Aqara Roller Shade Driver E1 - Makes your dumb blinds smart

Since I live in a home with roller blinds in each bedroom, it had been a goal of mine to get at least some of these blinds automated. With the cost of custom automated blinds being out of my reach, 'Retrofit' options (meaning a solution that adds smart functionality to existing blinds) seems to be the easiest option. Thankfully, Aqara have now released the Aqara Roller Shade Driver E1. It uses Zigbee, so it works with your Aqara hub, and it's officially supported in HomeKit, and because it uses Zigbee (Zigbee 3.0 in fact) reaction times are fast and reliable. So, today's video puts this new device through its paces to determine if its a good fit for your home. If you're in the UK, you can buy this product on amazon.co.uk now at £59.99 - https://amzn.to/3tVkzRZ (affiliate link). You can also read our in-depth written review here - https://wp.me/p9NnDL-7HY Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 0:25 Overview 1:08 Unboxing 2:01 Closer details 3:03 Manual controls 4:00 Setup & configuration in the Aqara app 5:07 Control in Apple Home 5:43 Features in the Aqara app 6:01 Scenario feature 6:32 Additional options 6:51 Automations & Scenes in the Aqara app 7:48 Using the E1 with the M1S Hub 8:07 How fast does the E1 open & close? 8:59 Pros vs cons 9:59 Outro #HomeKit #SmartHome Check out our website for all the latest HomeKit related News, Reviews, Listings, Tutorials and more - https://homekitnews.com