YoLink Water Leak Detection Starter Kit, w/SpeakerHub Audio/Talking Hub & Water Leak Sensors, LoRa Up to 1/4 Mile Open-Air Range, SMS/Text, Email & Push Notifications, w/Alexa, IFTTT, Home Assistant

PRO Features Diversity of product line Integration capabilities as a smart home device Low cost Battery Life CON 1/4 Mile range advertised likely clear line of site In wooded area reliable range was more like 300 feet Antennas, range extenders not available Unsupported range extender works but limits features Some limitations For house monitoring of crawl space temp/humidity, water leak detection, motion in attic etc., the product line works extremely well and has excellent smart home integration. The goal was to simplify install, minimize/eliminate wiring for sensors, and to gain smart device capabilities. When working for external device monitoring such as driveway gates, package delivery box notification at a range of 450 feet through wooded areas challenges were uncovered. For the package delivery box, the original concept was to mount a garage door sensor flush (horizontal) on the bottom of the lid that would toggle when the lid was opened. From what I could glean the device is designed to be installed on the inside of a garage door (vertical) with door closed. There was not a software option on this sensor to alert on normally open vs normally closed. Therefore a bracket needed to be assembled to mount the sensor in a vertical position for the device to operate. Would be nice if the device offered this option. During the process the range was learned to be a challenge. Moved hub outside, tried different orientations to try to optimize internal antenna (vertical / horizontal) different sides facing device and was not able to mitigate signal limitation. Yo-link does not offer an antenna, and/or range extender. Found a helpful "non-supported" solution to create a signal relay solution. This uses a yo-link Security Siren & Alarm controller and yo-link Outdoor contact sensor. Between these two devices a relay is required. I found and electronic relay with NO normally open and NC normally closed output contacts; "OONO DPST 1NO 1NC 8Amp Power Relay Module, AC/DC 12V Control Voltage" which worked perfectly. Configure the remote device to trigger the Alarm controller. Replace with siren with the input to the relay module. Attach the contact sensor to either the NO/NC contacts as appropriate for your project. This solved the range issue in this case. However, the ability to monitor if the device remains open and is not closed is lost. A goal was to add this solution to the driveway gate and obtain a notification if the gate was not closed. At this time I do not know a solution to the range challenge combined with some of the additional features yo-link offers. I am using these devices outside of their intended design, so I will still rate them highly. However, it would be nice for yo-link to have an extended range solution that supports all of the device capability as well as a tilt sensor (garage door sensor), that allowed the NO/NC configuration to be modified. Overall I have been impressed.

Humphrey Bogart quote notwithstanding, this is the most impressive home automation startup I've ever dealt with. I decided to add water leak detection to my home automation setup and originally chose a DLink option, based on some positive previous experiences. But DLink's device is not ready for prime time- I never could get it to communicate properly and gave up. I then saw YoLink's leak detectors on Amazon with some very strong reviews, so I figured I'd give them a try. The system, which does require a hub, was simple to set up and worked perfectly. The LoRA technology they use has many benefits over WiFi or Bluetooth, allowing widely spaced sensors that last 2 years on 2 AA batteries, providing incredibly flexible placement options. The only thing I didn't realize is that it utilizes notifications to your cell phone or PC to alert you to a problem. I didn't want to miss a problem that happened at night when our phones are downstairs on chargers, so I looked for a siren option to add to the hub. That's when I found this product, the YoLink Speaker Hub, which apparently had just been introduced- there were only 12 reviews. But they were solid reviews and I was already impressed by the ease and performance of my YoLink detectors, so I ordered this to replace the silent hub I started with. Well, from the amazing capabilities and expansion options of the Speaker Hub, it is obvious that YoLink has big plans for a comprehensive home automation suite. This is both a good and a possibly less good thing. The flexibility to customize alarms, alerts, notifications, spoken alerts, etc is great. But the learning curve is much steeper. So to get the Speaker Hub to do what I wanted required 2 calls to customer service. And this is where YoLink blew my socks off. Both calls were answered by the second ring by a YoLink engineer! And these guys know their system software inside and out. The first call got me 90% of the way there, but one issue stumped me. The second call resolved that issue in a couple of minutes. The system now provides an audible alert that announces which detector sensed a leak, as well as sending text notifications and emails in case we weren't home. All of this happens within seconds of the sensor touching water- they even placed contacts on top of the sensor so it can detect a leak that is dripping from above before a pool of water forms. In the process of speaking to the engineers, it is clear that they are rightly proud of their product, and intend to continue improving and expanding its capabilities. The leak detectors using the Speaker Hub are a great solution on their own, but it is obvious that they've built in a ton of capabilities so that as they expand their offerings, they won't have to modify the software every time they add another device. I can't wait to see what they come up with next. Your move, YoLink!

I bought these because I was going to be travelling for three weeks and although I turned off the water to my condo, my older building is susceptible to back-ups. So I put one in each sink and tub/shower plus the water heater pan while I was away. It gave me SO much peace of mind to have these in place. Just before leaving, I had my water shut-off valve replaced, and placed a bucket under it with a paper towel and one of these alarms to be sure everything was working as it should before leaving. Turns out the plumber didn't tighten it enough, so there was the tiniest of leaks which set off the alarm. So now I know they work. Btw, the paper towel trick is something my plumber taught me and I highly recommend it. Not only is it easier to notice a leak, but it helps to trigger the water alarm faster. So lets say you have one under your kitchen sink. If water isn't dripping right on top of the water alarm, but nearby, if you have the alarm on a paper towel the moisture will be wicked in and trigger the alarm. Now that I'm home, I'm back to buy more to put near all water sources in my condo. If you've never been traumatized by having your basement flood, or other water disaster, trust me when I say you want to keep it that way. I did email customer support before purchase with a question and they were very quick to respond and helpful. The app was easy to set up and I like being able to check and see that everything is okay. I lost internet briefly yesterday, which triggered an alarm that the speaker hub was down, then everything went back online when the internet came back up.

I love the YoLink Ecosystem and especially these water sensors. These are not based on wifi but their own proprietary signal which is long range and low power. I have used water sensors in the past from zwave to wifi and depending on the location placed the batteries would die quickly or the signal was not always the best, but not with yolink. Their signal technology is amazing, and i can place next to water heaters, in the basement, in the deepest furthest corners of my house and the signal strength is always full bars. I am going on 2 years having these and the batteries still show full strength. They do have other models now that have built in sound now if you prefer that. great product highly recommend!

Had my doubts until this morning. It works as stated. Saved me from a major clean up. I had issues setting it up as it was not easiest to connect to WiFi and get both units synced together with the home base unit I think the directions could be better written.

App is well designed, pairing and monitoring are simple and effective. I had the Hub and leak sensor starter kid. Later, I added the Speaker Hub and leak sensor kid to expand and add easy alert capacity. Speaker Hub pairing to WiFi network may not work for all the phones so if it has hard time to pair the first time to the wireless network, you may want to try another phone. Once paired, all the phones worked for me. A lot of home automation potentials. It has an API you can explore to meet the needs.

I bought this introductory package to see how well the system works. I set up the system a few months ago to let me know is I have a leak near my water heater. I've tested the water leak sensors occasionally by putting one in an area with a minimal amount of wetness. Each time I'm immediately told that I have a water leak at a specified location via the speaker hub. I also receive a notification on my phone. This system is excellent. I'm going to purchase a dozen more water leak sensors so that I'll immediately be notified if I have a leak anywhere in my home. I can immediately deal with the leak if I'm home. If away, I'll receive a notification on my phone and know to get home asap to minimize water damage.

We bought this for our sump pump basin, so it will send an alert if the sump pump dies. It works great for that, once you get through the ridiculously complicated set up. I am a very capable technician that regularly works with complicated technological systems. This system is needlessly complicated. There is no way you are going to get this to work without consulting the online tutorials, which are slow and boring. The reason we chose this unit is because it clearly states in multiple places "no power, no internet, no problem". AA batteries, etc... It is misleading. The speaker hub does not require batteries, it only runs on a wall outlet. When your power goes out (meaning your sump pump is not going to work), your alarm system is also not going to work. The old system we had (GE Choice Alert) had batteries in the hub unit, so it would continue to work if the power went out. That unit stopped working and has been discontinued, and there does not seem to be a direct replacement. The YoLink is not a direct replacement. It does work well once you get it set up, I just wish it had a built-in battery backup for the alarm.