The quest to make your house a Smart home has begun. Where do you begin? What are your choices?
The concept of living, breathing, ultra intelligent Smart homes have been in the public eye for a while. Some of our grandparents grew up watching the Jetsons‘ Smart home TVs, robot vacuum cleaners and video conferencing. Similarly, our parents may also remember Marty McFly’s mom in the 1989 Back to the Future (Part 2) heating up the pizza in the Smart (Black & Decker) hydrator oven. Recently, we may have seen Stark’s 3D hologram alarm clock in Iron Man. However, Smart home automation has become an area of hyper interest to consumers over the last few years. As a result, demand for Smart home systems are expected to increase from $3.4 billion in 2017 to $4.8 billion in 2025.
What is your Smart Home Focus Area?
A home with Mobile controlled lights, IoT enabled Switches, Smart Locks and connected Thermostats are just a few devices that can help you get your Smart home started. However, take a pause before you open your wallet and go crazy buying all the latest gadgets. Above all, ask yourself what is your greatest smart household priority ?
- Are you looking to optimize and personalize your home security? Well perhaps the answer should be to look at Smart cameras or a Smart Lock?
- Is your goal to optimize your ongoing monthly costs? Then, you may want to start to look at smart switches thermostats.
- Are you looking to focus on a Smart Entertainment system? Do you want to start small (ie Roku, Apple TV puck) or look at your whole entertainment system (ie Smart TV, Smart speaker)
Given that the biggest benefits behind Smart home technology is that simple household tasks (turning on lights, changing the temperature, answering the door) can be done automatically. Perhaps, the easiest way to determine where to begin in your home is to look at where Smart home tech will benefit you the most.
Who’s your Smart Hub Daddy?
A key factor in determining what technology gadgets to select is your Smart home (home automation) hub. For novices, a smart hub is a software or hardware framework that automates control and configuration of smart home devices. You can think of smart hubs as a translator for connected devices through internet, cloud or local (Bluetooth, Wi-Fi) connectivity. There are many choices for smart hubs including Apple Homekit, Google Hub, Amazon Home & Echo. Some of these allow for configuration through voice commands. While others are primarily controlled through a configuration app. Consumers are not restricted to only utilizing one smart hub. However, for ease of use it would be easier to select one or two smart hubs to tie all your home devices together in one smart network.
Some of the Smart Home Choices
No matter what you are looking for in Smart home Technology, here is a quick breakdown of some of the devices. There are also a multitude of other features available with these devices that could influence your decision criteria.
Outdoor Smart Cameras
[table]
Oudoor Smart Cameras,Connectivity,Smart Hub Integration,Resolution,App,Storage,Night Vision,Two-Way Audio
Netgear Alo Pro 2,W-Fi,Amazon Alexa\, IFTTT,1080p,Mobile\, Web,Cloud,Yes,Yes
Netatmo Presence,W-Fi,Amazon Alexa\, IFTTT,1080p,Mobile\, Web,Local\, Secure FTP,Yes,No
Nest Cam IQ Outdoor,W-Fi\, Buletooth,Nest,1080p,Mobile\, Web,Cloud,Yes,Yes
D-Link Full HD Wi-Fi Camera DCS-8300LH,W-Fi,Amazon Alexa\, IFTTT,1080p,Mobile\, Web,Cloud\, Local,Yes,Yes
[/table]
Smart Lights
[table]
Smart Lights,Connectivity,Smart Hub Integration,Dimmable,Scheduling,Geofencing
Philips Hue (White),W-Fi\, ZigBee,Amazon Alexa\, Apple HomeKit\, IFTTT\, Nest,Yes,Yes,Yes
Lifx Color,W-Fi,Amazon Alexa,Yes,Yes,Yes
Lutron Caseta Switches,W-Fi,Amazon Alexa\, Apple HomeKit\, Google Assistant,Yes,Yes,Yes
Nanoleaf Light Panels,W-Fi,Amazon Echo\, Apple HomeKit\, Android\, IFTTT,Yes,Yes,Yes
[/table]
Smart Switches
[table]
Smart Switches,Connectivity,Smart Hub Integration,Outlets
TP-Link Kasa Smart Wi-Fi Plug,W-Fi,Amazon Alexa\, Google Assistant\, Cortana\, IFTTT\, Nest,2
iCleverSmart,W-Fi,Amazon Alexa\, Google Assistant\, IFTTT,2×1
iHome iSP8 Smart Plug,W-Fi,Apple HomeKit\, Nest\, Smart Things\, Wink\, Amazon Alexa\, Google Assistant,1
Leviton’s new Decora Smart Mini Plug-In Outlet,W-Fi,Alexa\, Google Assistant\, Nest\, and IFTTT,1
[/table]
Smart Thermostats
[table]
Smart Thermostats,Connectivity,Smart Hub Integration,Multiple Zones,Geofencing,Motion Activation
Ecobee 4,W-Fi,Apple HomeKit\, IFTTT,Yes,Yes,Yes
Nest Thermostat E,W-Fi,Nest\, IFTTT,No,Yes,Yes
Honeywell Lyric T5,W-Fi,Apple HomeKit\, IFTTT,No,Yes,No
[/table]
Smart Locks
[table]
Smart locks,Connectivity,Smart Hub Integration,Guest Access,Geofencing,Touch Pad
August Smart Lock,Bluetooth\, Wi-Fi ,Amazon Alexa\, Apple HomeKit\, IFTTT\, Nest,Yes,Yes,No
Nest X Yale Lock,Wi-Fi,Nest,Yes,Yes,No
Kwikset Obsidian Keyless Deadbolt,Bluetooth\, Wi-Fi ,Nest,Yes,No,Yes
Schlage Century Touchscreen Deadbolt Lock,Z-Wave\, Wi-Fi,None,Yes,No,Yes
[/table]
One thing we didn’t include in the list was the look and colors available. Having an aesthetically pleasing Smart home device can be an important factor. Some devices come in a variety of colors while others have minimal choices.
Hopefully these few steps will help you on your home tech quest. Years from now you will be telling your grandchildren how you IOT connected your Smart home.
