SwitchBot Weather Station review (Patreon exclusive)

Hi Mat, has your TRMNL X arrived yet? I ordered one, but delivery seems very slow at the moment. I ordered mine 19 days ago and I was 3,800 in the queue and I am now 1,900...

I liked this video a lot. I am also interested in such a device, yet I have a growing phobia of phone apps. And the pacing is definitely very good

Nice to see you're attending an event regarding the reissue of the Alexander O'Neal song Fake.

You might be able to use IFTTT to send bin day info to the free text API. But yeah, I’m now tempted to look at the TRMNL X. Also when it comes to IoT devices, my WiFi router has a separate 2.4GHz only VLAN for those devices, so it seems 2.4GHz only is a thing for Internet of things

Oh thank you for the review of this! I was super curious as I have so many e-ink devices and gadgets. I even have some, just e-ink panels that I want to customize via: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65sda565l9Y Ironically, I had to import the panels from the UK.

What I have found myself doing over the last few years is watching for sales on inexpensive tablets with 10 inch screens. Then I can figure those tablets with an account and software and just hang them on the wall powered 24/7 with an app running so for example my weather app shows an actual animated live radar map all the time and because I chose dark screen mode when there's no weather activity to speak of in the area it's pretty much just the black screen but because the application shows things such as lightning wind direction and some other weather details as well as the color of a radar image it becomes quite an informative passive device that when inclement weather comes in sort of sticks out because of all the color and lightning flash activity. Another tablet I've configured is a large clock that hangs on my wall and give me time and date information. And the nice thing about these tablets is that you can configure them to do more than one thing if you want and when you compare the prices to dedicated devices that do one thing usually the tablet wins out.

At 1:18 SwitchBot proudly boast it's the "World's first E-Ink weather station with smart calendar". May be it was released years before the TRMNL but "smart calendar" is a stretch.

Thanks for this video & videos Mat they are always usefull. If you put a video out I will always watch it. I enjoy everyone you put out. This sort of device would suit me as I am always using my phone for this sort of thing. Keep on doing what your doing Take breaks when and if you can. Try not to get burn out. Mat your are videos are GREAT ! 🙂 📹

Glad to see a short video again. Don't need a 45 Minute video every time.

I use an old Kindle to display clock and weather. I have other old Android phones showing my real-time blood sugar and a little thing that display train times https://postimg.cc/DS4CvQJ2

This is I have staff. Life too complicated. (Not really. Sadly no staff 😿😿)

I don't see any change in the quality of your videos - I always enjoy watching them. I'm a similar age to you, and I think it's natural to start feeling 'old' - a lot of modern culture is aimed at younger people. Also YouTube drives the sort of mindless mock-shock "You'll never guess what..." content that I find quite insulting (!). I refuse to make videos like this for my channel. I work in the tech industry which is quite youth-oriented, and I really don't want to become a miserable old git! I think the answer is acceptance that we're all getting older. Keep an open mind but use experience and perspective to bring a different angle to things rather than trying to do stuff you're not comfortable doing. It's not as commercial but if its what you enjoy then its worth it.

A good review as always, Matt.

The flinging away of the superfluous leaflets cracked me up! Something to consider before YT general release: At the end it sounded like you recommended the TRMNL-X, but before you've seen it in the flesh... Interesting and entertaining video - thx for continuing to make these.

Nice video with a happy ending. I hope you are planning on doing the TRMNL X video in the future.

Matt, I feel your pain. but you are suffering for us. You prevented me already a few times from worthless purchases (and loss of lifetime) by putting out videos about less than half baked products, which looked totally fine, at least for me.

I appreciate snarky videos about duds like this. thanks for publishing and sharing your disappointment. (when a company ships banana software to people, they should stand up to the consequences)

Received a TRMNL X just this past week. It’s interesting how all these things can be done on there and I have also just decided on calendar+weather for it thus far.

The video is a solid review in the tried-and-tested Techmoan style. I noticed nothing wrong with it and there's no indication that you've lost your mojo. Perhaps the slight notion of fatigue you're experiencing stems from the fact that tech has become increasingly generic in recent years. A lot of "smart" tech is essentially a screen with cloud connectivity in a fancy package (smartphones, smartwatches, smart TVs...), so you're basically testing software. The SwitchBot weather station and the TRMNL are good examples of that, as they are built around a very similar hardware concept. Both are essentially an e-ink screen attached to an SoC with a WiFi radio. It's the software that defines the experience, and the folks at TRMNL have arguably done a better job at it. Also, the TRMNL seems to be more geared towards developers in general, even though they charge an extra one-time fee if you want access to the developer features. Still, the option exists, and according to the documentation, you can even point the device to your own server. Not having to rely on proprietary cloud services is a plus nowadays, even if you have to pay an upfront fee.

Shame you can't get the facelift before you meet the Prime Minister :D

Almost looked the newer device was older!!

Glad that the SwitchBot led you down a path to getting the gadget you wanted (more or less). I still use a big (12X16in. or 305X406mm) white paper calendar on the wall for listing appointments (like buying a Porsche or hiding a body--you know, normal everyday stuff), because of my tradition of getting the same brand of calendar each year featuring photography by Ansel Adams. I like the practicality of the TRMNL though so maybe I'll eventually get one--or not since I'm also kind of a cheapskate.

Typo at 3:35 - "Note: Your home location is *specified* in the app.

I am absolutely certain that most solo YouTube creators experience the exact same thing as you do.

I think when you're doing anything creative, there are times you doubt yourself and your abilities. It's not helped if the tech landscape isn't exactly bristling with innovation. I think this video was perfectly fine, and that makes it better than 99.9% of other content on YT. Apropos of nothing, watching an old episode and you mention covering the Philips CD-i one day, I'd like to see that!

Sounded like Jim from Vicar of Dibley... No, no, no, no. no. Yes.

Good video, but I never went down this particular rabbit hole. I just rely on my phone, or my other phone, or my watch, or my windows laptop, or my Mac laptop, or my desktop, or one of 3 TVs, (only 2 of us in the house), or my infotainment system in my car…. Or Alexa. I do like Alexa. Cheers.

Even a short video like this one required a lot of editing and inserts, well done. Loved these: • Gameboy cartridge storage - it's a worthwhile thing after all! • Buckingham Palace as your location 👑 • Paperwork discarding - it looks like my mail sorting - and the stuff remains where it landed after several hours. I am grieving that I won't get to see your fake calendar tasks. It's hard to believe the TRMNL video was almost a year ago. Where did the time go? I'm glad it will work out for you after all. The way I keep tabs on things I need to do is less than helpful - I set up notifications and alarms, but I can disregard or snooze and they become annoyances rather than useful tools. Having a visual cue constantly in my face would be an improvement for sure. Oh, and there are blocks of all kinds. For example, I suffer from 'applying for jobs block' and 'interviewing block' because they always seem to lead to rejection. You always had 'it' from what I can tell, and you never lost 'it'. Take care 🤍