How To Make Your Home Smart; SmartThings Review

When you think of a smart home, you usually then think of millionaires and there multi million dollar mansions. The idea of a smart home is changing, in that, so far 2014 has been the year of smart homes. We have seen huge advancements in the areas of home automation, smart homes, and of course home security. All of this advancement, then leaves the end-user wondering, how do I make my home smart. Well while there are many different companies on the market, and even quite a few start-ups, trying to answer the same question, it leads to making some tough decisions. So today, were going to dive into SmartThings a company that believes the ordinary things around you can be smart.

SmartThings provides a system and from there you can customize your house as much or as little as you like. It all starts with the Hub, which is all you need to get going and another huge plus with SmartThings is that there are no monthly fees. With the Hub you get access to all of the different smart devices, some of which you may already have in your house. SmartThings knows that the usual feeling about making your smart home, is that it is usually time consuming and difficult, with their setup it is the complete opposite. The Hub comes in at $99.99 and is super simple to set up, you start off by plugging in the Hub it requires power and an ethernet. From there you use their great application, which is designed to present the important information that you need, directly at the front page.

The Hub provides a way for all of the things to talk with each other and be controlled by one application. This is one of the biggest complaints when you get all of these smart connected devices, usually they are each controlled by one application, that causes some confusion. SmartThings platform enables the end-user to have one application to control the many smart devices, even if some are made by different manufactures, there is chance at making them all work as one. For instance in the SmartThings application when you got add a new Thing, you will save the vast array of categories from motion sensors to lightbulbs and even to fitness trackers. So while SmartThings can help control your home, it can use data from different smart devices you have on you. One really unique feature, is that it pairs up with Sonos, so you can create an action to turn music on when you get home. With the large community of developers and consumers who use SmartThings, the platform will grow to new higher heights.

SmartThings offers many different things that they can turn smart. I would like to highlight two of these things, but by no means are these the only ones that they offer. The number of things that SmartThings works with is growing by the day and with a large community, it will continue to grow. The simple things are the ones that really show you what SmartThings can do. For instance, we have been testing out the system for a month or so and we have been using the Smart Outlets quite frequently. One of the coolest things is that you can just talk to the Hub from anywhere you have a connection. So if I’m out and the temperature is not cooling down, I can turn my Air Conditioner via the Smart Outlet, in that the unit itself is plugged into the outlet. SmartThings can also alert you of danger, if you have the proper things, so with the Water Sensor, I can put it under my sink, and if there is ever a leak, I will get an alert. I can also monitor it to see if there is any moisture or to make sure the temperature seems normal. And with all of the sensors I can monitor the activity, so I can see when I turn the outlets on and from here I can see my patterns.

One set of really unique things that work with SmartThings are the Presence Sensors, I consider these a piece of mind thing, as well as a security thing, and a well-being thing. For instance, if your children walk home from school, you can throw a presence sensor in their backpack and you can check to see if they have gotten home or if they haven’t. You can also use these sensors to trigger actions, so when your daughter or son comes home from school, it will unlock the door and will turn the lights on. These sensors could also work with a pet, for instance if you let your dog out via the backyard you can make sure they get back inside. This is a very unique feature and offering from SmartThings and really shows how they are working to make your smart home work for you, but also in an effort to provide peace of mind.

SmartThings has taken a very unique stance on home automation and with helping people create their smart homes. They are helping to further innovate this industry and keep the price at an affordable area, this way you no longer have to be the millionaire who has the multi-million dollar mansion to get a smart home. At this point, SmartThings is clearly the best offering on the market, if you want to jump in and make your home a smart home. By offering access to countless smart things, with the simple cost of $99 for the Smart Hub, it truly is affordable. You can expand your smart home as quickly or as slowly as you like and you can customize it to your liking. Click Here To Check Out SmartThings! We would like to thank SmartThings for providing us with “a Smart Hub and Several Things” to facilitate this review.

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