THIRDREALITY Smart Soil Moisture Sensor 3Pack,Zigbee hub Needed,Capacitive Probe,Moisture/Temperature Meter for Garden Planting,Compatible with Homey,Hubitat, SmartThings,Home Assistant

I have used these for about a month now - they are quite reliable and provide good perspective on soil hydration. My temp sensor is pretty much right on with the other temp sensors in the reasonable range in our house. I keep the house around 70 and this thing seems to agree with the thermostat. If it were not accurate, it would be easy to fix - all thermos need calibrated from time to time and its fairly normal for one sensor to not match another. Pick the easiest to calibrate accurate - calibrate that one - then adjust the offset on everything else to match it. Quite easy to do this in Z2M - see the settings in photo attached. As far as the humidity in the soil - thats kind of a known problem as far as measurement goes. There isn't really a great way to test how much water is in soil... especially if you are attempting to do it with constant reporting over the course of a year with a AAA battery or two. The accuracy isn't the value here though. The value is in the trend reporting. I legit couldnt care less what the actual number is (or, more accurately, what its correlation to "true" is) - what I can do, however, is notice that after this sensor reports below 35 ( or whatever ) the leaves on my plant start drooping. That is the calibration - that is the accuracy. And this device is perfect in that scenario - I can see the trends and know what to do from there... No device at this price point or this level of energy efficiency will be able to do more than that - there are simply too many variables (everyone's rain and soil is different!). After observing trends for a while, you will realize the actual number doesn't matter. If it does matter, put it in the driest soil you can find and offset that to 0! As far as connectivity goes - I have had no issues. I have a robust zigbee network and it has a multitude of lightbulbs and other mains powered zigbee devices from which to join the mesh in its vicinity. A quick glance at my Z2M map shows it comically connected to one of the furthest possible bulbs at the moment and the connection quality is still fine. My only complaint on these (have a couple more on the way actually) is that shipping from Amazon is so slow but I am chalking that up to being a newer product.

I bought this specifically because it was advertised as a soil moisture sensor compatible with Alexa/Echo Zigbee hubs. After pairing it successfully, Alexa only shows the temperature reading. The moisture/humidity data that is heavily advertised is completely missing in the Alexa app. The product page makes it sound like you’ll be able to monitor soil moisture directly from Alexa, but that’s not true. Even the device screen in Alexa only displays temperature with humidity showing “–”. The sensor itself may technically support moisture readings through platforms like Home Assistant or SmartThings, but for Alexa users this is essentially just a temperature sensor. That should be clearly disclosed before purchase. Very disappointing and feels like false advertising for Echo/Alexa customers.

I have other ThirdReality devices and other Zigbee devices to mesh around the house. These ground sensors easily connected to my newest SMARTTHINGS hub. One of these new sensors is 150 feet from the hub. I purchased a second pair after installing the first two when I found they quickly connected to my SMARTTHINGS hub. But, I yet do not know how to interpret the relative humidity readings (sensor shows 100% in cup of water and 0% on dry table). My problem was getting NO help from ThirdReality when I tried to use the moisture data to control my older WiFi-based sprinkler/soaker controllers. Alexa only sees the temperature readings. I spent several hours making the crossover and found the solution also helped with my other Zigbee devices. Condensed solution: I had to move my sprinkler controllers from SmartLife App to Gosung app. I used “outdoor” as a room for all Apps. Program WiFi sprinkler controllers as normal. Create a Gosung Tap-to-Run scene to activate “delay” function for 24 hours on EACH sprinkler controller. Go to SMARTTHINGS and create DEVICEs to delay each WiFi sprinkler controller scene using Partner Devices scrolling to Gosund. Gosund will link to SMARTTHINGS upon the initial creation. Add SMARTTHINGS scenes to activate each SMARTTHINGS device if moisture is above (say) 50%. Edit the SMARTTHING scene to run each morning (say 4am) prior to the program WiFi controller’s first open-time. This allows the WiFi timer-controllers to run normally if the THIRDREALITY MOISTURE is low. If THIRDREALITY moisture is high the WiFi controller will be delayed that day … repeats subsequent days is ground is still wet. Yes, backward logic … I hope THIRDREALITY understands my problem now … is there an easier way? I have duplicated the time-to-run routines (say 1am & 5am) to cover network-service gaps.

I got this product hoping to use it standalone with IKEA Homesmart or Apple Home. While the sensors work fine, and connectivity was fine, I’m not able to trigger the desired automations I wanted. This seems to be a limitation of not having purchased the Thirdreality hub. Setup was easy enough. Size is nice and compact. Documentation details setup with other smart home systems, I took a punt on it working how I wanted with mine. So the product is fine. But lose a point because of lack of full inter-compatibility.

I recently had a problem with root rot in my indoor Tea Rose. I'd been looking for a zigbee soil monitor for a while and my discovery of this lined up with my holiday shopping, so it seemed like the time to give it a try. The Good: Connects immediately to SmartThings, and so will also work with most other smart home ecosystems. Measures both temperature and "humidity". Waterproof (safe for outdoor use). Includes a battery. The Bad: What the description doesn't tell you - this thing is HUGE. Way bigger than the illustrations let on. The default SmartThings driver does not include battery level, but the device does report it. The ThirdReality Temp/Humidity driver includes battery, but only reports temperature OR humidity on the icon (you have to open the device in the app to see both readings). The Ugly: Digital soil meters are still not very common. This means there's no standards for measuring soil moisture and no standards for when to water various plants based on that digital reading. Humidity readings are reported very infrequently and take a while to update when the moisture level changes or if the meter is removed and replaced. I've had this for a couple weeks now. Overall I like it and would recommend, but it's not going to immediately solve all of your over/under watering problems. Set your expectations. It's not clear in the description or documentation how this device measures humidity. However, the design of the sensor post suggests it's measuring soil conductivity, like most analog moisture meters. It's also not clear how the reading is calibrated. And of course there are no instructions regarding what moisture levels are appropriate for what plants (though this is understandable, since ThirdReality is a tech company not a gardening company). What all of this means is that you'll have to do some science: Water according to your normal schedule and monitor the readings from this device in order to "calibrate" yourself. Once you've gone through a few watering cycles and seen how this reads, you can set your automations or alerts accordingly. Removing and replacing the sensor will alter its readings! I tested removing and replacing the meter. The reading went from 36% before to 0% removed and 10% after. I dug down a couple inches to confirm that the soil is still damp down below. This is likely just due to poor soil contact with the sensor probe, which will improve with watering and soil settling. This means that once you've place it and started your "calibration", it should stay put; removing it will require you to "recalibrate". For a version 2, I think they could reduce the size quite a bit if they tried. A smaller sensor would be nice, and most of the size is to accommodate the battery. I'd also like to see a version that could be externally or solar powered to reduce battery waste. And updating the ThirdReality ST driver to display both temp and humidity in the device thumbnail would be nice. But most of all, including a chart of "ideal water levels" for some common plants would elevate this substantially, making it a lot more user friendly for beginners or those trying to compensate for a "black thumb" (including this in a custom driver would be AMAZING). Still, after all that, tl;dr: It's worth the $20 and if you're reading this review then you should get it. But let's also hope they come out with an upgrade. I will probably buy several more of these and I'm considering the watering kit too.

Updated Review I dropped my rating from 3 stars to 2 stars. Two of these have fallen off my zigbee network despite making sure there were repeaters close by to all the sensors. The ones that are on the network are connecting directly to my hub. They appear to not like using zigbee plugs as repeaters. Original Review: I've purchased about 8 of these to use with my hubitat hub and I've also purchased 8 Ecowitt soil sensors, which require a gateway. I've tried various methods to test and calibrate the 3rd reality models. Here are my conclusions: 1) I haven't had the issues some have noted keeping them on my zigbee network. They paired easily with my hubitat and all but one have stayed pair and online. 2) They seem to have a fairly weak signal though. The sensor at the furthest extreme of my backyard (about 60-70ft from my hub) goes off the network within a few hours. Fortunately, I have a shed nearby with power, so I put a Sonoff zigbee outlet in there to act as a repeater. So far, that seems to be working (but it's not been long). 3) Temperature - I saw some comments about the temperature being soil surface rather than deeper - I don't need that information so I can't comment. 4) These sensors seem to be very sensitive to how they are inserted into the soil. Digging up the soil and then packing it around the sensor seems to work better than just pushing them in. 5) Each time they are removed and then reinserted the value changes significantly. (This might be true for other sensors as well) 6) I initially hoped I could calibrate them by putting them all in the same location (within a few inches of each other) and tracking their values to derive a normalization factor. However, if I remove them and put them right back in, not only do they absolute values change, but their relative values shift as well. So it doesn't seem possible to derive a factor that will hold for each sensor. I've concluded that the best you can do is a) pick a spot, b) dig up some soil, c) insert the sensor , d) pack the soil around it and then measure the soil moisture with some other device you trust. I have a non-smart moisture sensor that seems to provide "believable" values, so I'm using that as my comparator. Measure the moisture with whatever device you choose, and use that to derive a normalization factor. I have not been able to find any soil moisture gauges that get consistently good reviews that aren't super expensive. I'm using one I bought from a drip irrigation store for about $30. If you do all this, you can get useful data - especially if you're goal is to know when to water or not water, which is my use case. I wanted data for each zone of my garden that I could use to modify the watering controlled by my open sprinkler. Even if I knew the data were "accurate", I don't have any sources that tell me what soil moisture % to maintain for each of my perennials - the best I can find is they like it consistently moist or fairly dry or well-drained, so it all feels like a guess anyway. All that said, I'm finding the Ecowitt sensors superior. They cost only a few $ more. They do require the Ecowitt hub but you can get one of those for around $30. They have a much longer distance range than the 3rd reality probes. They also seem to have a greater usable range. That is, the 3rd reality probes seem to hit 100% faster than the Ecowitt probes. I did a comparison of the two this way: I put one of each type of probe in the same location, following the same procedure for inserting them. I separated them by a few inches. I then tracked values before an after a major rain storm (fortunate coincidence) to see how they responded to the increase in soil moisture. I'll try to attach a table showing the values before and after the storm and the relative changes. Conclusions? Not only do the values differ, but the change in values differ and not consistently. The 3rd reality probes mostly have greater deltas as the soil got wetter - but not always. They mostly (but not always) start higher and are more likely to ceiling at 99% while none of the Ecowitt probes hit the ceiling. Bottom line - whatever you choose, you probably need to calibrate each probe individually in the location it will stay in. Don't move it and expect the calibration to hold. Don't expect similar values across brands, across locations or even at the same location if you move the probe. So at each and every location, you should take some readings with your comparator gauge that is intended to be used for spot measurements when the soil seems dry, just right, and very moist, and then derive some kind of scale that works for you. Of course, if you don't intend to use the data in some kind of integrated system, it's probably much simpler to just walk around periodically with your gauge and take some spot measurements and dispense with the whole idea of continuous data collection.

06-21-2025 Update Six days and the sensors are still at 100% battery. I would say the battery issue is resolved. They are working great. Third Reality really stands by their products. I am a big fan! 06-15-2025 Update Replacement soil sensors paired easily with ZHA in Home Assistant. They have been running for 48 hours and are still at 100% battery. Much better than the 24 hour battery life of the previous sensors. Very pleased. ______________________ 06-13-2025 Update. Third Reality reached out to me and replaced these sensors. Thank you. I just received the replacements yesterday. I will update this review once I have paired them and have run them for a week or so to see if the battery drain issue is resolved. Very nice to see Third Reality being proactive on this. ______________________ While this sensor easily paired with ZHA in Home Assistant, the battery drains in 24 hours; making this sensor unusable in practice. This is not a distance issue as I have zigbee repeaters within 20 feet of all 3 soil sensors that I purchased and all 3 sensors have the same issue. For comparison, the 2 Fdit brand zigbee soil sensors I previously purchased on Amazon have been connected and running 7 months on the same battery & they are further from my repeaters than the third reality sensors. Unfortunately, the Fdit sensors were no longer available, so I was excited Third Reality was offering soil sensors as I have had great success with their other products. Really disappointed with this Third Reality offering ☹️

I bought the three pack of the sensors along with THIRDREALITY's Zigbee hub. Setup was easy enough as long as you set up their app first. Integrating this into Google Home shows the ambient temperature instead of the moisture, so you have to click into each sensor to get the rest of the details. Overall just bad integration into Google Home. There is also no way to log the information, or see trends over time. You can only see what the data is at the moment you open the app to look at it. So no way to see how long it takes your soil to drain or dry out. Those shortcomings alone would have had me rate this with 3-4 starts. What has this rated as 1 start is the fact that every time I went into the app to check the current moisture level, it would take several minutes to connect to the devices, or it would not connect at all. About 75% of the time I had to reboot the hub and wait 5-8 minutes to reconnect. Now it won't connect at all, no matter how often I reboot the hub. I'll have to try resetting the hub, forcing me to set everything up again, but if I have to do that every few months these will just go in the trash.

werkt perfect! Gekoppeld aan Homey krijgen m'n planten nu op tijd (maar niet te vroeg) water. Koppelen gaat eenvoudig en verbinding is stabiel

Parfait avec Home Assistant en Z2M. Par contre portée faible et données parfois questionables.

works great with Deconz and Home Assistant providing soil humidity and soil temperature. The baterry seems to go down a bit fast (it came with a Amazon basic "industrial" battery - not sure how good that is) - in two weeks it went down from 100% to 82%. Will probably move to rechargable.

I use these with Zigbee2Mqtt + Openhab / NodeRed to feed my Netro garden irrigation system. This device monitors soil moisture and Netro has the rules to turn on/off irrigation. Requires some initial effort (eg zigbee pairing, firmware update, calibration, offset values, optimizing reporting to maximize battery - I consider these normal for a zigbee device). Rock solid after the initial setup.

De beste betaalbare bodemsensor die ik ken. Erg nauwkeurig. De meesten geven al gauw teveel aan, deze niet. Werkt uitstekend in Home Assistant en Zigbee2MQTT.