I found the best way to monitor indoor air quality this winter
SwitchBot’s Meter Pro is the most affordable CO2 monitor we’ve found.
At CNET we like to recommend carbon monoxide detectors, air purifiers, and dehumidifiers. But there’s an important question you need to ask up front: what is the air quality as in your home?
Most homeowners don’t know. Unless something drastic happens, like a health incident, it’s hard to tell if there’s too much CO2 (carbon dioxide) in the air or if your home is suffering from a moisture problem (or lack thereof). So how do you find out if your air needs help?
SwitchBot has one of the most affordable standalone air quality monitors I’ve seen. While many security systems include air quality monitoring add-ons, they are part of a larger, more expensive package. You can use SwitchBot’s monitor without any additional purchases (adding a mini hub is optional for more app features), move it to any room in your home, and choose how often it updates. Best of all, you can find it for only about $50.
When I tested the Meter Pro with CO2 monitoring, I discovered some surprises when it came to air quality in my own home, discovered what the app can do and was surprised by the ease of use of the smart meter.
A smart air quality monitor for every place in the house
The SwitchBot Meter Pro works well alone or with other smart devices.
Switchbot’s Meter Pro with CO2 monitoring can work indoors or outdoors (or both with the right add-on), but the CO2 feature makes it a much better option for indoors. You can also move it to specific places where you fear CO2 emissions will be higher. The monitor works by displaying parts per million, a commonly used method to measure CO2 particles in the air, and updates itself regularly. There’s a Swiss NDIR monitoring sensor inside, and it proved to be very accurate in my testing.
If you use the standalone device, its installation is easy. I took the meter out of the box, pulled out the battery tab to activate the battery and it immediately started showing the air quality in the area.
You’ll notice in my photos that the temperature is shown in Celsius by default, but that’s not a problem. With a small button at the top of the meter I can instantly switch between Celsius and Fahrenheit. The hardest part was deciding where to put it.
Understanding air quality figures
SwitchBot’s Meter Pro gives you all the details about the air quality in your room.
During testing, I frequently moved the SwitchBot Meter Pro and placed it on different counters and tables to see how it changed. I quickly discovered that the CO2 levels in my home were close to the maximum acceptable level – anything above 1,000 PPM, and it was time to consider making changes such as increasing ventilation or air purification. That’s where our lab-tested recommendations can shine.
The high figures were not entirely surprising. When I tested, we were at the end of smoke season here on the West Coast and the air outside was still relatively smoky, something that has a big impact on CO2 levels, even indoors. In addition, my home uses natural gas for both heating the fireplace and cooking, another factor that increases CO2 emissions.
As the regional fires subsided, the air quality in my home improved significantly, with ppm dropping to 600 to 700 ppm. In some other homes where I took it for a quick test, it was even better, indicating that there may still be work to be done to improve air quality.
In addition to temperature and CO2 levels, the meter monitors humidity (my range in the high desert was pleasantly comfortable during the wetter fall season) and shows you the current weather. That makes it a nice hub for a quick view of what’s going into your lungs.
Add a mini hub for more control and better battery life
SwitchBot’s app offers a plethora of information.
Connecting the app via Bluetooth opened up a world of possibilities – well, once I created an account and applied numerous firmware updates anyway.
Using the app I was able to adjust how often the meter updates to save battery life. The battery lasts about 12 months and charges via USB-C, so it’s not a big deal. But I found that by increasing the frequency of updates, I could more easily test air quality without any noticeable drawbacks.
You can use the Meter Pro as is, but it gets a significant functionality boost the SwitchBot Hub Mini ($40). My model came with one, so I was able to set it up and connect to the SwitchBot app. That enabled some of the more advanced features like notifications and remote monitoring, so it’s a quality of life improvement if you want to spend a little more.
The hub also allows you to set alerts through the app, via notifications or with sound alarms, based on triggers such as when the temperature, humidity or PPM reach certain levels. It also lets you do things like low temperature alerts in rooms (or garages) that are far from your thermostat, so you know when they might need extra heating.
Dive into air quality statistics, customization and more
SwitchBot’s preferences allow many readout adjustments.
The SwitchBot app isn’t quite ready yet. As I discovered, you can view the local dew point and vapor pressure deficit, as well as get weather forecasts if you’re willing to give your address to the app. The app includes a history graph so you can also see patterns over time.
If we delve deeper into the settings, even more options will emerge. You can recalibrate the temperature and humidity settings if they seem a little off for your climate, then manually adjust your idea of a “comfort level” to monitor when the monitor warns of a problem.
The Hub Mini also offers compatibility with common voice assistants, such as Amazon Alexa. This allows you to set up automations with other Alexa-enabled devices, such as a smart thermostat or even a humidifier.
While the app mentions the ability to store your long-term air quality data in the cloud for a fee, this is absolutely not necessary if you’re just using the Meter Pro, so subscriptions aren’t an issue for this monitor.
An air quality monitor for every home
SwitchBot’s Meter Pro with CO2 Monitoring is compact, highly portable and accurately measures air conditions in every part of your home with its Swiss sensor. Add to that the current low cost of $50 to $60 and it’s an ideal monitoring solution for anyone who isn’t sure what the air is like in their home and wants to keep an eye on air quality this winter.
One final note: If you are interested in purchasing this air quality monitor, make sure you choose the option with CO2 monitoring. SwitchBot has a comparable Meter Pro that does everything except monitor carbon dioxide levels. The new version with CO2 monitoring is a much better package, even with the higher price.
