Aqara Launches Knight Series Q1 Smart Switches in China
In the run up to the highly anticipated release of Aqara’s M3 hub (read more about it HERE), the company continues to roll out products for its home market of China. The latest release is a new light switch collection dubbed the Knight Series, or Q1 Series.
This new collection builds on previous a switch collection, the Z1 Pro, which itself was an iteration of the Z1. The difference between the Z1 and Z1 pro were basically a software-based slider control that could dim Aqara lighting, or even adjust the position of smart blinds or curtains, something the Z1 didn’t have. You can see video for the Z1 Pro slider function in action with the T1M Ceiling light below, starting at 8’21”;
However, The Q1 series doesn’t really offer anything meaningfully different from the Z1 Pro, merely a design change, albeit slight – the Q1 has squarer edges, as opposed the rounder edges of the Z1/Z1 Pro series.
What the company does offer, is the option to have the buttons on the switch either printed or engraved with meaningful descriptions to help those who don’t know what the different buttons are assigned to. This is both helpful, but also potentially problematic; As all the buttons can be decoupled from their wired relays, you can reassign the button presses to control almost any other Aqara product, so you’d have to be pretty certain that you’re sticking with the description on the buttons.
As with both the Z1 and Z1 Pro series switches, the Q1 is offered in one, two, or three button options, with the latter including a fourth software button that can have single, double, and long press actions assigned to it, which is also exposed to HomeKit as such. All of the Q1 variants come with the slider control to the side.
All of the aforementioned ranges can be used with or without a neutral wire, which seems to be something Aqara have invested in making a reality for a while now.
The Q1 is also offered in two colour ways; Space Grey or White. The older Z1 did offer multiple colour options, as did its own predecessor, the H1M (getting lost yet?). This brings the total number of Aqara switch collections to a staggering seven – if you don’t include the display panel switches, or original and T1 variants!
The Q1 Pro series, whilst listed on their website (under Knight Series) doesn’t seem to be available for purchase just yet, and of course these will only be available in Minland China, at least officially. In the meantime, for international consumers, we still have the Aqara M3 hub to look forward too.
