Elgato launches HomeKit compatible Eve Aqua water controller, Eve Flare smart light

Elgato has opened up orders for the new HomeKit Eve Aqua water controller and Eve Flare smart light.

Both HomeKit accessories are arriving just in time for summer, with a clear focus on outdoor use.

Eve Aqua

The Eve Aqua is a fully water and UV resistant smart water controller that will affix to a water faucet and help automate and measure garden/lawn watering and usage. It is a small square box, running on two AA batteries, that screws into place over an external faucet with a physical button on the front to allow for manual access.

HomeKit support allows Siri to water the flower beds or turn on the lawn sprinklers, whether at home or away. Watering can be scheduled and adjusted from anywhere, based on the weather or your preferences.

The Eve Aqua is also capable of tracking water usage, and automatically shutting off based on time or other HomeKit triggers.

Like Elgato's other HomeKit garb, the Eve Aqua connects through Bluetooth.

Eve Aqua is available for pre-order now, with full available ability slated for June 25, for $99.95.

Eve Flare

The Eve Flare is a spherical LED lamp roughly the size of a basketball that works indoors or outdoors. A built in battery keeps the Eve Flare running for up to six hours, and the device can charge wirelessly with an inductive charger.

Elgato's Eve Flare has IP65 water resistance, twice the battery life of the competing Hue Go, and does not require a hub. It puts out around 90 lumens of light, well below the 300 lumens of the Hue Go.

Eve Flare is very similar to the Elgato Avea Flare, though that model does not offer HomeKit compatibility.

Eve Flare is also available now for preorder in Europe for 99,95, and will be shipping June 25.

HomeKit is a growing platform

Though the HomeKit market is growing, any new additions are noteworthy, and that is certainly the case with both of Elgato's new additions. Options for HomeKit compatible portable lights and watering systems are currently extremely limited, with only a handful of other alternatives.

Elgato has several other options for HomeKit gear, with the company several new products including the Eve Button (review) and Eve Room 2 earlier in 2018 at CES. AppleInsider was granted a first look at the Eve Aqua during the show.

We expect to hear many new features coming to HomeKit soon at Apple's annual WWDC keynote, scheduled for June 7th. We have some requests for expansion of the feature, and have recently published a HomeKit wishlist.

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4 Comments

nunzy

said about 5 years ago

homekit is better than any of the competing systems. In fact, homekit has no competition.

jbdragon

said about 5 years ago

nunzy said:

homekit is better than any of the competing systems. In fact, homekit has no competition.

I'm a fan of Homekit. I'm a growing Homekit house,......BUT Alexa does have a lot more support. Google Home is Growing. Alexa is also over rated. Yes, tons of Skills, most you'll never use. It's kind of like early on with Apple's App store. A lot of fart apps and other crap. A lot of that has gone by the way side. That'll happen with Alexa also in time. There's a lot of crap. Things like Star Trek sound effects. The problem is trying to remember exactly how to do something. Alexa is also wordy. You have to say things in the exact right way or it's clueless.

Take for example my Ecobee 4. It supports Alexa, Google Home, Apple HomeKit, Samesung SmartThings, and IFTTT. So I happen to also have a Google Mini and a Echo Dot, which I got each for $40. This way I can compare those 2 to Siri in a number of area's that are my own needs.

First off, Even though Alexa is built into the Ecobee 4, it's clueless about it. So you can right off set a timer, or play some music, but try to set a temp, and it has no idea. So you have to setup the Ecobee Plus skill. You have to setup Siri and Google also, which isn't to hard. But you would think with Alexa built into the thing you wouldn't have to do anything else. Ops,...

So with Alexa, I have to Tell it or Ask it to do something with any type of 3rd party device. So I have to say something like "Alexa,..Tell Ecobee to set the temp to 68" I think that will work. With Siri or Google, I can just say "Hey Siri, set temp to 68" and it does it. They are smart enough to know I want to set the temp on the Ecobee to 68 and I sure as hell don't have to ask or tell it to do it.

I also got a couple of the MySmartBlinds with the Solar panels for free with a special deal back in Dec. Where I can open and Close my 2" blinds that I have. The kits were easy enough to install into my blinds. I could use a app to open and close them. That does kind of suck and a hassle compared to voice control. So they released a Hub, so currently I can use Alexa, with Google Home and SmartThings coming within a couple months. Hey had listed Siri Homekit support in the past, but then it disappeared. I hope it comes back. To use voice, I'm using Alexa and so for example, I can do something like "Alexa,..Tell Mysmartblinds to Open Master Bedroom" and my blinds open. If I don't mention a room it'll ask me what room and I can name the room or say All. Siri support would be really nice, but who knows if/when that will happen.

I have my Garage Door able to open and close by Siri. I can say "Hey Siri, Open garage" and it opens!!! I also have my garage light switches Homekit controlled. Using Apple's HOME app, I linked the light on the one side of the garage that we go though to the opener. So if I say "Hey Siri,..Open garage" the Garage door opens, and the garage lights turn ON. When the door closes the lights go off. For me, HUGE deal. The garage is how we come and go from my house. My Dad lives with me. He's left the garage wide open a few times. I get home and anyone could have robbed me blind. It's now setup to sent me and my dad a Alarm if the door is open longer than 5 minutes and 10 minutes. I can remotely close it either by the app or by Siri. Even Siri on my Apple Watch. But having the garage lights also come on really lights the place up at night. Far, far better then the lights from the garage door opener. At the same time I can also control those Garage lights with Siri at any time. Same with my outside side of the house light over my side fence. Nice to get home at night, need to drop something in the backyard and just lift my wrist and ask Siri to turn on that light.

I prefer light switches over bulbs. I started with 1 light switch to try out, then got a couple more, and just grew from there. No need to get everything at once.

StrangeDays

said about 5 years ago

HK is rocking for me. Besides all the bulbs and wall plugs, I now have a couple switches in the walls for automatic dimming of recessed lights according to my scenes, as well as ad hoc voice commands. And just last week I got this five-in-one collection of sensors for monitoring my attic and turning on/off its exhaust fans if the temp gets too hot:

https://www.amazon.com/iHome-iSS50-Smartmonitor-monitoring-anywhere/dp/B01LZUSJ26

...all with iOS’ best in class security and encryption. Keep em comin...