This was another Prime Day pick up. I have been using it for a couple months now and it seems to do a pretty good job monitoring my air quality. I do have a couple other air quality monitors in my kitchen and bathroom but they do not measure as many factors as this product does. I originally installed this in my kitchen alongside my other monitors for accuracy and the temperature and humidity reading were the same. This monitor measures 5 air quality factors:
- Temperature
- Humidity
- Carbon Monoxide
- Volatile Organic Compounds - Used in the manufacture of paint, carpets, cleaning products
- Particulate Matter - Dust, smoke, pollen
You can pretty easily find monitors for temperature, humidity and even carbon monoxide but at the price point of this device it is hard to find a monitor that measures VOC's and Particulate Matter. I will discuss the price point later in this post.
I ended up moving this air quality monitor to my in-law apartment in the basement where there is more potential for air quality issues. The basement can get a bit humid as we run a dehumidifier throughout the spring and summer and there is a gas heating stove that is run during the winter. We do have a Nest Protect down there as a carbon monoxide monitor but not a bad idea to be double protected.
The interesting thing about this device is it is useless if you don't have an Echo device or the Alexa app. There is no display on the device itself, the only way to determine your air quality is to ask the Alexa device or use the Alexa app. The monitor will give you an overall score, 100 being the best.
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If you ask your Alexa device "what's the indoor air quality", this is what you will see.
If you tap see history, you can see an hourly daily or weekly breakdown. I would love to also see a monthly and yearly breakdown so I can see if my air quality is improving or getting worse from year to year.
The app will also send you alerts if any of the air quality factors get too high. I found this out first-hand when I was having my kitchen painted and I was alerted that the VOCs were high. You can also set up routines so if for example the humidity gets too high the smart switch for the dehumidifier turn on. That is a bit redundant for me though as my dehumidifier has this functionality built in. I may have a use case for this when winter rolls around for the fan on my basement gas heating stove.
This product retails for about $70 which I thought was a little expensive given I already have a couple air quality monitors. With the Prime Day sales I was able to pick this up for under $40. That was a price point I was much more comfortable paying but even at full price it is not a bad deal.
Some additions I would love to see with this device would be a widget for the Echo Show 15 so I could always see the air quality. One of my big complaints about the Alexa device is the User Interface, I know Alexa is a voice-first device but having to remember to say the commands correctly can be frustrating. My daughter reuses to use her Alexa dot and has unplugged it and my wife gets really frustrated when the Alexa doesn't understand her which happens pretty frequently. A better UI/UX would go a long way on the Show devices. I have been playing around a bit with the Apple Home App and what a beautiful app that is. Amazon should really take a close look at what Apple is doing with their Smart Home ecosystem. Something to post about in the future.....
