Before reading this review, you can ask yourself the following questions:
Are you worried that air quality will affect the health of yourself and your family?
Do you decide whether to open the window according to the air quality every day?
How far will the air quality figures at the monitoring station differ from those at home?
Also want to know if the room far from the purifier has PM2.5 exceeding the standard?
Those who are interested in these issues are basically potential users of air quality detectors and purifiers. If the following functions are also required, they are potential users of the intelligent air quality detector:
Want to see the air quality at home remotely?
How about the air quality of the room when staying in a hotel on business?
Can it be linked with the purifier or even other household appliances?
But if you want to link with Apple's smart home suite? Besides PM2.5 of haze, formaldehyde and TVOC of decoration also want to see? Even want to use voice to query air quality? Finally, we selected the Radium bean 2+air quality detector that we evaluated this time. Radium2+is the only air quality detector that has been certified by Apple HomeKit and sold directly on Apple's official website. It is not only the strongest air quality detector now, but also very expensive at 999 yuan (the lowest price in history is 799 yuan).
Many users are very interested in the Apple HomeKit ecological chain and TVOC detection, but they are strange to ordinary users. This time, we will bring you some popular science about HomeKit and TVOC through the evaluation of Radon 2+, and hope you can gain something.
Background and appearance
Kaiterra, the manufacturer of radium bean 2+, is called Origin Life in Chinese. It was founded by Swiss people and its original brand name was Origins. The first generation of radium beans landed in JD crowdfunding in June 2015, with a price of 499 yuan; Radium2 added temperature and humidity detection and supported Apple's HomeKit, which was launched on Apple's official website and retail stores in April this year, with a price of 599 yuan; Radium bean 2+is mainly improved by adding TVOC detection function and starting crowdfunding project on indiegogo. Now it is sold in JD at a price of 999 yuan.
The accessories of Radium2+are very simple, including the instruction manual and the blue Micro USB data line with a length of 1.5 meters. The paper, printing and data line materials for packaging seem to indicate their value.
Radium bean 2+has a very simple shape, and the main body is fine matte texture, but it is easy to be scratched. Three circumference 14.5 x 14.5 x 14.2cm, 286g weight, small volume, a little weight. The front of the fuselage is a circular embedded panel, the rear metal grille air intake is placed around the Micro USB, and the top is the only two buttons: switch and set button.
Like the iPhone, a well-designed product has a lot of details in the process of use, which makes people think "this money is worth it". Radon 2+has several ingenious design points. The main body is the back grille air intake, and the air outlet is hidden around the screen, which can provide a much larger air passage and space for the internal detection instruments than similar products.
The position of the center of gravity of Radium 2+has been considered. The lower center of gravity allows Radium 2+to automatically return to its position like a tumbler
Radon 2+is equipped with a 2.6 inch 320 * 240 TFT full-color screen, which can adjust the brightness steplessly after connecting the app. The resolution of the device used to display simple text is more than enough, and the highest brightness is enough to maintain good readability in the sun. Most unfortunately, the viewing angle of this screen is too small.
Usage and app
The operation logic of Radon 2+is very simple, that is, long press the power button to switch on and off, click the setting button to switch to the data page, and long press the setting button to connect and reset WiFi. By default, the page switches between "AQI, PM2.5 concentration, TVOC, particulate matter/temperature/humidity, and weather forecast of Chinese and American standards". It can display data normally without connecting any equipment, but it cannot correct readings, view and export historical data through surrounding weather and monitoring stations.
In terms of endurance, Radon 2+is equipped with 2300mAh battery, and the endurance under low brightness can reach 8 hours. It uploads data every 30 seconds, and enters the power saving mode after 15 minutes of no operation. The transmission frequency will be reduced to once every 5 minutes. Finally, PM2.5 TVOC、 Temperature and humidity readings. The feature of independent operation can be used for business trips and hotel stays or to help friends and relatives check the air quality at home.
Initialization page
Official app connection and HomeKit code scanning page
In terms of connection, Radon 2+is an obvious Apple to device, and the connection on the iOS platform is extremely simple: download the app - add the device - scan the machine code, and do not even need to register an account (synchronize with Apple iCloud). It doesn't even need an official app. It can directly scan and add data with the iOS "home" app and share it with iOS devices with the same account.
Part of this is due to Apple's smart home ecosystem. These products in Apple's ecosystem have an 8-digit HomeKit setting code. The iOS "home" app can add devices after calling the camera to scan, saving manual WiFi settings and account registration and other procedures. But there are also some bad experiences, which also come from Apple's strategy:
Apple's home center needs Apple TV or iPad as the hub. If there are multiple WiFi in the home, the iPad uses Network A to connect to the intelligent hardware. Once the tablet is connected to Network B, it will show that the intelligent hardware status is abnormal
Apple's automation strategy is based on this "home hub". It is not enough to have an iPhone. Users must have an Apple TV or iPad device to use the automation function.
Android platform can't read data remotely
Official app page
The official app can directly query the detailed data of nearby monitoring stations
The official app of Radium2+has two main functions: first, it is a very professional air quality query tool, which can directly check the detailed AQI PM2.5、PM10、 Detailed data of ozone and NO2. Second, it is responsible for the simple parameter setting of Radium2+, switching pages such as "American and Chinese standards of AQI, PM2.5, TVOC index, actual particulate data, weather forecast", backlight intensity adjustment and raw data export.
In terms of connection quality, Radium2+is a product certified by Apple after all. The data connection is very stable. The function switch and brightness adjustment on the app respond very quickly. The main problem is that the speed and success rate of switching between WiFi and link devices are low. It is expected that the official app will be updated in the future.
PM2.5 and TVOC detection
Radium2+detection items include PM2.5, TVOC concentration, total number of particles, temperature and humidity, and have included all environmental data available to general users. Radium bean 2+uses laser scattering and MEMS metal oxide semiconductor detection schemes, which are similar to most semi professional detection products, but the detector is basically a sensor, and the scheme itself can characterize a product:
The particle detection uses laser scattering (MIE) instead of infrared, which is used by most traditional detectors. The latter has low cost but is vulnerable to interference. If the air flow speed is too fast or too slow, the reading will be affected, and it is easy to mistakenly detect water vapor and oil smoke, which will cause the reading to be too large. The reaction speed of official reading of radium bean 2+reached 100ms, the detection granularity covered 0.3 μ m-10 μ m, the range was 1-999 µ g/m ³, and the detection accuracy of official standard was plus or minus 10%;
The system will comprehensively analyze the local air quality according to the air monitoring station and pollution source data at the use location, and finally calibrate the readings in the cloud. The air quality index supports the US EPA standards and Chinese standards;
The detection accuracy of the humidity sensor is plus or minus 3%, the resolution is 1%, and the reaction speed is 8 seconds. The temperature detection range is - 20 to 125 degrees, the accuracy is plus or minus 0.3 degrees, the resolution is 1 degree, and the reaction speed is 2 seconds.
The TVOC concentration detection function is the key upgrade of Radon 2+, and it is also a function that most intelligent air quality detectors do not have. The TVOC sensor imported from Germany is used in the official announcement. Its principle is MEMS metal oxide semiconductor detection. It is measured by the attribute that the conductivity of the gas sensor changes with the concentration of the detected gas. The detection range is 125-600ppb (relative value), and it takes 5 minutes to preheat and calibrate when starting up. Its detection range is close to that of IAQ Core series, which focuses on high performance and low power consumption, and it excludes the possibility of low-cost mainstream solution CCS801 (0-1182ppb).
In actual use, the PM2.5 detection sensitivity of Radium2+is significantly higher than that of similar products. The second level bounce reading and reaction speed can only be seen on professional instruments. Through PM2.5 from nearby monitoring stations, its reading curve has a high degree of coincidence. As for the absolute value of the reading, because the official cloud calibration is added, generally speaking, if the more nearby monitoring stations are closer, the data of Radium2+will be closer to the true value.
Multiple test data record tables, supporting three different display scales of "minute, hour and day"
TVOC's full name is Total Volatile Organic Compounds, which refers to total volatile organic compounds, including hydrocarbons, halogenated hydrocarbons, oxyhydrocarbons, nitrogen hydrocarbons, benzene series, organic chlorides, freon series, organic ketones, amines, alcohols, ethers, esters, acids and petroleum compounds, among which formaldehyde and benzene series are of concern. The MEMS metal oxide semiconductor detection used for Radon 2+is more suitable for smart products in terms of sensor life, size, power consumption, response time, recovery time (the speed of returning to normal reading after leaving the target gas) and circuit integration compared with the traditional electrolytic/electrochemical gas sensor (resulting in life limit).
On TVOC, Radium2+uses the detection standard of the national standard GB50325-2010. Each time the sensor is restarted, it will use the lowest detection data of the current environment as the reference line to complete self calibration and calibration. The official recommendation is to put the equipment outdoors (i.e. TVOC environment) when starting up and warming up, so as to obtain the highest detection accuracy and sensitivity. This description is included in the description of the manual. Many users do not expect to find this point throughout the service life. It is suggested that the description be included in the screen prompt of the app or the body later.
Although the TVOC detection speed of radium bean 2+is faster than that of traditional products, it actually takes more than ten to dozens of seconds for the reading to be stable (the larger the variation span, the longer the stability time). Although the reliability of the detection data of Radium2+is high, the main purpose of the TVOC detector is to detect trends (detect the change value, compare the reading change in different time/space), rather than absolute values. You should know that the indoor formaldehyde concentration limit is 0.1ppm, and the 10000 yuan level detector cannot achieve the available accuracy. If you really want to test reliable values, you still need a professional testing agency. For DIY, the traditional chemical method must be used at least (after all, gas chromatograph is too expensive and the threshold is too high).
It should be noted that a large number of detectors on the Internet that claim to be able to detect formaldehyde and TVOC are actually "fraud" products disguised by airflow meters, and cannot read TVOC values. The simplest solution to try out such products is to put them in a transparent plastic bag or lunch box and then seal them. If you shake them, their readings will change. 99% of them are fake TVOC detectors.
In addition, some users even evaluated the accuracy and sensitivity of TVOC detection by means of cigarette lighting, which is of little significance. The sensitivity of the TVOC detector itself is enough to feed back the breath near the air inlet, and lighting a cigarette near the detector will directly explode the reading. Moreover, the pseudo TVOC detector can also read and feedback the nearby second-hand smoke.
Apple HomeKit, Siri voice control and data linkage
Now, the air detector that has been certified by Apple and entered the Apple HomeKit ecosystem has only radium bean series. This is the characteristic function of the latter and one of the main reasons for supporting the price of radium bean series. Here we need to popularize science. Apple announced at the WWDC conference in June 2014 that there were many unexpected settings for domestic users in the development process:
First of all, when the HomeKit came out, it could only be used as a gateway/central controller through Apple TV. All intelligent hardware needed to be connected to Apple TV for transit, and then communicated with the mobile terminal/cloud terminal. Later, on iOS10, Apple added the function of making the iPad the control center. In China, where the popularity of Apple TV is close to zero, this is the beginning of the promotion of Apple HomeKit. Now HomeKit can be used as long as there are iOS devices, but it still needs Apple TV or iPad as the hub to provide automation functions.
The most difficult thing to imagine is that until the iOS home app appeared, all the interaction portals of HomeKit were Siri... Apple first had voice interactive smart homes, and then had a unified application interface
Under Apple's well-known control, The official applications of HomeKit intelligent hardware call Apple's home app and Apple account for HomeKit setting code scanning, pairing, data reading, synchronization and other operations. In the process, it only needs to scan the setting code, without any steps such as WiFi password input. Even without an official application (mainly responsible for deeper intelligent hardware settings), it can be connected and used normally.
Users who have used Xiaomi smart home and most of the domestic smart ecological chain products may be a little confused about the new Apple HomeKit. After Apple connects the hardware, it follows the idea of "home room hardware". It needs to select the home/office for the hardware, and then select the sub level of the bedroom/living room before going to the hardware itself. With a basic background, you can naturally accept many settings of HomeKit and Radium2+.
For users, HomeKit is mainly a basic authentication of the availability of intelligent hardware. Although the price of these ecological hardware is relatively high, Apple has high requirements for partner review. Products that can enter Apple's ecological chain have been screened by Apple in terms of hardware quality and function realization.
Home app page
Home app entrance of iOS control center
For Radium2+, the main advantage of accessing HomeKit is its ease of use. After accessing Apple, the number and convenience of Radium2+data accesses are directly separated from other platforms. In addition to the official app, iPhone、iPad、iPod， Even the Apple Watch, all iOS devices with home apps can directly view and control Radium2+data. In addition to controlling household appliances on the watch or checking the air quality, temperature and humidity at home, the control center of all iOS devices can be added to the home entrance, which can also directly view and control household appliances.
Siri direct voice control and view air data
What other platforms can't compare with most is that Radium2+, a HomeKit hardware, can be viewed and controlled by Siri, a system level voice assistant. With the voice of "home temperature, home humidity, and opening the home socket", you can view the data and carry out the linkage between homes. In practice, in addition to the simple household name, speech recognition may be difficult. In addition, the success rate is almost 100%, and the availability is good. After sleeping in the middle of the night, on a whim, he called Siri to report the temperature and humidity, which is not available on other platforms.
HomeKit automatic setting
In terms of linkage and automation, HomeKit natively supports a total of four trigger modes of "user location change, time point, control control and state change". The first two are well understood, and the last two refer to the scenarios where the equipment is turned on/off for human operation, and air quality changes/human body sensors sense activity/smoke. With the smart socket, Radon 2+can automatically trigger the purifier on the socket if the air quality exceeds the standard in the later stage, or trigger automatic operations such as air conditioning if the temperature and humidity exceed the standard. Of course, a third party has already implemented similar functions through Homekit Bridge.
Detailed CSV file export
In the eyes of players like the author and many developers, the biggest difference between Raddou 2+and air detectors from Xiaomi, Huawei Glory, 360 and other manufacturers is that the detection data can be displayed with different data precision of "minutes, hours and days", support the export of CSV files and the openness of official APIs, which is very consistent with the taste of data maniacs like us. Radium2+will record the four detected data of "PM2.5, TVOC, temperature and humidity" at the frequency of once per minute, and can directly export them in the app.
Some users also read data directly through the official API and made local visits to third-party web apps. They provided online query functions through the Homebridge plug-in, dramatically changing the way data is displayed. The following figure shows the modified page of the blogger who "looks foolish with great wisdom":
Comparison and summary of competing products
The air detector itself is a private "observatory" of ordinary users, suitable for users whose monitoring stations are not nearby or even have no monitoring stations nearby. When similar products are expanded from PM2.5 to temperature, humidity and TVOC, they can already cover all the air data needed daily, and can actually act as smoke and gas leakage alarms.
The detector market is very deep. The traditional products with these functions can be sold at hundreds to thousands of prices. There are also a lot of poorly manufactured products with high prices. What is different from everyone's impression is that the intelligent products in the field of detectors are quite cost-effective in front of many traditional products of the same level. The price of Radium bean 2+999 yuan (the lowest price in history is 799 yuan) is a bit more expensive than 360 yuan air detection master, 399 yuan Mijia detector and 599 yuan Glorious Sounding Spirit air detector. However, there are too few intelligent detectors. Users who just need air quality detection do not have intelligent detectors at the same level as Radon 2+in the market, and similar products are all lacking in functions in one way or another.
Among the other three, only the Mijia detector has the ability to link with other household appliances. Although it has only 2-3 hours of life, its body is small and extremely portable. Its biggest weakness is that it only has the PM2.5 detection function; 360 Air Testing Master has no linkage ability, not even its own battery, but also only PM2.5 detection function; Glory Sounding Genie has TVOC detection and 15 hour extreme endurance. Even the temperature and humidity are detected by independent accessories, but it is actually a Bluetooth connected device, which cannot be viewed remotely, and the smart home linkage is even less. Now, except Radium Bean, which is still updating its products regularly, the other three companies have no signs of follow-up products up to now
Although Radium2+can buy two ordinary intelligent detectors at the price of Radium2+, more accurate PM2.5 and TVOC detection data, humidity and temperature, minute level data recording, self export of original data, Homekit Bridge that can easily use data and self-development, under Apple's HomeKit door, a large number of intelligent accessories for linkage control, and access to iOS are extremely convenient You can use Siri to control, which is impossible for competitors to provide.
The market of intelligent air detectors is still in the stage of "being and not being", and the priority of powerful functions is far higher than that of cheap prices. No matter how cheap the competitors are, they will not form a direct competitive relationship with Radon 2+. Radon 2+itself has some minor problems, such as the Android platform is not fully functional, the appearance is easy to scratch, and the workmanship needs to be improved. But Radon 2+is the strongest intelligent detector available now, and invincible is so lonely.
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