Aqara M3 Hub vs M2 - Which Hub Is For You?

so aara just released their brand new M3 Hub an updated version of their previous and popular M2 Hub and in this video we'll be comparing the pros and cons to both hubs to see which one is right for you and your smart home so whether you're thinking about picking up one of these hubs to use with aard devices or if the M3 Hub is worth upgrading to if you currently use the M2 Hub this video will help you decide which Hub to use the first thing that we'll be comparing is the hardware and there's some pretty big differences when it comes to design mounting options and ports starting with the design the M3 is a little bigger with a new Square design compared to a circle on the M2 the M3 Hub is also made of higher quality material it has this less plasticky feeling than the M2 hub for mounting the hubs both can be freestanding with rubber feet on the bottom and the M3 can also be mounted on the wall using an included bracket and screws but but cables may hang awkwardly when you mount it and if you turn the Hub upside down so the cables have a cleaner look the AAR logo is upside down so either way this looks very strange to me next up is ports and the M2 uses an older micro USB for power compared to a modern USBC on the M3 and both have usba on the other end of the power cable both hubs support ethernet for a hardwired and more reliable connection than Wi-Fi and the M3 Hub now supports power over Ethernet or Poe and this is great for minimizing cables in a network area so instead of having one cable for power and one cable for internet you can have one cable that can do both though a Poe network switch is required in order to use the power over ethernet both hubs also support Wi-Fi if you don't want to use ethernet so when it comes to design Mountain options and ports the M3 is a bit more powerful when it comes to devices that you can use with either their Hub this is where the M3 really shines both the M2 and M3 support about the same number of devices but they support different types of devices and this is a key difference to know in figuring out what devices you can and cannot use with each Hub both hubs support zigg so you're able to use any of aar's zigg devices with either Hub and aara has a lot of them this includes devices like their contact and motion sensors smart switches controllers like their Wireless mini switch and more the M2 Hub only supports aar's zigby devices and not all of aara devices support zigby this is where the M3 takes things up a notch by also supporting devices that work with matter and thread by being a thread board router matter allows any device to work with all smart home platforms including Amazon Google Apple home and more right out of the box without using a dedicated Hub to get the device into the those ecosystems but a matter controller is required for each ecosystem you want to use the device in and IPv6 has to be enabled on your router matter enabled devices do offer more benefits than zigby devices like having a local connection between devices so devices should respond faster and devices should be easier to set up among others some of a car's newer devices like their contact and motion sensor support thread a technology designed for smart home devices and does require a thread board router like the M3 Hub this also means you're able to connect nonar devices that use matter or thread to the M3 Hub without requiring additional Bridges this includes devices like a Philips you light without needing the Hue Bridge or a Google thermostat which is really cool but don't get excited just yet because there's a catch as of now only select devices and select device type will work with this Hub aara is working on adding more support for more devices and this is technically a beta feature as well now I personally like having devices connected to their own manufacturer app and or bridge I find it to be easier to manage and to set up everything but that's just me any device that supports matter and or thread cannot be paired to the M2 Hub since the M2 Hub does not support matter for pairing devices these devices can only be paired to the M3 Hub now technically most a car devices work with all smart home platforms when paired to the M2 Hub without using matter technology the M2 Hub can however expose zigby devices to thirdparty matter apps over Wi-Fi through a software update of the Hub which is also still in beta though I would not recommend enabling this feature if you already have devices connected in multiple ecosystems since this can often break things and often times requires you to Res set all your devices so with this being said a quick and easy way to remember what devices work with what Hub is to look at the packaging or description online of their product zige means it works with both hubs and matter or thread means it only works with the M3 Hub another difference to note is the process of adding child devices to each aara Hub and then adding those child devices to other ecosystems like apple home because the process is different for each Hub now keep in mind that the acara app is required to add any child device to any ecosystem as the child devices themselves do not natively work with apple home or any other smart home platform and a car Hub is required and allows those devices to work with each ecosystem for zigby devices the process is the same for both hubs just open thear app and choose add accessory then choose the Hub you want to pair the device to then put the device in Parry mode and it'll connect super simple connecting zigby devices is very easy and makes makes it easy to add more devices over time for child devices connected to the M2 Hub and for adding to Apple home you'll just use the aara app to add the Hub to Apple home by scanning the homek key QR code on the bottom of the Hub all of the child devices connected to the hub will automatically sync to Apple home and will automatically be added to the home app as you add more devices from the acar app to connect to Amazon and Google you'll use the AAR skill from Amazon and the action from Google and link your AAR account by signing in and again all your child devices will automatically sync to each ecosystem and new devices will automatically be added to each ecosystem as you add more devices to the hub this makes it super duper easy to have all the devices working in all ecosystems quickly but what's not super duper easy and does take a long time is getting the M3 Hub and other child devices connected to any smart home ecosystem so for zigby devices if you just want to use the Hub and the child devices in Apple home only and not other ecosystems like Amazon Google or smart things then in the acar app you'll choose the homekit option then choose connect and add the Hub from here all your child devices will again automatically sync to Apple home and new devices will Auto add as you add more devices to the hub and in the home app both hubs have all four security modes exposed to connect to another smart home ecosystem or if you don't want to use it in apple home say you only want to use it in Google or Amazon you'll choose the Expos post matter option then tap the matter paring code and copy it then paste the code into each ecosystem like Amazon or Google and it'll add the Hub and all the child devices connected to the hub for adding matter devices to the M3 Hub things get a bit more complicated this time when you choose a matter enabled device you have to scan the matter QR code and then it goes through a bunch more steps to set it up it takes about twice as long if you just want to use it in apple home and not other platforms or even not in the app just scan the matter code found in the box of the device directly from the Apple home app if you want to add this device to other ecosystems later on then turn on Parry mode and you'll get a matter code which you can then paste into other smart home ecosystems you have to repeat this process for every single matter device you want to set up and for each ecosystem you want to set up a device in and as you can tell this can be a very tedious and annoying process especially if some devices take a few tries to get going now I want to be crystal clear here and say that this is not a problem with a car devices specifically this is a problem with how matter technology works you will have to do this process for any device that supports matter regardless of the brand if you want to use a device in the acar app and it's already paired to an ecosystem like apple home you will have to reset the device and set it up in all ecosystems again now if you already have the M2 Hub with devices set up and automations and you're thinking think about upgrading to the M3 Hub well you can easily migrate all your zigby child devices and automations paired to the M2 Hub over to the M3 Hub any zigby child devices paired and automations set up in the aara app will sync over seamlessly as well as devices and automations set up in the Google and Amazon ecosystem since they are cloud-based any devices and automations set up in apple home will unfortunately need to be reconfigured since device data and automat are stored locally on your hom K Hub and not stored in the cloud this means that if you have everything set up in the home out the way that you like it and everything is running smoothly if you do want to upgrade to the M3 Hub it'll essentially remove all those devices and automations from the Apple home app and you will manually have to go in and reset up everything this can be a royal pain if you have a lot of devices and automations set up yeah that's not cool so if everything is going good for you with the M2 Hub I would not recommend migrating everything to the M3 Hub I'm deep into the Apple home ecosystem and I don't really want to have to start everything up from scratch so I'm personally not going to migrate any of my devices over let's say you already have the M2 Hub and want to get the M3 to pair matter or thread devices to it can you have multiple hubs on your network and the answer is yes and there's actually some benefits to having both hubs on your network the M3 will automatically become the main hub Hub over any additional hubs that you may have any automations you have set up will automatically go from being stored and ran from the cloud to being stored and ran locally on your network or what's now called local Edge automations this will allow automations to still run even when the internet is out which is great though if the internet is out but the power is still on a lot of smart home devices can still be controlled manually but it could be helpful to you if you're not able to control your devices manually speak speaking of automations both hubs will allow you to run automations within the AAR home app and in other smart home platforms and this is where you can really have all your car devices work for you for example some automations I use are being alerted if the door is left open for 5 minutes using the AAR Door and Window sensor having light turn on when motion is detected using the AAR motion sensor having the Hub play and alarm on the built-in speaker on both hubs or a custom message if a door has been opened while the system is in a way mode though I will say the M3 Hub with 95 DB is significantly louder than the M2 it's definitely more alarming and will get somebody's attention more than the volume of the M2 Hub and automatically controlling IR devices like certain TVs and AC units using the built-in IR blaster on both hubs and the M3 Hub can actually take things a bit further and can integrate certain AC units into matter which is cool now I've made many videos on fun automation you can create with a car devices and I'll leave those link down in the description below right next to that like button the next factor to compare between both hubs is the price of each Hub and their child devices the M3 retails for 130 bucks about twice as much as the M2 Hub at 60 bucks and both are available globally aar's zigby child devices are all pretty inexpensive so it's very easy to add more over time but a car's matter enable devices or any device that supports s matter are more expensive often times about dope of the price and often times larger in size compared to non-matter devices so with everything being said should you get the aara M3 hub for your smart home and if you already have the M2 should you upgrade to the accara M3 Hub well I think there's pros and cons to both hubs and each have different use cases for different Smart Homes if you're new to aara and want to start getting some aara devices and starting to build up your own smart home then first ask yourself what devices do you want to use and what ecosystem do you want to use them in as that will determine which Hub is right for you if you only want to use a car's zigg devices in all ecosystems or maybe just one or two then from a reliability and E of use standpoint I would personally recommend the aara M2 Hub the M2 Hub does about 95% of what the M3 Hub can do at only half the cost but if you want to use a matter or red device with an aara Hub and in automations in the aara app then the aara M3 Hub is right for you it does support more devices but they do cost more than zigy devices and the setup process to get everything connected in all ecosystems or just one or two is more complicated and sometimes has more reliability issues now let's say that you already have the M2 Hub and you're wondering if the M3 Hub is worth upgrading to well in my opinion if everything is working great with a car as Z devices I would not upgrade to the aara M3 Hub yes the M3 Hub does support the new smart home standard matter and would technically be future proofing your smart home with the latest and greatest technology but I personally think that matter is still in a early stage and not as reliable as devices that connect over zigby though when the matter standard is more developed down the road having the M3 Hub will make you more prepared to add matter enable devices if you want to use them so with everything being said which Hub do I personally use in my smart home for me I've had the M2 for years now and the extra features of the M3 are not that appealing enough to get me to upgrade plus having to reset up everything in the hall app would be a royal pain and I just don't want to go through with that I'm using many of aar's zigby devices in apple home and Amazon and I love the price point of the devices and they work great so to me it's a if it ain't broke don't fix kind of thing but that's my thoughts on the aara M3 Hub I'd love to know what you guys think down in the comment section below thank you so much for watching this video and I'll see yall in the next one

Channel: Adam's Tech Life

Views: 4,418

Keywords: homekit, Apple Homekit, smart home, homekit apple, aqara m2 vs m3, aqara m3 hub vs m2 hub, aqara m3 vs m2, homekit devices, homekit smart home, affordable homekit, affordable homekit devices, home automation, smarthome, aqara, aqara m3 hub, aqara hub, aqara matter, aqara matter hub, best aqara smart home hub, aqara thread hub, aqara border router, aqara thread, aqara hubs

Id: rlHCfsZ1LQU

Length: 15min 8sec (908 seconds)

Published: Sun May 26 2024