Wondering whether investing in smart home devices is worth it? Both Anna AND Adam are here with a co-written post to tell you all about the smart devices we own, how we use them, and which ones are actually worth your money and energy.
This post does include some affiliate links, but no one has payed us anything to make these recommendations. If you buy through our links, we make a few pennies at no extra cost to you.
How the skeptics were converted
Hear us out. We were originally skeptical of smart homes.
Anna especially was creeped out by having an Alexa “always listening,” and we aren’t especially techie types who enjoy tinkering with devices and computers. (Plus, we’d watched the Mitchells vs. the Machines and would prefer that robots do not rise up and take over the world.)
However, once we moved into our current 100+ year old condo — a 3rd floor walk-up with no central air and a super long, shotgun-style layout — we found ourselves looking for an inexpensive way to bring some modern comforts without spending a ton of money. What began with a few smart devices soon fleshed out into a more or less fully functional smart home. Our old unit with lots of vintage charm (read: inconveniences) now has a few practical 21st century touches that didn’t require a renovation — or even hiring an electrician.
Why did we buy smart devices?
It began with two challenges: the need for reliable internet connection throughout the house and our desire for more temperature regulation. Our layout required that our internet router be on either the very north or very south end of our house. Getting a stable connection to travel all the way to the other end of the house through multiple plaster walls was understandably a challenge. This led to our first smart home purchase — a mesh internet system with multiple nodes to help spread our internet throughout several rooms.
For our temperature regulation situation, we initially had multiple old window ACs left by the previous owners scattered throughout the house. However, it quickly became a chore to manually turn them all on every morning to beat the heat, then subsequently manually turn them off at night to save a little money. We discovered that you can plug many ancient ACs into smart plugs to enable them to be managed remotely. The discovery of smart plugs – by which you can turn any old AC, lamp, or other device into a smart device – was revolutionary.
Over the years, we have found ourselves slowly fleshing out and adding more devices until we reached our current state: we no longer have to wander the house to turn off dozens of lamps, and we have window ACs that regulate themselves with a thermostat, a water kettle that boils water and keeps it hot for an hour every morning, and a Roomba that runs on a room by room cleaning schedule. Resolving these little annoyances has been sorta magical.
In this post, we will walk though some tips and tricks for using smart devices and highlight the smart devices that we own and can recommend. But before we do that, there’s one more question to address:
Should You Get Amazon Echo or a Google Nest?
We debated this for a while before making our first purchase. We made our decision to go with the Amazon Echo primarily because we had a first gen Alexa Echo that Adam got as a gift when they came out. We experimented with that, and when we didn’t have any problems, we decided to stick with that system. If you’re debating for yourself, you can find all kinds of Internet comparisons like this and this with more details. In theory as we understand it, Alexa is compatible with more devices, while Google is supposedly better at using more natural language.
Adam strongly values more natural language and uses Google for everything else online, so he was very ready to switch to Google if the need arose. However, over time, we had no problems with our initial Alexa forays. The Echo system integrates well with our Google calendars and Spotify, and we’ve found the voice commands sensible enough. We also use Amazon for our photos – something Anna recommends here – and have a Prime account, which makes it easy to stay within the Amazon ecosystem.
It is worth noting that, if you prefer to stay away from smart speakers, most smart devices do come with apps that allow you to manage their functionality right from your phone.
We personally decided to go the smart speaker route because it doesn’t require constantly having a phone in hand, and we are both misplacing ours all the time. We also appreciated that you can integrate all of the devices from a variety of brands right in the Alexa App. This means you only really have one app to manage, rather than checking a half dozen apps to make simple changes different devices. The only limitation is some more advanced features (like setting some custom color shades with the smart bulbs) require going into the device’s specialized app anyway. We have not found this to be a major issue.
Regardless of what system you decide on, we don’t think you can really go wrong. However, all of our following recommendations will be based on our experiences with Alexa-compatible devices.
Smart Devices that Are Actually Worth It
Smart Speakers
Anna is annoyed that she is now so accustomed to having these spread throughout our house that when we travel, we both catch ourselves asking Alexa to turn off the lights or read us the weather. As dystopian as it may be, we are converts here.
What do we actually use smart speakers for?
- Timers – you can set multiple, named timers when cooking and easily check on them to see how much time remains.
- Alarms – turning off an alarm while laying in bed is super easy (too easy?!). You can even ask Alexa to set an alarm to particular songs. We currently have our alarm set so that immediately once it’s turned off, it reads us the time and weather. You can also set it up to provide you with your calendar of events for the day or read off the headlines.
- Reminders — Ask the speaker to remind you of something at a particular time, and it will read off the reminder at that time.
- Playing music — We previously used a bluetooth speaker for this, but it were annoying to connect (especially because ours would randomly disconnect itself and then not be able to find our phones again). We’ve found it so easy to connect to our Spotify account and ask Alexa to play music, especially if we’re cooking, washing dishes, or cleaning. Our favorite feature is playing on music on the “everywhere group,” which will play whatever audio we’re listening to on all devices throughout the whole house. It’s great for everything from family chore time to atmosphere-setting for house parties.
- Activating home routines and devices — All of the devices we’ll describe below can be activated through one of these smart speakers.
- Setting up routines — You can set up “groups” and “routines” in the Alexa app, then say custom voice commands to trigger them. Adam set up one that powers all of our Christmas lights, for example. We have a similar bedtime routine for turning off all lamps and the TV at night, which is especially handy if we’re both tucked in and realize that Adam forgot to turn off his office lights.
- Announcements — Anna hates this, but if she isn’t answering her phone (a not-infrequent occurrence), Alexa can make announcements across devices and from the app. The smart speakers can also work as a home intercom system – one than is smart enough to add a dinner bell sound effect if you announce “dinner is ready!” or a triumphant trumpet sound when Adam announces “Honey, I’m home!”
- Security — We admittedly haven’t tried this yet, but it’s something Adam is considering.
Smart Speakers We Own and Can Recommend
Echo Dot
This is the most basic, least expensive smart speaker. We had a 7-year-old version of this that just bit the dust, and Adam just bought the most current version to replace it for his office. It’s not fancy, but it works quite well for just about everything. It has a more than adequate speaker for music, and the latest version comes with an optional motion detector built in. Adam’s device is set to turn on his office lights when he walks in, then turns them off if it doesn’t detect movement. This helps to ensure we do not waste electricity if he forgets to turn off the lights when he’s dashing to campus. There’s also a Dot with Clock, which has a clock face if that would be helpful.
Echo
This has a more full-fledged speaker if you’re interested in better sound quality. It’s also a bit more expensive. We can tell a significant difference when we compare the sound of this to the Dot, but it’s only worth the upgrade if listening to music is a real priority for you. Otherwise the functionality is pretty similar.
Echo Studio
This was Adam’s most recent Black Friday purchase, as he’d wanted a speaker for our dining room and had read that this was competitive with the Sonos One. Anna rolled her eyes when it arrived but did begrudgingly admit that the sound quality is excellent and notably different than the other models. It has a more surround-sound effect, and you can hear much more varied levels of sound. It’s expensive, but you can find it on sale for Black Friday and Amazon Prime days. Refurbished models also exist.
Echo Show 5
We use and can highly recommend this as a bedroom alarm clock. This has all of the usual smart speaker functions in addition to displaying time, rotating through photos, showing visuals of the weather forecast, and playing videos. You can also theoretically video call from this device, though we’ve never done that. (And don’t worry, you can cover the camera shutter if you’re weirded out by the potential of being recorded while sleeping or…doing other things.
Anna’s biggest complaint with this one is the ads – you can adjust the display settings to only show what you’d like to see displayed, but Amazon will inevitably release new categories of content every month or so that you have to manually turn off.
Echo Show 8
We use this one in our kitchen. It has a better speaker and a larger screen than the Echo Show 5, so we use this as our digital photo frame. Adam has also played the occasional movie or Youtube video during kitchen clean-up, and it’s worked fine for that, too. While it is more expensive than the Echo Show 5, you can possibly find a deal on the 2nd gen (which we have) now that the 3rd gen has been released.
We have not personally tried the Echo Show 10 or the Echo Show 15, which have even more features but are, of course, even more expensive.
Lights
How we use smart lights
This is, perhaps, our most time- and annoyance-saving use for smart devices. Anna despises overhead lighting, but Adam despises turning off countless lamps scattered throughout the house with equal passion. Our compromise is that we have 95% of our lamps connected to smart plugs. We have routines to turn on the lights at sunset and turn them off at 10:30pm as our reminder to go to bed (which works great until we have friends over for an evening and forget to turn off the routine. Sorry, literally everyone who visits us.).
Smart Lightbulbs and Smart Plugs We Use and Recommend
Kasa Smart Plugs
Our lamps, accent lighting, and Christmas lights are all plugged into these. Most varieties of these connect to an app that then syncs with Alexa. Adam finds them not too difficult to set up if you have any tech know-how.
Smart Power Strips
These are an alternative to smart plugs if you’re running out of outlet space. We just switched over a number of smart plugs to smart power strips and have been happy with the result. Most of these have a few “always on” outlets in addition to “smart” outlets that can be connected to your smart device. This and this are the two we’ve tried, and we’ve had no complaints so far.
Smart Bulbs
Adam uses Wyze Smart Bulbs in his office, and we have these flood lights for our hallway. Anecdotally, the smart bulbs are a little more finicky than the plugs, but they do enable you to change the light color and brightness – allowing everything from a soft golden light to a hot-pink neon glow. Adam loves this for parties, but we can also imagine teens getting very into changing the lightscape in their rooms. As mentioned previously, many of them also can operate solely from your phone if you’re not interested in getting a smart speaker.
Outdoor lights
We chose to add these cute bistro-style lights so we can turn the light off and on without going outside. You could also get an actual motion-activated security lights like this (though we have not personally tried this one).
Roomba
Adam has delegated his vacuuming duties to our smart vacuum and couldn’t be happier about it.
How we use our Roomba
We have our Roomba scheduled to vacuum particular rooms on particular days. We can also tell Alexa to send out our Roomba to certain destinations. if we’re cleaning. While we do occasionally need a spot vacuum in corners, under furniture, or in particularly dirty spots, those instances are relatively rare.
Roomba models we’ve tried and can recommend
Roomba j7+
We’ve had one of these for about two years. Adam did a ton of research and chose this one because it has camera in front that allows it to identify cords or socks (or, if you have pets, animal poop) and avoid those. It also can map your house, which has two big perks: it vacuums in more or less straight lines, not random patterns like some other models of automatic vacuums, AND it can be scheduled or commanded to clean individual rooms or areas. Ours vacuums our kitchen at 9pm every night, for example.
Do be aware, though, that you will have to do a little trouble-shooting. Our Roomba does get stuck or confused sometimes, and you will have to clean it out occasionally. Thankfully that task is relatively straightforward, and we’ve only had to change the bags about twice per year.
If we were to upgrade in the future, Adam would love a model that can mop as well as vacuum. He’s particularly enamored with both models below, which can switch between mop and vacuum functionalities depending on what type of floor they’re cleaning. The Roomba Combo J7+ is the baseline model, while the Roomba Combo J9+ is a more premium option that requires fewer water refills and has more suction.
Air Conditioning
How we use smart air conditioning units
Smart ACs are great for regulating your AC use and saving energy. We’re much more likely to turn off our ACs if they’re voice-enabled (meaning no contorting around furniture and houseplants to reach the power buttons) and can be set on a routine. We also love this for traveling – we can turn our AC units off while we’re gone, then turn them on from the app when we’re nearing home so the house is cool when we walk in the door.
We’ve done this with old AC models using smart plugs, but there are also Alexa-compatible newer models on the market.
Smart air condition units we own and can recommend
Midea U-shape Window AC
We LOVE this window AC! It’s super quiet, since its unique design puts the noisy part of the unit outside, and the way it’s supported means that you can actually open the window once it’s installed without risking your AC unit tumbling to the ground. Since it’s pretty efficient, we’ve also seen our summer electric bills drop since using this model. It was fiddly to install for the first time, especially if you have old or oddly shaped windows — but otherwise no complaints.
Kitchen Appliances
How we use smart kitchen appliances
For anything that you want to turn on from another location, schedule, or control hands-free, we love smart devices.
Smart kitchen appliances we own and can recommend
Korex Smart Kettle
When our old hot water kettle died, we replaced it with this one. It’s been even handier than expected. Not only does it boil quickly, you can also set it to heat to a certain temperature and then hold that temp for a designated amount of time. Anna is a faithful tea drinker, but the time she makes her tea varies depending on the morning. She has the kettle programmed to start heating up at 7:30 every morning, then it stays about 185 degrees until 9:30am. It’s also super useful to turn on the kettle from another room and have it heated up by the time you walk over. You do need to make sure you top off the water when it gets low, but that hasn’t been an issue for us.
Smart Oven
Okay, so this is only useful if you have an electric oven. If you do, you can preheat the oven remotely — so if you are at the store buying a frozen pizza, you can start preheating the oven from the checkout line. If you have a gas oven, like we do, you can only adjust the temperature once the oven is turned on. It makes sense for safety reasons but also is less useful.
Fan
We have an excessively sensitive smoke detector (Anna sets it off every time she deglazes a pan), so we have a regular fan connected to a smart plug living on top of our cabinets. Telling Alexa to turn on the fan when the smoke alarm is screaming and the garlic is about to scorch is handy.
Echo Show 8
As mentioned above, our Echo Show 8 lives in our kitchen. We love watching our photo gallery rotate when we walk in to get a snack, setting multiple named timers while cooking, checking the forecast, having kitchen dance parties while we put away dishes, and occasionally pulling up a Youtube video or other streaming service if Adam reallllly doesn’t want to be cleaning.
Adam would love a smart coffee maker, but he couldn’t find one that freshly grinds beans and also is Alexa-compatible. His coffee snobbery won out and he ended up going for the Capresso with Bur Grinder, which is programmable but not smart. He’s been fine with the tradeoff, though he would dearly love to tell Alexa to make him coffee and show up to a freshly brewed pot.
Internet
How we use a smart Internet system
As described above, we needed wifi extenders to spread our signal throughout our house, and a smart mesh system was the most streamlined option for people who are not techy.
Smart mesh systems we own and can recommend
Eero 6
We started with this system and were largely happy with it. If you don’t have tons and tons of devices or Internet users, or you live in a smaller space, this should work fantastically. However…
Eero Pro 6E
We just upgraded literal days ago to the more advanced Eero to help with some Internet slow spots. Since we both work from home much of the time and have a lot of smart devices (ahem) that use up Internet bandwidth, we wanted to try these devices’ tri-band system, which is…better? Faster? You can read the product description here if you understand more tech jargon than Anna does. Anyway, we got a very good pre-Christmas deal, and Adam is thrilled with the results. Our Internet speeds increased across the entire house after these were installed.
Smart TV
How we use a smart TV
We don’t have much to add to the conversation here, since we just got a smart TV last November and were maybe the last people in the United States to do so? We use this to stream all the things, especially Youtube, on our TV.
Smart TVs we own and recommend
Frame TV 55 inch
Ugh, we know, yet another person on the Internet recommending this bougie TV. But this is the only TV we own, and since it takes up a significant portion of visible real estate in our living room, we went fancy. We have no regrets. Wait for a sale, though.
General tips for setting up smart devices:
- If you can, find one brand or company and stick with it. This minimizes number of smart apps you need to download and manage.
- We work with Amazon Echo for our smart speakers and Amazon Eero for our Internet
- We use Kasa for our smart plugs whenever possible.
- Be prepared for some maintenance
- Occasionally apps have updates, software changes, or something will stop working. Be prepared to occasionally reset and troubleshoot. Here is how Adam (our smart device guy) thinks about it: instead of setting aside time to vacuum every week, he mentally prepares that he might have to tinker with the app every 3-4 months when something malfunctions. If that sounds hellish to you, then this might not be the best solution for you. That’s okay!