In this series of reviews, we are focusing on smart home tech from the brand Hive. We will be looking at the Hive Active Plug, Hive Motion Sensor, Hive Window & Door Sensor, Hive Active Light 9w cool to warm light and we start the reviews with the Hive Hub 360.
Who is Hive?
Hive is one of the most well known smart home brands you will come across mainly due to the award-winning thermostat. They have now created a range of devices when all used together creates a smart home for its user that can be controlled via your mobile or Apple Watch making life just a little bit more simple as you will also be able to control your home hands-free.
Hive Hub 360 – Design
The Hive Hub 360 provides you with an alternative central hub which is something more appealing to look at. Also offering a wide range of functions including a listening ability for alerts such as what could be a break in.
The design of Hive Hub 360 has a design similar to a smart speaker it comes in two colours black or white and is cylindrical in shape with a copper highlighting around the top and the bottom of the device. You even have a light in a ring shape on the top which indicates when an alert happens. The Hive Hub is made of mainly plastic but the Black gloss finish with copper looks really nice.
At the rear of the device you have 2x USB-A ports which are designed for future devices but it’s nice to know Hive has plans for the future although at the time of this review we are unsure what the USB ports will be used for.
Under the base, you have the power cable and that flat Micro USB cord plugs into the base but it’s a loose fit which can cause a few issues for some users if you move the hub.
It will sit in your home and will bend into the surroundings and unlike its previous model, it won’t need to be connected to your server. It’s designed to be more than providing connectivity to other Hive devices; it comes with other functions such as Audio Detection and a Hub for all of your Hive devices in the home.
Hive Hub 360 – Set Up
The Hive Hub 360 is completely wireless meaning you can install it anywhere in the house. Meaning its listening functions can work better as it can be placed near an area that you want to monitor.
Setup is very easy. All you need to do is plug it on and via the hive app add it to your system. Once set up it will work to create connections with your other Hive devices this will take about 15 minutes to be completely set up.
A feature of this device is the Hive Hub 360 is it can handle all your connections in one place. What this means if your internet goes down the Hub 360 will still allow pre-set up routines to still work, for example, lights coming on at a set time of motion detected and lights will be switched on to scare off an intruder. In testing, we did notice the internet connection did fail a few times over the last few weeks which was annoying as we had to reboot the hub something for Hive to consider fixing in the future with a software update in the future.
Hive Hub 360 – Features
The main feature for the Hive Hub 360 is having all the connections of your hive devices all in one place but it also comes with audio detection which is a nice method of home monitoring when you’re not home. It can detect in house alarms like a smoke alarm but can also pick up an intruder breaking into the house. These alerts can be switched on or off when required, ideal if you have a dog that barks a lot.
Want to listen to the recordings sure you can do this via the app and if they are false alerts and mark them as such which over time will improve the overall system. However, to react to the sounds you need to see what made that alert and using an indoor camera might be a good idea but with the indoor camera we have reviewed they have those functions so questioning the need for the Hub 360.
Another issue I found with the Hub 360 is it has no extension into Hive Actions you can’t use trigger recording on your Hive View when the Hub 360 picks up an alert.
Hive Hub 360 – Verdict
The Hive Hub 360 offers a great offering to connect all your Hive devices all in one place and the wireless connection allows you to place the device anywhere in the house so no longer do you need it next to your server.
The hub is good but not perfect the power cable if moved just a little will cause a loss in connection. If you keep it in one place it should keep the connection.
The audio monitoring feature is a nice thing to have I keep my Hive Hub 360 near the living room windows where it will monitor for things such as a house alarm like smoke or CO2 alerts. The Hub 360 also picks up an intruder if they were to break glass getting into your house. If you have a pet dog it will also pick up dog barking detection I do not have a dog but I guess this could be handy for when your dog at home and you have popped out.
If like me you are moving to a new house and are buying smart home devices to make your house smart it’s well worth considering as it will link all your hive products all in one place. However, If you already have hive products and are using the regular hub apart from the audio detection I would question the need for upgrading to Hive Hub 360. However, If you’re looking for a wireless option and you want something to keep your hive devices working together even if your internet goes down it’s a great addition to your smart home setup.
Product Rating:
Design: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0
Features: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars
Set-Up: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars
Connectivity: 3.0 out of 5.0 stars
Overall Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars
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