Smart home technology is really sexy right now, with big, flashy products like smart fridges making public debuts using celebrity power and expensive commercials. These large-scale products are great, for sure, but they aren’t the only cool and innovative products in the smart home space. Here are three products that I think are pretty underrated in the smart home space right now. They might not be the best executed products – which could explain why they are underrated – but their concepts are at least super interesting.
Knocki
We were all fine with using apps to control our products, until devices like the Amazon Echo and the Google Home came along, and now we expect to be able to control things with simple voice commands. But what if we didn’t even need to do that? What if – for whatever reason – you aren’t able to talk? There are still super convenient options available to help you automate your home, like the Knocki. This simple device can be fastened to any surface – like a wall, door, or table – where it can pick up your taps and knocks. When it registered a tap or knock, it can trigger a response, like an automated action that you’ve set up. You can knock three times and light up a room. Or knock once and turn on your television. The power is no longer in your voice.
Roost Smart Fire Alarm
This is worth getting just so that I don’t have to disconnect my fire alarm every time someone cooks in my house. Until everything catches up with and adapts to smart technology, home owners have to decide if they want to rewire their entire home, or just buy devices that offer some short cuts. That’s what the Roost offers. This smart fire alarms gives you all the perks of smart technology without all the hassles. This Wi-Fi enabled detector is controlled by an app, so you can easily disarm it if it is triggered by legitimate cooking. It also alerts you on your phone each time the alarm goes off, so you can have someone check your property. If you are close to your neighbors, you can even have it alert their phone!
Samsung SmartThings Water Leak Sensor
This $40 product can give you the timely alert that you need to save you hundreds – and sometimes thousands – of dollars in flood repairs. It monitors moisture so that it can detect leaks in your home. If a leak is detected, you’ll get an alert on your phone and tablet so that you can take preventative actions against flooding. If you can get someone to check on your place, and get a plumber out immediately, then maybe you can still purchase holiday gifts this year when you don’t blow your budget on home repairs. This wireless device can also monitor temperatures, and portable heaters can turn on automatically if there is a detected temperature drop.
Leave a comment to tell me which smart home products make your underrated list.
Photo by: Knocki
