Smart Home

When you’re talking to people about your smart home I think it’s important to stand by the products you recommend and use. Being a smart home technology content creator I am fortunate enough to work with some of the biggest brands out there in this sector and get to try a number of different devices out in my smart home.

Some of these products are simply amazing and as you can expect, some of them can be, well disappointing to say the least. I’ve put together this page so that you can see the products I use and by this definition, recommend unless otherwise stated. This page is always being updated, some sections aren’t even complete yet! so ensure you check here first before buying your next smart device.

You should know that as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. By buying through any of the links below I will earn commission at no extra cost to you.

Every time someone buys something via my affiliate links they are directly helping to support my YouTube channel by enabling these funds to go back into it and fund future content. If you are one of those people, you’re simply amazing and I thank you!

A final note, this page is constantly being updated with new products or changes to products if I no longer recommend them.

Smart Home Controller

There are many options available to you when setting up a smart home as to what to use for your controller. As I use Home Assistant there are a few routes I could have taken with my choice of hardware, from a Raspberry Pi to a Home Assistant Yellow or Green.

However I made the decision to buy a used, yes used, Intel NUC i5 7th Generation which gives me great processing power and expansion to meet my future needs. Whilst these units are no longer manufactured by Intel there are plenty of similar options available both in size and specification.

  • Lenovo ThinkCentre M720q Tiny Mini PC (Amazon)

Whilst I haven’t used any of the following computers, they are used by many and make great smart home controllers for Home Assistant.

Smart Speakers

Although I try and automate as much as possible to not require the use of a smart speaker or physical buttons I still do use the following in the house for some automations and announcements.

Sensors

I use a range of sensors from different manufacturers and in general find them all to be pretty reliable in use. Most of my sensors are Zigbee based however that is purely down to the decision I have made for the primary network communication.

Smart Security Cameras

I am currently using both an indoor and outdoor Eufy security camera however with the recent security concerns raised both on my YouTube channel and others, I am currently reviewing this decision and plan to replace these with something else however at the moment these remains in use. If you’re happy with the issues raised then I would suggest taking a look at them.

Smart Doorbell

My Eufy smart doorbell was one of the very first smart devices I bought and it is still working to this day. Although it’s battery powered, if you don’t live in a high traffic area then the battery drain is minimal when it’s in full monitoring mode and you will easily achieve 6 months on a single charge.

As with my security camera, recent security concerns about Eufy products have meant that I’m looking to replace this with something else however for now this remains in use and if you’re happy with the issues raised then I would suggest taking a look at it.

Zigbee Coordinator

Picking the right ZigBee coordinator for use in Home Assistant can be a little tricky, some of this comes down to the fact that you can use either ZHA or ZigBee2MQTT in Home Assistant and there are slight differences between the two implementations.

I prefer to use ZigBee2MQTT as it seems to have better device support and for that reason I recommend either of the following coordinators. I currently use the SMLIGHT adapter, having recently moved from a USB adapter to an ethernet one.

If you’re just starting with ZigBee and Home Assistant and are just wanting to use a USB dongle then either the SONOFF or SMLIGHT will work fine but the SMLIGHT version will allow you to change in the future if you decide.

Smart Lights

To be completed….

Smart Plugs

When it comes to smart plugs, you’ll find that it’s a pretty busy sector in terms of choice. Over the years I’ve used a number of devices but have gradually moved to those that are a small form factor and offer power monitoring. The majority of the plugs I use are Zigbee based however I do have a number of Wi-Fi controlled devices as well.

Smart Heating

I’ve recently upgraded my central heating system to a smart controlled system from Drayton. I have opted for a configuration that works with my combi boiler and provides me with the smart hub, remote thermostat and smart radiator TRVs. I would thoroughly recommend added at least one of their extender plugs to this configuration to ensure a rock solid network.

  • Drayton Wiser Smart Heating Hub and Thermostat (Amazon UK)
  • Drayton Wiser Smart Radiator TRV (Amazon UK)
  • Drayton Wiser Smart Plug Range Extender (Amazon UK)

Smart Door Lock

I’ve recently installed and started using a smart lock on my house and this was provided by SwitchBot for me to review on my YouTube channel.

This is a retro fit smart door lock and is highly compatible with existing locks worldwide which is one of the real benefits of it. It’s extremely simple to install and worked flawlessly since I installed it.

To have smart speaker integration or access the lock remotely you’ll need one of the SwitchBot hubs and I would definitely recommend getting the external keypad with fingerprint reader functionality or the new vision keypad with facial recognition. SwitchBot sell this as a bundle to save you money if you decide to go that route.

Smart Curtains

Smart Roller Shade

To be completed….

Wi-Fi Router

Having recently changed broadband provider I needed to buy my own router as my new provider doesn’t supply one as standard. After looking at various reviews from the big brands I opted to go with an offering from TP Link.

In addition to the main router I also use a TP Link range extender, which although the speed and range of the router is amazing for the house I wanted to ensure that continued out into the garden as well.