Xiaomi E Ink Thermometer and Hygrometer

A few weeks ago I received the Xiaomi E Ink Thermometer and Hygrometer. This E ink thermometer is a new product from Xiaomi, a Chinese brand that develops high-quality products. I usually don’t publish product reviews, but this one is different. How? Keep reading to find out.

The Xiaomi E Ink Thermometer on my coffee table

If you follow my projects, you probably know that I have built many projects that display the temperature and the humidity over the last three years. Lately, I created yet another temperature monitor using an E Ink display. You can read more about that project here.

My own e-ink thermometer

As you can imagine, when I discovered a commercial E Ink Thermometer I couldn’t resist, and I ordered one. In this article, I am going to describe my experience with this commercial product.

First of all, this thermometer looks gorgeous! It is relatively small; it is 6,5×6,5cms and about 10mm thick. It features a 2.4″ E-Ink display which is the main reason I bought it. Since it uses an E-Ink display, in theory, has very low power consumption needs. E-Ink displays do not require energy to display something. They only require energy when updating. This product is powered by a coin cell battery which Xiaomi claims that it can power the device for over a year. I am using this product for two months now, and of course, it still works on the same battery.

Another advantage of e-ink displays is that they offer great contrast and a wide viewing angle. Check the photo below, even though I shot this photo from an angle the display is still extremely visible. I liked this product so much, that I order a couple more to place in different rooms.

The Xiaomi E Ink Thermometer on my bookcase

It is the first commercial E-Ink product I have ever purchased. So far, e-ink displays were not used in commercial products a lot since they are pretty expensive. Now that Xiaomi offers a low-cost E-Ink product, it means that e-inks are mature enough and easy to produce in large quantities. This is great because it means that more e-ink products are going to hit the market soon. This also means that prices of the e-ink displays are going to decrease a lot.

The 1.5″ E-Paper display for Arduino costs around 20$. I bought the Xiaomi E Ink Thermometer which features a 2.4″ E-Ink display for 15$. Prices are going down, and I think we are going to see more and more companies to offer e-ink products. Also, I expect more e-ink displays to become available for Arduino and Raspberry Pi which is great! E-Ink is here to stay and change the way we make things! Can’t wait to build another project with one of them!