- Now, whether you are new to HomeKits
or you've had HomeKit a little while,
but want a build out your smart home.
In today's video,
we're going to be going over some of our top picks
for getting started building out your HomeKit smart home.
So stay tuned.
(upbeat music)
Hey everybody, welcome back to another video.
I want to thank you for joining us here
on our HomeKit series.
Where we're going to be building out
a HomeKit smart home.
I started with picking up one of these guys.
This is the HomePod mini.
We went through, did an unboxing, set this thing up.
And then I did a video talking about HomeKit,
what it is, what you can do with it.
So if you want to check those videos out
go ahead and click on the link above.
Now that we've got our HomeKit set up,
we're going to go through some of our top picks for devices
that would be great for starting out your smart home.
Now we're going to have links for everything
that we talk about in the description below.
And before we get started, don't forget to subscribe
and hit that notification bell.
So you don't miss out on future videos
just like this one.
With that said, let's get started.
Smart lighting is a really popular choice
when starting out your smart home.
And that's because they're so easy to set up
and something that you can visually see right away.
Now, initially, when people see the price of
a smart light bulb
whether it be a white light bulb or a colored light bulb
they kind of take a step back and say,
Wow that is just really expensive for a light bulb.
But keep in mind with a smart light bulb
they have a lifespan of anywhere
from fifteen to twenty years.
So if you break that out, the price is actually pretty good.
Now, what I want to do is
I want to give you three recommendations
for light bulbs that we really like.
The first one I want to start out with is Philips Hue.
Now they're probably the biggest name in smart lighting
but they're also the most expensive.
But with that extra price comes a countless amount
of integration options.
Yes, there is an advantage to being the most expensive
and yet biggest name out there
is that everyone wants to integrate
with the Philips hue brand,
which is why it is on our list.
Next up we have the all new Nanoleaf essential light bulb.
Now this is a new light bulb
that has just come out recently,
but it is at a much more affordable price
than the Philips Hue.
The great thing about this light bulb is
you have a wide range of colors.
You can set up things like adaptive lighting features
where it's automatically going to change the color
temperature of the light bulb.
You can also do things like controlling the lights
through the app or your voice
or slowly wake up naturally to sunrise colors
or set other schedules in the Nanoleaf app.
Next up we have the Meross brand of light bulbs.
Now this is a really popular home kit brand
and they offer some great products.
What we have here are the Meross smart WiFi LED bulbs.
Like with the other bulbs, these are dimmable,
have a wide variety of colors,
and also come in at a more affordable rate
if you buy the two pack.
Now, in addition to smart light bulbs,
smart plugs and smart switches are also really popular.
But for the sake of not making this video too long
I'm not going to cover those in the video
but I will list a few of our favorite options
down in the description
if you want to check those out.
The next category I want to talk about
are smart thermostats.
Now this is a great way to lower your energy costs
in your house.
And a great option to start with,
which is the one I personally use, is the Ecobee brand.
Now Ecobee has a wide variety of different thermostats
and just recently launched
the new Ecobee smart thermostat 5th generation.
This thermostat comes absolutely packed
with so many features.
You can set up a way mode, home mode.
It's got a presence sensor built in
so if it detects anybody in the house
it can adjust the thermostat to what you have set up.
Now, one pro or con with this thermostat is
that it does have Amazon Alexa built into it
but us being Apple HomeKit users,
that's probably not a feature that you care about.
So another option that you can look at is the Ecobee light.
Now that is going to have a lot of similar features
just not Amazon Alexa built in
and it comes in at a much more reasonable price.
The next thermostat that I want to talk
about is the Emerson Sensi Touch.
Now this is a great looking thermostat
that has a giant display
that's easy to see from anywhere in the house.
Now, like with most smart thermostats,
you're going to be able to control this thing
when you're not home,
also set up different routines and schedules
using your thermostat.
So when you do leave the house
if you're using your phone as location devices
when you leave the house,
it's automatically going to adjust or turn off
your thermostat.
You're also going to be able to monitor the history
of your thermostats
when it's heating, cooling, and when the fan is running.
Our last option for thermostats are going to be
the Honeywell Lyric, either T5 or T6.
These are some great budget options
that's going to get you up and running
of integrating this into HomeKit
and be able to adjust your thermostat on the go
or set up routines and schedules for it
to automatically turn on or off at certain times of the day.
Alright, next up we have home security cameras.
Now there are a lot of different options that you can choose
for your home security
but here are three of our favorites.
Starting out we have the LogiTech circle cam.
Now this is a great camera for HomeKit users
because it uses Apple's HomeKit secure video
which is going to give you the utmost privacy
when it comes to monitoring to inside and outside
of your house.
This is a 10 ADP camera that connects
to a 2.4 gigahertz WiFi connection,
has a 180 degree field of view and exceptional night vision.
Next up, I want to talk about Eufy 2c Pro.
This is a 2K battery powered camera
that has a built in spotlight.
So it's going to be ideal for monitoring
the outside of your house.
Lastly, we have the Ecobee smart cameras.
So if you did end up picking up an Ecobee thermostat
adding an Ecobee smart camera might be a good fit for you.
Just like with the Logitech circle view,
this is a 10 ADP camera that does have to be plugged in
but it comes in at a much more affordable price.
Well, that concludes our list
of some smart devices to help get you started
with your HomeKit smart home.
If you guys want to know any more
about any of these products
check out the link below to reviews.org.
Also, we will have links below to everything
that we talked about in today's video
if you guys want to check that out.
If you want to see more from me,
check out my YouTube channel Steve DOES
where I do a lot of other cool tech reviews.
As always, if this video is helpful, give it a thumbs up.
Let me know that you liked it.
I want to thank you for joining me at reviews.org.
And I will see you guys in the next video.