With the recent release of the Aqara G2H Pro in Europe (and soon the US), the company shows no signs of slowing down on its apparent release schedule, with another product line just announced in China. This time it’s the turn of the new H1M smart wired switches for the Mainland China market (at least initially perhaps), and on this occasion, there are not three colour options available, like is offered for the H1 switches, but six new colours.
The six colours – at first appearance – seem to be brown, green, pink, dark grey, sky blue, and magnolia, although some may look rather different in reality.
of course, the colour options are only part of the equation, as the switches themselves sport a totally new design that takes its starting point from the square sharp edges of the H1 but then goes further. Whilst many of the Aqara lineup of switches have perfunctory LEDs to show their status, the new H1M have an LED that runs the width of the switch, hidden in the recess between the top panel, featuring the Aqara logo, and the switches themselves. The edges of the switches are also cut at an angle where they meet the top, giving off the appearance of floating buttons.
The company’s promotional texts also state that these switches are equipped with ‘micro motion buttons’ that allow less pressure and shorter travel when pressed, which is something you’ll already have experienced to an extent with the H1 switches that came out in the EU last year.
the H1M switches all come in three variants – single, double, or triple rocker options, with the switches themselves compatible with existing H1 Series switches and S series panels, which help to line up with switches when they’re placed in rows. Of course, these use Zigbee 3.0, as expected, and are exposed to HomeKit via an appropriate Aqara hub.
Finally, these switches make use of new technology mentioned by Aqara last year named MARS Tech. this functionality is designed to allow the switches to control both dumb light bulbs, so acting as a smart switch, but also allowing for control of smart bulbs. How this is achieved is not entirely clear, although something that achieved a similar function was announced by Yeelight a couple of years ago under the SLISAON range (Smart Light Is Always ON).
As you may have guessed, currently these are only available in Mainland China, and judging from what we can make out of the back section, these won’t be suitable for European homes. Never say never though!
Thanks to Eric Yao for the tipoff.