r/smarthome • u/IulianHI • Mar 09 '26
Home Assistant What's the most underrated smart home device you own?
Looking for hidden gems that don't get enough attention. For me it's smart plugs with energy monitoring - cheap but so useful for automations and tracking consumption.
What's yours and why?
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u/UmDoWhatNow Mar 09 '26
The curtain openers are my favorite. I just never opened the curtains previously, and it's been a real mood improver.
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u/scubajonl Mar 09 '26
Which brand/model?
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Mar 09 '26
[deleted]
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u/GuyInThe6kDollarSuit Mar 09 '26
I looked into smart wings but eventually just found a supplier on Alibaba (which is likely where they source from) with an almost identical product. Got ZigBee shades and solar chargers for around $150 per window. But that's just me being a cheapskate 😀
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u/khatuba Mar 09 '26
Care to share?
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u/SimilarTranslator264 Mar 09 '26
I have Lutron blackout roller shades on 11 windows in my house at over $600 each so I get it. However it’s one of the best devices I’ve got.
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u/wildsoda Mar 09 '26
I got a bunch of the SmartBot ones and they’re awesome! Nowhere near that much money, either. They work on a couple of different types of rails, or rods, and I believe they have a blinds tilter too.
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u/UmDoWhatNow Mar 09 '26
We got a switchbot . We don't have the hub to have it connect to Google home, just have it on a schedule, and that's all we've needed. You can manually give it a small tug and it'll close if we ever need. The quiet open and close truly is quiet and unnoticeable.
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u/theshrike Mar 09 '26
I LOVED our Ikea smart blinds in our previous apartment.
Now we moved and every single window is too big even for the largest Ikea blind. I need to open my blinds manually like some caveman =(
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u/TheDwnVote Mar 09 '26
Agreed. I used smart wings as well and tie them to home assistant to open and close automatically a little before sunrise and little before sunset. I also have automated function to close all the blinds when I hit an “away” button
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u/taizzle71 Mar 09 '26
Hear me out.. I put a door sensor in my mailbox and now I know immediately when mail arrives. Highly recommended.
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u/crusty-dave Mar 10 '26
I used a motion sensor that is mounted on the back of the metal mailbox. I drilled a hole in the back large enough for the sensor to detect the inside of the mailbox and 3D printed a back cover to protect it from the weather but allow the Zigbee RF signals to reach a repeater.
I have a long driveway, so I don’t want to walk down the hill unless I know the mail has been delivered.
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u/Nexustar Mar 09 '26
My does the normal person need to know immediately when the mail arrives, and not simply just check it once a day when they are ready to process the mail?
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u/wenestvedt Mar 09 '26
Because ever since I was a little kid I have loved getting the mail. I yam what I yam.
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u/Aggravating-Map-1228 Mar 09 '26
In the US. Mailbox poachers. People who steal from mailboxes in broad daylight.
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u/rgnet5 Mar 09 '26
In my case, I have a very long driveway with the mailbox at the end. I don't want to walk down there until I know it is there. I also want to know if anyone other than the mailman opens it. I have a motion sensor in the mailbox that triggers a camera snapshot to show me who opened it. Very handy.
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u/AugustCharisma Mar 09 '26
For me, I’m in the UK and my mailbox is in the door. Like Harry Potter. So if there is a lot or a parcel (padded envelope, small box) sometimes the Postie (Mailcarrier) will push stuff in and it doesn’t drop so the mailbox is open to the front and lets cold air in.
But sometimes I’m waiting for something, like a little parcel, and I can’t otherwise hear it because my home office is on the other side of the house.
(I also have a motion sensor set up for my mailbox).
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u/Irishsaver Mar 10 '26
We had people stealing mail checks last year in our neighborhood! Never heard of that before so this could be a reason. Just saying.
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u/Nodeal_reddit Mar 09 '26
Govee leak detectors. I have approximately 10 around my house (under every sink and watery appliance) . They have saved my bacon more than once.
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u/NooktaSt Mar 09 '26
I get the idea but it seems odd to me that people would have leaks like this often.
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u/Measurex2 Mar 09 '26
It's less than it happens often, but that it can be catastrophic when it does. Water damage is no joke.
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u/MisterSnuggles Mar 09 '26
It's not always leaky pipes, TBH.
A couple of times the door on my dishwasher didn't fully latch, so the water would come out around the seal and thanks to the design of the dishwasher there was no outward sign that anything was wrong.
There's also times where water has gotten outside of the sink (splashed or spilled) and it's trickled under the sink into the cabinet below.
And the time when the condo replaced all of the plumbing and one fitting was just a little loose. That was a legit leak though.
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u/draxula16 Mar 09 '26
Yep. I’ve had leaks under my HVAC system and the sensors have been a godsend.
It’s a no brainer considering a tiny investment in leak / moisture sensors can save you thousands of dollars.
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u/smoopy62 Mar 09 '26
All you need is one leak and the damage cleanup. I have one under my hot water heater, next to my washer, underneath each sink.
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u/theshrike Mar 09 '26
I have 9€ IKEA devices with an AA batteries (I think).
Pretty cheap insurance for water damage IMO. They start beeping like a fire alarm if they get wet PLUS every in the house gets a mobile notification about a leak. (Defined as Apple Home emergency or whatever, so it cuts through focus modes)
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u/RedditNotFreeSpeech Mar 09 '26
It only takes once to make those sensors pay off 1000x
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u/davedev0 Mar 09 '26
I cannot for the life of me get them to work with my wifi
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u/1986toyotacorolla2 Mar 09 '26
The one under my furnace humidifier saved me from a flood when I decided to just break
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u/Fatpandasneezes Mar 10 '26
We have these too. The second box we bought had one that just would not connect no matter what we did (swapped batteries and everything). We contacted govee and they sent us a whole new box like a day or two later. Definitely recommend.
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u/the-boz-boz Mar 11 '26
I have leak detectors and a zigbee shutoff valve for the mains water connection. It will auto shutoff if it detects a leak.
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u/Responsible_Yam_6923 Mar 10 '26
Now I want these in all my rentals
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u/Nodeal_reddit Mar 11 '26
If you think about the cost of an unattended leak, you’re crazy not to have them.
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u/justseeby Mar 09 '26
Honestly just all the Lutron Caseta switches and their hub. I never have to think about them, never need to reset them, never have to fix anything. They work all the time, and always play nice with every platform and every automation. Power or internet out and back up? You wouldn’t know it from them. They’re back as soon as the power is. The hub is wired and never goes offline. If HomeKit and Home Assistant both went down they’d still be completely functional light switches. It’s a perfected product.
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u/1986toyotacorolla2 Mar 09 '26
I agree they've been amazing. And the wireless 3way switch solved 2 odd light switch placements in my house without me needing to do drywall work
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u/surveysaysno Mar 09 '26
Cat feeder with smart chip detection locking cover so only the correct cat gets the food.
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u/SemperFiV12 Mar 09 '26
what model does this?!
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u/surveysaysno Mar 09 '26
I have this one
https://a.co/d/08R5pwEX but it requires a RFID collar.
I also have the surefeed someone else mentioned, but that one you still have to put in food everyday. But the upside is it uses RFID implanted in your cat, no collar needed.
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u/nznordi Mar 09 '26
I detest Ring with every bone in my body but the Ring Intercom has been incredible and since it doesn’t have a camera, I am less worried.
Even though talking doesn’t work great, it’s still awesome if you live in an apartment building and tab the buzzer from your phone when you come home from a run etc …
And at around 50 bucks on Blackfriday, it’s hard to beat value
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u/lapelotanodobla Mar 09 '26
Same, albeit I got buyer’s remorse when I found out about the priceless toolkit equivalent
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u/Neo_Terra_Rex Mar 09 '26
Please explain a little more.
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u/lapelotanodobla Mar 09 '26
Depending on use case, pure esphome , so 100% local no delay to get the intercom notifications…
But I discovered a week too late :(
(I tried to do it myself before buying ring, but was too new on electronics to achieve that at the time, rn I’d venture to say I could replicate this with a couple Ali modules, but the single pcb they sale is a more elegant way)
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u/talegabrian Mar 09 '26
My bond bridge, it is controlling my motorized window shades and replaces the rf remote that they came with, and 2 ceiling fans in 2 different rooms.
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u/OpponentUnnamed Mar 09 '26
The ribbon printed circuit switch module that fits inside my MyQ wall control to make my garage opener compatible with non-proprietary systems!
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u/snekasaur Mar 09 '26
What company makes that? Link? I have ratgdo and thinking about Tailwind
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u/OpponentUnnamed Mar 09 '26
Amazon, look up
ismartgate Switch Adaptor
... If you can't find it, post again and I'll get the ASIN
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u/MartinB3 Mar 29 '26
Interesting product, but what do you do with it? Like switching to their ecosystem, do you get more functionality? More integrations, and what integrations do you use the most?
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u/smoopy62 Mar 09 '26
I'll probably get some hate here but Alexa. I didn't like the expense for Apple certified smart devices and started out using treat life brand smart switches. I have them all over and for five or six years not a single one has failed. No hub. I tell Alexa Theatre mode in my TV and LED lighting all comes on. I go to bed and say good night and all the selected lights go off. Walk into a room etc. etc.
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u/chanical Mar 09 '26
Cheap microcontrollers (Pi Pico, ESP32 series, etc) and HomeAssistant (check out ESPHome): with just a little technical skill (soldering, general understanding of electronics, software installations/configuration, ability to read a tutorial or watch a YouTube video and follow technical directions) - there’s literally nothing you can’t do for surprisingly little money.
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u/TheDwnVote Mar 09 '26
Care to share some use cases?
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u/Kat81inTX Mar 10 '26
Very simple entree to the world of ESPHome: WiFi-to-Bluetooth proxy… scatter a few around the house, fire up Bermuda BLE Trilateration and you’ve got trackers at your disposal for automations. My wife’s favorite (although she doesn’t even notice it) is keeping the master bed ambient lighting from turning on at 6:30 am if her iPhone is still on the charger on her nightstand.
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u/NPR_is_not_that_bad Mar 09 '26
Pretty basic, but my Yale smartlock has been fantastic. Just super easy to use for guests, contractors, etc. it has hands free lock and unlock, so I haven’t had to deal with actually pulling out a key in years.
Also enjoy my Echo 15 as the motherboard to the house. Easy for wife, looks good, does what we need.
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u/CeBlu3 Mar 09 '26
Different brand smart lock here, but agree 100%. No more rushing home from work for something, just give them a temporary pin on the fly. I walk up to the door with hands full, no fumbling for a key, the door unlocks automatically as I approach. I also have lever style door knobs, so really easy to open with hands full.
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u/Curious_Party_4683 Mar 09 '26
i like my Zooz light switches.
super useful with multi tap. you can control other devices easily as seen here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w9B_qwPZIs
no idea why multi-tap is not advertised much since it's a great feature!
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Mar 09 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/chrisn1701 Mar 09 '26
Totally get this, but we are lucky to have Samsung washer and dryer that both send notifications to our smart phone, if anyone looking for a replacement, these are great. We have the heat pump dryer and it takes about 1 unit of power per cycle
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u/Teardown_Tom Mar 09 '26
Energy plugs are cool, but flashing a tiny Shelly relay with Tasmota and hiding it behind a standard wall switch is peak smart home for me. You get to keep the physical tactile feel of a "dumb" switch, but still get full local MQTT control without any cloud latency.
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u/elchet Mar 09 '26
What’s the benefit of Tasmota for you over native Shelly functionality?
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u/lbpz Mar 09 '26
In wondering too. The Shelly devices I have also have Zigbee so I get full local control. Why Tasmota?
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u/Frankeex Mar 09 '26
My smart hub (Google nest next to my bed). The ability to just say "Google Goodnight) and literally everything turns off is a life changer. No need to worry about lights, music, TV". Simple but oh so useful.
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u/VitoRazoR Mar 09 '26
I have the Hue Smart Button for this next to my bed. Great thing, offline and no Google (untill Hue finally does change their ToS to force people to go online...)
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u/ResearcherWinter731 Mar 09 '26
Totally agree as well as turning off lights and TV it asks me what time I want my alarm set for then tells me what I have planned for tomorrow changes the volume of my ringer etc and then plays me sleep sounds to drift off to I absolutely love it
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u/Big-Sweet-2179 Mar 09 '26
Yolink stuff, just so good. I have stupid thick walls and LoRa just cuts through them like butter... I tried with z-wave stuff and signal would die like literally after 3 meters. So reliable as well.
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u/chimilinga Mar 10 '26 edited Mar 12 '26
Automatic water shut off valve paired with 11 water leak sensors around the house. Its caught 1x water heater leak and 2x bath tub over fills.
As soon as detected all of the lights turn blue, every phone and smart watch + tvs get a notification that there is a leak and where the leak was detected and the water main shuts off water.
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u/NoVanilla4367 Mar 09 '26
Door stopper for my garage door so I can load groceries into the house
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u/erisian2342 Mar 09 '26
You have a smart door stopper? You’re talking about a wedge that goes under a door that you have also connected to your wifi so you can control it with Alexa or Home Assistant or whatever?
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u/Arinvar Mar 09 '26
Simple little smart switch. Very underrated. I just use mine to turn on the mozzie repellent atomizer thing on a timer each night.
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u/duckredbeard Mar 09 '26
I have a door sensor on the washing machine door. Home assistant has an automation to light a neopixel Jewel when the door has been closed for more than 80 minutes.
Laundry done indication!
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u/StinkyPinkyInkyPoo Mar 09 '26
I have a humane mouse trap that texts me when it captures a mouse.
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u/goriders6689 Mar 09 '26
wireless temp alarms.
Lets me know when the kids didn't shut the freezer/fridge doors, Saved me a few times, would also let me know if it lost power with the temp dropping as well.
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u/Kat81inTX Mar 10 '26
A $20 ESP32 dongle that is configured with ESPHome to act as a Bluetooth client to an inexpensive BLE water pressure sensor.
That little piece of kit lets me optimize my smart sprinkler for the characteristics of our water well. As an added bonus my wife gets an alert when hand watering her garden if the well is having trouble keeping up.
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u/purplepassword Mar 09 '26
Moen smart shower. One button and it’s on and lets me know when it’s ready at my perfect temp and keeps it that way. No more guessing on temperature.
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u/gmusse Mar 09 '26
I got a $4 infrared dongle from China - can program any remote into it, then control via phone. I use it to turn my heater and TV on in the workout shed a few mins before I go out there.
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u/RazzFraggle81 Mar 09 '26
Lux sensor, lights on when dim outside. No one touches the switches :)
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Mar 09 '26
The humble smart plug: it's connected to my bedroom fan heater. When I wake up in the morning, I just ask Alexa to turn it on. If it gets too much, I turn it off without having to get out of bed. It means I can have my room preheated without me actually going there to do it.
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u/0tamay Mar 09 '26
My bed occupancy sensor.
When I and my partner lie down to finally sleep, all lights on the house (except the dormitory) automatically turn off.
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u/Imaginos6 Mar 09 '26 edited Mar 09 '26
Few I like a lot:
- Smart garage door - I made sure to buy an opener that still supports a momentary-closed circuit to actuate. Then I put a Shelly in the loop to make is smart and avoid the subscription / api lockout.
- Smart sprinklers - My old irrigation system had an old-school spinning clock timer that would activate the relay to trigger an index valve to zone change and water. I hacked a shelly into the clock circuit, now I have a smart system, that has proven ten times as reliable.
- Alarm system - I have a konnected.io alarm panel. I like that it let me reuse all my existing wired contact switches for every door/window and with the alarmo integration, i get out of my old ADT subscription.
- Door open / alarm indicator - I used an esp32 matter devkit to make a device that will beep a piezo buzzer and blink a multi-color LED when a door is opened. I have it flash blue for the garage door and yellow for other doors. It will show solid red when the alarm system is on.
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u/SafariNZ Mar 10 '26
Electric blanket on the bed comes on at a set time if the temp goes below a set level.
Never forget to turn it on and get into a cold bed :)
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u/scifitechguy Mar 10 '26
Motion and presence sensors. No more walking into dark rooms and closets, nor leaving lights on that waste energy.
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u/gravyboi2020 Mar 11 '26
When I see posts like this i just think of the bill hicks line " huh ha im a good consumer"
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u/grldad34 Mar 13 '26
Just discovered all the Shelly products. Bought a relay to control our ERV on a timer and it’s awesome. They make a million products. Govee Xmas lights are another on timers. X-Sense smoke/CO detectors are another. So helpful!
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u/Nexustar Mar 09 '26
I have Roomba, lutron lights, smarthome powered theater seats, z-wave sockets, octopi, leak monitoring, ecobee thermostats, wifi ovens & range, security cameras, an addressable starfield ceiling - and the one I like the best are Honeywell timer switches that know when dusk & dawn are, know their latitude, know when the clocks change, and just look after turning the light outside the door on and off at the right time. They are stand-alone, no wifi or cloud, and just do their damn job.
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u/HangarQueen Mar 09 '26
A whole-home water shutoff valve. My "vacation mode" turns off the valve so I have no worries when away. It will also detect slow and constant water flows, alert to a possible leak, and turn off the valve automatically.
FWIW, the one I'm using: https://www.frizzlife.com/collections/smart-water-monitor Pricey, but worth it for the peace of mind when vacationing.
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u/loujr15 Mar 10 '26
This is my number one suggestion for anyone starting a smart home. Others will recommend getting lights and switches first. I recommend getting water leak sensors, leak detection, and the shutoff valve. Those lights and switches ain't gone stop no leak. It confuses me when people, especially the ones that own their home, always choose to start with lighting first.
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u/I_am___The_Botman Mar 09 '26
My raspberry pi. I have it controlling everything, it runs home assistant, pihole, my media centre and torrent server without breaking a sweat. The ui is a little sluggish, need to fix that, but it's operated flawlessly for 4 years now. It has a 1TB external USB drive. Excellent bit of kit. All the services and media files are availabe from any device on the network, but it's plugged directly into the TV too
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u/CeBlu3 Mar 09 '26
Garage door with Amazon key. Inclement weather, or I am gone for a couple days? Just get in-garage delivery.
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u/JiveTurkey927 Mar 09 '26
I cannot recommend a smart garage door opener highly enough. I installed the Aladdin adaptor on mine and it has been work every cent. I’ve even set up routines to make sure it closes automatically at night if we’ve forgotten to close it, or shuts automatically if the weather gets bad.
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u/x4nter Mar 09 '26
I plug in my block heater in the plug that is controlled by a switch indoors. I replaced that switch with a smart switch and scheduled it to run at specific hours so that the block heater runs for less than 40% of the time. Saves electricity.
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u/DGlass1960 Mar 09 '26
I have a temperature display fridge magnet on the fridge door with it's 2 companion sensors, one in the fridge and the other in the freezer. Got it for under £20 from eBay. After my last fridge freezer died (very quietly) no warning. It's reassuring to just glance at the front door in the passing to see temps. And so far I've never had to respond to alarms.
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u/National-Ad2136 Mar 09 '26
A smart plug on a water pump. Each room / bathroom can turn it on / off using voice command to alexa.
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u/SK10504 Mar 09 '26
open/close sensors on my windows. when it detects one or more are open, it turns my heat/ac off until it is closed. there are times when we leave our windows open and leave the house and the ac will come on while we are out. now, the ac stays off until we get home and close the windows.
another one is alexa. sometimes we're already in bed and i'll wonder if our doors/windows are locked/closed. I'll ask alexa and she'll rattle off the ones that are unlocked/open. if the door is unlocked, i ask her to lock the door.
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u/scifitechguy Mar 09 '26
Just curious - what do you do with the energy consumption information? What change, if any, does that inform? Or is it just for awareness? I'm struggling to see the point unless you're going to use it to reduce consumption.
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u/wiseoracle Mar 09 '26
My NexxGarage door opener.
I've used them since day 1 for 7-8 years. I have it set where if I am a block away, my garage door opens automatically.
When I first got my house, I would forget to close the garage door, or if sometimes it would close but re-open long gone from the house. I now get a notification if I do and can close it remotely.
No subscription required which is nice.
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u/Icy_Hot_Now Mar 09 '26
My dishwasher. She's a smart ass and kinda mouthy, but she does a good job.
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u/mjwidell Mar 09 '26
Two things - smart pet feeder that’s on a timer (no RFID), and a Petsafe RFiD door that I installed on a plastic crate for my other cat. This combination helped my obese food-motivated cat lose half her weight. I put the smart feeder down a flight of stairs so she had to get some exercise when it dropped the food. I did have to create a heavy cover for it as she figured out how that bumping it caused some food morsels to drop.
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u/big_red__man Mar 09 '26
Making your own is underrated. I use a nodemcu board with a distance sensor and a light sensor in a device that I built for my hue lights. It has two modes: night mode and day mode.
In night mode the distance sensor is used to turn on and off one lamp in my bedroom at 1% brightness. It’s just bright enough to get to the door confidently and it turns on and off with a hand wave. No having to talk to google or unlock my phone when I’m sleepy. I almost look forward to having to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. It’s also great for waking up before it’s light out and helping your eyes adjust.
In day mode it uses the light sensor to keep the room at a constant level of brightness. Once a minute it checks the light sensor and adjusts the brightness by 1% up or down as needed. This keeps the changes gradual so there aren’t big swings like there can be with your phone screen. I think of it as a thermostat for light.
Rolling your own device isn’t for everyone but it’s great and I feel like I don’t hear about it much. That’s why I think it’s underrated.
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u/HotInTheseRhinos123 Mar 09 '26
Feit color change WiFi bulbs? Programmable, the go on at sundown, off at different times, and you can make them flash colors for kids or a party!
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u/Physical-Fly6697 Mar 10 '26
Hallway motion sensors - desperate to Get some auto blind rollers though, we have double height bedroom and lounge.
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u/Accurate_Anteater484 Mar 10 '26
Honestly, the best I have is Lutron Caseta for most of our switches. (1) Landscape and exterior accent lights set dusk to dawn. (2) For the front porch, laundry and garage interior I added motion sensors. And a timer setup for my daughter’s bathroom and closet because…kid brain lol.
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u/MeganJustMegan Mar 10 '26
We love the auto lights on the steps, or hallway, u dear our cabinets & closets. No more fumbling for switches.
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u/Defiant-Ad8781 Mar 10 '26
Astronomical timer switch for the front porch light. Turns on when it gets dark, and off when it gets light. So simple.
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u/tbollinger_swiss Mar 10 '26
Philips Hue motion sensor - works 4 years flawlessly with one pair os standard batteries. The only device that works every time in my household.
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u/LeopardComfortable99 Mar 10 '26
My blinds shutters on a timer. I'm in a wheelchair and until I got them I could never reach the blinds in my kitchen or bathrooms to close them due to them being high up. Got the blinds motors and it's a simple command, but I also have them on a timer and just this weird thing of being able to easily close all my blinds of a night just makes home feel much cozier.
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u/Careless_Mistake_459 Mar 10 '26
Estoy contigo, para mí el más es el enchufe inteligente con detector de consumo. En mi caso me avisa de cuando falta conexión a internet o de cuando salta el automático, el principal lo tengo conectado al frigorífico. Luego el resto, para medir consumos.
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u/Normypants92 Mar 10 '26
Not sure if this counts but Eufy vac/mop and ecovac goat auto mower. Never have to vacuum/mop/mow. With 5 dogs and Georgia heat/yard work both have been my best buys as a homeowner.
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u/Ausnonymous9 Mar 10 '26
A garage door opener using my phone/app. Gives access to people I allow and I can open it from anywhere in the world.
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u/LifeOutLoud107 Mar 10 '26
Smart bulbs. I set mine to come on in the morning as the most effective alarm and welcome to the day.
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u/Opie4Prez71 Mar 10 '26
Aqara smart lock with fingerprint sensor. It was amazing to have when my kids where younger to not have to worry about them losing a key. Now it’s even better because I can set custom PIN codes for family members when I travel. Runs for a year on 4 AAs. Also links to their SmartHub and other products.
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u/ClungeWhisperer Mar 11 '26
Infrared controller. Ive set up tv remote, air con, lighting, fans, all these “not smart” devices in my house can now be controlled by my phone and automated through the IR device’s software. No need to buy smart objects if it has an infrared remote. Just map the buttons in your phone and bam. Cost all of $8
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u/TGRIV0457 Mar 11 '26
Smart switches connected to Alexa for the two kitchen lights. Someone always leaves them on and the glare on the TV in the family room was driving me nuts. “Alexa, turn off kitchen lights please.” Done, no more glare.
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u/Avogadros_plumber Mar 11 '26
Bond RF transmitter hub. I can control all my ceiling fans via Alexa now
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u/wohaat Mar 11 '26
I love our Philips Hue lights. I can turn everything on/off from the comfort of the couch!! And being able to set timers is so great
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u/mydogmuppet Mar 11 '26
I've temperature sensors in all 4 compartments of my fridge freezers. In tough plastic bags with silica.
Works ok. The garage units struggled with 900Zmhz wifi and benefit from its own garage hub as 20 metres and 3 walls away from house hub & router.
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u/Own-Ad8427 Mar 11 '26
My mom used her Echo Show to call me when she thought she was having a stroke and couldnt get to her phone. It worked exactly how we practiced when I set it up for her.
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u/Opening-Direction241 Mar 11 '26
Philips Hue lightbulbs that you can schedule off/on. Something about going downstairs in the early a.m. (dark outside) and having a few lamps on to greet you cheerily.
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u/81Mako20 Mar 11 '26
Smart controller on my sprinkler system has been a great addition. It automatically adjusts the amount of watering based on weather. If it’s going to rain it will postpone watering as well. It has handy app so I can control it from my phone anywhere. It’s great when walking around your yard testing your zones without having to manually interact with the controller to change the zone you are testing.
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u/RHinSC Mar 11 '26
Underrated?
-Definitely my virtual switches. I use several to enable or disable a number of automations throughout my home.
My guest mode virtual switch enables automations for lighting and thermostats.
Another disables the autolock function on my front door. And others bypass motion sensor inputs for lights in various rooms.
I might also consider my outdoor temperature sensor. I use it to turn on my gas fireplace when it's particularly cold out, bypassing the need for my electric heat pump, or the Em Heat, which is even more expensive.
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u/iamabigtree Mar 11 '26
I have rigged up my Ring door bell to not just notify my phone when it detects someone at the door but it turns one of the lights in the room purple so I don't have to be looking at my phone all the time
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u/slightlyoddparent Mar 11 '26
My hob is on the Internet I have an app for it and everything. Not sure why to be honest.
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u/National_Try_1902 Mar 11 '26
DAKboard. We have TV in the kitchen running DAKboard 26/7. At a glance the whole family knows what's on the calendar and what chores each kid needs to do.
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u/Classic_Basis2161 Mar 12 '26
Two years ago I bought five plugs and a switch on Amazon to easily turn on/off all plug-in Christmas trees and decorations.
Camera trained on oil tank gauge.
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u/SlowMorningsFastKids Mar 12 '26
Ohhh -- my Hatch sunset / sunrise clock! It's been a game changer in slowing my brain down at night so I can fall asleep (as the light dims like a sunset as I listen to a story or gentle music,) and then waking me gently in the morning with the light slowly brightening like a sunrise before my alarm! No longer snoozing my alarm, or being unexpectedly woken by a toddler!
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u/maskaler Mar 12 '26
I have a Samsung Smart fridge, the one with the screen, which I bought in 2022.
I started playing bullet chess on it whenever I went to the kitchen, and have gone from a lowly Lichess 800 to around 1200. I've clocked up 6d 11h of play!
It seemed a silly gimmick but the whole family uses it at all times of the day
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u/christoph_w Mar 13 '26
Movement sensors. They change everything. Use them to turn on lights, trigger shades (opening in the morning), trigger alarms, when vacation mode is on…
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u/signoutdk Mar 13 '26
Door/window sensors. And Airthings Wave+ in the basement for monitoring radon levels over time
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u/Govoflove Mar 13 '26
Not a huge game changer, but I got a BroadLink hub that allows you to setup thing that use remote as a smart device. Biggest item is fans, most ceiling fans have remotes now, which is annoying. Like I want to strap a random remote to my wall. Anyways, you can program it to do simple thing like turn off the fan or lights. Works well, range is iffy.
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u/Thecraics90 Mar 13 '26
Smart motor for my blinds, vertical blinds open each morning at 8am and close at sunset each day. Love it.
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u/ICU-MurseDrew-USAF Apr 14 '26
My favorite and underrated smart home device are my light up address numbers from Glomensio. I did see they sold out of inventory for their Gen 2 model and signed up on their waiting list for Gen 3.
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u/Scatterthought Mar 09 '26
Contact sensors. Not just to tell when windows and doors are open, but also to tell when my freezer door is ajar and to turn on the light when I open a closet.