Aqara’s motion or presence sensor, which one is right for you?

When it comes to smart home automation, nothing is quite as convenient or feels quite as futuristic as integrating a motion sensor into your setup. Imagine walking into your kitchen in the morning to have the lights turn on automatically to greet you, or to know exactly who, when, and how somebody has entered into your home at any time.

While motion sensors may be a powerful home automation tool, they are not, however, perfect. One issue with traditional PIR motion sensors is the inability to detect a person when they are not moving. This frustrating limitation can cause lights to turn off while reading or watching a movie, for instance.

As such, mmWave radar presence sensors are being used to detect smaller movements such as breathing in order to overcome this issue, though this can often come with a higher price tag to match.

Figuring out which sensor is the best fit for your exact needs and smart home setup can be a difficult task, especially if you’re trying to configure it across multiple rooms in your house.

What Aqara has to offer

Aqara offers a wide range of different smart home automation devices and is one of the leading providers of smart home sensors. Building upon its classic Zigbee motion sensors, the manufacturer has introduced multiple advanced models since containing newer technology and communication protocols.

Aqara Presence Sensor FP2

The Aqara Presence Sensor FP2 is the most versatile of the motion/presence sensors that Aqara has to offer, thanks to its powerful hardware and sophisticated software design.

The Aqara Presence Sensor FP2 is great if you need ultra-high precision, but that’s not all. What makes it stand out in today’s market is its capability of zone position. This means that the FP2 can monitor a room of up to 430 square feet and then divide this into as many as 30 different zones.

Each of these user-defined zones is capable of triggering different automations that can execute without sending anything to the cloud, meaning that they will work even without an internet connection. Moreover, this sensor is capable of detecting as many as five people at one time, allowing multiple occupants in the same room to trigger different automations simultaneously.

Additionally, the Presence Sensor FP2 is capable of fall detection and automatic alert sending without a camera monitor, as well as an independent AI sleep monitoring feature that doesn’t need to rely on a wearable in order to monitor your sleep quality through the night.

The Aqara Presence Sensor FP2 comes with multi-ecosystem support such as for HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, and Google Home, which can read the presence sensor as multiple sensors.

Aqara Presence Sensor FP1E

Like the Presence Sensor FP2, the Presence Sensor FP1E also uses an mmWave sensor in order to track your presence in your home. The FP1E can be mounted on a wall, corner, or on the ceiling, and is capable of monitoring a space of up to 375 square feet when mounted on the wall.

Unlike the versatile FP2 packed with advanced features, the FP1E model is streamlined to offer ultra-reliable presence detection while maintaining ease of use. Even setting up the FP1E is simple. All you need to do is connect it to an Aqara hub and that’s it.

You don’t need to configure any operational parameters, as the sensor uses advanced AI algorithms to distinguish between relevant movements and false triggers, thanks to a self-adaptive sensitivity setting.

The Aqara Presence Sensor FP1E is compatible with the Aqara hub but comes with Matter support, which means that the Aqara Presence Sensor FP1E integrates with Aqara devices and ecosystems like Apple Home, Alexa, Google Home, SmartThings, and more.

Aqara Motion and Light Sensor P2

The Aqara Motion and Light Sensor P2 differs slightly from the other available options due to the fact that it is a PIR motion sensor, not a presence sensor. Not all spaces in your home require ultra-high precision, such as hallways, staircases, and foyers where people don’t usually stay. In such cases, a motion sensor will do.

Aqara’s Motion and Light Sensor P2 incorporates a newer communication protocol called Thread. Compared to classic Zigbee devices that support the unifying Matter standard over a bridge, most Thread-enabled devices support Matter out of the box.

This means that they effectively feature higher interoperability across different brands and systems. Unlike the manufacturer’s Motion Sensor P1 which requires an Aqara hub, the P2 model connects to any Thread Border Router, such as Aqara’s own M3 hub, the Apple TV 3K, an Echo speaker, or a Google Nest display.

You can use the Aqara Motion and Light Sensor P2 with a range of different smart home hubs due to its native Matter support, although there are several exclusive features linked to the Hub M3 and the Aqara Home app.

Which sensor is right for you?

There are several key differences between the Presence Sensor FP1E, Presence Sensor FP2, and the Motion Sensor P2, namely in their third-party support, detection ranges, and functionalities.

The Presence Sensor FP2, for instance, comes with built-in support for Alexa, Apple Home, and Google Home, and doesn’t require an Aqara hub like the FP1E sensor does. This makes the Presence Sensor FP2 a great choice to slot into an existing Alexa, Apple Home, or Google Home setup.

If you’re looking for advanced features such as zone positioning, fall detection, or sleep monitoring, then the Presence Sensor FP2 is ideal for this as well, as it is the only sensor that comes with these features. It also boasts the largest detection distance of any of the sensors, making it ideal for larger spaces.

The Presence Sensor FP1E, however, works great with any existing Aqara hub setup and is capable of high-accuracy presence detection in any situation. Its smaller detection range makes it ideal for smaller spaces as well, where the Presence Sensor FP2 would be overkill.

While the Motion and Light Sensor P2 may be a PIR motion sensor lacking the more advanced mmWave radar, it is still equipped with the newer Thread protocol which makes it future-proof. On top of this, the P2 model is battery-powered, which can be a benefit if you have an area without a power outlet nearby.

All in all, each sensor that Aqara offers excels in a different circumstance. For areas such as bathrooms or studies which often only have one person in them at a time and aren’t particularly large, the Presence Sensor FP1E is ideal. You could create an automation in a study that detects if you have remained sitting for over 30 minutes and changes the lighting to remind you to move your body, for instance.

Alternatively, for a large open area that often has multiple people in it, such as a living room, the Presence Sensor FP2 is better suited for the job. This is partially thanks to the larger detection range that the Presence Sensor FP2 has to offer, as well as its multi-person presence detection and zone creation functionalities.

For areas that you want to monitor for security reasons or smaller areas such as entryways, the Motion Sensor P2 does a great job of detecting movement. On top of this, the Motion Sensor P2 uses a battery, not a cable, in order to power itself, making it a great option for areas without a power outlet nearby where you still want to run smart home automation from.

Make your home smarter than ever before

As you can see, Aqara offers a solution to just about any problem you might have in regard to home automation. With so many good options to choose from, it can be difficult to know which one to choose, but regardless of what choice you make, you can be confident in your decision thanks to the reliability and ease of use that you’ll find with all three of these sensors.

You can get the FP2 sensor for just $55.99, and the FP1E sensor for just $39.99 between September 9 to September 15 using code FPMEDIAAP. Similarly, the MLS P2 sensor is available for just $28.89 using code P2MEDIAAP.