Indra Smart PRO vs Indra Smart LUX: which Indra to put on the wall?

Two Indras, £16 apart

Same brand, same 7.4kW ceiling, same three-year warranty, same 4.2 rating. The Indra Smart PRO is £599. The Indra Smart LUX is £615. That's a £16 gap — less than a tank of fuel — and the question is what you get for it.

The shortest version:

• Indra Smart PRO — the flexible one. Tethered or untethered, 6-metre cable, SPD and CT clamp in the box.
• Indra Smart LUX — the slim and tough one. 78 mm deep, IP67, IK10, broader tariff coverage, 6m or 10m cable.

What the £16 actually buys

The Smart LUX is, by specification, the more serious product. It's 78 mm from the wall — Indra's own claim to the thinnest tethered smart charger in the UK, and it shows when you put it next to the chunkier Smart PRO. The protection ratings are a full step up: IP67 against the weather (submersible, not just splash-proof) and IK10 against physical knocks. For a unit that lives outside, on a driveway, that matters.

You also get PEN fault detection built in — a safety feature that on some installs saves another earth rod and the labour to sink it. Add the built-in SPD both chargers share, and a competent installer will price the LUX job lower. Indra themselves quote £300–£500 for a LUX install versus £400–£600 for the PRO. The "more expensive" charger often ends up cheaper on the wall.

Then there's the tariff layer. The Smart PRO integrates with a handful of the big names — Octopus Intelligent Go, OVO Charge Anytime, Octopus Go, EDF GoElectric. The LUX claims coverage of 1,000+ UK tariffs and handles half-hourly slots, which puts Octopus Agile on the table in a way the PRO can't quite match. For £16, that's a generous upgrade.

Where the Smart PRO still wins

One thing. The Smart PRO offers an untethered version; the Smart LUX is tethered only. If you want to tuck a loose cable in the boot and keep the wall unit as a tidy socket — common for households with two different EVs, or anyone planning to swap cars often — the PRO is the only Indra that does it.

The PRO also has the 6-metre cable as standard. The LUX matches that, but if you need 10 metres, the LUX version costs £670 against the PRO's £599 for the standard run. In a garage-to-driveway scenario with a sensible cable route, the PRO is £71 cheaper.

Beyond that, the PRO's advantages collapse. Same power, same warranty, same rating, same core smart features, same British manufacturing. It's the older sibling — not worse, just less sharp.

The 4G footnote

Both chargers are Wi-Fi first. If your driveway is the usual dead zone at the back of the house, 4G is a proper consideration — and on the LUX, it's a ~£250 option. The Ohme Home Pro includes a SIM in the box at £535, which is the honest comparison point. If connectivity is the whole game for you, neither Indra is the answer; the Ohme is.

For buyers who'll sit comfortably on home Wi-Fi, the point is moot.

Which to buy

Buy the Indra Smart PRO if:

• You want an untethered socket, not a fixed cable
• You need the cheapest 10-metre option in the Indra range
• Your installer is already factoring in an SPD and a CT clamp

Buy the Indra Smart LUX if:

• The charger will live outside and take weather
• You're on — or considering — a half-hourly tariff like Octopus Agile
• You'd rather have PEN fault detection included than quoted separately

If we're picking one to put on a wall, it's the Smart LUX. £16 for a slimmer, tougher, better-connected charger is the sort of maths that doesn't need a spreadsheet. The Smart PRO keeps its place for the untethered buyer and the long-cable edge case — a narrower brief than Indra's own marketing suggests. For everyone else: the LUX.

Buyers weighing the Indra range against the broader field should look at the Ohme Home Pro vs Indra Smart LUX comparison for the tariff-automation angle, or the Tesla Wall Connector vs Indra Smart PRO if price is the decisive factor.