Aqara Smart Hub M2 (2.4 GHz Wi-Fi Required), Smart Home Bridge for Alarm System, IR Remote Control, Home Automation, Supports Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple HomeKit and IFTTT

This hub makes a solid connection to my 2.4 gHz WiFi network and provides good coverage.Most (and so far for me, all) Aqara smart items bridged through it can be addressed in HomeAssistant through the HomeKit integration. No need to bother with Matter - unless you want to. The IR blaster, however, only functions with the phone app and does not expose paired items with HomeAssistant - and that it's only minus in my opinion. However, as I view the IR blaster as a nice bonus, and not core to the product I didn't dock the item a star in my rating. However, if the IR blaster were to be exposed - now, that would be something special!Devices are easy to set up and this hub performs a good as advertised. It's price point makes it a good choice for any home wanting to add good Zigbee coverage for the Aqara ecosystem. Nice.Also, note that I run this hub alongside another Zigbee coordinator (a USB stick) and both networks function without issue even though my 2.4 gHz spectrum is pretty saturated with competing networks. Again, nice!

The Aqara Smart Hub M2 is a fantastic smart home hub that exceeded my expectations in every way. This compact hub is easy to set up and offers an incredible range of features that make it an indispensable addition to any smart home.One of the standout features of the Aqara Smart Hub M2 is its compatibility with a wide range of smart home devices, including sensors, switches, and cameras. This makes it incredibly versatile and allows for seamless integration with other smart home systems.Another impressive feature of the Aqara Smart Hub M2 is its support for Apple HomeKit, which allows for convenient control of your smart home devices using Siri voice commands or the Apple Home app. This integration with Apple's ecosystem is seamless and works flawlessly.The hub itself is also well-built and has a sleek and modern design that blends seamlessly into any home. The setup process was straightforward, and the hub connected to my Wi-Fi network without any issues.Overall, I am extremely impressed with the Aqara Smart Hub M2 and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a reliable and versatile smart home hub. It's easy to use, packed with features, and offers excellent value for money. A must-have for any smart home enthusiast!

This was a breeze to install and configure. The instructions were clear, the device UI is well thought out, and it was updated to be Matter compatible shortly after I purchased.I initially bought it to manage Aqara's excellent door sensors (my young child had a habit of trying to sneak out the house) but have added water and movement sensors which all integrate beautifully with the Amazon ecosystem, though I'm planning to switch to home assistant.In any case, the only shortcoming is that Aqara's zigbee implementation is proprietary and thus I can't use this with other zigbee devices. Not a huge deal as USB dongles are getting rather inexpensive and feature rich.Update: If you've got an old one, the Matter upgrade does not turn this into a controller; it's still just an propriety Aqara-Zigbee controller, but a Matter bridge. So it plays semi-nicely with Home Assistant (for me at least) but it doesn't directly control devices. Also, despite being careful, the USB power connector broke off the PCB. I've looked into repairing it and many others have reported similar outcomes. I thought it could also receive power via PoE, but that's the newer M3 model. I was able to remove the lid without damage, then found 4/5 of the copper pads delaminated from the traces and are still soldered to the broken off usb-micro jack. So I scraped the traces down to copper and am hoping I can solder that small (sub 1mm). These traces should be thicker, they are for the main power bus. Will have to bridge with wire. only the ground pin came off without destroying the copper. Also, the data mode pin (4) doesn't seem to be wired to anything (I'm assuming because it's just for power). We'll see So for all of these issues I'm docking a point, knocking it down to a 4-star rating.

My entire home could double as an Aqara show home. Their products are typically rock solid. In fact, every Aqara product I own is a stable and valuable part of my smart home. As a company, I give them a 5 star rating.This M2 hub was purchased as it is the first hub Aqara updates for Mater compatibility. Right out of the box, it didn't live up to what I consider typical of the quality I'm used to with Aqara. The hub is cheap plastic, very light, and something I questioned would stand up as well as their M1s hubs. No matter, (pun intended) I was still confident it would be a welcome addition to my Aqara home.Wow, I was WRONG.At no point was I ever able to connect this hub to my network. With dozens of Aqara products in my home, I'm very familiar with adding new devices to the network. The M2 hub simply refused to connect. After an hour of troubleshooting, I gave up on the M2 hub.Truly, the M2 Hub is the only Aqara product I cannot recommend. I give it 0 stars.Aqara, I'm surprised the M2 hub is part of your otherwise excellent product line. More importantly, I simply cannot recommend the Aqara M2 hub.