uHoo - Smart Indoor Air Quality Monitor - White

I found myself getting headaches regularly recently. Working from home these days and living under the stress of 2020 circumstances, I wanted to identify the source of my discomfort. A friend recommended I buy the uHoo Air Quality Monitor. The cute little plastic tower looks like a cross between a vase and a wifi router. There was very little to setup besides plugging it in, downloading the app, and following the instructions from my phone. The app displays 10 air quality readings including a "virus index." When you click on the "Insights" tab it gives you notifications such as "CO2 levels are high" and then suggests opening a window. I'm not sure air quality was the source of my headaches, but it is nice to be reminded to pay attention to your air quality and then get tips on how to improve it. My favorite tip said to increase indoor humidity by growing tropical plants with large leaves.

PROS: - The app makes setup quick and easy - Provides very detailed information - Monitor is quite small and blends in - Customizable alerts (if there is carbon monoxide for example) - Works with Google Assistant, Nest, and Amazon Alexa CONS: - Can't connect to a 5GHz network - Requires you to enable location services in phone to setup - Takes a couple days to complete calibration for CO2 (for me at least) -- SETUP -- Setting up the uHoo air quality monitor is (for the most part) quite quick and simple when using the app (which is required). uHoo does a good job of helping you with each step in the process, even switching your phone from your home network to connecting to the uHoo. My only complaint about the setup process is that you need to enter your time zone AND allow the uHoo to access you phone location to complete the setup process. uHoo claims this is to help ensure the calibration is as accurate as possible. Thankfully, you can revoke the app's location access in your phone after the air quality monitor has completed both the setup and calibration. -- FEATURES -- The uHoo air quality feature helps to track: - Virus index - Temperature - Humidity - Air pressure - CO2 - VOC - Particulate matter - Carbon monoxide - Nitrogen dioxide - Ozone uHoo not only provides real-time information on each item above, but you can customize your own alert settings to notify you if any/all items are above a safe quantity (especially helpful for carbon monoxide). It did take a couple days for the CO2 sensor to complete calibration for me (which is why it's so high in my screenshot for the first couple days). I don't use Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant (I have a "dumb" home), but you can pair up the uHoo air monitor, allowing you access information from your Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant if you have it (and don't want to use the uHoo app on your phone). -- BOTTOM LINE -- My wife and son both have asthma, so it's very helpful to have so much detailed information on the air everyone is breathing in. The uHoo air monitor allows us to make adjustments (turn on/off our humidifier, maybe the home air filters need to be changed early, windows should be left open longer/shorter, etc) to help keep everyone as healthy/happy as possible. I'm especially looking forward to the uHoo monitor to assist with winter air monitoring.

With the Covid pandemic still firmly in place, we are spending much more time in our homes than ever before. Scientists have warned us for a long time that indoor air quality can actually be worse than outdoor air, and especially now, we need to be aware of what we are breathing indoors. uHoo hopes to help with this issue. uHoo is an air quality sensor device no larger than a small flower vase, that sits in your home and when connected to wifi, will alert you via an app as to the overall air quality in your home. The device contains nine sensors to detect room temperature, humidity, dust, carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, VOC chemicals, carbon monoxide, ozone, and air pressure. It also has an added “Virus index” which measures conditions in the room and lets you know how likely viruses may spread in the air based on conditions. Setup is almost easy, but the wifi connection is a bit back-and-forth. The device will work on 2.4 ghz wifi, as well as “mesh” 2.4/5 ghz systems, but will not work on dedicated 5 ghz systems; unfortunately it doesn’t spell this out for you until you get pretty far along and try to connect it to a 5 ghz system, and then makes you go back to do it all over again using another route. That could be done better. But once it’s connected, and you’ve downloaded the app and created an account, you will be able to see a list on one page of all of the sensor readings in the area the uHoo is located in. A couple of them need to calibrate for up to 48 hours to give their most accurate readings. Once you have had the system up and running over time, it will also provide you with graphs for each item so you can see how each individual sensor’s readings go up and down in a given space over time. The app has the main “devices” area which is your main readout screen, and also an, “insights” area which as of the time of this writing, shows nothing except a blank screen. The top of the app has an info button that once presses will take you to an area describing what each sensor reading is measuring, and you can swipe-left through each of them for a better understanding of what each compound is. If a reading is in the safe zone, it appears in green on the main page. Orange is medium and it will give you tips in the info area as to how to improve the air, and any measurement in red (bad) will instruct you as to what to do as you should take that as a potentially dangerous reading depending on the compound in question. uHoo claims this will work with IFTTT-enabled smart devices to help keep your air cleaner (such as enabled air purifiers, humidifiers, etc) but I wasn’t able to test this feature. It will also work with Alexa and Google assistant. Not having other scientific devices to double-check this, it’s hard to know if the readings are precise or not, but I did some simple tests. As an example, I turned off my fan and air purifier in the room uHoo is in, and the readings for dust and carbon dioxide did begin to go up, telling me to open a window to improve air flow, etc. Placing it near a lit fireplace, the amount of carbon monoxide did rise a bit as well, so the sensors do seem to be working. As someone who has lung issues, it’s nice to have something that gives me detailed views of what I’m breathing. The deduction of one star in my rating is simply because of the price, as well as the power cable being a bit short to me as I’d like to see something that can stretch further for more options in placement. Is it work the up to $400 retail price? For someone like myself, it very well may. It’s an investment, but a worthwhile one for anyone concerned about what they’re breathing in their home. Always of course, check for sales to possibly save some, though. So, it’s a gadget that has value and in my opinion, worth it.

To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect from a unique product like this. I knew I wanted it because I have family and friends that have asthma and airborne allergies, and I also care for a couple of indoor cats. My main concern was the amount of particulate matter in my home, but I was super surprised to understand the other 8 things that can be going on. First, the uHoo app and device setup was a breeze...on iOS. At first, I tried setting it up on my Android device, but had very little luck getting past the hand-off to wifi. Anyway, you’re going to have to set up an account on the uHoo app and add the uHoo itself. You’ll be able to add more than one uHoo, so if you choose down the road. If you were wondering, you’re gonna have to keep it plugged in full time. There are a few sensors inside that will need a few days to calibrate itself, so pick a good spot and leave it alone! It has 9 areas of monitoring; I won’t go through each one as you can read about that on your own and determine what’s most important to you. Again, I wasn’t expecting various levels of monitoring from this little device. But here’s the best part about uHoo and its app: if any of the 9 monitoring warning thresholds are met, the app will notify you immediately, no matter where you are, and suggest ways to mitigate the warning levels. In many cases, it will suggest you run an air purifier, run the A/C or open some windows for fresh air. I mean, how else would you easily know your CO2 and NO2 levels are climbing? What about a CO leak? And that, in itself, is worth the price of admission. The uHoo also has a 1-10 virus index, 1 being best and 10 being worst. It takes into account all 9 sensor readings and presents a virus index assessment, meaning how likely a virus is able to survive in your home and how likely an airborne virus is able to spread. During a time of virus crisis, this is another way of mitigating your COVID-19 risk. For us geeky types that are truly interested in the data, the app presents graphs of each sensor and its readings throughout a day. I honestly don’t care about the numbers, but more about the trending; for instance, why does my air pressure readings spike around 9AM-12PM and from 7PM-10PM for the past week? Turns out that during the statewide flex alert, the electrical company was putting my Nest Thermostat in Eco Mode, effectively turning it off between 12PM-8PM. It was only when my A/C was on, the air pressure was up in my home. I know, pretty geeky stuff. Finally for tech savvy, there’s a bit of smart home integration. It has Google Assistant and Alexa integration, which seems to be the trend nowadays for most new devices. But with IFTTT, you could potentially purchase a smart air purifier that would trigger on if the uHoo detected high PM2.5 levels. The uHoo’s price is in the upper range of its class and it can get a little costly if you need a 2nd or 3rd in your home. That being said, I wouldn’t mind picking up another for my home. I currently keep mine in the family room, where we mostly congregate throughout the day.

It's an interesting little device, not much to it on the outside - just a white cylinder with holes on top and the bottom and a USB power cable. On the inside however it holds an impressive sensor array - temperature, humidity, air pressure, Carbon Dioxide, VOC, Particulate Matter (2.5), Carbon Monoxide, Nitrogen Dioxide and Ozone! It's an impressive combination! If you are to look at the commercial HVAC products - CO2 sensor alone would cost 2/3 of this device. What does it do? Normally in my case - it just reports all green (in the middle of a Texas summer), however on a rainy or cool day - it clearly shows CO2 levels creeping up.. I did not think of it before I've got a way to actually monitor it. Now I can just turn on a ceiling fan if I see CO2 levels creep up in my master bedroom or open a window to air out the room. It's a very good investment for anyone who thinks of looking at the indoor air quality for whatever reason. Getting headaches? Asthma? Allergies? Start with the air you breathe, it's possible that solution to your problem has nothing to do with medications! Few negative points: - there is no way to get information of this device locally, like, let's say - MQTT server. Sure there is Google and Alexa integrations and IFTTT, but I do prefer local access. - No Apple Home Kit integration...