What Changed After the Initial Review

Three weeks ago I wrote up my first impressions of the Sonoff Zigbee bridge and a pair of cheap motion sensors from Takealot. The verdict then was cautious: the hardware felt solid for the price, but the setup process left a few rough edges. Since that piece went live, I've been running the kit in my flat in Johannesburg, and a handful of things have shifted enough to warrant a follow-up.

The biggest change is firmware. Sonoff pushed an update that smoothed out the pairing process with Home Assistant. The first time I connected the bridge, I had to restart it twice before the Zigbee network picked up the sensors. After the update, a second sensor paired on the first attempt, no restart needed. That alone changes the recommendation for anyone who isn't comfortable fiddling with network logs.

Battery life is the other surprise. The spec sheet claims twelve months on a CR2032, and I was prepared to treat that as marketing optimism. After three weeks of constant use — the hallway sensor triggers at least twenty times a day — the voltage reading in Home Assistant hasn't budged. It's early days, but the power draw looks genuinely reasonable.

What hasn't improved is the mobile app. The companion app still insists on creating a cloud account before you can use local-only mode, and the onboarding flow hasn't changed. If you're comfortable skipping the app entirely and flashing the devices with Tasmota, you'll have a better time. For everyone else, the stock firmware works, but you'll want to read the community forums before you start.

There's also a practical note about placement. The PIR sensor in the living room kept false-triggering whenever the afternoon sun hit the wall opposite. Moving it higher and angling it away from the window cut the false positives by about eighty percent. Worth keeping in mind if you're planning a similar setup.

So where does that leave the original review? The core verdict stands — these are good budget components for a DIY smart home — but the firmware update removes my main hesitation. If you were waiting to see whether Sonoff would iron out the pairing quirks, that wait is over. The hardware is still not plug-and-play for absolute beginners, but it's closer than it was a month ago.

I'll do one more check in a few weeks to see how the sensors hold up through the colder months, when the heating kicks in and the hallway traffic pattern changes. If anything else shifts, I'll update this page rather than start a fresh thread.