Podcast #927: Smarthome Buying Guide 2019

We have been touting the Smarthome for a few years now but somehow have never put together a Buying Guide. So for 2019 we are going to fix that. After all, this is the year of home automation.

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• Smart in-wall outlet measures energy efficiency
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• Cheap TVs That Aren't Worth the Money - Consumer Reports
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Smarthome Buying Guide 2019

We have been touting the Smarthome for a few years now but somehow have never put together a Buying Guide. So for 2019 we are going to fix that. Afterall, this is the year of home automation.  

This list we will only contain products that work on both iOS and Android platforms. As a result, this list will not contain some manufactures which may limit some of the things your platform of choice is capable of. The good news is if you see a product that you like on this list you can be assured that it will work in your home.

One thing we would like to mention and if you already have home automation devices you already know this. No matter what product you have, home automation will give you the occasional headache. There have been times where it seemed all my devices stopped working then just as quickly everything settles out. There is a good chance that the issue was wifi related but I never really know for sure. If you use a dedicated system like Insteon, Crestron, or Control 4 you may see less issues. But if you do see issues it may cost you money to bring in an expert or with Insteon cause you frustration finding a solution buried deep down some user forum. Bottomline, home automation is good but it's not perfect. Even for experts like us. 

Doorbell

Ring - Prices range from $100 to $200 depending on the model. Who doesn’t want to answer the door from work?? But seriously it's nice to see when a package is left at your door or if someone is trying to get into your house that shouldn’t be. You can go the battery operate route or connect it to the existing wiring. Either way you will be up and running in an hour. Ring also has an app creates a virtual neighborhood watch community that lets you know what’s happening around you. If you like Ring they have a family of devices to help you monitor your home.   

Door Lock

Schlage Smart Locks -  Prices range from $150 - $250 depending on model. Now that you have a way to remotely answer your door you may want a way to let someone in your house. A smart lock can do that. Schlage makes locks that work with Homekit, Google Home, SmartThings and more. It can even work in concert with your Ring Doorbell. Track who enters your home via a custom entry code. You can even make codes work on specific days between specific hours. There is a peace of mind you get when you know that your door is indeed locked!

Garage Door

myQ Smart Garage Door Opener - Street price less than $50. You can have the same peace of mind knowing that you drove away and didn’t forget to close the garage door as well! The adapter is compatible with just about every garage door opener that was built in the last 20 years. Easy to install and controllable via your mobile phone. The myQ Smart Opener integrates with Apple’s Homekit and Amazon’s Echo.

Lighting

There are at least a dozen manufacturers of smart lighting and almost all of them do not need a hub. They even integrate with the Echo and Homekit so why then are be picking a light system that needs a hub? That’s because the Hue Light System is quite possible the best thing you can do to your house! You can get a starter kit as low as $70. But that’s only the beginning. There are hue lights for anything and everything including bulbs, lamps, light strips, indoor, and outdoor. There are even accessories that include, motion detectors, remotes, and even plugs!! If you want you can spend hundreds of dollars creating dramatic lighting scenes both inside and outside your home. Hue is compatible with Homekit, Amazon Echo, Google Assistant, and even Microsoft Cortana. Once you get done creating incredible scenes and timers you will simply forget that you spent $50 on a hub. 

Smart Plugs

Our advice here… go cheap! Wall plugs just need to turn on and off.  Not much else. Find a plug that works with Homekit, Amazon Echo, or Google Assistant and be done with it. We found one that works with all three!! The Wemo Smart Plug (made by Belkin) costs $20! It's small enough that it does not obscure the other plug but can handle 15A! If you are looking for the one device to start you down the home automation path this is it!

Switches

When it comes to switches we were torn. We had such a bad experience with Leviton Decora Smart switches when they first came out. They would lose wifi connections constantly requiring full resets to get them back. They did release a firmware upgrade that has seemed to fix the issue. We have been running for about five months with no issues. But we are still gunshy in giving this our full recommendation. We are gaining more confidence in the $50 device with each passing week. 

But what will get our full recommendation is the iDevices Wifi enable dimmer switch. It costs twice as much as the Leviton device however. In the three years we have been using this device it has been offline for a total of about twenty minutes. 

Thermostats

If you have a smart home you’ll want to be able to control the temperature and for that you have  a few options. We have installed and used thermostats made by Honnywell, Insteon, and Ecobee. We have experience with the Nest as well. There are plenty of options out there but we have settled on the ecobee 3 ($199). It has a good physical interface as well as great looking apps. It has full Homekit, Google, Alexa, SmartThings integration. You can even buy additional sensors so you can average out the temperature across your entire home. It's kind of nice being able to tell your voice assistant to set the temperature in your house to 72 degrees and not have to get out from under your warm covers!

Cameras

So many cameras out there. Over the years we have tried at least a dozen brands. If you have a Ring doorbell you may want to use the Ring cameras. They have great night time picture quality and tie in nicely with the Ring doorbell and sensors. They start at about $60 and go as high as $200. If Ring isn’t your thing we highly recommend the Logitech Circle 2. THese cameras have a great picture during the day and a good picture at night. The Ring camera is better at night. Both can store your images in the cloud but offer a premium plan for a yearly fee. The Circle 2 cameras start at about $100 for a battery operated one and $180 for a wired camera. The Circle 2 are indoor outdoor. The Ring makes ones specifically designed for outdoor use.

Motion Sensors

You’ll want motion sensors to make lights turn on or let you know if someone is in your house. If you use Hue lights, we strongly recommend their sensors (Hue Motion Sensor $40). The battery lasts for more than a year and the sensor responds immediately.  For the non-Hue people we recommend using your wireless camera as a sensor. And if you don’t have a camera you’re out of luck… just kidding. Find a sensor that works with your platform of choice. So what we are saying is if you don’t have a hue light system we don’t care what you do! LOL not really. We don’t have enough experience with motion sensors that are multi platform.

Smoke/CO2 Detector 

Smoke Detector are important as are carbon monoxide detectors. How about one device that does both? The Onelink Smoke Detector and Carbon Monoxide Detector runs about $80 and will let you know if it's going off via it's Android and iOS apps. It's even Homekit and Alexa compatible. 

Moisture/Water Sensor

We saved the most important device for last! Braden can tell you first hand (twice) that a water leak costs you money and inconvenience! A Leak Detector is a must. Our pick is a little different than placing moisture detectors around the house. In its simplest form all it will do is let you know that there is a leak. If you are at home you can shut off the water. If you are away from home you could call a friend and ask them if they can shut off your water. Perhaps you can set up individual valves that can be controlled automatically to shut off your water.

Our pic is a little different. The Flo by Moen connects to your main water line where it comes into the house. It measures flowrate and helps you manage your water usage. It can detect a leak of just drips or full on pipe burst. It will let you know that the water is when it shouldn’t and will automatically shut down your water.  

Say you left the house and you set the system to away. You will get a notification that water is flowing. If you are doing laundry no big deal. If you know nothing is supposed to be on you can shut it down remotely. Or you can say, I am away so shut down if you sense water. There is an iOS and Android app. It costs about $900 installed so it may cost more money but it does so much more than a simple moister detector.

Download Episode #927