Verdict
The Aqara Radiator Thermostat W600 is a solid, well-priced smart TRV that’s a decent successor to the ageing E1. It looks good, installs quickly, and gives you a genuine choice between Matter over Thread simplicity or Aqara’s deeper Zigbee feature set. Used in the Aqara Zigbee ecosystem, it is reliable, flexible, and packed with genuinely useful heating controls. Step outside that environment and things can get a little untidy, but for existing Aqara users, with a hub in place, it is an easy option to smarten up a room’s heating.
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Clean, premium design -
Quick, simple installation -
Zigbee or Matter choice -
Fits most radiators
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Confusing button controls -
Matter mode quirks -
No boiler control -
App sync inconsistencies
Key Features
Introduction
Smart radiator thermostats (TRVs) sit in a bit of an awkward middle ground. At one end you have full-on heating systems from the likes of Tado and Honeywell that want to run your entire heating (and cooling) setup and control every radiator in your house.
At the other, you have smart thermostats that, let’s face it, do little more than stop you having to get up to manually adjust your thermostat.
The Aqara Radiator Thermostat W600 aims for the sweet spot between the two.
The likes of TP-Link, Netatmo and Shelly have similarly priced options but these don’t have the Matter skills of the W600.
With all smart TRVs, you’re getting room-by-room heating control that works independently of your boiler. With the W600 you are getting one that supports supports Matter over Thread like the Eve Thermo, but comes in at a much more affordable price.
As with most Aqara devices, though, the real story is the choice you have to make before you even get started.
Design and installation
- Plenty of adapters in the box
- Easy to fit to existing TRV
- Robust build quality
Design-wise, the W600 is a big step up from the old E1. It looks far more premium, closer to something like a Tado TRV than a budget smart accessory.
Its matte white finish looks clean, the front display is clear and easy to read, and the overall shape feels more considered. The display shows temperature and status icons and can be rotated 180 degrees, which is useful depending on how your radiator is mounted.
The unit twists to change temperature manually, and there is a physical button on the top. That button is the one of the weakest parts of the hardware, however.
The combinations of presses and holds are not intuitive at all. Factory resetting, for example, involves a double press followed by a long press, and I regularly had to check the manual to remind myself what did what.
The good news is that installation is straightforward. Aqara includes a plethora of adapters in the box, covering M30x1.5 and a long list of common radiator valves.
The mounting hardware is metal rather than plastic, which feels reassuring and is actually a step up from more expensive rivals.
Swapping the W600 in place of an existing Tado TRV took me less than five minutes once I found the correct adapter.
Once installed, the W600 runs through an automatic calibration, learning how far the valve pin needs to move. You can also run this calibration again using the app, at any time.
The Aqara app walks you through the process clearly, with diagrams if you get stuck. Power comes from two AA batteries, accessed by removing the outer shell.
Beware.. the internal LEDs are extremely bright once exposed, so avoid staring directly at them in order to protect your retinas.
Under the case is also where you will find the Matter and native pairing QR codes.
Features and performance
- Matter support
- Thread or Zigbee options
The defining feature of the W600, as it’s becoming common with Aqara, is its dual-protocol support. You can run it either as a Matter over Thread device or as a Zigbee device within the Aqara ecosystem. You can switch between the two at any time, but only one can be active, and the two modes never overlap.
Out of the box, the W600 ships in Thread mode. Switching to Zigbee requires a protocol change process that takes around five minutes. The same process applies if you ever want to switch back, and it involves a factory reset by double tapping and then holding the button for ten seconds.
In Thread mode, you can add the W600 directly to platforms like Apple Home or Amazon Alexa using a compatible Matter controller and a Thread border router, such as an Apple TV or Echo device.
You can also add it through the Aqara app if you have an Aqara M3 hub or M200 hub acting as a Thread border router. While direct pairing works, the Aqara app still offers the best overall experience, even in Thread mode.
Zigbee mode unlocks the full Aqara feature set. This includes window detection, more advanced scheduling behaviour, child lock, frost protection adjustments, and tighter integration with Aqara sensors.
You will need an Aqara Zigbee hub for this, but if you already run Aqara gear, this is where the W600 makes the most sense.
The thermostat supports linking to Aqara temperature and humidity sensors, including the original sensor, the T1, and the W100 Climate Sensor, which I tested it in tandem with.
When paired with a sensor, you can choose whether the W600 uses its built-in temperature sensor or an external one, which is useful if your radiator placement gives inaccurate readings.
Temperature calibration is also available if you want to fine-tune readings further.
Temperature control is handled in 0.5°C degree increments, and changes made in the app or via your smart home platform show up on the device itself after a short delay. That delay is noticeable but never problematic, but not as quick as temperature changes on Tado X.
Noise levels are low. Aqara claims under 30dB, and in practice it sounds very similar to Tado’s familiar whirr and buzz. It is not something that would wake you at night unless you are a light sleeper.
Scheduling in the Aqara app allows up to seven time periods per day, with different profiles for different rooms if you have multiple devices.
One frustration, when it comes to scheduling or having the device paired to another ecosystem, is that changes made outside of the native app do not always reflect back into the Aqara app, which can make it harder to see the true state of your setup at a glance.
Window detection worked well in testing, correctly spotting sudden temperature drops and pausing heating accordingly.
Child lock is available for households with curious hands, and frost protection is enabled by default to prevent pipes from freezing in very cold conditions.
It is worth restating that this is not a whole-home heating system. The W600 does not talk to your boiler and can’t call for heat. If your boiler is not turned on and running, then changes to the W600 don’t make a difference.
If you already have a smart thermostat controlling your boiler, you can bridge the gap with automations. For example, setting the W600 to 20 degrees could also trigger your Nest or other thermostat to turn the boiler on.
I tested the W600 primarily in Zigbee mode paired to an Aqara M3 hub. With a strong Aqara Zigbee mesh already in place, I had no dropouts or reliability issues.
Matter over Thread testing was also mostly stable, helped by my solid Thread network via multiple Eero devices that also double up as Thread border routers.
That said, I did occasionally see the W600 reported as heating in Apple Home while no heat was actually coming through. Pulling out the batteries and reinserting them fixed it, but that is not something you want to do regularly.
There is also a room sync feature designed to coordinate multiple W600 units in the same space, but with only one device available for testing, I could not evaluate how well this works.
Should you buy it?
You want an upgrade to a dumb radiator
A simple upgrade over a traditional TRV, the W600 gives you more flexible temperature control.
You want a system that can call for heat
If you want the boiler to come on when temperature chages are made, you need a full whole-home heating system.
Final Thoughts
The Aqara Radiator Thermostat W600 is a good smart TRV that makes the most sense when used as part of a wider Aqara setup. In Zigbee mode, it is reliable, flexible, and packed with features that genuinely help manage room-by-room heating.
Matter over Thread support is welcome and mostly works well-ish, but it still feels less predictable than Aqara’s native route.
If you already have an Aqara hub and sensors, the W600 is an easy upgrade from the E1 and a strong alternative to pricier options.
If you are planning to rely entirely on Matter without Aqara’s ecosystem, it is still worth considering, but be prepared for a few rough edges.
How we test
We test every smart thermostat we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
- Used as our main smart thermostat for the review period
- We monitor the temperature of our test lab to see how well the thermostat maintains temperature.
- Smart thermostats are installed into our custom test set-up; smart radiator valves are installed on multiple radiators throughout our test lab.
FAQs
No, there’s no direct control over your boiler, so think of this as a smarter TRV rather than full whole-home heating.
Thread is good if you want to connect directly to another smart home system, but Zigbee via an Aqara hub gives you the best range of features.
Test Data
| Aqara Radiator Thermostat W600 |
|---|
Full Specs
| Aqara Radiator Thermostat W600 Review | |
|---|---|
| UK RRP | £49.99 |
| Manufacturer | – |
| Size (Dimensions) | 57 x 57 x 90 MM |
| Release Date | 2025 |
| First Reviewed Date | 03/02/2026 |
| Model Number | Aqara Radiator Thermostat W600 |
| Smart assistants | Yes |
| App Control | Yes |
| Heating type | Radiator valve |
| Window detection | Yes |
