Flair Smart Vent 4x12 (White), AC Vent Cover for Floors, Walls and Ceilings.

For some reason they seem to want everyone to use batteries with these (not sure why you'd want to mess with unscrewing the cover and replacing them, no matter how infrequently), and neglect to mention until you receive the item and look at the manual that for wired operation it requires a 24V AC adapter/transformer plug. It's not convenient to have to go back and order more products after I've received the vents; they need to make this clear in the product info. Also of note is that one 24V AC adapter can power up to 10 smart vents, and the polarity is not important, according to the manual. I hooked up one 24V AC adapter to both of my vents connected in parallel wiring, which was simple enough to do. Just needed to strip and cut the ends of the adapter cord and connect one wire from each of the wires on the adapter to each vent using wire connectors that you crush with pliers to secure.The setup where I live is that there is a regular (non-"smart") thermostat upstairs controlling the HVAC of the house, and in the basement (where it routinely gets quite hot due to 2 PCs and 3 stereo receivers and TV running most of the time), the 2 smart vents, which I hope will help cool it off in the fall/winter here by closing off the heat when it's warm enough already in the room.It works great through the app or website to open and close the vents remotely; currently I don't yet have the necessary thermostat though. It's not the most clear from the description what is needed to make the system work, but I'm going to order an inexpensive Honeywell smart thermostat (RTH6580WF) to hopefully make them work automatically soon. I now have the 2 smart vents, Flair bridge (which is apparently always necessary), and Honeywell room sensor (model FBA C7189R1004). Apparently the room sensor isn't enough to control the system; an actual smart thermostat is needed and room sensors probably add on to that for individual room temps.

Over the last 2 years I have replaced virtually every vent in my home with Flair vents. I currently have 20 vents, with 8 pucks (2 pucks are set as Gateways). I’m not sure why there are so many negative reviews. The vents are easy to install and setup if you can use a screwdriver and follow directions in the app. Yes, I agree with a few of the posts regarding the battery holder being a bit difficult to assemble and if you’re not careful, you can strip the screws. However, I have 20 vents and managed to install them all without an issue. Just use the correct size screwdriver and tighten the screws firmly without over tightening them. Many of the negative reviews also discuss setup issues, which I thought was fairly straight forward and is app based and guides you through. Understand also, that the vents do not stand alone, and that you must use pucks(thermostats) to control the vents. For my home, the vents have made a huge difference in temperature control being even throughout the house. Is this a cheap solution? No, but it’s much cheaper than adding zones to an existing hvac system and can accomplish the same thing. Each system must have at least 1 vent and 1 puck. The puck in a single system would be considered at “gateway” puck and requires direct connection via a usb plug into a usb outlet. This can be accomplished by converting an outlet to an outlet with USB port. There are many available here on Amazon. The more vents you add, the more gateway pucks you need. I currently have 8 pucks with 2 being designated as gateway hubs. Each puck will control the vents associated with it. Non gateway pucks can be plugged in to usb or run off AAA batteries. I use batteries in my non gateway pucks. I decided to put a puck in each room so that it will control the vents in that individual room. You don’t have to go all out like I did but I think the more vents and pucks you utilize the better overall temperature control. Additionally, I have reached out to Flair on multiple occasions via email and have always received a response within 48 hours or less.

These are great, when they work like they are intended. For all of the other times, it is extremely frustrating and I really wish I would have looked into the company and their support structure a little further. The single biggest point of frustration for me is that there is no live support option. You have to send an email to their support email box and just wait for a response and then go back and forth with them until your issues are resolved. There's not even a live chat option.The products seem to be extremely touchy. My current problem is the vents keep resetting the mode that the Thermostat is in to Heat, even after I manually update it to Cool. This results in the vents operating off the wrong trigger temperatures and defeating the entire purpose of having them. Great thought and idea for the product, but awful execution in terms of support structure for working through buggy systems and issues.**5/23/2023 Update**Now, when the Air Conditioning is on, half of my vents say they have poor signal and just stay closed. They've not moved, the pucks haven't moved so I'm not sure what is causing it but the problems coincided with the transition from Furnace use to Air Conditioning use.10/9/2023 UpdateFlair vents and pucks are doing the exact same thing as before, but in the inverse where they wo t register a change from cooling to heating. Update to reflect 1 star. A "smart" device shouldn't require constant oversight and manual interference for them to work properly. Avoid until they figure out how to offer live tech support and/or build a more reliable back end.

The Puck that acts as the thermostat for the vent lags temperature changes significantly. The vent itself is pretty awesome.