New Sonoff Basic R3 & Sonoff RF R3 don’t need Tasmota

There are new ITEAD offerings in town and it comes with a promise of DIY support off the bat*. New products belong to Basic and RF series and it’s called SonSonoff Basic R3 & Sonoff RF R3. The WiFi switches are available for a pre-order now, with units being shipped in May.

Sonoff Basic R3 & DIY

There is one more feature coming with this iteration. A “DIY” mode will be added in the middle of May. The Sonoff Basic R3 & Sonoff RF R3 will come with REST API, making it a breeze to integrate with existing home automation systems.

I played with Sonoff Basic R3 & Sonoff RF R3 in DIY mode and you can learn more about it in this post! Spoiler alert! It’s disappointing.

There is no MQTT protocol, but if HTTP requests well developed and documented (looking at you Tasmota!), then “tasmotizing” Sonoff days may be nearing end. Especially, if DIY mode retains Alexa and Google Assistant functionality.

Tech Specs:

Sonoff Basic R3

• Max Current: 10A;
• Max Power: 2200W;
• Power Supply: AC 100-240V;
• Gang: 1;
• Wireless Standard: IEEE 802.11 b/g/n 2.4GHz;
• Enclosure Material: ABS V0;
• Product Dimensions: 91*43*25(mm);

Sonoff RF R3

• Max Current: 10A;
• Max Power: 2200W;
• Power Supply: AC 100-240V;
• Gang: 1;
• Wireless Standard: IEEE 802.11 b/g/n 2.4GHz, 433.92MHZ;
• Enclosure Material: ABS V0;
• Product Dimensions: 91*43*25(mm);

Sonoff Basic R3 Zigbee

• Max Current: 10A;
• Max.input: AC 100-240V 50/60Hz 10A;
• Max.output: AC 100-240V 50/60Hz 10A;
• Gang: 1;
• Zigbee: IEEE 802.15.4 2.4GHz;
• Enclosure Material: PC V0;
• Product Dimensions: 914325(mm);

You can learn more about the Sonoff Basic R3 Zigbee and whether you should use Tasmota Zigbee edition on it – read all about it in this post.

The device comes with CE and FCC certificate as well. And yes, they look the same, which makes things even more confusing, so be careful with resellers or you will end up like this guy.

I have a complete teardown of the Sonoff Basic R3 series done if you want to see what’s inside and how the boards differ from each other check out this post.

It will cost you less than $5 (on sale, then $6) to get the Sonoff Basic R3 &Sonoff RF R3 comes with $7.20 preorder price ($9.50 later) and $4.50 for the RF remote.

Conclusion

I will be ordering the devices soon. I’d love to see if flashing Tasmota firmware will be still the first thing I do when buying a Sonoff Device. Let me know what you think. Would you still flash your Sonoff Basic R3 & Sonoff RFR3? Are you ready to give up MQTT and keep the original firmware? Let me know in the Reddit thread.