Give Your Loved Ones the Gift of Smart Home Automation!
The holidays have arrived, and with it, shopper’s anxiety. What do you get for the person who has it all? Or the dad who, despite your best efforts, remains the most difficult to shop for? Have no fear, Smarter Home Automation is here to provide some great gift ideas for that special person in your life. The guide features smart products for the home that make life easier, such as personal assistants, smart lighting, video doorbells, and more.
The great thing about all these products is that you can get them without breaking the bank, with most costing less than $100, or around that price point. Get your loved ones the gift of home automation this year, so they can stop living in the dark ages, manually switching on lights. With voice-activated smart lights, video monitoring from your phone, and a host of other cool applications, converting to a smart home has never been so much fun, and there are lots of benefits too, like saving money on utilities.
What’s In The Guide?
This year’s holiday guide has some great smart products from big names like Sylvania, Lutron, Skybell, and more. Here’s what to expect:
PART ONE
- Lightify Flex RGBW Smart Strip Lights
- Sylvania Lightify Gardenspot Mini RGB
- LIFX Smart Light Collection
PART TWO
- Lutron Caseta Starter Kit
- Wink Hub 2
- Smart Video Doorbells – Skybell, Ring, and August
PART THREE
- Our Feature Piece: Alexa, Siri, and Hey Google – The Three New Magi of The Holidays
PART FOUR
- Schlage Sense and Schlage Connect
- Top 5 Picks for Smart Products
Schlage Sense and Schlage Connect – Some Truly Smart Locks
Schlage, of course, is one of the best-known brands for door locks, especially smart ones. These two, very similar locks, (one will likely serve you better than the other) are two gifts that give you a lock on having a safe holiday season: the Schlage Sense and Schlage Connect.
We reviewed the Schlage Connect last year. It is a full featured smart lock that interfaces using Z-Wave and WiFi. In basic lock features the Schlage Sense (being reviewed at the time of this Holiday Guide), is almost identical. The primary difference is that the Sense communicates with the world with a focus on Apple HomeKit/Siri compatibility (which the Connect lacks), and it does so relying on Bluetooth and Wifi capabilities. Both locks come in many finishes to match your door and décor.
The two devices look the same in terms of keypad, and activation bar at the top (press it to lock the door, or to turn on the keypad so you can unlock it). On the inside of your door, they also look the same. Both run on AA batteries that should last up to a year – longer if you use those new lithium AA batteries.
If the people (including yourself) that you are gifting is Apple oriented, they enjoy the ease of using the Schlage Sense. It is truly as easy as activating Siri and saying, “Unlock the front door.” You’ll find that when you are far away, you can still control the door lock. I’ve gotten in the habit of using my iPhone when I’m a couple of blocks away from home, to tell Siri to unlock the door, and sure enough, it responds that the door is unlocked.
When I had the Schlage Connect on my old front door, I could voice control locking and unlocking the door with Alexa, which interfaces through the Z-wave controller I have running a number of devices in my house. In other words, both offer you voice control, or touch pad. There’s even a traditional key for back up.
Personally, between these two locks, I’ve had one or the other on the front door of my home for more than a year. Do I have any complaints – well, certainly no deal breakers, but read the full reviews to learn more. Here’s a tidbit or two:
The Sense, with Apple support – if you are walking up to your house, and your phone is locked with Bluetooth turned off, you’ll need to unlock, so it might be faster to use the touchpad. Still that’s a minor complaint.
The Connect, using a Z-wave and WiFi hub like a SmartThings (Samsung), Wink 2, or Almond3, is in some cases limited in being able to use all extra features if the app of the hub doesn’t support them. That, too, is minor, because companies like Schlage work hard providing assistance to make sure those hubs are properly supporting them. I’m used to controlling both Schlage smart locks with voice control, using Siri or Alexa respectively.
Which one? Comes down to probably getting the Sense if you are an Apple person, or the Connect, if not. That said, I’m an Apple guy and got along just fine with the Connect for many months, so I’d count the Connect as a little more versatile. Apple, it should be noted, demands a very high level of security – a good thing to have in a smart lock, I think you’d agree? In that regard, I would assume that the Sense would be the more hack-proof of the two.
I’ve reviewed several locks to date. I kept changing them out on our front door, much to my wife’s displeasure. Since she’s happy with the Sense, it looks like we’re going to keep this Schlage Sense on the front door, going forward. Looks like after the holidays, the next smart lock I review will be mounted to a different exterior door!
With either of these stocking stuffers protecting your front door, only Santa is going to be able to break in on Christmas Eve. Don’t forget the milk and cookies!
Amazon Echo, Apple HomeKit, and Google Home Device Compatibility
| Device Compatibility with Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Smart Product Category | Alexa – Amazon Echo | Siri – Apple HomeKit | Google Assistant – Google Home |
| Thermostats | Nest, Ecobee4 (has Alexa built-in), Honeywell, and more |
Ecobee3, Ecobee4, Nest (limited), Honeywell Lyric |
Nest (of course, Google owns Nest), Honeywell Lyric, Ecobee4 |
| Smart Locks | Schlage, Kwikset, August, Yale, etc. – SmartThings and Wink2 may offer control of additional locks with limitations |
Models from Schlage, Kwikset, August, Yale, Chamberlain |
August, Kwikset, Schlage, SmartThings and Wink2 may offer control of additional locks with limitations |
| Smart Lights and Switches | Lutron dimmers and switches including Caseta and Ra families, Philips Hue, Sylvania Lightify, Nanoleaf added (2017), Geenie, GE, Cree, Osram, SengLED, Belkin WeMo, and lots more | Lutron dimmers and switches including Caseta and Ra families,Philips Hue, Sylvania Lightify, LIFX (3rd gen), Nanoleaf, Belkin WeMo (new) | Lutron Caseta dimmers and switches, Philips Hue, Sylvania Lightify, Nanoleaf, Geenie, GE, Cree, Osram, SengLED, Belkin WeMo |
| Video Doorbells | August, Skybell HD, Ring | August, Skybell HD, Ring | August, Ring |
Here’s a chart showing what each player offers in terms of some device support.
Current Key Strengths of the 3 Personal Assistants
| Current Key Strengths | |
|---|---|
| Alexa | Most devices available to control, largest line of devices (Echo, Dot, Show, etc., smart phones… Alexa being embedded directly into some devices. |
| Siri | Security, Apple Ecosystem, Most user friendly, Apple devices: iPhones, iPads, Apple computers, Apple Watch, Apple HomePod (coming Jan 2018). |
| Next most number of devices it can control, identifies different voices for separate music, calendar, to do lists, etc. Has largest knowledge base, but that doesn’t always help. How you word things usually matters more. | |
I asked all three about the average price of gas in Miami Beach. Siri and Alexa both responded with answers quoting the average price in Florida. Google Assistant said it didn’t know but had the answer to a similar question. I took the bait. It then quoted an article with a price, but the article was apparently two years old, quoting a price almost $2.00 higher than the others.
I then tried the same question but for the larger city of Miami. Google didn’t have an answer, but both Siri and Alexa did. Alexa quoted the average price from the previous week, Siri quoted the price for the previous Monday.
Ask a different question and the Google Assistant might be the best, which leads us to this conclusion:
Again, the most important thing to realize is that all three of these systems will evolve at a dazzling pace over the next one to three years. Two or three years out, the capabilities of all three may make their 2017 skills seem pathetic.
Which to buy? It’s really hard to make a wrong choice. Alexa for the most versatility and devices, Google for the personalization, or Apple for the confidence, that while they may not always be the leader in every aspect, they consistently provide an experience level that keeps Apple folks loyal.
Editors note: Sure, I am buying more LIFX bulbs now, and moving some around. I’m putting the newest LIFX bulbs in “critical” locations where I want to be able to control by Siri as well as the other two, for example, in rooms where I don’t have a Dot within shouting distance!
That is, I appreciate having two systems, where at least half of the devices (and climbing) work with both.
Art’s 5 Favorite Smart Products
- LIFX BR30 Color Flood Lights (Gen 3)
- Ecobee3 Thermostat (until at least the Ecobee4 arrives for review)
- Lutron Caseta Hub and Light Switches/Dimmers/Shades controllers
- Lightify GardenSpot RGB
- Lightify Flex Strips (RGBW lighting)
- Best Overall Smart Home Value: Amazon Dot
“Wrapping it Up”
That’s a wrap for our first annual holiday guide! Check out the reviews for more detailed information about each smart product so you can decide which devices will light up your home this holiday season. If you choose to buy from the links included in this guide, we will receive a small cut, which will help us to keep creating awesome content for you. If not – no worries. We’ll still create useful content to help you on your journey of automating your entire home.
Happy holidays from Smarter Home Automation!
