HomeKit Review: New Eve Room 2nd Gen Indoor Air Quality Monitor

Eve Room - HomeKit Air Quality Monitor

Last month we took a look at the Eve Degree, this time it’s the turn of the new second generation Eve Room (model ZM-51946).

Eve Room 2 is an air quality and in-door climate monitor. Setup is an identical process to the Degree and It’s housed in the same sleek aluminium shell, but features a new 1.54″ 200×200 pixel (183 dpi) E-ink display instead of LCD, which looks really good. Pressing the capacitive touch zones on either side of the screen cycle through 4 different layouts of its data.

In another change from the Degree, the new Room unit has a built-in rechargeable battery. Around 2 hours connected to a micro USB charger (lead included) provides around 6 weeks of use. When the battery runs low the unit switches to a reduced power mode, limiting measurements to temperature and humidity. You can chose to power the unit permanently from USB too if you prefer.

Eve Room 1 and Eve Room 2

The Mk1 Eve Room unit was much larger and more utilitarian looking than this new Mk2. As well as the aesthetics, the on-board tech has an upgrade here too. Eve are keen to point out the precision of the new sensor which uses state-of-the-art technology from Swiss specialist Sensirion…

“After the first, highly successful generation of Eve Room, this new version raises the bar even higher,” says Markus Fest, Managing Director of Eve Systems. “No other air quality sensor offers this level of accuracy, design quality, and energy efficiency.”

As well as Temperature and Humidity the sensor can also detect the concentration of volatile organic compounds (VOC) which are linked to the quality of air in your home.

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The process that determines the concentration of volatile organic components (VOC) is not only extremely energy efficient, but thanks to optimized materials, it’s also particularly durable and accurate over the long term. Air quality, temperature, and humidity can be checked via the Eve app and Siri, or directly on the 1.54″ E-Ink display,

Eve Room 2nd Gen

And as with the Degree unit, that’s one of the big advantages here. You can get a visual indication of your air quality with a quick glance at the units display. A 5 star rating sits along the bottom of the screen making it simple to keep an eye on things. We observed it going as low as 3 stars on some occasions and you can see the restorative effect of just opening a window within a few minutes.

HomeKit allows you to use your voice too if you’re not in the room – “Hey Siri, how’s the air quality in the baby’s room?”

Historical Data

Just like with home energy consumption, measurement is the vital first step required to improve your home’s air quality. You can export historical data to an Excel file (.xlsx). However we’d really like to do more with the graphs on the app itself. We want to be able to zoom in and out, see the date and time at points I touch on etc. Hopefully this is all obvious stuff that the Eve app team are already working on.

Eve Room 2

HomeKit Pros & Cons

The usual HomeKit pros and cons apply here. Great if you’re an iOS household and while no bridge is required, you really need an Apple TV or HomePod to get the most from the system (while we wait for Bluetooth extenders, check out the HomeBridge-Ranger plugin for HomeBridge). As with the Degree, Apple do not currently provide a way to send a push notifications from the Room, as they only allow this for air quality monitors that are based on CO2.

The new updated version of Eve Room is a leap forward in comparison to its older sibling. It’s smaller, a lot prettier and its high contrast e-paper display is definitely an upgrade from the LCD screen on the Degree.

If you’re looking for a HomeKit air quality monitor then check it out. The new 2nd gen Eve Room is available now for around £90.

No products found.

evehome.com  :  Available from Amazon

Operating Range

0°C – 50°C / 32°F – 122°F
5% – 95% humidity

Accuracy

Typical ± 0.3°C / ± 0.54°F
Typical ± 3% humidity

Last update on 2024-03-14 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

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