Ohme Home Pro Review – is this still the smartest ev charger?

It has a new design and some snazzy new features, but is it the home ev charger for you lets find out in a market as new and crowded as the electric vehicle charger market? Brand loyalty is hard to come by many customers, simply dont know any ev charger brands and i dont blame them so its even more impressive, then that omi was able to build an almost cult like following when it launched its original charger known back then, as the Only intelligent wall charger and now simply as the only home sure it wasnt the best looking device, but it was unfussy and low cost and importantly, omi had the best app software on the market, enabling ev drivers to take advantage of innovative energy tariffs, such as octopus, Agile and save money on their car charging with ease that was over two years ago. Now there is much more competition, so its a real challenge to stand out and be competitive on price. At the same time, omis solution is the home pro. It has a new look with the most obvious addition being the color lcd screen its a tethered charger, which means it comes with a five meter, cable attached. It also still uses mobile data for these smart functions to work so youll want to check you get a strong mobile signal where you want. The charger. Locating and installers can also breathe a sigh of relief because the homepro includes built in open pen conduction protection, which means no earth.

Rod is required to be installed at the property. As with the original ome home Music. The style and looks of the home pro are certainly a step up from the basic design of the omi home, but its still rather utilitarian. It has a small overall profile when looking at it from the front, but it appears bulky from other angles and somehow manages to not look as slim as the specs would suggest, im unsure why this is to be honest and ultimately, beauty is, in the eye of The beholder – and i know many army home pro owners love the way it looks. I just feel this was an opportunity to really stake a claim to being the best looking ev charger on the market as well as the one with the best mobile app. The standout new feature is the color lcd screen, of course, well get on to the details of how that works later in the review but looks wise, it does add a lot more personality to the omi, while the display itself is crystal clear, the screen which allows You to control the ome from the unit itself will be a huge selling point to many. A couple of other niggles i found are related to the bundled in wall mount, which is a tad unfair on. Oh me, seeing as not all manufacturers offer these as part of the package but part of the package it is and the wall mount could be better.

It acts as a cable, tidy and holster for the charging plug, which should result in a neat finish when the yomi isnt in use. But the metal mount is just plain ugly, its a functional device, but it just doesnt look like it belongs to the only aesthetically. In addition, the angle of the holster means the charging plug juts out at a 90 degree angle, a little bit of consideration from the customer and installer around placement should overcome any potential access issues im looking at you, wheelie bins, but i cant help feeling. This is a small oversight that tarnishes the overall finished installation. Music, the only home pro looks tough and it feels tough, and i mean that as a compliment, because many of our own customers have asked whether ev charges are waterproof. So clearly, the robustness of car chargers is high on the agenda here. The home pro charger stands out against many of its competitors, which arent exactly flimsy, but the army just feels that bit more sturdy. The unit is completely sealed in the factory too, so its less likely to be damaged in transit, no loose face plates in the box here and theres, just generally fewer bits to fall off. Everything else is all up to standard the tethered five meter cable feels absolutely fine and is the same cable from the original, only home of which weve installed thousands and have had no complaints about the cable itself. Music, the ome app arguably doesnt, have the same lead over its rivals.

It once did, but the software is still just as pioneering and results in an overall excellent, smart charger package. The way child scheduling works with the only is different to most other charges, see you dont set a start time and stop time. Instead, you input the desired battery percentage. You want in your vehicle and the time by which you want it. For example, 80 by 7am. Every weekday morning, the army, home pro will then make sure your vehicle reaches that target. If you have an energy tariff with off peak rates, the army will also try to squeeze as much charging on the cheaper race to save you money, while ensuring your charge target is still met. This automatic syncing between your car charger and energy tariff has also enabled drivers to take advantage of innovative tariffs, such as octopus, agile, where the prices change every 30 minutes an absolute nightmare to manage. If you could only set up simple start and stop schedules, but the only makes eevee charging on a tariff like this easy. However, it does require an api connection with your vehicle to enable all this super smart stuff and not all vehicles are supported. The army can still charge all evs, but its not quite as seamless as those vehicles that have the api integration. Its a shame, then, that ome has still not included an option to set start and stop charge times as a backup option, as this would make setting up charging schedules easier for owners of vehicles which dont have that api connection.

Omis charging features are sublime for the many vehicles it supports, but theres a risk. Customers overlook the home pro if they think the experience will be more clunky for their vehicle Music using the home pro has been seamless, initial setup and pairing is all completed by the main unit and app, both of which guide you or your installer through the setup Process – and this is where the home pro screen comes into its own as instructions are clearly displayed with the only real task being to scan the qr code on the screen using the ome app and then youre done. It truly was that simple and easily the quickest and easiest initial setup of any charger ive had the pleasure of testing. So what about that screen then? Is it really that useful or just a nice to have surprisingly its not a touch screen instead making use of three buttons beneath for various controls? This is probably sensible from a cost and reliability point of view, though you can do most essential things on the unit itself via the screen that you could otherwise do on the app such as setting up your charging targets, monitor charging costs and vehicle charge level time To target and much more how useful the screen actually is will vary from driver to driver for me, i found it useful to quickly check the army was doing what it was supposed to be doing, but in reality, if i had to make any changes to my Car charging, then i would do this via the app from the comfort of my sofa.

I had no intention of standing outside and doing it. However, i can absolutely see a use case for drivers who dont want to faff around with an app either, in which case a screen and interface on the unit itself is a pretty big deal and i think many customers may find this simpler Music. So should you buy the only home pro a couple of years ago when the army home was unrivalled in the smart charging department and was one of the cheapest smart chargers around? Then it was an absolute no brainer fast forward to 2022 and the home pro is a truly excellent smart ev charge point for the home, but the competition has caught up and the price point for this version of the omi makes it a little harder to recommend. However, it is still one of the best options for home charging today, if you want the most advanced smart charging features available to you at a fair price, then the ome home pro is most definitely the one to pick. It looks better than the entry level ome home has no need for an earth rod, and i have no doubt the software will continue to improve equally, if youre using octopus agile, then there really isnt another viable option to charge your car on such a tariff, not As good as the home pro anyway, the easy one arguably offers a slightly simpler overall experience and is cheaper, but i think the army home pros lcd screen could really simplify the experience for a lot of people, especially those who want to interact with the charger itself.

Rather than an app a shout out must also go to omis customer support team, who are incredibly helpful and would be more than willing to guide you through any app setup issues you may have. In summary, then, while the design may be a missed opportunity, the only home pro improves upon the original omi in every way the rest of the market may have caught up, meaning more products to choose from, but the only home pro should certainly be on your shortlist Head over to smart home charge, dot, co, dot, uk, where you can get an installation estimate in under two minutes or even go ahead and order your home pro right away.