Helping you Build your Smart Home
Evan Mercer 
The best solar security camera is one you mount once and never take down to charge. Every camera here comes with its own solar panel, either built into the camera or in the box with a cable, so it runs without an outlet or a ladder trip every few months. Whether it actually stays charged … Read more
A Nest thermostat not working usually shows you something: a “Delayed” countdown, an offline warning in the app, or a house that stays cold (or hot) while the display says it’s heating or cooling. These look like three different problems, but they often have the same cause. In a lot of homes, the thermostat simply … Read more
The best programmable thermostat is the one you’ll actually keep programmed. A schedule that lowers the heat while you’re at work or asleep is where the savings come from, and a thermostat that makes the schedule easy to set (and easy to change when your week changes) is the one that keeps saving. Today, every … Read more
SimpliSafe and Ring Alarm are two of the best-known DIY alarm systems. Both install in an afternoon with peel-and-stick sensors, neither needs a contract, and an 8-piece starter kit from either costs around $225 to $250. So the SimpliSafe vs Ring decision comes down to three things: what each system does if you never pay … Read more
The best DIY home security system is one you can set up yourself in an afternoon: a base station with a siren, a keypad, and sensors that stick to your doors and windows, with professional monitoring as an option rather than a requirement. Every system here installs without tools or a technician, and none of … Read more
Apple Home vs Google Home is the first choice most people face when they set up a smart home, and Amazon Alexa is the third option that comes up in almost every conversation. All three control lights, plugs, locks, thermostats and cameras from one app and by voice, and all three now support Matter. The … Read more
Smart curtains open with the morning light, close at sunset and respond to your voice, and you don’t always need new curtains to get them. You can clip a small battery robot onto the rod or track you already have, or replace the hardware with a motorized track or made-to-measure drapery that runs on mains … Read more
ecobee sells three smart thermostats today: the Essential, the Enhanced, and the Premium. They use the same app, work with Apple Home, Alexa, and Google Home, and look a lot alike on the wall, so the ecobee Essential vs Enhanced vs Premium choice can be confusing. The real differences are in occupancy sensing, what comes … Read more
Ring and Blink are both owned by Amazon, both work with Alexa, and both sell battery cameras and video doorbells for about $100 or less. So the Ring vs Blink choice isn’t about which company is better. It comes down to how much you want to pay each month, whether you’d rather recharge a battery … Read more
A HomeKit air purifier shows up in the Apple Home app next to your lights and thermostat, so you can turn it up with Siri, check the air quality from your phone, or have it switch to sleep mode at bedtime. The catch is that most of the big purifier brands (Levoit, Coway, Blueair, Winix) … Read more