Why You Can Trust CNET FortrezZ Water Sensor review: This FortrezZ falls to poor performance and too few features
With unreliable water detection and almost no extras, the FortrezZ Water and Temperature Sensor misses the mark.
Flood sensors aren't complicated devices. What distinguishes them from each other are features -- and with more features come higher prices. The FortrezZ (pronounced "Fortress-Z") Water and Temperature Sensor clocks in at about $50 (available internationally, price converts to roughly £30 and AU$65), which falls directly between the slightly pricier feature-rich Fibaro Flood Sensor and the slightly cheaper basic-but-solid SmartThings and Aeon Labs sensors. The problem is, the FortrezZ runs into major performance problems, something a security device can't afford to do. Plus, the FortrezZ actually boasts fewer functional features than some of its more affordable competitors.
FortrezZ Water Sensor
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
If you're looking for a basic flood sensor, the FortrezZ is overpriced. And if you're less concerned with price, the FortrezZ's feature set is too sparse. The only real strength of the FortrezZ Water and Temperature is its simplicity. But bottom line, it isn't reliable, so I can't recommend the FortrezZ Water Sensor to anyone.
Simple setup
Setting up the FortrezZ is easy enough, although it'll take a few minutes and a screwdriver. After installing the batteries and screwing the plastic body together, you can sync it with a Z-Wave gateway, like SmartThings or Piper, with the press of a button. In the five or six times I installed and reinstalled the FortrezZ Water and Temperature Sensor, I never ran into problems. The directions were clear and the network communication worked well.
After the Sensor is set up, you can put it anywhere at risk of flooding. The metal leads that detect water extend from the body of the FortrezZ itself, so you won't have to do anything more than set the detector on the ground and forget about it.
Disappointingly, though, the FortrezZ Water and Temperature Sensor's simplicity is one of its only assets.
Frustrating features
Most flood sensors have two or three metal probes, or leads, that extend from the body. When these leads contact water, they detect increased conductivity between them, and set off an alarm of some sort. It's a simple design, and it works reliably.
The probes of competitors.
The FortrezZ Water and Temperature Sensor uses this same approach, but to poor effect. The plastic supports on the body of the device are slightly longer than the probes, so when a small amount of water is trickling underneath the leads, the sensor rarely detects it. That's right: The FortrezZ only detects water when it has pooled high enough to contact the probes. This is a major design flaw. A representative from FortrezZ explained that the probes are recessed to avoid false alarms that could be caused by damp basement floors or metal surfaces like A/C drip pans. But even when I tested the sensor in a few millimeters of water, when the water was barely contacting the probes, the alarm would only sometimes activate.
Right now, the primary problem seems to be related to hardware (the leads are too recessed), but it is possible their sensitivity must also be tweaked.
The leads of the FortrezZ Water and Temperature Sensor.
Not only is the water-sensing function problematic, the temperature sensing doesn't work with SmartThings or Piper, the two Z-Wave gateways I used to test the FortrezZ Sensor. Although a representative from FortrezZ assured me this problem will be patched soon in a SmartThings software update, for now the FortrezZ Water and Temperature Sensor, despite its name, will only function as a water sensor for most users (unless they have either Vera and HomeSeer home control systems).
The FortrezZ is also disappointingly meager when it comes to additional hardware and software features. The device's design is rudimentary -- a bulky black box with a button and two probes on the bottom. It features a chirping alarm if it detects water, but it isn't watertight (although an alternative, otherwise identical model exchanges one for the other, featuring a watertight case but no audible alarm).
Compare similar devices like the ZigBee SmartThings Leak Sensor and Z-Wave Fibaro Flood Sensor: The SmartThings Sensor, for 10 bucks less, features a functional temperature sensor. The Fibaro Flood Sensor, for 10 bucks more, features all sorts of things -- from telescopic leads that avoid the issues of the FortrezZ probes, to versatile hardware capabilities.
The feature FortrezZ does execute better than many other sensors is association. Association basically is a process that sets up direct communication between two devices, bypassing the integrating hub (such as SmartThings), in order to establish a more reliable connection in the event of a disaster, like a fire, that could damage the hub. Although the ease and possibility of association is mostly predicated by the controlling hub, the FortrezZ simplifies the process considerably, especially when compared with the Fibaro.
Problematic performance
Overall, the FortrezZ Water and Temperature Sensor only half works. It can sense water -- if water is pooling. It can sense temperature -- pending software updates from SmartThings. And its extra features are too few in number to make much difference in the overall product. I simply can't recommend a $50 device that 50 percent works.
If software updates come soon to fix the temperature-sensing problems and perhaps increase the sensitivity of the misplaced leads (though that may not help the problem), then this device could be competitive in the flood sensor market. For now, though, avoid the FortrezZ Water and Temperature Sensor.