My Wife and I Give Every Smart Home Gadget a Star Rating

Introduction

I thought it’d be fun to give 25 smart home gadgets in my home a 1-to-5-star rating, just like you would for an Amazon review. But…I’m not the only one doing it. Ashley and I are rating everything independently, and when our ratings really differ, we’ll find out why. You'll find links to all featured tech at the end of this article.

Main Points

Alright, we’ve got a lot to cover, so let’s dive right in, starting with smart bulbs.

We mostly use Philips Hue throughout the house, which I love. These lights use adaptive lighting to always get the perfect brightness and color temperature no matter the time of day, automatically. But, Philips Hue smart bulbs are expensive, especially if you plan on replacing each individual light in your home. So, I’m giving these four stars.

Now, cost is where smart switches can help, as they allow you replace one switch controlling many lights, generally at less expense. I’ve got smart switches from Lutron and Inovelli, and honestly, they work great. But I’m going with three stars because of the effort required to install a smart switch, and by themselves they don’t give you color temperature changing abilities, which is a must-have for me.

One way that I automate my lighting is with presence sensors, like the Everything Presence One. Since these use a technology called mmWave, I can reliably know if anyone is in a room, or in the house. This is great for automating lights turning off, but it’s also great for saving money on heating and cooling, or arming the alarm system. Presence sensors were a game-changer for my smart home: five stars.

Closely related to presence sensors are motion sensors. These use passive infrared to detect when someone, or something, passes by. Motion sensors are great for automating lights turning on, but since you have to pair them with another sensor, like a presence sensor, to get the most out of them, I’m going with four stars.

Another type of sensor that works great by itself though is a contact sensor. I’ve got Ring contact sensors on every exterior door and window in my home. This is great for running automations like pausing the heating or cooling when a door or window opens, or turning on lights when a door is opened. Contact sensors get five stars.

Contact sensors are also great for your alarm system. I’m using Ring Alarm with 24/7 professional monitoring. This gives us peace of mind, and has really come in handy. We had an alarm go off while we were on vacation, and I got a phone call right away from a real person. For $106 per year, totally worth it. Five stars.

Smart locks can also help with security so you never forget to lock a door. But smart locks really vary in their reliability. My Yale Assure 2 with Z-Wave has been rock solid, but some other WiFi-based smart locks have been more prone to disconnect, which is frustrating. I do love the key-free convenience of smart lock, so these get four stars from me.

We’ve got NFC tags around our home, though you wouldn’t realize it since most are hidden. I’ve got them tucked behind light switch plates, and if I scan, it disables the lighting automation in that room. While this can be convenient, it’s not always easy to remember where each NFC tag is located, or what they do. My favorite is an NFC tag on the alarm keypad. If we scan it as we leave the house, it tells the robot vacuum to start cleaning. NFC tags are super cheap, but they’re best for very specific use cases, so three stars.

What about that robot vacuum though? We’ve got the iRobot Roomba i7+. I love smart mapping and the ability to send it to a dedicated space in our house, like under the kitchen counter. That’s an area that gets supper messy from my kids eating. The problem is Roomba just isn’t that great at cleaning everything up. It’s not uncommon that I still have to get out the old vacuum or pick up crumbs by hand. Three stars.

On the wall in our kitchen, we have a smart home control panel running a smart home dashboard. I originally did this so it’d be easy for guests to control stuff if they found smart home confusing and we weren’t around. But it hasn’t been used much for that purpose, and instead the biggest use case is seeing an image of our video doorbell when someone rings it. With that said, I just think this is cool, so four stars.

Speaking of the video doorbell, we’re using the UniFi G4 Doorbell. It has 24/7 recording and pretty good picture quality. It’s so helpful for all of us to know who is at the front door, and this one works great. I use it all the time. Five stars.

To regulate the heating and cooling, we’re using a Honeywell Home T5 smart thermostat. There’s honestly nothing special about this particular one. It just works, and allows us to save money on our energy bill. Four stars.

In most rooms of the house, we have an Amazon Echo smart speaker. When I began my smart home journey, we controlled everything by voice, and these were super helpful. But, I eventually grew out of them, and got tired of the “by the way” interjections about adding a morning routine when I’m just trying to set a timer for the dinner I’m cooking. Two stars.

In some rooms we’re using wireless buttons. What’s cool about these is they can trigger anything in my smart home. I can press a button to turn lights on, or twice to turn lights off. Or, I can press a button to trigger an automation, like getting my kids room ready for sleep by turning on a baby monitor and white noise machine, and turning off the lights. Four stars.

The only time Ashley and I ever watch TV is when the kids are asleep. And for that, we’re using an Apple TV 4K hooked up to our Sony TV. Apple TV 4K has great picture quality, zero lag, and I love the smart home integrations. I can view any of the security cameras on our home from the TV, or get an instant notification on the TV when someone rings the doorbell. Five stars.

We’ve got a few smart plugs in the house, one of which is behind the TV. I use these to get data on energy usage of an appliance so I know if it’s running or not. This way, I can create automations like keeping the light off when the TV is on, or alerting us when the machine machine is done. We also have smart plugs outside for regulating porch lights and Christmas lights, but the laundry automation definitely adds the most utility. I’m going with four stars.

Speaking of laundry, I’m using a vibration sensor on the dryer. I don’t use it for anything else. It’s never failed me once, whereas smart plugs occasionally disconnect. Five stars for the vibration sensor.

Flood sensors are not something you want to use, but they can save you. We’ve had water leaks and flooding more than once, and each time I get a phone call from Ring Alarm letting me know. These things are a lifesaver, so five stars.

To control the water heater in our house, we’re using the Aquanta Water Heater Controller. We can set it to away mode when we’re leaving to save energy, or give it a boost when we have guests over and the shower is getting more use than normal. Also five stars.

Our smart home is powered by Ubiquiti UniFi networking equipment. I can’t imagine going back to my life before this. Our internet is blazing fast and totally reliable. It handles hundreds of smart home devices like a champ. Another five star rating.

Behind our electrical panel I’m using an Emporia Vue 2 to monitor the energy usage of each individual appliance. I love the data this gives me on our electricity consumption. It is high effort to install though, and I struggle with how actionable the data is — but I suppose that’s more on me than the device. Four stars.

We have Ubiquiti UniFi cameras around our home. I love the 24/7, local recording, and I use them all the time. It’s amazing how helpful these are for debugging your smart home. But UniFi cameras are expensive and I don’t know that the quality always justifies it, so four stars.

On the garage door opener I’m using ratgdo. This allows me to control the garage door from anywhere, and to have cool automations like opening the garage door the moment I pull into the driveway. On rare occasion it disconnects for a brief moment, but otherwise is solid. Four stars.

For watering our lawn, I’m using Rachio. I pair this with a Tempest Weather System to determine how much it has rained which lets Rachio know if it should skip a watering session. But the haptic rain sensor in the Tempest can be a little off, and Rachio’s built-in weather intelligence has steered me wrong in the past, even watering my lawn during a rain storm. I’m giving both four stars.

Smart Home Ratings Device List

Watch on YouTube

Want to hear what Ashley has to say? Watch it on YouTube.

Featured Tech

Philips Hue Smart 60W A19 LED Bulb - White and Color Ambiance Color - 1 Pack: https://amzn.to/3vHIsBf
Lutron Caseta Smart Home Dimmer Switch: https://amzn.to/48EZ1LQ
Lutron Aurora Smart Bulb Dimmer Switch for Philips Hue Smart Bulbs - Mount Anywhere: https://amzn.to/3wBWDbL
Inovelli Blue Series Smart Switch: https://amzn.to/49RcssN
Presence - Everything Presence One Sensor: http://tinyurl.com/39hdvfck
Motion - Philips Hue Motion Sensor: https://amzn.to/3QeeRXy
Contact - Ring Alarm Contact Sensor (2nd Gen): https://amzn.to/3SPUwsb
Ring Alarm 8-piece kit (2nd Gen): https://amzn.to/3wmsmxG
Yale Assure Lock 2, Key-Free Keypad Lock with Z-Wave: https://amzn.to/4bHlL0B
Yale Assure Lock SL, Wi-Fi Smart Lock with Norwood Lever: https://amzn.to/49pptKW
ULTRALOQ U-Bolt Pro Smart Lock + WiFi Bridge: https://amzn.to/3UPcDkI
NFC Tags - 50 Pieces, White with Stickers: https://amzn.to/3SIJLZP
iRobot Roomba i7+: https://amzn.to/3Vb5ET3
Samsung Galaxy Tab A7: https://amzn.to/3VXgBIw
Wall Mount Kit for Samsung Galaxy Tab A7: https://amzn.to/3vPuptY
Ubiquiti UniFi G4 Doorbell: https://amzn.to/3TsWW1m
Honeywell Home T5 WiFi Smart Thermostat: https://amzn.to/3Sz4XBf
Aqara Wireless Mini Switch: https://amzn.to/3V7jJRt
Apple TV 4K 128GB (3rd Gen): https://bestbuy.7tiv.net/k06Vn3
Wall Mount for Apple TV 4K (3rd Gen): https://amzn.to/4do8aMy
TP-Link Kasa Smart Plug Mini with Energy Monitoring: https://amzn.to/3O0G9PX
Vibration - Aeotec SmartThings Multipurpose Sensor: https://amzn.to/47BIIix
Ring Flood and Freeze Sensor: https://amzn.to/3UchJp2
Aquanta Water Heater Sensor and Controller: https://amzn.to/4a5GTw4
Ubiquiti UniFi Dream Machine Pro: https://tinyurl.com/32hjk7e8
Ubiquiti UniFi Standard 24-Port Switch: https://amzn.to/3Iv2z8Z
Ubiquiti UniFi Lite Access Point: https://amzn.to/49M3xJR
Ubiquiti UniFi U6 Lite Access Point: https://tinyurl.com/ywb6kxrr
Ubiquiti UniFi U6 Long Range Access Point: https://amzn.to/49M4ems
Ubiquiti UniFi U6 In Wall Access Point: https://amzn.to/3T8IUR6
Ubiquiti UniFi Switch Flex: https://amzn.to/44aJsLz
Emporia Vue Gen 3 Smart Home Energy Monitoring: https://amzn.to/44csnAC
Ubiquiti UniFi Protect G4 Pro: https://amzn.to/43VyNUU
Ubiquiti UniFi Protect G4 Bullet: https://amzn.to/4cJqSOl
RATGDO Garage Door WiFi Control Board: http://tinyurl.com/5553hxwz
Rachio 3: 8-Zone Smart Sprinkler Controller: https://amzn.to/44r33Hk
Tempest Weather System: https://amzn.to/4aQezOM