Aqara Presence Multi-Sensor FP300 review

Aqara Presence Multi-Sensor FP300: Introduction

If you’ve been following Aqara’s presence sensor lineup, the FP300 is a pretty big deal. It’s the brand’s first truly wireless mmWave sensor, one that doesn’t need a power cord dangling down your wall.

Despite its compact frame, it manages to pack the same hybrid detection tech as the wired FP1E and FP2 models, only now with the freedom to place it anywhere you like… albeit with a few caveats.

It’s built to be an all-rounder, combining PIR and mmWave sensing with light, temperature, and humidity monitoring, plus the kind of smart home compatibility that makes it comfortable in any ecosystem.

Thread and Zigbee are both onboard, with Matter support bridging the gap between platforms.

Read on for my full Aqara Presence Multi-Sensor FP300 review.

Design and components

The FP300 ditches the FP2’s rounded “puck” design found on the FP1E and PF2 for something more traditional. It has a small motion-sensor-style housing that looks right at home in any room. It’s subtle, neat, and completely wire-free.

Two CR2450 batteries keep it powered for up to two years (assuming you’re not hammering every sensor at max sensitivity), and there’s a small LED on the front that flashes for activity, or not at all if you prefer it dark as you can turn it off in the Aqara app settings.

In the box you’ll find a 3M adhesive pad, magnetic mount, and screw, so you can either stick it on a shelf, attach it to metal, or fix it to a wall.

That flexibility makes it ideal for spaces where you wouldn’t normally want to run power such as hallways, bathrooms, or awkward corners.

Features

The FP300 is a 5-in-1 sensor that can handle presence, PIR motion, light, temperature, and humidity.

If you want the simplest setup, you can link it directly over Thread to a Matter-enabled system without even using an Aqara hub or app. It’ll show up in your preferred platform and start reporting presence and ambient data immediately.

However, if you want to dig into the advanced options; things like sensitivity adjustments, motion modes, and AI learning then you’ll need to connect it to an Aqara hub using Matter-over-Thread.

For the full suite of features, you’ll need to pair it to your Aqara hub using Zigbee. The good news is that doesn’t mean you miss out on the Matter cross-platform compatibility as most of Aqara’s hubs also act as Matter bridges, so you still keep full interoperability while unlocking the deeper settings.

If you can’t decide what option is best for your setup, it’s fine to experiment first before you decide what connectivity path to opt for. I had it set up Matter-over-Thread to start with but it was easy enough to flash the firmware to take it down the Zigbee route after in the Aqara app.

Whatever mode you use, if you use the Aqara app you’ll see the data points from the different sensors presented as four different cards.

When it comes to the motion and presence sensing, you can run PIR and mmWave separately or together. This “Infrared Radar Dual Presence” combo mode gives excellent accuracy while balancing battery usage, while mmWave-only mode offers peak precision with a heavier battery toll.

The FP300 also includes AI Spatial Learning, which can scan your room layout in about 20 seconds to detect walls and boundaries. It’s clever, though in testing it didn’t always improve response time. In fact, turning it off made presence detection feel slightly snappier.

Each environmental sensor can be tweaked independently, with five levels for both light and humidity. What you don’t get here is the ultra-detailed zone mapping that the FP2 offers, where you can define furniture positions and detection zones, that remains a wired-only feature.

Performance

Performance-wise, this thing is rock solid. Detection happens almost instantly, even for subtle motion, and it doesn’t trigger falsely.

Running in dual-sensor mode at medium sensitivity, it covered my 6x5m kitchen flawlessly, sensing presence while I was stood or sat still in the room, and reacting the moment I left (after a absence delay that you can tweak in the app.)

Automation timing is also spot on: lights switched on as soon as someone entered and turned off cleanly after the delay I’d set. That kind of reliability is what makes the FP300 feel like a proper upgrade over traditional motion sensors.

Light readings were consistent with Aqara’s Motion Sensor P2, and temperature was within 0.2°C of other Aqara sensors placed nearby, impressive given their different locations. Even running on batteries, responsiveness never dipped. The FP300 feels every bit as quick as its wired siblings.

Because it supports Matter, you can use it across Apple Home, Google Home, or SmartThings, though you’ll lose some of Aqara’s granular sensitivity controls if you stick purely to external automations although you’ll get plenty of data points if you use Home Assistant.

Final thoughts

The FP300 is compact, reliable, and finally free from cables, which instantly makes it more useful in real-world homes. You don’t get the more advanced zone mapping of its wired siblings, but for most people, that’s a fair trade for the flexibility of going wireless.

Between its accurate detection, excellent battery performance, and cross-platform compatibility, it’s easily one of the most versatile presence sensors on the market. The fact that it doesn’t need an outlet just seals the deal.

If you’ve been waiting for a portable mmWave sensor that doesn’t compromise on speed or accuracy, the FP300 is exactly that. It’s simple, smart, and ready to slot into any setup.

How we test

When we publish our reviews, you can rest assured that they are the result of “living with” long term tests.

Smart home sensors live within an ecosystem, or a range of products that – supposedly – all work in harmony. And they are designed to offer a range of different metrics. Therefore, it’s impossible to use a sensor for a week and deliver a verdict.

Because we’re testing smart home kit all day, everyday, we know what matters and how a particular smart device compares to alternatives that you might also be considering.

Our reviews are comprehensive, objective and fair and, of course, we are never paid directly to review a device.