It has been almost five years since Onvis first released the CS1, a combined alarm and contact sensor, that also featured temperature and humidity sensors. Now, with the company having fully embraced Thread (sometimes with the “Matter over” prefix), the successor to this interesting device has been released – namely the CS2 Security Sensor – and yes, it uses Thread instead of Bluetooth.
The physical design is much the same, but utilises HomeKit over Thread, providing much better response times, and longer battery life the device running on two AA batteries.
The CS2 essentially acts as both a contact sensor and a system alarm, that exposes both to Apple Home. This means you not only get a fully functional contact sensor utilising Thread, but an alarm with all four modes exposed to HomeKit – Off, Home, Away, Sleep – much like you tend to see with other alarm systems from Aqara, for example, whilst also allowing it to be used for ‘Critical Alerts’. This is an Apple Home feature that lets alerts get through to you, regardless of whether your phone is in do-not-disturb mode, or any other mode that usually stops most types of notifications.
The alarm itself boasts an ear-splitting 120dB of noise – which can be adjusted to three different levels – that is also capable of an array of different tones. This allows you to assign a choice of fifteen different sounds to the different alarm modes, one of which could simply be for when someone opens the door in the normal course of the day. Better still, with the option to delay a sound when the door opens, you can use a specific sound to remind someone to close the door if they forget. This delay can also act in as a countdown for when you set the CS2 as an alarm, giving you time to get out of the house before the alarm is set. As if this wasn’t enough, you also get a temperature and humidity sensor, both of which are exposed to Apple Home as independent sensors.
Of course, for the best use of the CS2, you’re going to need a Thread Border Router, which you’ll find in the HomePod Mini, 2nd gen HomePod, and some models of the Apple TV4K.
You can buy the CS2 on Amazon.com now for US$34.99, but when applying a 15% discount coupon, that brings the price down to just US$29.74.
The post Onvis Release Updated Alarm System Sensor w/ Thread appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.