Can't think of a single thing I'll be specifically looking out for. If a good deal for something on my wish list I might buy it. Luckily I'll be working both days so I can avoid wasting money buying shit I don't need or never knew I wanted.
I want a roomba, but we got a a dyson animal cordless at “The Co” (that’s what we call it in The Biz). Feels like I don’t need it, but it sounds so wonderful.
I got a roomba for my wife and we use it all the time. Do your research before you buy though. Ours is brushless so it’s easier to clean and can charge and remember where it stopped after it returns to base bc of a low battery.
Fingers crossed for smart switches. I need them for the front porch and want to roll out the red carpet for my guests. We’ve got the Nest Hello that distinguishes who’s at the door so I look forward to finding a way to trigger a bunch of actions when my MIL shows up. Just automatically cut the lights, lock the doors, and pretend no one is home.
Got a new dog at Christmas and she’s awesome but she sheds a metric fuckton. Really want a roomba; someone point me toward the best one for pet hair. Also interested in a Ring but don’t have an existing doorbell. Has anyone has any problems with the battery on the wireless one?
I've got the wireless one and bought an extra battery because I was worried about down time while charging, but it was kind of a silly worry looking back. It works great, not a single problem with it at all
Nah, have had the battery powered Ring 2 since December since my rent house doesn’t have a doorbell, and it works great. I usually charge the battery overnight about once every 6 weeks or so but that’s it.
Seems like they have but it's worth it to check with your power company's website in case they sell them, and also att & Verizon sell them at a slight discount
I have eero, been great for several months now. It sure if it’ll be on prime sale though. Eero sponsors a lot of podcasts and I frequently hear codes for $100 off.
I will say, we do have to make sure all our cables are picked up off the ground cause our roomba will get stuck in every single one. It's also started ramming into things a bit harder than I'd prefer, the sensors might not be as sharp as they once were. Team Roomba Team, btw.
Also Team Roomba (Deebot). I have a cleaning lady who comes every 2 weeks and is very good. The Roomba still fills up every 2-3 days. It gets places like under couches and furniture that you won't normally clean. I hate stepping on crumbs and crap on the floor so the Deebot along with not wearing shoes in the house has helped tremendously. The new ones are pretty similar. Mine has a remote or you can hook it up to wifi but all you really need is to press the button on it and let it go. They all return to their charger automatically these days.
Those things are so beyond where they were a few years ago. I can’t come close to justifying a purchase of the one that has the vacuum chamber charging base where it can empty itself but good lord, that is a phenomenal feature.
Hoping TP Link / Kasa smart switches (some with dimmers) are on sale. I'd like to add quite a few more to my house... also wouldn't turn down another nest cam, or nest doorbell thing
I had to buy all of my house is being renovated now, but you can be sure I will be asking for some price adjustments in 2 weeks.
Did you go with the TP-Link smart switches? Or another brand, I have 2 of their dimmer switches and have been happy with them so far. Mostly I use them for a schedule and telling Google to turn on/off all the lights. My WeMo plugs are kind of crap and don't always show up in the app so I don't think I want to get more WeMo. My Lifx lights work great - but are expensive as fuck so I don't want to add those unless I want color changing lights.
owner of an Deebot N79 - which is one of the best selling models on Amazon. It is wonderful as I get out the upright vacuum only 1-2x a year now. My only feedback (can't really call it a critique, as I eschewed the feature rich/$$$ models for a lower end model, perhaps $200) is that it is worth it to upgrade to the models that can be programmed to avoid areas or objects. I have this recliner and every inch of the base and ottoman are hazards. My model has the hp to get up on the bar, but not the hp or smarts to get back off. Programming it to avoid that and not get stuck multiple times per cycle would be helpful. roombas are mans second best friend.
I have the N79S. It gets stuck in a small 1/2 bath sometimes when it knocks the door shut and in the living room starts to go up the of the french doors going outside and can't get back down. It would be nice to program it to avoid it.
What does everyone recommend for camera based security system around the house? Nest? I have 3 doors going outside. I figure a doorbell camera is fine for the front? Then a couple of cameras for the back.
My mom uses two of the arlo cameras and a ring doorbell and I was the one that setup the arlos. Almost all of those cameras are going to have brief delays on them, unless they’re closed circuit, always running, and I think the arlos are some of the best but they’re not really cheap.
Wirecutter breaks it down. Solid insight and authoritative - for security cameras and otherwise. Consider thinking through which smart home system/assistant (Alexa/Google/etc) you have or want to align with. https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-security-cameras-for-your-home/ With that said. I went with Nest, as it's now owned by Google. Chromecast, Google Assistant, and Google Home integrations are ++. I have two Nest Cam Indoors, one Nest Cam IQ (2 thumbs way up) and a Nest Hello doorbell cam which requires wiring. Nest caveat is that hardware is more pricey than the others and requires a paid sub for storing footage. Any questions just ask, but there are endless YT reviews, blog posts etc comparing them all.
I went with Nest, I've been happy with them. Not the cheapest, but they were very easy. I forgot the brand I used before that, but it was shit.
I just moved into a new house. First thing I did was buy the Nest stuff. Doorbell cam up front. Nest Guard on the entry table. Corresponding door sensors/motion detectors (they do both) on the front and back doors. Yale lock on the front (punching in the code here deactivates the alarm simultaneously). Had an existing Amazon Cloud Cam so it’s set up in the living room at the moment but when Key gets going in my neck of the woods, I’m going to move that to the garage and get the Chamberlain MyQ smart garage thing to accept Amazon deliveries into the garage and be able to audit them. All of this stuff works fucking great with the Google Home Hub. That’s in our kitchen. Put a couple of Minis throughout the house for voice commands and syncing music across the house. Wish list item would be the IQ cam for the living room once I’ve moved the Cloud Cam to the garage.
The quality of the Cam IQ is great, compared to the plain jane version. I don't have an HDR TV, but the colors/saturation (and also the sharpness) seem to have that "HDR pop" w/ the Cam IQ. Usable detail even at 25-50% zoom.
All the reviews I looked at said get the Nest if you’re not worried about the privacy issue they had.
I have a Ring doorbell and a Nest indoor camera. I'm honestly disappointed with the Nest camera. The saved video clips are only 10 seconds and choppy. My Ring doorbell saves 1 min smooth video.
Just found out there's a bandwidth setting for the uploads and it was set to medium. gonna set it to high and see if that makes a difference.
https://video.nest.com/clip/18759933341e455d9f7cdac6aab95199.mp4 https://ring.com/share/6701066021713751157 will update the nest video tomorrow with the higher bandwidth setting. the nest videos are also only kept in the cloud for 10 days, i think ring is indefinite.
Kinda mad at Amazon. Ordered a new dog leash and it was supposed to be here in a day. Their "tracking" offered literally no information besides "shipped" with the bar 3/4 the way to "out for delivery" Try googling the tracking number they gave me and it nothing came up. So, why did it miss it's next day delivery like it was intended? Why does it go from 1 day delivery to now 3 day delivery? And why is there no info available. Where did it originate from? Where is it currently? What caused the delay?
They said it was Amazon Shipping, which I assume is the personal vehicle deliveries? Guess I have seen sprinter vans, as well.
99% of the time for me, Amazon facilitated (e.g. local, Amazon prime now, etc) deliveries are quick and accurate. The other day, I had my first experience (nbd) with an error. Sounds like it was a vehicle that couldn't finish it's rounds on that day or it was misplaced for one day. The messaging that night was vague (it generated a new delivery window of 0-3 days) but the item came the next day, no problem....even before the delivery window updated or notification came that it would come the next day.
The only problem I ever had was I waited for hours for a TV to be delivered. It never showed up and around midnight I got an email that it was broken in transit. It apparently broke early in the morning and driver never got around to noting that in the system so I just sat around waiting on it. To their credit, when I called they had a replacement out for delivery the next day and even set up a delivery time so I didn't have to wait around.