If you stop and look around, you will notice that gazillions of smart home devices are flooding the market nowadays. It seems that everything from our cars to our nightstands to our teeth has a Wi-Fi connection.
It is beyond evident that smart home technology is not a passing trend anymore. This much of it means that it’s probably here to stay. The prudent person will decide to quit fighting it eventually.
The good news is that this market has some pretty cool smart devices to offer everyday homeowners in the heartland. Many of us aren’t aware of this yet. The industry could do itself a favor by educating the public a little more and selling them a little less.
Six Handy Smart Home Devices
But if you’ve already decided to go for it, then we’d like to nudge you in the right direction. Here are six solid, smart devices that you should to your inventory of smart home technology.
A security camera and video doorbell
With the daily onslaught on our personal privacy from every possible direction, firming up your home security is an excellent move for savvy homeowners. The nice thing is that you can amp up security very quickly at a minimal cost.
How about this plan? Start by investing in a video doorbell, which will let you see who is ringing your doorbell from a remote location – like your smartphone. From your smartphone app, you can talk to people on your doorstep. This means you could be thousands of miles away and interact with them.
The layer of home security in your smart home is that install a set of wireless cameras around your property. As of this writing, you can invest in a wireless camera security system that has 3-4 cameras for less than $100.
These cameras only need to be mounted where you wanted – inside or outside – and no running of any wires is required since the cameras are battery-operated.
Once your cameras are installed where you want them, you’ll need to download the app to operate them and monitor your property. These apps are available on any smart device such as your phone, notebook, laptop, or PC.
This means you can check your property through the eyes of your security camera at any time. You can even live stream them or record videos and store them on your hard drive.
It’s a perfect way to check on your house while traveling, check on your infants and elderly during the day, and even check on your pets.
Ready to protect right out of the box. Just plug in the base station, place your sensors, plug in your Simplicam and start protecting your home in minutes – no tools required.
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EASY SMART HOME CONTROL FOR EVERYONE: Brilliant touchscreen panels with built-in Alexa make it easy for everyone at home to control popular smart devices.
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Put whole-home security at your fingertips with Ring Alarm, a do-it-yourself alarm system.
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A voice assistant
If you are even vaguely interested in setting up a smart home, you will need at least one voice assistant. As you will learn, your digital voice assistant (DVA) is both the heart and workhouse of your entire system.
From the start, you will control all of your smart devices through your DVA. Some people like using a smart speaker for this – such as Alexa, which has only audio – others feature a touchscreen that lets you interact even more with your assistant.
Alexa is the DVA found through Amazon’s Echo, which is their smart speaker. The 4th Generation Echo has terrific sound quality, so you’ll appreciate the music it can stream from various sources. The redesigned Echo 4 costs around $100 and can also function as a hub from which other smart home devices can be controlled.
The biggest reason for the popularity of these gadgets is the many things they can do in your smart home. Alexa can easily handle all kinds of commands that will make your life a lot simpler. Through your Alexa, you can ask questions, set multiple alarms, order pizza, shop for things online, play games, and much more — all by merely asking. On top of this, other smart gadgets can be controlled using Alexa, such as turning lights off and on and adjusting the thermostat.
Alexa can show you even more – 8” HD touchscreen, adaptive color, and stereo speakers bring entertainment to life.
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32 customizable LCD keys that launch unlimited actions with a tap, Stream Deck XL takes live production control to a whole new level.
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Stream Deck gives you 15 fully customizable LCD keys to control your apps and tools. Trigger actions, launch social posts, and more.
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Light bulbs or switches
Most of us are already using energy-efficient light bulbs. Now you can improve upon that by installing smart bulbs throughout your home. In addition to saving money on your energy bill, they provide a way to customize how your house looks and remotely turn your lights on and off. This can be done through any Internet connection.
Smart light bulbs like the Philips Hue bulbs respond very well to voice commands, as well as any changes in settings applied through your smartphone app. Some bulbs out there don’t need a hub, which makes it incredibly easy.
If you don’t have smart bulbs, you can always use smart technology by using smart light switches. When you combine ordinary bulbs with smart light switches, you can still use voice commands to control your lights.
Another option is using smart plugs – this means that you can control anything in your home by voice command that is powered by a smart plug. Users love these because it allows you to incorporate smart home technology into any house – regardless of its age.
A smart lock
We discussed two smart home layers of security already; well, here is a third layer – smart locks. Any home that has a smart lock can be operated remotely.
Did you ever wonder if you forgot to lock the doors after leaving the house? You can put that worry away for good with a smart lock. This is because you can lock and unlock your doors from miles away.
Like many smart home devices, many smart locks are easy to install and cost under $100.
This frees your mind from worrying about other things that are more important.
A smart thermostat
Your thermostat can be an essential device in any home. One reason is that it determines your comfort level by managing the room temperature, and secondly, it determines your energy costs.
As all homeowners know, there’s usually a fine line between feeling comfortable and living affordably. Controlling the thermostat is one way to directly impact your monthly costs.
A smart thermostat will help you control your home temperature more precisely. It can identify peak and slow heating and cooling times and devise an efficient solution.
Depending on your circumstance, a smart thermostat can often significantly impact your monthly energy bill.
A robot vacuum
These vacuum robots have been around for quite a few years now. As you might expect, they can easily be integrated into your smart home system. You set up a sensible schedule for your robot vacuum so you won’t ever have to mess with vacuuming.
Imagine having your vacuum do its business when you’re away or when you sleep. It doesn’t get any better than that.
