Simpson & Partners Home 7 vs Indra Smart LUX: build or protection?

Two British makers, two different obsessions

Thirty-four pounds separates these chargers, and the gap barely matters. What matters is that Simpson & Partners and Indra have built for opposite priorities. The Simpson & Partners Home 7 at £649 is about longevity and finish — a ten-year enclosure warranty, anodised aluminium, Accoya wood trims if you want them. The Indra Smart LUX at £615 is about survival — 78mm deep, IP67 against water, IK10 against impact.

Both are made in England. Both are OZEV-approved. Neither is a household name, and both will install cleanly for under £600. The question is what you want hanging on the wall for the next decade.

• Simpson & Partners Home 7 — the one to buy for warranty length and three-phase headroom.
• Indra Smart LUX — the one to buy for weather, knocks and a low wall profile.

Is the £34 premium for the Simpson worth it?

It depends on two things: whether you might ever want 22kW, and whether the finish matters to you.

The Home 7 is one of the few chargers at this price that offers a three-phase 22kW variant. Most UK homes are single-phase and will never use it, but if you're on three-phase, or building somewhere that might be, the option alone is worth the £34. The Wallbox Pulsar Max and Zaptec Go 2 are the other chargers near this bracket with three-phase — the Indra isn't in that conversation.

The finish argument is more subjective. Anodised aluminium, Accoya wood, Cotswolds Green — Simpson & Partners has clearly thought about what lives on the front of a house. The Indra is neat, but neat in a functional way. If the charger is going in a garage, none of this matters. If it's next to the front door, £34 is cheap for not having to look at something utilitarian every day.

When the Indra earns its corner

The Smart LUX has two numbers that nothing else in this price bracket matches: 78mm of depth and an IP67 rating. The first means it barely interrupts a wall — useful on a narrow alleyway or a tight carport. The second means submersion-grade sealing, which is overkill until the day it isn't. IK10 adds impact resistance rated for a five-joule hammer strike. For a coastal property, a wind-battered driveway, or anywhere a wheelie bin might swing too close, that protection has a real value.

The built-in SPD and PEN fault detection also deserve mention. Both add components most installs have to bolt on separately, usually for £150 or more in parts and labour. Net of that, the Indra's effective cost is closer to the Easee One than the headline £615 suggests.

Where the Indra loses ground is warranty — three years standard against Simpson's ten on the enclosure — and connectivity pricing. 4G is a £250 option; the Ohme Home Pro bundles a SIM for free. If your home Wi-Fi doesn't reach the driveway, budget accordingly, or look sideways at the Ohme.

Tariff behaviour

Both claim smart-tariff scheduling, but the depth differs. Indra lists over 1,000 UK tariffs and explicitly supports half-hourly optimisation — meaningful if you're on Octopus Agile, where rates move every thirty minutes. Simpson's app handles Octopus Go, OVO Charge Anytime and EDF GoElectric through scheduled windows, which is fine for fixed off-peak tariffs but less clever on variable ones.

For an Octopus Intelligent Go household, neither charger is the natural pick — that tariff optimises through the supplier's own systems and works best with chargers like the Ohme. For Go, Drive or GoElectric buyers with predictable overnight windows, both handle the job competently.

The verdict

Buy the Simpson & Partners Home 7 if:

• You want the longest enclosure warranty on the UK market
• Three-phase 22kW is on the table, now or later
• The charger will be visible from the street and finish matters

Buy the Indra Smart LUX if:

• The charger will sit in a tight or exposed location
• IP67 and IK10 protection earn their keep where you live
• You want built-in SPD and PEN detection to shave the install bill

For most buyers, the Home 7 is the charger we'd put on the wall — the warranty length is unmatched, and the three-phase option is future-proofing that costs only £34 today. The Indra is the right answer for a specific kind of installation, and if you're that buyer you already know it. If the cheaper Ohme bundles appeal, the Ohme Home Pro vs Simpson & Partners Home 7 comparison is worth a read before committing.