Aqara Zigbee Vibration Sensor, Wireless Mini Glass Break Detector for Alarm System and Smart Home Automation, Requires AQARA HUB, Compatible with Apple HomeKit, Works with IFTTT

I have chronic headaches and often need to take an abortive medication but have to be sure I don’t take it too often, lest I start getting rebound headaches. I’m really bad at remembering when I took my last dose and even worse at manually tracking it.Then, I saw a YouTube short from Aqara showing this sensor being used atop a pill bottle lid to help track when a medication is taken. Bingo. It requires a hub, so I waited for the M2 to go on sale then got both. It’s super important to follow the instructions for setting up the hub first, then the sensor to a tee or you will find yourself frustrated enough to toss it out the window. But if you do things in the correct order, it’s simple and fast. The sensor works fine inside the Aqara app, but really shines in the Alexa app. I quickly created a routine to send a notification to my phone that says “headache medicine taken” when a tilt is detected. If I move the bottle around and haven’t taken a dose, I simply clear that notification from my phone screen.It does disconnect from the hub on occasion, but there’s a button on the side to reset it, and when pushed, the hub will tell me the sensor is online and working correctly, then it’s good to go. It still gets 5 stars because I’ve finally found a system that’s working for me and a simple way to track data to share with my doctor.Does this sound like a lot of money between the hub and sensor to spend on a medication reminder? Sure. But, it’s worth it to me, since it means I’m not taking too much headache medicine and that I can help my doctor more accurately treat my headaches. And now I can buy all the sensors…just because.

Excellent product

Disclosure that I do not use an Aqara Hub, but have this connected to Home Assistant via a ConBee II ZigBee Gateway.(Original Post - Updated Below)As an On/Off binary sensor, yes, these work. But as a vibration sensor, that’s a bit of a stretch. As the device sends signals back to any connected ZigBee gateway, it is the function of the sensor to report action/inaction, and thus my experience is not due to missing some feature only provided by an Aqara hub. I was hoping for a true vibration sensor, but found that it didn’t pick up on vibrations so much as reporting jarring events. For instance, when attached to the frame my truck’s engine is mounted on, turning the internal combustion engine on did not cause a vibration alert. When attached to the internal mechanics of an automatic expresso machine that grinds and packs beans – no vibration. Same with a washer, a dryer, and the floor of my old school metal mailbox. In fact, it didn’t detect vibration when attached to the front of a running machine. I got a trigger when attached to the seat of a rowing machine, and if attached to the back under belt frame of said rowing machine. Even then, what I got back was sporadic at best. For instance, in a 30 minute constant rowing machine session, it toggled between “clear” and “vibration” almost every minute. In other areas where it was a jarring event, like opening a door/cabinet, or other single big movement object – it worked fine. But nothing more subtle, and not a true vibration happening – not a vibration happening sensor.This might possibly be a good replacement for an open/close sensor when you don’t have room to place both components, but it is not a vibration sensor.UPDATE:The sensitivity level can be adjusted programmatically using either Home Assistant's Developer Tools\Services utility, or the deCONZ\Phoscon API. The device has a 21 step sensitivity range, and when adjusted to more sensitive, it picks things up as expected.Still not a 5 as you have to go through a few hoops that most users won't want to try.

Aqara has proven themselves to produce subpar products while overcharging for them relative to their quality. I own two of their devices, and neither functions properly. I can throw them at my dryer, and they’ll register vibration, but that’s about the only way they work. So unless you’re trying to track the motion of a sledgehammer or jackhammer, they’re useless for detecting vibration.I recommend staying away from Aqara. None of the devices I’ve purchased from them have worked as advertised, including their so-called "presence sensors." They claim to offer unique zones, but this feature is highly unreliable. It seems they use it to justify charging about four times what these devices are actually worth. The zones work sporadically, and if you’re using them for lights, they behave more like basic motion sensors. The lights will still turn off even if you're still in the room.They’ve released several updates, but nothing has changed—except for what seems like an attempt to push users toward buying a subscription. It feels like they want to continue charging you for using their subpar products.

So the product itself is cool. It’s small, easy to add to home assistant, registers vibration fairly quickly, and doesn’t bring the ere of my wife.Actually size wise it’s very similar to the aqara temperature sensor. And if like me you break the back of it, you’ll find that the temperature sensor back fits :)But make sure the idea you have for this is better than mine. I wanted to use it under a step of the stair case to switch on a led light strip. Super cool right? Well super fun to setup right? Well it would have been awesome except the sensor wasn’t sensitive enough to pick up me stepping on the step. The steps were wood, the sensor was underneath, and I’m around 200lbs. And no luck.I feel that these might be more suitable for things that rattle or have a bit more shake in them. Stop thinking of weird automation for your bed!