UltimateSensor Mini: The Compact Powerhouse for Smart Home Automation

In today’s world, having accurate and reliable environmental data at your fingertips is more important than ever. Whether you’re a professional in the field of environmental science, an enthusiastic hobbyist, or simply someone who wants to ensure the best conditions in your home or office, a high-quality sensor can make all the difference. Add precise mmWave presence data and Voice Assistant capabilities, and we are talking about the “UltimateSensor Mini,” the latest offering from Smarthomeshop.io, which boasts Jarvis-like voice assistant capabilities and promises to transform the way you collect, analyze, and respond to environmental and presence data.

Design and Build Quality

The UltimateSensor Mini boasts a sleek design, making it easy to integrate into various environments. Its relatively small footprint ensures that it can be discreetly placed almost anywhere without drawing too much attention. Despite its compact size, the build quality is top-notch. The sensor is encased in an SLA 3D printed shell, which looks nice, almost like a molded enclosure. It certainly isn’t the smallest mmWave-capable multisensor, but the UltimateSensor Mini largely makes up for that with its vast capabilities.

Inside the UltimateSensor, you’ll find an array of sensors, mostly Sensirion brand, which is known for its high-quality, accurate sensor modules. The UltimateSensor Mini is well designed. It’s obvious that real time and effort were put into designing this device.

Features

What truly sets the UltimateSensor Mini apart from its competitors are its advanced features and high quality sensors. Here are some of the highlights:

Multiple Sensor Capabilities:

• Temperature: Accurate within ±0.1°C. (Sensirion SCD41)
• Humidity: Measures relative humidity with precision up to ±1.5%. (Sensirion SCD41)
• CO2 Levels: Essential for monitoring indoor air quality. (Sensirion SCD41)
• Air Quality: Sensor for VOC and NOx Values (Sensirion SGP41)
• Light Sensor: Provides accurate measurements of light intensity (Rohm BH1750)
• Optional: Particulate Matter (PM2.5 and PM10): Crucial for understanding air pollution levels (Sensirion SPS30)

Presence Capabilities:

• mmWave: Position, Movement and Presence Sensor. (Hilink HLK-LD2450)

Status and notification LED’s:

• Status LED: Red status LED
• Front notification LED: RGB WS2811 front status/notification LED
• Back notification LED: RGB WS2811 back status/notification LED

Voice Assist Capabilities:

• Microphone: MEMS electro-acoustic microphone for voice assist capabilities.
• Speaker: A small 1 or 2 Watt speaker for voice announcements or maybe notification sound playback.

Connectivity:

• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth: Seamless data transmission (2.4Ghz) to and from your Ultimatesensor Mini.
• ESPHome/Home Assistant Integration: Real-time data access from anywhere in the world using ESPHome and Home Assistant.

Performance

In terms of performance, the UltimateSensor Mini excels. Its sensors are highly responsive and deliver data with impressive accuracy. During testing, temperature readings were consistently precise, and the environmental sensors closely matched those of our Netatmo. The CO2 and particulate matter sensors offered invaluable insights into air quality, demonstrating the significant benefits this device can offer for both personal use and, once calibrated, even (semi)professional applications.

MMWave Motion Sensor

The UltimateSensor Mini features the Hilink HLK-LD2450 mmWave sensor, which can detect the presence, position, and movement speed of up to three people within a 6 to 8- meter range and identify three distinct zones. Thanks to its modular design, the Mini’s mmWave sensor can be upgraded to more advanced models in the future without the need to replace the entire unit. This opens up the possibility of keeping your device up-to-date with the latest motion detection technology. mmWave presence and motion detection proved to be fast and reliable during our extensive testing period.

Voice Assist

At the core of the UltimateSensor Mini is the ESP32-S3 with 8MB PSRAM and 16MB Flash. Equipped with a MEMS microphone and a basic speaker, this device is perfectly suited for Voice Assistant usage. The only disadvantage could be solved with a extensive ESPHome configuration rewrite. The Ultimatesensor comes as standard with a ESPHome configuration using the Arduino framework, which is not very well suited for Home Assistant Voice Assistant application. We completely rewrote the configuration files using the esp-idf framework and adf pipeline. The configuration file can be found on our github page.

Ease of Use

Setting up the UltimateSensor Mini is straightforward. The device boasts ESPHome firmware and therefore pairs easily with Home Assistant. Within minutes, you can have real-time data displayed on your smartphone or computer. Alerts can be set up for various thresholds using Home Assistant’s Automations, ensuring that you’re promptly informed if conditions become adverse.

Conclusion

The UltimateSensor Mini is a valuable addition to the realm of environmental sensors. Its combination of high accuracy sensors, voice assist and presence features make it an essential tool for anyone concerned about their environment. Additionally, the UltimateSensor Mini is ideal for energy savings and safety, as it sends immediate notifications when unusual movements are detected, keeping you informed no matter where you are. After minor sensor calibration, the data provided by the UltimateSensor Mini proves to be quite accurate. We can confidently recommend the UltimateSensor Mini, provided you can accept its price, as high-quality sensors are simply not cheap.

We purchased the UltimateSensor Mini with our own funds, and Smarthomeshop.io had no influence over the content of this review.
For more information and to purchase, visit the official website: UltimateSensor Mini.

Rating: 4.5/5