Kirjoittaja Aihe: Aqara A100 Zigbee Smart Lock (review) (Luettu 239 kertaa)

upamfva · 14.03.23 - 05:42

Aqara A100 Zigbee Smart Lock (review)

For what seemed like the longest time, I was desperate to find a lock suitable for our apartment in Taiwan to round out the smart home ‘collection’. A couple of years ago, I finally managed to achieve this with the Nuki Smart Lock 2.0 (you can read the review HERE or watch the video HERE), which is essentially a retrofit device that fits over the top of the existing Eurocylinder lock and key. In the two and a bit years it has been in use, I’ve been fairly happy with it, but just recently it began to exhibit some strange behaviour, which seemed to be a warning sign to start looking elsewhere for a replacement.To get more news about smart home accessories, you can visit securamsys.com official website.

In what couldn’t be better timing, Aqara luckily contacted me, asking if I’d like to test out their new A100 Zigbee smart lock. I was ready to say “Yes!”, but the issue of installing something like this was of major concern to me. Aqara was already aware of the requirements needed to install such a device and said they’d arrange for the installation with a local locksmith into the deal. It makes sense of course, as a badly fitted lock, wouldn’t really make for a good review!
So, with everything arranged, come the day of the installation, it all went very smoothly with both the installation and subsequent Smart Home integration (which happily, was left to me). As it stands, the A100 Zigbee, the company’s international version for the A100 series locks, is only available in a handful of countries in Asia (Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan etc), along with Russia, although there are tentative steps to get the lock into European and hopefully the US as well. That’s not for me to dwell on though, but if you want to know what makes this one of the best locks I’ve had the chance to test out, then read on.
As the A100 isn’t the kind of product you’re going to pick off the shelf as such, the packaging, whilst informative, is rather more functional than eyecatching. However, it protects everything really well, and given this came from Hong Kong to Taiwan via Japan, Vietnam, Mainland China, and The Philippines (I kid you not), the box held up admirably! Good to know, given the contents aren’t cheap.

As you can see from the box, this is aimed at international markets with Chinese for Asian markets where Chinese is used (Singapore, Malaysia etc), English for most other places (being it’s the Lingua Franca), and Russian for Russia (obviously).

The packaging states the A100 works with Apple HomeKit, as well as Aqara Home, and uses Bluetooth, although as the product name implies, Zigbee is used as well to some degree, which we’ll go into later. The one thing that’s not mentioned on the box is that the lock will also work with Google Assistant.
There are in fact four models, although one of them – the X10 – is only for installers that might be involved in contracts for new apartment builds, so the X model isn’t something you’ll be able to buy as such. That leaves three different models available to the public;

Swiftly onto the contents, and there’s a manual in Chinese, English, and Russian along with a cardboard ‘cutting guide’. The manual is only for setup once the lock has been physically installed, and doesn’t contain any information on fitting it into your door at all. The cutting guide is really the kind of thing you’d expect to see for professional installers, although, if nothing else, it’s still useful to give you a rough idea of where holes will need to be cut. More on that in a bit.

As for the rest of the contents, you get the main lock itself, which is a mortice type lock that contains a group of three deadbolts, as well as a latch bolt, and a night latch. There are pins and screws of all types, a couple of ’emergency’ keys, a one-sided Eurocylinder lock, and finally a strike plate.