it works flawlessly well n stable.  
by (900 points)
@pera86 they're trash. The main issue is they don't like routing through a repeater. They're solid if directly connected but trying to get them to is a nightmare. I've binned mine.  
by (340 points)
I have a door sensor through a repeater and been fine so far  
by (1.6k points)
@pera86 zigbee certified is zigbee. The vast majority of Aqara devices are not zigbee compliant, and they are not certified. They are designed only to be used together in the “Xiaomi ecosystem”. This is why custom device handlers are necessary. For example they do not implement the mesh behaviour correctly, which causes problems with the network in general. If you were using only Aqara devices near your hub it can work, but even then the device handlers run in the cloud. It also means any other assumptions you might make about behaviour (eg that v2 and v3 hub will work in the same way) can’t be relied upon as the zigbee radios may behave in different (but still standards compliant) ways that normally don’t make a difference but the Xiaomi devices are sensitive to. Aqara have had some new devices zigbee 3. 0 certified and I have high hopes for these, but it’s been nearly a year since they were announced and no sign of most of them. You can find a list of certified products on the zigbee alliance website, albeit sometimes they certify a low level part rather than an entire product (mainly Hue/signify devices) so some sleuthing is required.  
+2 votes
by (15.3k points)
Save yourself a lot of headaches - find something else.  
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