Eve Weather review: HomeKit-connected weather station tracks your microclimate

Eve Weather tracks the temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure right outside your door (or wherever you wish to place the device.) Connected to Apple HomeKit, Eve Weather lets you set up any number of weather-related automations. Eve Weather also predicts the weather 12 hours into the future, though not in a detailed way like a weather app does. Using Thread network technology, Eve Weather can help make your smart home more responsive and robust.

Eve Weather: Price and availability

You can purchase Eve Weather at Amazon, Apple, B&H, and other major retailers in stores and online. The price is $69.95.

Eve Weather: What's good

Eve Weather gives you a detailed insight into the microclimate surrounding your home. Over the past couple of weeks, I've found the temperature at my home usually varies by a degree or two from the weather centers used for my weather app's data. You can track weather trends in precise detail over time.

Eve Weather is a HomeKit-enabled device, so that means you can set up various HomeKit automations. For example, you could set up an automation to turn on your HomeKit-enabled sprinkler system when a specific temperature is reached, turn on a fan at a temperature threshold, or turn on a dehumidifier when you get to a specific humidity level.

The Eve Weather unit is relatively small and unobtrusive. The display on the front tells you the current temperature, humidity, and weather condition (via an icon.) On the back, you'll find sensors, a hanging hook, and the battery compartment. The Eve Weather is powered by a coin-sized CR2450 battery. While not rechargeable, the battery should last about a year and is readily available at any drugstore for a few bucks. I've been using Eve Weather for a couple of weeks, and my battery level is still 100%. IPX3 water resistance means a little rain won't hurt it, but you can't submerge it in water.

Eve Weather is easy to set up within the Eve for HomeKit app. You don't need any sort of Eve bridge or hub, only a HomeKit hub like a HomePod, HomePod mini, or Apple TV. The Eve app tracks detailed information about your microclimate but doesn't store any information on its servers, so your data is protected. You can also control Eve Weather and view basic stats within the Apple Home app, but there's so much more in the Eve app.

Eve weather uses Bluetooth and automatically connects to your Thread network. Thread technology is a future-looking technology for smart homes; it helps increase connectivity between devices. Thread creates a mesh network, so the more Thread accessories you own, the stronger your network becomes.

Eve Weather: What's not good

You'll definitely need to be careful about where you place Eve Weather. I initially placed it in an area that gets some direct sun for a few hours each day. A beautiful 72° day read as a scorching 93° when the sun shone on my Eve Weather unit! I moved it to a totally sunless spot with an overhang so it won't get too much rain on it. While the IPX3 rating means it's water-resistant, it's not entirely waterproof, and I don't want a significant downpour directly on it. Since I have vinyl siding, there really wasn't any place I could put a nail. So I used Command strips, which of course, I'll need to remove entirely when it's time to change the battery.

While weather forecasting is a feature of Eve Weather, I didn't find it that useful. It's just so limited, with just a temperature range and an icon. It makes more sense to check a weather app for a true picture of upcoming conditions. If there's rain coming, I don't just need to know that rain might come, I need to know the exact percentage chance and how much rain to expect. If there's snow on the way, I really need to know how many inches: if several feet are predicted, I'm canceling my plans outside the house!

Eve Weather: Competition

The HomeKit-enabled Netatmo Smart Weather Station gives you a more complete weather picture, with two units to measure both your indoor and outdoor climate and air quality. You can purchase accessories to go along with the Netatmo Smart Weather Station, such as a rain gauge and a full weather station pack to measure weather, rainfall, and wind speed. It's also quite a bit more expensive, starting at about $200 without the accessories.

Eve Weather: Should you buy it?

• You want to know the exact temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure surrounding your home
• You want to set up weather-related HomeKit automations
• You want to strengthen your Thread network

• The information you personally need is in a weather app anyway
• You're not going to set up HomeKit automations
• It's out of your budget

Eve Weather is pretty niche. For someone who is quite interested in tracking weather trends and hyper-local weather at their home location, Eve does a great job. It's also an essential tool for someone looking to set up weather-dependent home automations in HomeKit. For anyone who wants to beef up their Thread network, Eve Weather is great. However, unless you have an intense interest in weather specifics or you'll be setting up weather-related HomeKit automations, I think Eve Weather is just unnecessary. After all, you can get a fuller picture of weather conditions from just about any weather app.

Eve Weather is an interesting product. It does what it does quite well. It tracks the temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure right on your porch or backyard. It gives you a 12-hour weather forecast based on that data. Eve Weather allows you to set up any manner of weather-triggered HomeKit automation, such as temperature or humidity thresholds to turn on your HomeKit-connected sprinklers, fans, humidifiers/dehumidifiers, and more. And it automatically joins and strengthens your Thread network. However, I'm not really sure how many people need something like this when any average weather app gives most of us enough information about the weather.

Image 1 of 2