Smart Home Reviews

The Ring Video Doorbell 2 may lack the style and sophistication of premium door-dingers, but few can match its simplicity and versatility. The device, available in both wired and wireless configurations, is easy to set up and adds instant security to your front door. Find out more in our full review.

This compact machine with its TwinDos automatic detergent dispensing system does a surprisingly good job at getting clothes clean. But is it worth the price for the limited amount of clothes you can wash in a single load? Read our review to find out.

The EufyCam offers a great look, several home security features and is truly wireless, but with missing voice assistance and some features lacking, it’s difficult to justify its high price. Check our EufyCam review for full details on how it stacks up against competitors.

As smart home and security devices become increasingly common and consumer-friendly, one might be inclined to try to DIY their smart home. But once security is tossed in the picture, monitoring and customer service become essential. We explore Vivint’s smart home security system to rank it among its peers.

Move over Amazon Echo Spot: Lenovo’s Smart Clock With Google Assistant is coming for you. At just $79, the Smart Clock turns off the camera and turns up the cuteness factor for an enhanced alarm clock experience. We got a chance to test out the device at CES 2019 and came away impressed.

It can mount to any surface, and power itself: Senic’s Nuimo Click is the remote control your smart device should have come with. Well designed, it’s ideal for your smart home. But you’ll have to keep your expectations in check and your pocket wide open, as the Click’s features are limited.

Introduced way back at CES in January 2018, LG’s WK9 smart display is finally on store shelves. But how does it compare to other smart displays on the market? We took a look and a listen to find out whether the device is worth its $299 price tag. Here’s what we learned.

Facebook has jumped into the smart home game with the Portal+, a video-calling device featuring a built-in Amazon Alexa speaker and a screen. While the Portal+ has lots of cool calling features, we’re still a little weary of the social media giant taking up counter space in our home. Read our review to find out more.

GLAS is the prettiest smart thermostat we’ve reviewed in some time, but a high price and flawed Cortana implementation means that it’s well short of the best. Read more about it in our full review.

Our Amazon Echo review reveals a shorter, cuter, speaker with several different color and fabric choices, and a firmware upgrade means improved sound. We took the device for another spin in November 2018 to see whether the speaker still measures up to the competition.

Philips Hue Play synchronizes lighting with music, video, and games for a great entertaining effect. But it’s early days for this immersive tech, and we had some trouble with getting the parts to sync up seamlessly. Hue Play needs some fine-tuning before we can fully recommend it. Read our review to learn more.

Philips Hue fans can at last enjoy the brilliance of this weatherproof light strip, which offers simple, versatile positioning, a rich selection of 16 million color options, and bright, vibrant illumination. Deck life and holiday home decorating just got a whole lot better.

Amazon’s second-generation Echo Plus speaker is the loudest, bassiest speaker in the Echo fleet. While featuring a smart hub with only Zigbee connectivity, other upgrades make this device a worthy smart speaker. We took the device for a whirl around the smart home to see how it fares against other speakers in the space.

Amazon introduced the Echo Sub for Echo speaker owners who wanted to inject some room-moving bass into their smart speaker experience. We took the new Alexa-friendly sub for a spin and quickly learned that it’s a niche product, but one that does its odd job extremely well.

Lenovo has partnered with Google Assistant on the Lenovo Smart Display, a smart speaker with a screen. Available in two different sizes and with crystal clear display, you might wonder how you ever got along without a screen-less smart speaker in the first place.

If you want to use more of your senses with your smart speaker – say, sight and touch – the JBL Link View with Google Assistant is pretty handy. The screen gives you access to some information more quickly, while still relying on convenient voice commands for most of its interactions.

The Amazon Echo Dot still holds up as a great introduction to smartifying your home. And at $30, it's more affordable than ever. Read more in our review.

The Amazon Echo Show is a smart assistant with a screen, so you can both see and hear what Alexa’s talking about. Right now, features like being able to see your timer or camera feed are helpful, but not world-changing. Here's what happened when we took the device for a spin.

With an excellent whole-home sensor system, an easy-to-use interface, and a simple app, the Ecobee4 is a solid choice for a smart thermostat. The fact that it's an Amazon Alexa speaker just sweetens the deal.

Amazon’s Echo Plus was announced in Sept 2017 and we quickly got our hands on one, eager to test the embedded smart home hub. A year later, we’re taking a fresh look at the device to see which new Alexa capabilities have been added and to revisit the speaker’s sound quality.

While cheaper smart lighting options abound, few competitors can match Philips Hue’s blend of style, sophistication and simplicity that makes it easy to create the perfect ambience for your home. The White and Color Ambience Kit isn’t new, but with other lighting kits flooding the market, we figured it was a good idea to take a fresh look to see if it still holds up.

Installing outdoor LED lighting has been too difficult for too long. Philips Hue has made it easy by making outdoor lighting that’s gorgeous and exciting to use. A combination of style, sophistication and, best of all, simplicity makes Philips Hue Calla an easy pick. Here’s how testing went.

The Amazon Echo Look is a combination of a virtual assistant and a style assistant. It gives you style advice, organizes your closet, shows you how you look from all angles, and provides feedback on what types of clothes fit your style. We got a chance to test out the device to see if it really helped our fashion game.

Now you can ask Alexa to play music, on your wall switch. The Ecobee Switch+ controls not just your lights, but also your home, packing everything into a single device.

Philips Hue has been around for awhile, and are the gold standard for smart lighting. We decided to take a fresh look at a Philips Hue starter kit to see if they're still the best, comparing them to the new contenders in smart home lighting. As it turns out, the Philips Hue still competes.

Alexa, how many planets are there? Alexa, tell me a story. The Echo Dot Kids Edition promises to be great tool for helping children learn, while also giving parents the tools to control and monitor their daily media intake. We kid- and parent-tested the device to see if it lives up to its promise.

The Neeo smart remote is meant to take control of your smart home off your phone and put it in a universal device that works with TVs, speakers, thermostats, lightbulbs, and more. It has promise, but a lot of headaches, and understanding its many functions requires homework that most users won't be willing to do.

Nest has finally released standalone sensors that remotely report temperatures home, allowing the Nest Learning Thermostat to effectively eradicate cold and hot spots around the home. Are they are worthy upgrade to your home thermostat, or are they dumb devices tacked onto a smart system?

You don’t have to have a professional install smart switches to make your lighting smart. Instead, try the Lutron Caseta Wireless Smart Lighting Dimmer Switch. It helps you take control of your home lighting through an easy-to-use app, though it has no shortage of competitors.

The Honeywell Lyric T5 isn’t the prettiest or smartest, but adds app-based control and geo-fencing to the classic digital thermostat without breaking the bank

Tired of having to buy a bunch of separate devices to monitor your home? Track movement, smoke, and water leaks in your home with the all-in-one Notion Sensor Starter Kit.

Guardzilla’s innovative smart home camera breaks new ground, but lacks the quality to beat competing systems. Find out more in our Guardzilla 360 review.

Aura’s innovative take on motion detection may be technically impressive, but fails to justify a $200 price tag. Find out in our Aura Starter Kit Review.

The Google Home Max with Google Assistant is a massive speaker with a massive price tag. But it also boasts great sound quality.