Atmotube Atmospheric Tube - Portable Air Quality Sensor

An amazing device came to me for a test from the company Dadzhet. I bet that if you take it in your hands, you would never guess what this thing is and what it does. One button. One light bulb. One connector. A thing in itself. This Atmotube (so called this gadget) is a portable air quality sensor. "Atmospheric tube". What is he doing? Estimates temperature, humidity, CO2 concentration and ... volatile-organic matter (VOC) content. The latter ability is great different from all other household air detectors - they usually only estimate the content of CO or CO2. But Atmotube will be able to determine the presence in the air of harmful volatile compounds, such as phenols, formaldehyde, solvents of all kinds.



How he manages this is hard to imagine, especially considering that the gadget is autonomous - on a 350 mAh lithium-polymer battery. The most common household gas analyzers include NDIR sensors - narrow-range optical spectrometers, but, firstly, they will not fit into such a device in terms of dimensions, and secondly, they will be quite voracious. A week from a small battery will not last. And Atmotube - easily, even with the bluetooth module, which itself is energy-intensive. Industrial portable gas analyzers for non-selective detection of VOCs (volatile organic compounds) use photo-ionization (PID) sensors, but I don’t know if there are sufficiently compact and economical options for their performance - usually the manufacturer doesn’t have a task to stick it into the bluetooth keychain. I didn’t want to open the device, it’s too small for my instrument and eye, but the manufacturer kindly revealed the information - the complex metal oxide (MOX) gas sensor CCS801 is installed in the device.



All in order. Here is a square box.



Atmotube outer packaging



Inside it is a round box.



Atmotube inner pack



Inside her ... little thing.



Atmotube packaging is quite impressive and reliable



The inscription “Monitor of wet dreams” on a box can be misleading for a person unfamiliar with English terminology, but do not rush to blush and giggle - the device is not about that at all. Yes, yes, many have already guessed, and I'm about to tell you everything, but for now just look at this beauty:





Atmotube air quality monitor with carabiner



Carabinchik - cling to the keys. Pocket such a gadget, in eternal readiness. The cylinder is the size of a thumb made of some kind of titanium-coated light alloy. Button. Light bulb Connector.





The Atmotube air quality monitor has a ring for which it is comfortable to wear.



For greater beauty I will attach a video with a 3D-render of this thing:







In general, you understand - a stylish little thing. The corners are rounded, a button, a light bulb, connects to the iPhone. Geek reference. Spherical high-tech in a vacuum. And now, attention is the solution.



Atmotube (so called this gadget) is a portable air quality sensor. "Atmospheric tube". What is he doing? Estimates temperature, humidity, CO2 concentration and ... volatile-organic matter (VOC) content. The latter ability is very different from all other household air detectors - they usually only estimate the content of CO or CO2. But Atmotube will be able to determine the presence in the air of harmful volatile compounds, such as phenols, formaldehyde, solvents of all kinds ... The full list suggests:







The consumer has to be content with the “Air Quality Score”, and nobody knows what specific parrots they measure it. But on the screen of the smartphone looks convincing:







This is the perfect air I breathe in the garden in the country, envy! Of course, the first natural impulse is to immediately blow into this tube:







Yes, inside me is not as good as the outside ... But I was still sober!



In general, without a mobile application, there would be little confusion from the device - all it can do is wink at the colored LED on the case when the button is pressed - blue, if the air is good, red - if bad, yellow - if so-so. Whether it's on the screen ... Charts, diagrams - beauty!







The application is for Android and iPhone, download and use is easy.







"Personal air quality tracker" - alas, the program at the time of testing was only English. Not that there was something incomprehensible in the interface, but here's the long information pages not everyone will be in the teeth.







However, “blue is good, red is bad” and so intuitively clear, besides, the manufacturer assured that in June localization will be ready.







The device connects to the smartphone on bluetooth:







If you are not confused by a faster discharge of the battery, then you can walk around the city with a constantly loaded program and shoot in real time (the device measures every 10 seconds) a picture of pollution in relation to the map. In my case it was completely uninteresting:







In our wilderness the air is beautiful everywhere. But here in the city, they say, the picture is more interesting.







In principle, choosing where to settle, you can also focus on such a map. Well, what if your health is dear to you, for example? There is already a world map of air purity from Atmotube, but Russia still has a fog of uncertainty on it. You can have a hand in dispelling it!







Of course, the sharing of data is purely voluntary, no one is following you through this tube.



Not that I didn’t take a word for the fact that the device measures everything declared, but, you see, it was necessary to make sure of this.



So, the first experiment - white spirit, petroleum solvent. I pour it into the jar, hang the device in it (it is not recommended to dunk, it is, of course, unpressurized).



Here, the air is no longer so beautiful. The device definitely works, and the presence of solvent vapor determines. But with its gradation “yellow, closer to green” I would argue - if you put your nose in a jar and breathe, you will not find it enough. Here is the lack of uncertain units of measurement - in ppm it would be much clearer ...



But the situation with propane:







The jar is filled with gas from a cylinder, there is more gas than air - and all the same “well, somehow the air is not very good, you shouldn’t breathe it for a long time ...”







To seriously scare him, we had to act radically:







Having completely blown the device with gas, I received an “orange” danger. I'm afraid no oxygen-breathing creature in this atmosphere would have survived. So, for my taste, the device is somewhat excessively optimistic in the estimates.



The next logical step is to check the most common anthropogenic air pollutant - car exhaust. Put the device under the cut of the exhaust pipe of the carburetor UAZ in the warm-up mode:







Here the gadget did not disappoint:







Indignant squeak and "zero quality" on the screen - no need to sniff the exhaust pipe, the townspeople.



The manufacturer also claims an indication of tobacco smoke - but those who smoke around me in recent years have somehow stumbled. Whether the promotion of healthy lifestyles affects, or the price of cigarettes ... In general, I put a beautiful gif, but he did not try:







What else can you say about the device? I didn’t even shoot a video, it’s still better not to do it:







This is the first in my hands a living example of the "new economy" - they collected crowdfunding on Indiegogo for its production and raised as much as $ 242,000. At the same time, unlike many startups, they did not slip away with the money, but actually launched into a series. They say that the device was made by the same team as the notorious YotaPhone, but I don’t know whether to write it to him as a plus or a minus.



Here, for contrast, is a child of a global startup high-tech on the hood of a Soviet military-industrial complex:







He definitely will not work for 45 years, like my UAZ, but now it is considered an advantage, not a disadvantage. After all, I am sure, the next generation of such devices will be inserted directly into the nostril and connected to the brain via WiFi.



How to open



The device can be opened if you remove the half ring and pull the bottom cap towards you. However, we do not insist and do not suggest that you do this.



findings



Funny, cute, in some cases even a moderately useful device. Rounded, compact, eco-friendly there is nowhere else to connect to the iPhone via Bluetooth - that is, the perfect gift for a modern geek.



Virtues



1. Original. You can not buy this on aliexpress.

2. Compact, autonomous, relevant - even USB and then Type C.

3. Beautiful application, global maps, a sense of belonging to the world ecology.



disadvantages



1. Opacity of an assessment of pollution "in color parrots". Where is the good old ppm?

2. Lack of application localization (coming soon).



Carping



1. To go with a constantly on bluetooth - the phone discharges faster. Although he is here and 4.0 LE, but still.

2. There is no data interface and data output in any protocol. That is, you will not connect to the computer as an external sensor.

3. Pretty high price .



Perspectives



The manufacturer announced the release of the Russian version of the application in June 2017.



CO2 measurement information





The multigas chemical sensor can be used to measure the CO2 level using an indirect method in a residential area.



Author: Pavel Ievlev (semiurg), Voronezh



Discounts



To meet the wishes of the author, readers of the blog can purchase Atmotube at a 10% discount for 14 days from the date of this article, using the promotional code GT-ATMO .



To authors



We are interested in publishing independent objective reviews of our dadzhetov in all sorts of media. We will be happy to provide dadzhetov bloggers and authors who want to test them and write a review. Dadzhet after writing a review remains with the author. More details.



Literature



Datasheet of the multigas chemical CO, CO2 and VOC sensor .