Aqara Presence Multi-Sensor FP300 (review)

Most even moderately experienced smart home users are now aware that motion sensors are excellent for fast reaction times, whilst presence sensors are better at detecting actual occupancy. Some companies have finally recognised the benefits of combining the two, and Aqara is one of them. With its newest sensor, the FP300, the company has gone not one, not two, but three steps further! Not only does it combine motion and presence detection, it also adds sensors for temperature, humidity, and ambient light. Factor in the choice of either Matter over Thread or Zigbee 3.0, and you end up with a very compelling device.

I’ve been using the FP300 for a few months now, and although I still prefer the FP2 in several respects, the FP300 stands out as a strong alternative. That’s not just because of the additional sensors, but also because, unlike Aqara’s other presence sensors – the FP1, FP2, and FP1E – it’s completely wire-free. Running on batteries means it can be placed almost anywhere, without worrying about the proximity of a power outlet or USB port. If that sounds appealing, read on for the full review.

PACKAGING | CONTENTS

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The FP300 itself is fairly small, and the packaging reflects that. On the front, you’ll find an image of the device alongside Aqara and Thread logos, which subtly indicate that the FP300 can operate using either Matter over Thread, or Zigbee via an Aqara hub. You can still use it through an Aqara hub with either protocol, provided that hub includes a built-in Thread Border Router and Matter Controller.

Compatible hubs that can still utilise both Zigbee or Matter over Thread include the Aqara M3 (review HERE, video HERE), the Aqara M100, the Aqara M200, the Aqara G410 (review HERE, video HERE), and the Aqara G5 Pro (review HERE, video HERE). If you do go down the Zigbee 3.0 route, then any of the currently available hubs from Aqara will also suffice.

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In the box, you get the FP300 itself, a couple of small booklets, and a double-sided adhesive pad. If you’re lucky, you may also find a magnetic metal plate and screws included, although these appear to be supplied only by certain retailers. The FP300 also ships with batteries in the device itself, specifically a pair of CR2450 coin cell batteries.

THE FP300

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The device itself shares some similarities with other sensors I’ve tested in the past, most notably QingPing’s own motion and light sensor, although it still retains a few distinctive design touches. A label with a Matter QR code is affixed to the side, although this obviously isn’t required if you’re using Zigbee. The top, or perhaps more accurately the front, features a translucent face that houses the motion, presence, and light sensors, along with a hidden status LED that’s typically only used during pairing. One of the side edges also includes two slats that allow air to be sampled for the temperature and humidity sensors, as well as a pairing and reset button with a simple latch mechanism that provides access to the battery compartment. I’m pleased to report that accessing the two CR2450 batteries is far easier than with Aqara’s P1 and P2 motion sensors, and if you own either of those, you’ll know exactly what I mean. You do still need a small screwdriver, but even then, it’s an easy task and one you’ll only have to perform once every two or three years if the numbers are to be believed.

It should be noted that the bracket is both adjustable whilst offering a few mounting methods; You can use the included sticker to adhere to it to a surface, or, if the metal plate is included you can stick the it with the included sticker – or use the screws to secure it, which then allows the base of the FP300 to magnetically attach to the plate. You can even remove the underside of the mounting bracket and screw it to a wall without the need for either a magnet or adhesive.

As previously stated, what really distinguishes the FP300 from its older siblings is the fact that it doesn’t need a power cable, which for many results in an often unsightly dangling cable.

INITIAL SETUP – ZIGBEE OR THREAD?

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From the outset, I should mention that I opted to use Zigbee in my installation. There are two main reasons for this; While I have three Aqara hubs that also function as Matter Controllers with built-in Thread Border Routers, the Thread option currently offers less in terms of functionality and features, even when you’re firmly within the Aqara ecosystem. Secondly, and perhaps a little controversially coming from me, I still find Zigbee to be marginally more reliable, particularly when devices go offline. With Zigbee, it’s almost always down to a battery or hub issue. With Thread, however, it’s often far less clear where the problem lies, as Thread devices can and do connect to any available Thread Border Router, which can make resolving a disconnection feel a bit like a stab in the dark. To be fair, I don’t encounter many issues with Thread, but when I do, it usually takes considerably more time and investigative effort to get everything back up and running.

If you’re keen to have this running solely in Apple Home (or whatever particular Matter ecosystem you’re using) without any involvement from Aqara, then you can go with Matter over Thread and be done with it of course.

If you do go with Aqara and Zigbee via an Aqara hub, the FP300 will be then be exposed to Apple Home to make things nice and simple. In the Aqara app, once the device is in pairing mode the app will automatically discover it for adding. You’ll then be presented with two options – Thread (the default state), or Zigbee. If like me you opt for Zigbee, the FP300 has to download firmware to make this happen.

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From there you have to select a hub, which can also include hubs that don’t have TBRs or act as Matter Controllers, as long as they’re Zigbee 3.0 hubs (the G2H camera hub is technically a Zigbee 3.0 hub but is likely not compatible).

IN APPLE HOME

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All of the sensors built into the FP300 should be visible regardless of whether you add the device directly to Apple Home via Matter over Thread, or use Zigbee through an Aqara hub. The screenshots above show only four of the five sensors, however, namely temperature, humidity, occupancy, and light. The missing sensor is the PIR, or motion sensor.

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That’s a bit of a shame, but it’s due to the same limitation found in the Aqara app, where the motion and presence sensors are treated almost like conjoined twins. They function and exist together rather than as separate entities, at least as far as Apple Home is concerned. As you can see from the first of the three screenshots, only my Hue motion sensor – also in the corridor – is listed under the motion sensor section. We’ll come back to this later, but as you can see, the four primary sensors are present, and each displays the battery level for the device as a whole.

What’s equally odd, but as previously noted, is that under ‘occupancy’ both the FP300 and the P2 motion sensor are listed. The P2 is, in fact, simply a motion sensor, but because it’s been designated as an occupancy sensor, it appears this way in Apple Home. The third screenshot shows the readings for all three light sensors, from the Aqara FP300, the Aqara P2, and the Hue motion sensor.

IN AQARA HOME

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As is almost universally the case with Aqara devices in their native app, you’re going to get far more control over the various features of the FP300. The main screen is largely taken up by a blank area that indicates the current state of the space being monitored, along with the battery level. At the bottom of the screen, you also get access to logs for both presence and absence.

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Above the presence panel are numerical readouts for the light, temperature, and humidity sensors, and tapping on any of these provides access to their respective logs as well. I tend not to use these myself, but for some users they may prove very useful, as the data is presented in a fair amount of detail.

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As previously alluded to, there’s a lot more you can achieve using Zigbee and the Aqara app, and the settings page displays this quite well;

• Presence Detection OptionsThis allows you to make the two detection sensors work together – the recommended option in this case. This is probably why the PIR or motion sensor doesn’t show by itself in the Apple Home app. You can also set it to presence only or motion only, although why you’d want to set it to the latter I’m not sure.
• Presence Detection SensitivityThis speaks for itself, and allows you to simply set the sensitivity of the sensors – in whatever format you’ve set them.
• Absence Delay TimerThis allows you to set the countdown time before the sensor reevaluates presence or absence. The minimum is 10 seconds, with a maximum of 5 minutes.

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Yet more options are here, with an option to turn off the indicator between certain hours, although I can’t honestly say I’ve noticed any LED flashes when it detects presence or motion. Maybe it’s only for stopping the LED from flashing should it go offline.

The Sensor Settings option lets you adjust how often the temperature, humidity, light sensors update their state. The higher the frequency, the more drain on the battery. Personally I think only the light sensor is worthy of updating more often.

On-Site Configuration should really read as ‘On-device configuration’, but you get the idea. This section allows you to adjust the detection range, relearn the area it’s monitoring, if it either gets stuck in one particular detection mode, or if you’ve moved furniture around for example. The option to adjust the detection range is pretty simple to understand with a sort of upside down bar graph design that you can adjust. There’s a handy icon to the side to show you where you are in relation to the set range, which is very helpful.

PLACEMENT AND LOCATION

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Placement is everything for a motion sensor, but especially so for the FP300, so choose wisely. When this arrived back in late October, I had a few areas that it would have been very useful for, namely either of our bathrooms.

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Our main bathroom currently uses an old Xiaomi Mi motion sensor that was actually manufactured by Aqara’s parent company, Lumi United, and is therefore compatible with an Aqara hub. These are no longer in production, but it’s still going strong seven years later. Alongside this motion sensor, I’m also using Aqara’s first attempt at a presence sensor, the FP1, which was only released in China.

Between them, these two devices effectively do the job that the FP300 can handle on its own, so it would make sense to install it there. That said, as the current setup works well, I don’t really see the point in changing things for now.

I have the FP2 installed in our living room, and because it supports zones, it works well in our open-plan space, which also includes the kitchen. In the end, I decided to try a very specific automation for another area.

Our corridor is always a bit dimly lit, even during the day, so the lights definitely need to come on in the evening. I already have an Aqara P2 positioned above our bedroom door, so when we leave the room, the P2 triggers a scene that turns the corridor lights on. The only drawback is that on the return journey to the bedroom, which is usually at least a minute later, you’ll trigger the corridor lights to turn on again when they’re no longer needed.

To counteract this, I set up an automation with both the P2 and the FP300, with the latter facing the aforementioned bedroom door, as follows;

1. Go out through the bedroom door – P2 triggers the lights to turn on in the corridor (via a scene)
2. shortly after, the FP300 detection motion and/or presence in the corridor and disables the corridor scene. This happens after the P2 automation has already done its thing, so turning that automation off doesn’t matter.
3. After 10 seconds, that same corridor scene is reenabled, in case someone else comes from the bedroom to the corridor.
4. This is where things get clever; on the return journey, the FP300 detects a person going back to the bedroom before they reach the bedroom door, and before they can trigger the lights on scene from the P2.
5. When the FP300 detects someone, it once again turns off the corridor lights scene, so when you go back into the bedroom and pass under the P2 motion sensor, the lights won’t needlessly turn on. Once again, after 10 seconds, the corridor scene is reenabled, for the next time someone comes out of the bedroom into the corridor.

Because both the FP300 and the P2 include light sensors, I can enable or disable these automations based on the level of ambient light rather than relying on a fixed time. Hopefully that makes sense. While there are other ways to achieve the same outcome, this approach has solved one very specific problem.

It’s worth noting that all of this is set up in the Aqara app, as Aqara Home is currently the only platform that allows scenes or automations to be enabled and disabled, at least in a straightforward way. As a result, HomeKit isn’t involved in this particular set of automations.

IN DAY TO DAY USE

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As I’ve been using the FP300 since late October, I feel I’ve gotten enough use from it under my belt to know whether it works well or not. I think the answer is a definite yes, although to get the most out of it, Zigbee is the way to go whether we like it or not. I really don’t mind, and as I have plenty of Aqara hubs and child devices, it really doesn’t make any difference to me. I know not everyone thinks that way, and I can understand that, but for me it all works swimmingly well so far.

The automation involving the FP300 has actually also been pretty flawless so far, and whilst I don’ really need the temperature or humidity sensors, the combination of presence/occupancy, motion, and ambient light, makes this a more than competent device.

It hard to ignore the fact that this is one of the few multi-sensors that offers a wire-free experience too, with battery life supposedly lasting 2 years on Thread or 3 years on Zigbee, so the lack of a dangling cable is a big selling point.

I guess the one fairly noticeable criticism is down to the lack of available custom options, should you go with Matter over Thread. You might thinks that this is because Aqara wants you to continue using their app and Zigbee, but this is still the same in the Aqara Home app even if you use Matter over Thread with their own Matter Controllers. This suggests it’s Matter that’s lacking in terms of custom features, although I really don’t know for sure. Because of this, the FP300 is staying firmly with Zigbee for the foreseeable future.

Is it any better than the FP1, FP2, or FP1E? Unsurprisingly, it’s a definite improvement over the FP1, and due to the motion and presence combo, it’s also a better option than the FP1E, especially when you consider it’s cable-free. Whether it’s better than the FP2 is debatable. I really make good use of its zones option, and so the FP300 wouldn’t be enough of a solution in my case, but of course both are available so it just depends on your needs.

I for one recommend it, especially for small and medium areas like kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms – as well as corridors of course…