Smart doorbells, smart locks, smart thermostats, and smart security cameras are hot sellers this holiday season. But do you need an education on how to “smarten up” your home?
Our partners Consumer Reports’ experts offer a crash course in how to buy these high-tech devices.
Take smart speakers. They make it very easy to connect different products and have them talk to each other. To use a smart speaker as a hub-or control center of sorts-you’ll find three main options: Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple’s Siri, available on the Apple HomePod.
Consumer Reports found the HomePod to be the easiest smart speaker to connect devices to. But it’s not compatible with as many other smart devices as Amazon and Google speakers.
Top rated security devices
As for those other smart product, Consumer Reports put them through rigorous testing. For example, smart locks still have to pass the same break-in tests as traditional door locks. A lot of smart locks don’t hold up in forced-entry tests, so you’ll want to get one that’s smart but also strong.
The top rated $230 Schlage Sense Smart Lock stood up to kick-in, picking, and drilling tests, and connects with any of the three smart speaker assistants.
Another option for your doors: video doorbells. You can see who is at your door, and some models even work with smart locks to remotely open the door through an app. Consumer Reports top rated model is the $220 Ring Video Doorbell Pro.
Need even more smarts? You might want to add smart cameras inside and out. Security cameras are a great way to keep a virtual eye on your home no matter where you are.
One thing to keep in mind: You’ll need to pay a fee for video storage for most smart security cameras that can be as much as $100 - $200 a year. When these cameras take video they store it on their company’s server, somewhere far off instead of on the camera itself. Doing this makes it really easy for you to access that footage, but it can also cost you over the long term.
The $120 Amazon Cloud Cam is a CR Best Buy. And if you want surveillance both inside and outside your home, consider the $220 Netgear Arlo Pro 2 Smart Camera.
One smart home product CR says could be smarter: smoke detectors. That’s because the smart smoke detectors currently available detect only one type of fire. CR recommends dual sensor smoke alarms, which can detect both smoldering and flash fires.
As always, don't waste your money.
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