Recommendations for useful smart home devices in the US

I recently moved and specifically researched various smart home devices. The US lags far behind China in this area; not only are there surprisingly fewer options, but they're also very inconsistent. From initial excitement to accepting reality...

Let's start with the terminal devices. In the US, there are many small smart home brands, each with its own system. This makes management inconvenient; installing a brand requires downloading an app. Even companies like Nest, which specialize in smart homes, only have five or six products, not enough to cover all needs. Therefore, the terminal device is crucial. Currently, three relatively reliable terminal devices on the market are Apple HomeKit, Google Home, and Amazon Alexa. Each has its advantages and disadvantages, and different manufacturers support different features. My research summarizes the following:

• Apple HomeKit: Offers excellent support for the entire Apple ecosystem, especially the HomePod, which is fantastic as a home terminal. However, it only supports Apple devices and lacks sharing functionality, requiring a single account to use it exclusively. Nevertheless, most smart devices are gradually migrating to Apple HomeKit, and Nest plans to support Apple HomeKit across its entire product line.
• Google Home: As a rising star, it quickly established its own system based on the open-source Android ecosystem. Its main advantage is its low price. You can buy 10 Google Home devices for the price of one Apple HomePod. Place them in various places to control them from anywhere. However, it still doesn't support a large number of devices. But after all, Android is open source... so it's not difficult to manually support them.
• Amazon Alexa: As one of the earlier devices to support Alexa, it naturally supports a wider range of devices. However, due to the lack of a mobile platform, it feels somewhat redundant, and its functionality and user experience are inferior to Apple and Google Alexa. Its price falls somewhere in between, which is a bit awkward.

After introducing the ecosystem, let's look at some smart home products that are worth buying (that I'm currently using). Note that we won't be mentioning devices like sockets, light bulbs, or sensors here.

1. Nest Thermostats, as one of the earliest Thermostats brands, was installed in my previous home. It's very high-tech and offers a fantastic user experience. Although some traditional Thermostats manufacturers have also followed suit with smart devices, they still lag far behind. As a central controller, its functions, such as automatically learning whether you're home and remotely controlling the device via an app, are very comprehensive, and installation is extremely easy (compared to other smart home devices).
2. Nest doorbell has several competitors, all of which are quite good. I chose it because I wanted to use the entire Nest suite; a single Nest app provides all the information. Installing the doorbell is a bit troublesome, requiring Chime, Transformer, etc., and if you don't already have a doorbell, you'll need to run cables, etc., but it's well worth it once it's complete. The Nest doorbell provides 24/7 monitoring; any movement at the door or someone knocking is recorded, the video is saved, and notifications are sent to your phone. You can also view the live feed anytime via the app, even at night—it's essentially a Nest camera.
3. Nest Smoke/CO Alerm seems useless, but it's really cool. In addition to the traditional functions of detecting CO and Smoke, it can also act as a bridge and repeater to connect various Nest devices. In addition, it will emit a faint light when someone walks by at night.
4. For the Schlage Sense Smart Locker, I chose a product from a traditional lock manufacturer. Firstly, it's highly reliable, and secondly, their other products are rather basic. They have three different series, and this one is the latest. It supports Apple, Google, and Amazon devices. Installation is simply a matter of changing the lock. It sends notifications to your phone every time you unlock or close the door, and you also need to set up automatic locking. However, if you don't have a device, you'll need a Wi-Fi connector to connect to the internet, which is a bit silly.
5. Nest Detect is a door lock detector that installs on doors. If someone forces their way in, it sends a message and triggers an alarm. It's suitable for placing on windows or yard gates. However, it requires the purchase of a separate Secure device, essentially making it part of a larger security system.
6. Rachio Yard, a watering terminal, is one of the better ones on the market. It supports Nest, Google, and Alexa. I initially thought the installation would be complicated, but it turned out to be very simple. It can also adjust the watering amount according to the weather, so I highly recommend it!
7. Chamberlain is a garage door terminal. Chamberlain makes garage doors, so the quality is quite reliable. It involves installing a sensor on the garage door, followed by a small terminal that connects to Wi-Fi and the garage door controller. The instructions say to install this small box on the garage ceiling, but I installed it on the side next to the sprinkler system. It's just so-so, but there aren't many other options.
8. Kuna Outdoor Light with Cam is an outdoor light + camera solution that avoids the hassle of installing a separate camera, but the outdoor light still needs to be on all the time (otherwise it will run out of power). Fortunately, its app allows you to set the light to turn on when it gets dark and turn off when it gets light. It works okay so far, but it's not as good as Nest Hello.

Other equipment is still under research, especially garage door equipment. However, since the remaining equipment is quite disorganized, a good one has not yet been developed. We will continue to update this information once we have it.