the beginner’s smarthome guide
I am extremely curmudgeonly when it comes to tech. This is why my engineering career was doomed. I thought the iPhone and iPad were going to be major flops, yet here we are. HOWEVER, my husband Pierre is a “real” engineer who goes around fixing stuff that breaks, has patents in his name, and thinks that a shower that you can talk to sounds AWESOME. So, our home is smart, with reservations.
i cannot handle this much smarthome. we’ll pare it down below.
My hope is to give you a good primer into what’s available and what we even mean by “smart” for each item (in 2020). Each of these is a topic in and of itself! There is a wealth of info comparing various current models, so this is just to get your feet wet.
Can I keep it?!
Are you planning on moving again, ever? Read this section.
For renters, this is fairly straightforward: take it with you when you leave (i.e. install, then uninstall it with no permanent damage done)! Luckily, this is doable for most items as long as you keep the old device, don’t cut any new holes anywhere, and don’t botch the install/uninstall. But you may not even be allowed to install it: check with your landlord and/or read over your lease before swapping out your doorbell/smoke detector/definitely your door locks…but your lightbulbs are probably not a big deal. This can affect the landlords’ homeowners’ insurance that the covers the property. Just ask, or be OK with asking for forgiveness.
For homeowners, unless you are going to downgrade stuff when you move out (this sounds good in theory, but do you really want to store your 23 year old thermostat just to show your house with it later?!), think about whether 1) the object will arguably pay for itself by then or 2) you are OK with a minimal return on investment because of the features alone. MOST of the below will stay with the house if you list/show the house with them installed - read your contract and talk to your realtor. In general, things that require a screwdriver stay: thermostats, light fixtures, light switches, curtain rods (technically), doorbells. On the other hand, it’s easy to change out a lightbulb and pack up your Echo Dot or Google Home. The farther away a potential sale is, the less this matters - the tech may be obsolete by then. Don’t assume you can raise your list price by $1500 because you spent $1500 on smart home stuff five years ago. You MIGHT, but don’t assume.
SmartHome Basics
Smartphone first. You need an internet connection and a smartphone for the “smartest” experience. That doesn’t mean you can’t operate your smart-item at all should your internet go out. It’s simply that they are (broadly) intended to have their extra features regularly accessed from a connected mobile device. The ability to use something like a “dumb” version of itself is more of a fail-safe for your irritated spouse who has misplaced her phone and just wants to turn off the dang lights the old-fashioned way (HI IT’S ME).
Wifi speed. The smarter your home and the more occupants it has, the higher internet speed you will need (the more bandwidth). One light bulb won’t push you over the edge, but having EVERYTHING covered below might when your kids are attempting distance learning and people are in Zoom meetings all day. Look into this before you enact large-scale upgrades if your options are limited where you live (such as in a rural area) or if you’re keeping an eye on your monthly budget.
Platform. While most items will generally work with both iPhone and Android in their specific app (such as Nest or ecobee apps), it’s worth considering if you’re trying to unify all your smart devices with Google Home, Echo Dot (Alexa), or Apple HomeKit. This offers you ONE place to control things without needing to navigate between different apps. Some of these items stubbornly do not “cross over” to different platforms. It can be important to think about how you actually control these things when your partner has an Android and you have an iPhone, or if you want your digital assistant to be able to control everything. Otherwise, you can mix and match.
Security. I don’t really care if someone hacks my lightbulbs (annoying at best), but do care if they listen to my conversations or let strangers into my house.
Remember: smartphone + internet + smartdevices (below) = smarthome.
YES, worth it
Thermostats: Programmable thermostats have been around for years - this just means that you can teach them a schedule for the best energy efficiency. Run the A/C while you’re home to cool it down, but don’t while you’re gone (the most common scenario in Texas).
A smart thermostat is ALWAYS programmable, and it goes beyond that: you can set more varied schedules (weekdays vs weekends, even different every day of the week!), you can often control them remotely from a mobile device or browser, teach it to auto-adjust when you’re home, set vacation mode, and look at analytics. In general, in Houston this is WORTH IT. We run the A/C almost every single month, even in January sometimes. The more intelligently we can use it, the more we save. Unless you are home and awake at the SAME time EVERY DAY of the week, I’d say it’s well worth it.
What to consider:
Where is the temperature sensor? If thermostat is in the hallway, but you need it to control the temperature in the nursery (that is in the sun only half the day), consider a thermostat that offers a separate sensor that you can place in the room(s) of your choice. Occasionally that is additional money; sometimes one is included.
Ease of install (temporary). Install can be simple or a little more involved (look up C-wires), so consider how you’re actually swapping out your old thermostat for the new if you’re not very DIY-oriented.
Ease of use (permanent). There is NO POINT in upgrading your mom’s thermostat if she’s just going to be frustrated with the interface the entire time and accidentally cooling her house to 68 around the clock in August. Nobody is happy.
Cost: $110 - $300 per thermostat (often one per “zone”/floor or AC unit - look around your house before realizing you need three of these…)
What we have: Ecobee SmartThermostat with voice control. It works with both Google Home and Apple Homekit, whereas one of the top competitors (Nest learning thermostat) does not. The ecobee app itself is pretty user-friendly too. It’s very programmable: I can set a different bedtime on Friday versus other weeknights, tell it I’m going out of town for a week or just tell it to cool the house down when it knows I’m home early. It gives me TONS of data (that Pierre looks at and I don’t…). I can also TALK TO IT by saying “Alexa”, and then make it control my other smart devices or play music. WILD. That is so meta…robots controlling robots…I can’t talk about it any more. We have used this added feature a lot more than I care to admit.
At our old house, we had two ecobee 3’s (discontinued) and an ecobee 3 lite (for a guest bedroom that was rarely occupied). We loved them all. The biggest upgrade with our current ecobee is Pierre yelling at it to turn on various lights, which is hilarious and worth the upgrade. We very seriously considered the Nest for its appearance and more intuitive usability (the drag and slide method of adjusting temperature can be finicky on the wall unit), but ultimately wanted something that worked in Apple Homekit/Apple Home.
the last few ecobees (ecobee smart thermostat w/voice control, ecobee 3, ecobee 3 lite)
Doorbells: A normal doorbell goes ding-dong. A (good) SMART doorbell is essentially a two-way security camera these days. It will not only ding-dong, it will 1) record a video for you of who is ding-donging you, 2) ding-dong your phone, and 3) allow you to talk to said ding-donger in real time via your smartphone, no matter where you are. Also, sometimes they sense motion and start recording anyway, and you can get really amusing footage of your suburban wildlife or catch a porch pirate trying to nab your Amazon packages. If you’d like to keep a closer eye on your front porch (but don’t want a camera actually INSIDE the house), this is a nice upgrade.
What to consider:
two of the most popular options. will it be google or amazon that takes over the world?! tbd
Is it subscription based? Because these record video, it means this video needs to be stored somewhere, at least temporarily. Certain doorbells will make you subscribe to a service to continue to use the video record function. Others give you a limited amount of storage for free, which works if you’re generally able to keep tabs on your phone to save anything suspicious immediately. For example, it’ll let you review the last 3 hours at any point. That might NOT work if you are tied up for hours at a time - like if you work in surgery, teach classes, or are offshore. Make sure you know what you’re getting with the price, though not all subscriptions are pricey (some are like $3/month).
Video quality. Choose your superpower: wide-angle lens, high resolution, zoom in on nose hairs, night vision.
How is it wired and powered? Are you going to hardwire it once (how difficult do people say that is)? Or, will it run on a battery (how often will you need to replace it)?
Do you want to combine this with a smartlock? More on this later.
Cost: $80 - $230
What we have: check back after Black Friday 2020 as I finally cave to my husband’s tech obsession
Speakers: Last on my “essential” list for a smarthome is a speaker - which we don’t have since Alexa is integrated into our thermostat. (Phenomenal cosmic power, iiiiitty bitty living space.) A smart speaker is one that you can give voice commands to, just like you can go “Hey Siri” to your phone. The speaker function allows it to sass you back or play your music. There are three major assistants:
Alexa (on Amazon Echo devices, like Echo Dot)
Google Assistant (HOW BORING) (on Google Nest devices, formerly called Google Home)
Siri (on the Apple HomePod)
What to consider:
Which digital assistant do you use, and how will you use it? Some of these come for free as part of another starter kit or integrated in another device. Are you just asking it to settle arguments with Wikipedia or do you want it to control all the house lights?
How much sound quality do you want? I don’t have an awesome music collection nor am I that much of an audiophile. HitClips sounded good for me until like, 2007. The entry-level $30 Echo dot is good, cheap fun, but if you have more discerning ears, you might want to invest in something like the HomePod.
PRIVACY. Make sure the company has a robust privacy policy. This is, after all, a web-connected listening device in your home.
Cost: $30 - $300
What we have: Alexa on our thermostat
Selective use: smart lighting and power
There are several different but similar options here. You may even use all three. Choosing which product to buy is BOOOOOORING, but smart lighting itself is wildly amusing. After several frustrated conversations and crying about basic electrical terminology, I can now give you the below examples:
A smart light switch can control hardwired lighting - such as your kitchen lights (or pendant lights, or chandeliers) that are normally controlled by a wall switch. It turns on and off the same lights that are normally turned on and off by that particular switch.
Two smart light bulbs can control the lamps on your nightstands, which are plugged into an outlet themselves. Normally, they are operated from a switch on the lamp itself. (You COULD use these to replace the bulbs in hardwired lighting, such as a 9-bulb chandelier, but it would take replacing every bulb that is controlled by that switch and gets expensive quickly.)
A smart plug can let you turn off the Christmas tree lights with your phone/Alexa/Siri. See, they don’t offer 1000 tiny smart Christmas bulbs, nor are those lights normally hardwired, so this is a good option.
Light bulbs: I got a starter pack of Philips Hue bulbs as a gift for Pierre because they just seemed FUN. Now I love them SO MUCH because I can control multiple lights throughout a floor, especially with a scene from my phone in Apple Home. I can set up a “bedtime” scene where Siri turns on our bedside lamps to 30%. We found that we rarely used the overhead recessed lighting in many rooms and used the lamps way more, hence why we went with bulbs over switches there.
What to consider: If you have to buy a “hub” with the bulbs, or if you can just control them directly with bluetooth. Our Philips Hue bulbs connect to our Hue Bridge, which can connect like 50 bulbs. Also, what color and brightness of light they offer!
Cost: $10-$50 per bulb, $70-80 for a lightstrip
What we have: Philips Hue Bridge, Hue white ambiance (multiple tones of white from warm to cool), Hue white and color ambiance (every shade of white and color), and the Hue lightstrip (bendable strip in colors, can add on extra length to the starting strip). BY THE WAY, don’t try to use a smart bulb on a fixture controlled by a smart switch. They will fight like siblings over the bigger slice of pizza and will blink on and off at random brightnesses. Personal experience. We got curious.
100% absurd (secretly cool). Image credit
Light switches: These have been great for turning off lights on the way out the door all at once with our hands full. I yell at Alexa and she turns off the kitchen lights, entryway chandelier, and breakfast room light. In a big house this became a #firstworldproblem that we would accidentally leave lights on all over the place.
What to consider: price, appearance, if they’re dimmable, and if you want a remote control with the switch (good Lord, do we need something else to keep track of?!)…and as always, compatibility with Alexa/Apple Home/Google. Practically, ease of installation and compatibility with three-way switches (where one light source can be controlled by two switches that are in different locations - usually the entry and exit of a room).
Cost: $20-$60 per switch (generally)
What we have: Lutron Caséta dimmable switches. One came with a remote control. Pierre installed these last week, Kai stole the remote and now I have no idea where it is. Oops.
Smart plug:
smart lighting exterior starter pack
What to consider: mostly how you will control it. It will be VERY annoying to have a separate app from all the rest of your lights for regular use.
Cost: $15-25 each
What we have: none currently, but again stay tuned for the 2020 SmartTree.
Tip: Check out refurbished options (such as backed by Amazon Warehouse) or even eBay for deals on the above, and buy in quantity for the best price.
Maybe: depends on the home
Smoke Detectors: A smart smoke detector will often be combined with carbon monoxide detection. In either case, the advantage over a traditional detector is again connectivity: you can theoretically get alerts that your alarm went off when you’re away. ALSO, you can control / connect with it through the app. The silence function appears!!!
my favorite food photo of all time. that is toast.
Our old kitchen had a crappy hood and poor ventilation and no tolerance for going above smoke point. In other words, the alarm went off all the time, especially if Pierre was making steak au poivre. That meant we were up on a ladder ripping out the alarm (not good), eating dinner in a beepy ambience (worse) or living without an alarm in that area (worst). It was worth the extra money not to scare the cat all the time and also to eat more steak au poivre.
To us, the “alert” feature was not super useful. Once I got to make fun of Pierre for burning toast while I was gone because my phone pushed me a notification. But otherwise I don’t really understand… wouldn’t your house be burned down by the time you could see said notification and act upon it?? Maybe not?? Does it call the fire department for you? More info needed.
Cost: $35-$120 each
What we have: Google Nest Protect smoke and carbon monoxide alarm. It looks like it’s from this century, has a loud but not “alarming” alarm tone, AND YOU CAN SILENCE IT when you’re standing next to the reason it’s going off and you already know the house is not burning down. It’s just your husband making fish and chips or overheating his butter. Everybody calm down.
Selective use: Places where you need reliability or a silence feature. Our kitchen situation is better now, so it’s going outside the nursery just so it can prove to me that it’s working every month after it performs its self-test.
Door Locks: One option is a just fancy keypad where you punch in a number and the deadbolt unlocks. But a real smart lock connects to your phone/internet. The primary advantage is that you don’t have to have the key to enter, just a code: you can go on a run without one, give your houseguests temporary entry (rather than hide a spare), and also lock up without a spare key.
Because this is a security device, I am waffling about security concerns: is a code secure? What if someone hacks my lock from the “cloud” - is that even possible?? What are my manual options if the power goes out??
What to consider: Aside from worrying about all of the above, the types of entry and security options it offers: activity log, biometric (fingerprint) entry, code entry, temporary or multiple codes, remote unlocking, auto-locking…
Cost: $150-$300 for the models I’d consider
image: techhive.com
Not sure why these exist??
Appliances: WHY do I need a smart fridge, dishwasher, washer, or dryer? I already have 300 apps between the above devices, plus my Apple Home, and half of them keep making me sign in again. WHY CONNECT MY APPLIANCES? And won’t this refrigerator screen be outdated in 10 years?
We currently have a smart washer and dryer because they came with other features we wanted. It’s the GE UltraFresh Vent System, and because it can delay starting a wash load for up to 24 hours in 1-hour increments, I have NEVER needed to “connect” with it to tell it when to start a load. Sure, it could push me notifications that my laundry needs to be transferred to the dryer, but it can also do 1-step wash/dry in one machine, so I just transfer it when I remember. I can’t be convinced that it’s necessary. Pierre, of course, thinks it’s cool and immediately signed in the day they were installed. (Update: He has since informed me he has been unable to find our washing machine in the cloud for THIRTY DAYS. HAHAHA.)
ARE YOU STILL AWAKE?? That wraps up the very long “brief”. Each of these is its own beast, so if you want more info, my favorite resource for tech reviews and overviews is CNET. Or you could simply buy the most popular version of everything and hope it works out. #nojudgement
If this was in any way useful to you, I’d love to know in the comments!! I’m itching to treat my parents each to a “smart upgrade” apiece and can’t wait to see how it goes for them.
