Candeo Zigbee Bodemsensor

This does require a hub to work, but it is clearly stated in the advert so you can't really pick at it for that.Though, I do think that because it requires a hub - it's a bit too expensive at £16.99, should be more like £10 especially as you're likely to have more than 1 plant in your house that you may want to monitor.I managed to get it connected to my existing zigbee setup but couldn't get it to work with their own app, but got it working with Google Assistant.It works, but I'm not sure how reliable it is as the moisture reading seems to fluctuate depending on how it is placed in the soil in the pot.But to be honest the killer for me is the battery - it just doesn't last that long and I really don't need to be changing batteries on it all the time - too busy like you probably are!Unless you really need it, I'd say avoid and go for a simpler manual solution.

Purchased to monitor a parlour palm that I think has been suffering from over watering, I found the device nicely built and easy to pair, but unfortunately it didn't read correctly (humidity only 1% in a saturated plant pot). I tried a couple of times to delete the device from the tuya smart life app and reinstall, and it always joined back up easily but unfortunately the measurement was still way out. I have zigbee humidty and temp sensors throughout the house, so I have a lot of experience with zigbee devices, and unfortunately I couldn't get this meter to play ball. Reluctantly returned.

Please be aware that this product does not link with App. There is no availablity for ZigBee set up. I run home assistant and I was able to connect it through the hub that way. Also the sensoresor seem to use a lot of battery power. I put two new AAA batteries in and with in 2 days are now down to 92%! So I'm guessing by the end of the month the batteries will be flat.Apart from this the product arrived on time and do what they say they do as on the box. I would not use this product again. Infomation seems fault about connectivity and battles will cost me the same as the cost of the product by the end of 6 months.

First thing to note about this is that obviously you do need a Zigbee gateway of some kind for it to work.I'n using Home Assistant with Zigbee2MQTT and it worked straight away, although it does have some quirks. First off, it takes 2 x AAA batteries which aren't supplied, which is mildly annoying. I put some brand new batteries in, and the device reported the battery was at 40%. I'm guessing that's just an issue in measuring the voltage and converting that to battery life, so I would hope it will still last a long time.Home Assistant gives you three sensors: Moisture level, battery percentage and temperature.I found that the moisture reading was very much dependent on where in the plant pot I placed the sensor. Close to the centre, near where the plant gets watered, I found moisture levels much higher than at the edge of the pot. I settled on placing it half way between the plant and the edge, which in my case was about 2 inches from the centre.Prior to watering, the level read 5% moisture, and afterward it crept up to 30%. After a day, the level is still at 30%, but I'm expecting to see that start to fall soon.I think I'll need to observe these levels manually for a while before I start to build any automations to remind me about watering the plants, but I'm confident that it will work well.Overall, I'm quite pleased with it. The battery level thing is a bit of an annoyance, but one that I'm sure could be fixed with a firmware update. I think it's pretty good value for money too.

The first thing worth clarifying with this sensor is it is for indoor use only, which the listing does make clear. It of course needs a gateway of some description to function. I have this connected to Home Assistant using Zigbee2MQTT and it was found immediately and seems to be working reliably. The air temperature appears accurate when compared to my other smart thermometers, however I have no way of verifying the moisture readings. The moisture readings also do vary considerably depending on where in the plant pot you place it, and how large the pot is, so you may want to play around with positioning.Priced at £17 at time of review this is good value.