While on vacation the last thing you want to be doing is worried if you locked the door or turned off your hair straightener but with smart home technology you no longer need to. Now there are a variety of useful devices that will help you turn off a plugged item, remotely lock your front door, adjust the temperature when you are away to save money, or even robots to clean your home. While adding smart home devices might seem expensive they offer peace of mind while you are away, and some devices will help you save money too.
Here are some smart home devices that make it easier to leave for a vacation:
Smart Security: Nest Cam IQ Outdoors
The last thing you want to worry about is someone trying to break into your house while you are away, and having a Nest Cam IQ can act as a serious deterrent for intruders. The outdoor cam provides you with 24/7 live video and night vision. The powerful device can detect a person up to 50 feet away and can detect if the person approaching is a family member or stranger and alert your phone. Plus it the Nest Cam IQ has a built-in speaker and mic so you can talk to family at your door or scare off intruders no matter where you are in the world. For added security, you can also add the indoor Nest Cam IQ to further monitor your home.
To buy: Canada | USA
Smart Thermostat: Nest Thermostat
No matter where you are in the world you can adjust the temperature of your home from your phone, tablet or computer. After a week your Nest Thermostat will automatically adjust the temperature in your home based upon your lifestyle and season. As an added bonus, your Nest Thermostat can help you save 10 to 15 percent off your energy bill giving you some extra cash to spend towards your next vacation.
To buy: Canada | USA
Smart Lock: Yale Lock
Have the ability to grant temporary access codes to open your front door for anyone who might need access to your home while you are away, such as family or the pet sitter. Yale x Nest Smart Lock works with the August app so you can create custom pin codes for different people to enter your house. Within the app, you’ll be able to customize when exactly the pin can be used, for example only next Tuesday from 9 am till 10 am. Within the August app, you’ll also be notified of anyone who opens the door an when.
Yale smart locks also work with Google Home and Amazon Alexa (when you add a $50 network module), and the Yale X Nest Smart Lock works with the Nest System so you can have it automatically turn off your Nest alarm when your home, or lock the door when you leave.
To buy: Canada | USA
Smart Vacuum: iRobot Roomba i7+
Nothing is worse than coming back from vacation to finding your house is a mess. You are exhausted and the last thing you feel like doing is cleaning. Instead of hiring a cleaner to handle all the dust and dirt while you are away you can use a smart robot to clean your house.
The iRobot Roomba i7+ creates a smart map of your home and works with your Google Home or Amazon Alexa. As such you can issue voice commands to get the iRobot Roomba i7+ to clean the kitchen. Likewise, you can schedule the days and times the Roomba should clean, and you will be shown the results of the cleaning in real time.
One of the main problems with smart robots, when you are away, is there is no one there to empty the dirt in the robot after a cleaning. But the newest iRobot Roomba i7 Vacuum with Automatic Dirt Disposal is that it automatically empties the bin and can store 30 bins of dirt, so it can handle weeks worth of dirt if you are gone for an extended getaway.
To buy: Canada | USA
Smart Plug: WeMo Mini Smart Plug
Never worry if you forgot to turn off anything in your house again. The Wemo Mini Smart Plug plugs into your electrical wall socket and can turn on or off anything plugged into it using either the Wemo app, Google Home or Amazon Alexa. The next time you find yourself at the airport worried if you forgot to unplug something, like an iron you’ll be able to check and turn it off on your phone.
If you happen to have your lamps plugged into WeMo Mini Smart Plugs you can also schedule the lamps to turn on and off randomly using the WeMo “away mode” which make it appear someone is home, even if you on the other side of the globe.
To buy: Canada | USA
Smart Lights: Philips Light Starter Kit
Not only do these smart lights look amazing as you can customize their color, but Philips smart lights provide some extra security to your home too. The lights can be programmed to turn off and on at set times, or you can even set up a custom schedule when you are on vacation, so that from the exterior it looks like someone is home with the lights turning off an on while you are out of town.
To buy: Canada | USA