Olibra Bond Bridge & Olibra Bond Bridge Pro

February 21, 2022

1419

Many homes across the US integrate simple household appliances that are focused on their residents comfort, including ceiling fans, fireplaces and even RF remote-controlled motorized window shades. Now, while these different home appliances can obviously bring a lot of comfort to the people living in a home, many homeowners don’t really realize how powerful these appliances can be when adding Wi-Fi connectivity to them. To put it simply, by adding a Smart Hub (or Smart Bridge) to your home, you can easily add Wi-Fi connectivity to almost any home appliance that you can think of, which ultimately allows homeowners to add smart controls to those appliances. However, when it comes to choosing a Smart Hub for your home, many models require you to go through a complex installation process, which can be hard and inconvenient, especially when it comes to the wiring part of their installation. On top of that, there’s also the fact that some Smart Hubs come at unfairly high prices. With that said, if you’re looking for a Smart Hub that’s reliable, versatile, and easy to install, then the Olibra Bond Bridge and the Olibra Bond Bridge Pro are equally great choices to go with.

The Olibra Bond Bridge and Olibra Bond Bridge Pro work as Smart Hubs that ultimately allow homeowners to add Wi-Fi Connectivity to ceiling fans, fireplaces and Somfy shades.

Both of these Smart Hubs features a wide coverage range along with the ability to control at least thirty connected devices, thus enabling homeowners to control the different functionalities of their RF remote controlled-equipped motorized window shades, ceiling fans and fireplaces right from their Smartphone (or tablet) via the Bond Home App.

Moreover, they also boast support to Voice Assistant Apps with Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and SmartThings.

Best of all, both the Olibra Bond Bridge and the Olibra Bond Bridge Pro require absolutely no wiring or installation, which makes their integration into any household a breeze.

All in all, these two Smart Hubs are easy to install, super-reliable, extremely versatile, and very, very cost-effective. With them, any Smart Home enthusiast can make their indoors lifestyle a million times better.

Now, let’s have a slightly more detailed look at each of these Smart Hubs and check out exactly what they have to offer you.

Olibra Bond Bridge

Starting with the company’s most affordable option, we have the Olibra Bond Bridge, a Smart Hub that adds Wi-Fi Connecitivity to ceiling fans, fireplaces and Somfy shades without breaking the bank.

DESIGN

Regarding its design, this Smart Hub comes in a reasonably compact size, and features a minimalist and ultra-modern design throughout its simple black body with a glossy finish.

SET UP / INSTALLATION

As said before, this Smart Hub requires no wiring or installation, as it is simply powered by an AC Power Cord.

Setting up the Bond Bridge is both quick and easy, as all you have to do is to simply plug in the device, download the Bond Home App to your Smartphone (or tablet), point your home appliance’s dedicated RF (radio frequency) remote or IR (infrared) remote at the Smart Hub, and you’re done.

After you’re done with the Smart Hub’s installation, all of the functionalities from a home appliance that would normally be controlled by a RF remote or IR remote – such as Turning a ceiling fan On/Off, Adjust Fan Speed, Turn fan Light On/Off, etc. – can then be easily reproduced and controlled via the Bond Home App.

CONNECTIVITY

So, connectivity-wise, the Bond Bridge features Wi-Fi (2.4 GHz) connectivity, and can cover a 2,500 sq.ft. area, which is enough to cover the entire area of almost any home.

More importantly, this Smart Hub can control up to thirty connected devices from anywhere via the Bond Home App (available for iOS and Android).

Olibra Bond Bridge and the Bond Home App

That said, the Bond Bridge works as a bridge between your Wi-Fi Router and the recorded RF (radio frequency) or IR (infrared) signals from a home appliance’s dedicated remote control, for which those same signals are then transmitted to the respective home appliances that they’re supposed to control.

OTHER NOTABLE FEATURES

Voice Assistant Support

In addition to its Smart Wi-Fi Connecitivity and the wide Wi-Fi coverage that the Bond Bridge has to offer, it’s also worth noting that this Smart Hub is also compatible with Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and SmartThings voice activation Apps.

PRICING & AVAILABILITY

Since this is Olibra’s basic Smart Hub model, the Bond Bridge is available at an extremely affordable price, with each unit going for just $99, and each purchase is accompanied by a 1-Year Warranty.

You can order yours online right now, either directly from Bond Home’s official shopping page, or alternatively, you can get it from Amazon instead, if you’d prefer.

Olibra Bond Bridge Pro

Finally, recently released (in 2021) with both DIY and home technology expertise in mind, the company’s 2nd-gen Smart Hub, called the Olibra Bond Bridge Pro is designed to cover bigger homes by bringing both simplified and unified home-appliance controls to larger Smart Home projects.

Not only that, but Olibra’s 2nd-gen Smart Hub brings even more enhanced functionality than their original Bond Bridge Smart Hub model, as the Bond Bridge Pro also adds the benefit of PoE (Power Over Ethernet) while also integrating easily with leading home control / automation systems.

Just like the original Bond Bridge Smart Hub, the Bond Bridge Pro is compatible with every brand of RF-controlled ceiling fan, plus many shades and fireplaces (note that this model doesn’t support IR-controlled home appliances).