E Unit

My wife and I are a couple of weeks from closing on our new house. She is dead set on wanting me to install a Ring doorbell. That led to her wanting me to add an additional security camera over the garage. So I'll do that. In our former house, I installed a couple of wi-fi thermostats, so I'll probably do that again. We already use Amazon Echo's in the house, so I guess I can build on that since Alexa can be used on most home automation now.

I was wondering who here had smart tech in their house. What kind and how you like it? Or not? I know there's some voices who will speak to the dangers of hooking up anything to the cloud, and I get and respect that. But we're just doing basic security really. But overall, I'd like to hear thoughts on this type of stuff.

Kurt D

I don't even have a dishwasher.



But I think Ring, and Nest type thermostats etc. are cool and worthwhile.

I would draw the line at having Alexa read a bedtime story to my kid ...

GoldenJCJ

I installed a Nest thermostat a couple months ago when our regular digital thermostat crapped out. It’s oretty cool and I’d recommend it. Although at the end of the day it is just a thermostat.

I’m also ok with the idea of having cameras installed on the outside of the house (not a big fan on inside cameras. That seems a bit invasive to me). I’m not sure if cameras are considered a “smart home” feature though.

I’d draw the line at Google Home, amazon echos, etc. that seems too “Big Brother” to me right now. Maybe someday I’ll feel more comfortable about that.

I’d also draw the line at refrigerators that order your milk, eggs, etc. when you run out. Seems like an utterly useless feature to me. Who knows though, maybe if o ever get one I’ll love it.

Mrs. Danger

I don't think all that stuff works with adobe.

kefrank

I'm pretty much in complete agreement with all of this. Though I don't really have a desire for a "smart" thermostat either.

zyzzle

No. Anything "smart" these days tells me "NO! NO! DO NOT BUY!" in big flashing letters.

That is, unless I want to be vulnerable to:

1. Expensive repairs, due to "planned obsolescence" / breakage of unecessary bells and whistles I'll never use.

2. To be hacked / invaded / identity stolen by smart, savvy hackers.

3. Valuing technology so highly that it becomes an all-consuming necessity in and of itself.

4. To have things "break" just when I need them most -- in emergency / power outage for instance.

Keep it Simple, Stupid! Old tech is still excellent for houses. A "smart house' to me means actually building it smarter, with better insulation, roof, attention to placement to minimize heating / cooling bills / sun exposure. I'd rather pend the money I'd otherwise spend on all those unecessary bells of "smart" technology on actually using better construction materials, a bigger and / or better lot, less proximity to annoying neighbors, etc.

SunMonkey

^ I don’t think you understand many smart home devices.

Most of our smart stuff works great, with a Wink hub running thing, but the iHome smart plug is terrible at integrating with other devices. Evidently, to communicate with iHome, other devices have to go through an iHome server, which seems to go down a lot. Weird thing is you can directly connect to the iHome device with their app when that happens.

The Sylvania Lightify/Smart+ lighting is really nice and works perfectly with Wink/Echo.

We travel a lot, and I like our two Canary cams. They only turn on when our phones leave the house which is nice.

Nest smoke/CO detector is what it is, but does have an amazing night light that comes on when it senses movement.

Schlage smart locks are great for keyless entry and auto-locking door. It does have a physical key still.

kd5

No. I like getting up out of my chair and doing things for myself. Also, I have little to no need to control anything from outside my home. If I can do it, so can anyone with the proper know-how. I just don't need all that stuff to make me feel smarter.

Brian Shannon

Yes and I am adding things all the time

Rob V

I have a two Ecobee thermostats, ring doorbell, ring backyard flood light, arlo cameras in the basement and a smart outlet to run a lamp when we're gone. All of this is run by Alexa... I love it.

nando820

I have the Nest Thermostat. I really like that I can control with my phone and have it on energy saving mode when im not home. Since its connected to the phone it recognizes when im not there and it does it automatically. Love it.

I also installed the Lutron Cassetta wireless dimmer and I have a Logitech smart remote but I have not figure out how to make them work together yet I guess I need an Alexa or iHome or one of those. Just not sure whats compatible with both

Goat3001

I'm a fairly new homeowner and I've been adding 'smart' features to the home here and there.

The Nest thermostat is great mainly because it lets me track my usage and let's me set up a schedule to run my system.

We installed a few smart bulbs mostly because we wanted the ability to dim the lights without having to install a dimmer but I also put that on a schedule when we're away so that lights are on in the evening for a little while.

I'll probably get a few more smart bulbs for around the house - I'm waiting for a deal where I can get a bunch of them for cheap (maybe Black Friday).

I'm also interested in a Smart Lock system but not sure which one to get yet.

Josh-da-man

I might do some smart lighting like Philips Hue, but I avoid any and all "Big Brother" shit as much as possible. No cameras, open mics, or other things that track my day to day activities in my house.

Nick Danger

I'm a late-adopter. My appliances are all over twenty years old, and none of them have circuit boards.

I can do my own repairs of relays and switches. It bugs me that my home video components are built to be discarded and replaced. The only thing that's gone wrong with my doorbell is that the little light bulb behind the button burnt out and had to be replaced.

fumanstan

I posted a thread about this in Tech Talk a little while ago, and having just moved in to the house I mentioned in that post 2 weeks ago i've started to do things here and there. Same with that thread, along with any of his posts here, safe to basically ignore zyzzle

https://forum.dvdtalk.com/tech-talk/...hts-ideas.html

So far, I have Philips Hue lightning replaced in a few rooms with recessed lighting, including my living room, foyer, and master bedroom. All hooked up to my Echo so I can turn them on, off, and dim by voice.

I have two Honeywell Wi-Fi thermostats, also linked to my phone and Echo so I can set the temperature by voice.

I have automated shades in my living room that have an app that I need to get around to setting up so I can really put together a home theater mode on my Harmony remote.

I'm planning on getting a Ring video doorbell, and likely a camera or two as well.

jpcamb

not a fan of the smart stuff. We have a couple amazon dots that are in a drawer unplugged somewhere. It seems a big invasion of privacy having them in the house. They were a gift from my MIL who loves the thing. Always setting a timer or asking the weather etc when we are at her house.

We have 7 day programmable thermostats but as the wife works from home so the temp rarely changes. I wouldn't mind a smart door lock so I wouldn't need a key, but you won't see me shopping for it.

Dash

I went the apple home kit route for my smart home. Of the three ecosystems, Apple, Amazon and Google, I think Apple is the most secure, but everyone has their own opinion. I have two outdoor security cameras hooked up as well as a majority of the light switches in the house. Being able to turn on/off the lights in the house while you are away or if you forget is rather nice. I also went with the ecobe 3 thermostat. Next on my list to upgrade is the door locks.

Mabuse

Homes, and the primary components in them are durable goods. They last a long time. These electronics are short term, fragile, and doomed to obsolescence. Waste of money.

Mrs. Danger

We have a programmable thermostat. It works just fine without being hooked up to any other device.

GoldenJCJ

The biggest benefit I’ve found with the Nest thermostat is that I don’t have to get out of bed if I want to turn the temp up/down. I can just do it through my phone.

Pretty soon all this smart home tech is going to make us like the humans in Wall-e.

funkyryno

I'm interested in a Ring or similar video doorbell, simply to deter or even catch package thieves.

The Nest sounds interesting, but my programmable thermostat does a decent job on its own. If I'm home and cold or hot, I walk over to it and change the settings myself. If I'm gone on vacation for several days, I change the temps before I leave. I imagine it would take a long time before it save enough on my power bill to justify the cost, and be then the device would already be outdated.

No other smart home devices interest me at all.

nando820

Oh I'm counting on it!

Rob V

Maybe... but opening my door from my phone or changing the temperature at 2am by telling Alexa to do it is pretty sweet.

Noonan

I've converted a good bit over. Nest thermo and smoke detectors, August door locks, Hue Lights, and a Roomba. My back door unlocks automatically when I pull into the driveway and lights are all on a schedule so I rarely have to touch them.

I'd have a hard time going back at this point.

TimeandTide

Ray Bradbury would like a word with you.