Aqara Today released their latest in a long (and seemingly endless) line of products in The US, Canada, The UK and France today via Amazon stores, namely the Aqara Hub E1. The newest hub from Aqara follows on from the original Aqara hub (now dubbed the M1), the recently internationally available M1S and M2, as well as the G2H Camera Hub, adding to a growing collection of Zigbee 3.0 gateways designed to work with Aqara’s range of switches, plugs, sensors, lights, and window coverings, amongst other things.
What makes the Hub E1 stick out (literally and figuratively speaking) is that apart from being the most affordable of all the hubs, its compact design allows it to be placed almost anywhere with access to a USB-A port, which could be anything from an unused USB power supply for an old iPhone, for example, to the USB ports increasingly included with power strips. In terms of dimensions, it’s a mere 30 x 108 x 7.62mm (WHD), and just 58g or 2oz in weight. The USB-A plug that delivers power to the hub is also on a hinge to allow for the hub to be adjusted by up to 210º.
Finally, the E1 has a built-in WiFi repeater, that can help bridge the gap of a weak signal at the outer edges of your home. This repeater will work with any WiFi device, not just Aqara products, although it is limited to only two WiFi devices to be connected. In terms of Zigbee and child devices, however, the E1 is on a par with the other recently released hubs, allowing up to 128 child devices to be connected, although to reach this number, you would need to be using specific devices that act as repeaters, like smart plugs, or wired wall switches that use a neutral wire.
This new international version of the hub will work not only with HomeKit but also Amazon Alexa, and Google Assistant, as well as IFTTT and the company’s own Aqara Home app. You can check out our in-depth written review of this product below;
The Aqara Hub E1 is available on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.fr, and Amazon.de for the lower price of US$39.99, CA$39.99, UK£29.99, and €39.99, respectively, although as is customary with Aqara, you can get a limited time discount on the price using the following codes; for North America including Canada – USCAE1E1, and – for France and the UK – HUBE1EUUK