The whole purpose of home automation products is to simplify your life. If these products do not help you with your daily life, it defeats the purpose. This is why these best home automation products of 2016 should help make your house smart again.
Just like our phones, we are surrounded by technology, and everything is going digital.
Why let your home fall behind the curve? If it’s a trend now, it’ll continue on.. imagine not owning a smartphone in the 21st century.
Best Home Automation Products of 2016
August Smart Locks
Ever forget to lock the doors, or keep thinking to yourself “did I lock the front door?” This question is asked more frequently than you would think.
The first best home automation products include the August Smart Lock. This device makes it easy for people to lock/unlock the front door (or any door with a deadbolt) via a mobile device.
Keep in mind that you would have to buy the August Connect, which retails for $79, to make your smart lock/unlock wirelessly.
Another cool add-on is the keypad that can be bought along with the August lineup. This keypad allows people to enter a unique code to unlock the door.
It works well when you need to get in and out of the house quickly (no more digging through your purse or pockets to find your keys!).
The application keeps a log of whoever has entered and left the house. This is a useful feature if you have kids returning from school or if you have a nanny that goes in and out of the house.
No need to make multiple keys when you can use the August Smart Keypad to generate unique codes. Making it possibly one of the best smart home devices.
Ecobee3
The Ecobee3 is a wi-fi thermostat with room sensor that is designed to deliver comfort in all rooms. The sensors allow having optimal room temperature all the time.
It is considered a smart thermostat because it learns when to turn on/off AC and heat depending on the temperature outside and house energy profile.
The device also knows if a particular room is occupied or not, so if you are not home, the heat will automatically turn off.
The energy savings can save a homeowner an average of 23% annually. With helpful support staff that is able to guide you through every step of the way. They can be reached via e-mail and by phone.
Once it’s set up, the device can be controlled by your computer, tablet or smartphone – whenever you want.
The Ecobee3 retails for $249.
Nest Protect
Did you know that approximately 500 Americans die each year cause of carbon monoxide poisoning and 20,000 to 30,000 get sick each year?
Or that 1,000,000 homes experience high levels of carbon monoxide in the US each year?
Carbon monoxide is “a colorless, odorless toxic flammable gas formed by incomplete combustion of carbon.” – basically undetectable by humans without the help of a device.
Next Protect smoke and CO alarm helps detect carbon monoxide and lets you know what room is affected and what to do.
Since a lot of furniture in people’s homes are made up of particle board/foam, it only takes 5 minutes for a fire to spread across the room, rather than the 30 minutes it used to take in the 1970s.
This is why the Nest Protect can deter slow and fast burning fires to keep you safe.
Nest Cam
The Next Cam is another product by Nest that made it onto the best home automation products list.
Having products that work together and be able to sync everything is what makes these home automation products so great.
The camera features a 1080p HD that is designed to help you look after your family when you are not at home. The camera is made to be indoors and help you monitor what is going on.
It can be used as a baby monitor or any instances that you can think about.
It is made so that everyone can sign up to the Nest family application and allow the camera to turn off when no one is detected.
The 130 degree wide-angle and zoom feature allow you to view the video just in case you are wondering what is going on.
The Nest Aware allows you to have a 10-day or 30-day playback time, depending on the package you choose.
The pricing starts from $10/month to $30/month.
If you decide to buy more than one camera, just cut the price in half for the second subscription for the camera storage. All the video is kept in the cloud and requires 140GB of upload if you are running 24/7 continuous 1080p HD recording.
Philips Hue
The light bulb redesigned.
The Philips Hue makes the list for one of the best home automation products because it works well with other home automation devices.
For instance, the Phillips Hue is compatible with Nest and can change color if a warning is detected by the Next Protect.
This allows you to navigate the home and not enter “danger” zones.
Besides giving you alerts that come up with the Next products, it also has features that let you control your lights from anywhere in your house.
Changing the light color to different moods to help you relax, concentrate, read or help you get energized.
Philips offers a variety of home automation devices including starter kits, dimming kits, ambiance lighting and much more.
Belkin Wemo Switch
All of these new gadgets need something to connect into unless they are run strictly on batteries, and what better to use than a Belkin Wemo Switch?
As the name implies, the Belkin Wemo acts like a switch that can turn on or off anything that is plugged into it.
It connects to the existing Wi-fi network of your home allowing you to use the Belkin application to control the device.
The app also allows you to control all your devices that are connected to the switch. For instance, if you have an iron that is plugged in and you left the house – you might be wondering if you left it on.
Log onto the application and it will allow you to see if the iron is off or on. If you forgot to turn it off, the application will allow you to disconnect power to the iron without physically pulling the power.
That is what makes the Belkin Wemo Switch so great.
Roomba 980
The best home automation products would not be complete without the Roomba 980. It is a must have in every household because who likes to vacuum?
Well, some people might, but a smart home wouldn’t be smart if you had to vacuum it yourself.
Besides the self-charging that is available on all the units, the Roomba 980 allows you to set up the iRobot HOME application that allows you to control the Roomba 980, allowing it to truly a home automation device.
This allows the robot vacuum to clean multiple rooms when you are not home. Select a time to start the Roomba and it’ll start cleaning the floors. If the battery dies, the Roomba will go to the charging station, charge, and continue on where it left off.
The Roomba 980 retails for $900 and it is absolutely worth it.
An honorable mention to the Dyson 360 Eye robot vacuum, but since it is not available in Canada, it’s kind of hard to recommend it.
Samsung Family Hub Refrigerator
Say what? A smart home refrigerator, how can that be possible?
Welcome to the Samsung Family Hub Refrigerator, a fridge that has a 21.5″ touchscreen display that is truly revolutionary.
The fridge has Wi-fi enabled touch screen that lets you manage every aspect of your grocery needs.
The three build in cameras takes a picture of what is inside the fridge, allowing you to see what you might need to buy while you are shopping. The pictures are accessible from your phone.
As a smart fridge, it can do a lot more. For instance, the fridge has an application called Grocery by Mastercard that allows you to create a grocery list and order groceries to your house.
Other use full apps include all recipes, pandora, whiteboard, photo album, shopping list, tune in radio, calendar and more.
There are numerous companies that have entered the market or are entering the marketplace to make the best home automation products.
