I bought the Aeon Multisensor (the 4th generation, I think) a few weeks ago with the intention of using it in my kitchen. I specifically wanted to use the light & motion-sensing features so that it would turn on the kitchen lights if it was dim/dark and there was motion.
I never the light sensor working correctly – regardless of the sensitivity setting, it would either turn on the lights all of the time or never. For the last few days, it hasn’t worked at all, so today I finally decided to troubleshoot it.
Wouldn’t you know – two of the four pre-installed batteries had leaked and killed it.
So I’m returning the Aeon Multisensor. Here’s my question: Is there another motion+light sensor that performs better than the Aeon? Or did I just get a bad sensor and should give Aeon another shot? These two problems have soured me on the product.
Likely you just got a bad one. “Hardware is hard.” And cheap hardware is even harder.
It doesn’t matter who the manufacturer is (GE, Linear, Aeon, Fibaro), if a networked device cost less than $150, or the warranty is one year or less, device failure rates of 5% are common. Consumers demand under $50 sensors and the engineering reflects that.
The retailer matters a lot as well in terms of storage conditions and inventory turnover.
I personally never buy electronics from any place that doesn’t have a good return policy and high volume sales of the items I’m interested in. And even so, sometimes you just get a defective unit.
Aeon is a good reliable manufacturer for their price point. So as long as the retailer accepts returns of defective units, the brand should be as good as most.