Are you curious about your home’s air quality? The Airthings House Kit Smart System Bundle takes all the guess work out of your air quality concerns. The question was top of mind for me, especially with being encouraged to work and play at home as much as possible. My family has been spending more time than ever in our home, so I wanted a way to ensure that the air we are breathing is safe. A home’s radon, airborne chemicals, humidity, and temperature can have adverse effects on your health. The Airthings House Kit system is one of the first devices of its kind that monitors all these levels. This system is an important part of any smart home hub, helping to ensure your air quality is safe. I had the chance to test the kit in multiple settings and came away impressed with the results.
Monitoring Radon
You might be wondering why exactly you need to monitor the air quality in your home. Unfortunately, there is the potential for many hazardous toxins to reach levels that can seriously impact health. The Airthings is the first line of smart products that can measure radioactive gas like Radon. This gas is a natural occurrence in many homes up to a certain threshold. The government of Canada states exposure to levels exceeding 200 Bq/m3 is unsafe. Radon levels can also shift from day-to-day, making long term monitoring essential. The gas can have long term negative health effectives and even lead to lung cancer.
In 2018, Best Buy contributors each tested their own home Radon levels. The results show the gas is prominent across the country. In fact, it’s found in a majority of homes. The key is ensuring it is not at dangerous levels. If it does get high, exploring options to mitigate the gas is essential.
Airthings House Kit Package
The Airthings House Kit Smart System comes bundled with 3 devices. This includes the Wave Smart Radon Detector, Wave Mini Indoor Air Quality Monitor, and the Airthings Hub. Each device has its own function in this smart air quality eco system.
The Airthings Wave
The Wave (pictured above) has the ability to monitor radon, humidity, and temperature. This module is the “star of the show” if you are looking to constantly monitor your home’s radon levels. I recommend setting up this device on the lower levels of your dwelling, or basement if you have one. The toxic gas emits from ground soil and rock, so keep The Wave in these areas for accurate feedback. The ability to monitor radon levels in almost real time is a key feature of this device, and it’s the first of its kind. You can purchase more cost-effective traditional charcoal kits, but they require the lengthy process of waiting for lab analysis. The entire process takes months; with Airthings you start getting accurate readings in 7 days. The rate of accuracy in readings is also quite impressive—within 20% after a week, and 10% after a month. The unit is also battery operated, which allows you to move it around your living space effortlessly. According to Airthings, the device will last a year and a half on a pair of AA batteries.
The Wave Mini
The Wave Mini monitors TVOC (total volatile organic compounds), humidity, + temperature. Both the Wave and Wave Mini are Bluetooth-only, so purchasing them independently means air quality levels are available when you are in range.
Airthings Hub
The Airthings Hub brings all of this data online, making it more accessible. The Hub pushes all this data online, giving you up-to-date sensor readings wherever you are. The entire bundle functions together to bring all your home’s air quality to your smartphone.
Setup and basic functions
When it comes to setup of the devices, it’s a very streamlined process: pull the battery tabs, power up, and start the pairing process with your smartphone. Using iOS I was able to sync and update my devices in under 15 minutes; Airthings makes the process streamlined and simple. The wave features a magnetic back panel (no fumbling with screws and screwdrivers to access batteries). Once the devices are set up, they require a few hours for their first read of your home’s air quality. Each device will need a week to completely calibrate to the various levels of potential toxins and other hazards in your environment. This is far and away one of the quickest ways on the market to get readings of your home’s air quality.
A wave of the hand
Each one of the included devices is compact and easy to use. They also fit in nicely with home décor, and blend into the background. I placed my devices in my kitchen and basement for the majority of my testing. The Wave is roughly the size of a smoke detector, where the Wave Mini is a little smaller than a hockey puck. Both feature indicator lights that with a simple wave of your hand give at-a-glance air quality status. The LED light will either glow green, yellow, or red. More detailed information is provided on the companion app. A green light indicates all is well, yellow points to levels edging toward higher than normal readings, and red indicates high levels of toxins and/or humidity in the air. The one drawback of this kit is the lack of being able to monitor carbon monoxide (CO2) or air pressure. The Airthings Wave Plus (which is sold separately) has these two missing features. For me personally, knowing the dangers of CO2, I really wish one of the devices could monitor these levels.
Air testing our home sweet home
While conducting this review, my house is entering the final phase of a large-scale renovation. This provided me the opportunity to put the Airthings to the test in multiple environments. Areas of our home are completely finished, while others are under some construction, and we have a newly underpinned basement that I really want to put to the test. This offered a great testing ground as there are areas that I know have potential air quality issues and others that should give a clean reading. Before underpinning the basement, we did have issues with Radon that should have been fixed during the construction process. It’s great to have a system constantly monitoring the situation, offering added peace of mind. The Wave was able to pick up escalated VOC levels around freshly painted walls, never missing a beat. It also picked up on slightly elevated levels of radon in unfinished parts of our basement. Luckily, after renovating the basement, radon levels have dropped to safe levels. It was great to have the Airthings to verify and continuously monitor this. The added peace of mind is incredible to have, knowing that the air we breath is safe.
Final thoughts
The Airthings House Kit Smart System Bundle offers great value with what comes included in the package. The Wave Smart Radon Detector, Wave Mini, and the Airthings Hub deliver an excellent smart home air quality monitoring system. The devices working in tandem offer accurate readings anywhere that has an Internet connection. You can quickly check your air quality with a simple wave of the hand. At the same time, you can use the app to do a deep dive on all your air quality data, and even export it if needed. The one puzzling aspect is the lack of CO2 and air pressure monitoring. This is found in the Airthings Wave Plus (sold separately), but it would have been ideal to get these features out of the trio of devices. Aside from those critiques, what the hardware promises, it completely delivers on.
