15 Smart Home Gadgets That Will Change the Way You Live for the Better

The ultimate in robotic vacuums, Neato’s XV Signature Pro will keep floors clean while you’re not home, and is as pet-friendly as they come. Featuring a specially designed combo brush that’s perfect for picking up pet hair, the vacuum’s laser-guided technology scans and maps the room before formulating a plan to methodically clean it; when completed, the vacuum will then automatically move on to another room. You can schedule daily cleanings or simply push a button for instant spot cleaning of a particular area. When vacuuming time is over, the robotic vacuum will automatically return to charging base; when vacuuming resumes, the Neato XV Signature Pro will start from where it left off.

What’s a “learning” thermostat? That’s the question answered by this innovative new thermostat from Nest, which literally learns the temperature you prefer and creates a schedule around it by automatically adapting to your preferred temperature as the seasons change – and will automatically adjust the temp to an eco-friendly setting when you’re out of the house and ensure it’s as warm or cool as you’d like when you return. Not only will this thermostat save you money in energy costs (the manufacturer claims it will pay for itself within two years), it can also help to prevent things like burst pipes and furnace problems by sending you an alert when anything seems to be out of the ordinary.

“The world’s first and only 100-per-cent wire-free, weatherproof, rechargeable HD smart security camera with audio and 130-degree viewing angle,” the Arlo Pro is an easy-to-use marvel when it comes to smart home security. When travelling, you can check out what’s happening at your home – in HD, in real time – from anywhere in the world, offering an inexpensive alternative to costly home security services.

Throw your house keys away and grab one of these amazing Smart Locks, which locks and unlocks the door via smartphone app – which also keeps track of who’s coming and going. Compatible with Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant, you can create virtual keys for guests, and even grant access at specific times and days for a few hours or even a few minutes. And you can delete a guest’s access instantly, making this the perfect door lock for Airbnb rentals and the like. Best of all, you can keep your existing lock hardware, as the August SmartLock replaces only the interior side of a standard deadbolt.

Any aspiring gourmet would love to have a fresh herb garden in the kitchen, and this unique self-growing herb garden can make that happen thanks to “zero-effort” that grows fresh herbs with next to no maintenance and, even better, without the use of pesticides and GMOs. The secret lies in a special LED grow lamp that automatically turns on for 16 hours per day to provide maximum growth, while “smart soil” (which has been “inspired by NASA technology”) releases nutrients, keeps soil pH balanced, and even employs tiny oxygen pockets to ensure plants have enough room to breathe. In-unit sensors provide continuous monitoring to ensure the plants are receiving the ideal amount of light, water and nutrients at all times.

Control all your home’s electronic devices from your tablet of smartphone, with no hub or subscription service required. That’s because the Wemo Switch Smart Plug uses your home’s existing WiFi network to grant you wireless control of lamps, fans and other electronic devices; simply plug a device into the Smart Plug, and control that device with the Wemo app, ideal for remotely controlling lighting and other features when you’re away from home but don’t want to present the appearance that you are.

Described as the “ultimate smart scale and interactive recipe app system,” the Perfect Kitchen PRO brings an unparalleled degree of precision to home cooking by using a smart scale (linked via WiFi to more than 1,000 “taste-tested” recipes) to provide precise measurements in order to create restaurant-quality baked goods, cocktails and blended items.

This hardware/software system attaches to your home’s breaker panel, outfitted with 18 dedicated sensors that provide real-time info about your home’s power consumption and monitor how much energy is being used. A smartphone app connects to your home’s smart devices, allowing you to remotely turn appliances on and off in order to maximize energy efficiency.

Anyone who’s ever faced a coffee table piled with remotes while trying to recall which controls what will appreciate the power of a single remote that controls everything, seamlessly unifying a home’s ever-expanding array of home-entertainment and smart-home devices. Adaptable to more than 270,000 different devices – everything from TVs to thermostats to locks – the Logitech Harmony Elite will “leave the chaos of multiple apps and remotes behind,” notes the website, “and let peace reign supreme.”

The smartest smoke detector on the market, the Nest Protect boasts an industrial-grade smoke sensor, continually tests itself automatically, and can last for up to a decade. And because it’s WiFi-enabled, the Nest Protect (which also detects carbon monoxide) will also alert you via smartphone app. When you’re home, instead of an alarm you’ll hear a human voice alerting you to a specific problem, and automatically tests its own batteries and sensors 400 times per month – so you don’t have to.

If you’ve been anxious to jump into the culinary world of sous vide cooking (food is vacuum-sealed in plastic and cooked to perfection in precise temperature-controlled water), the Ananova Precision Cooker takes all the guesswork out of the process. WiFi-enabled, you can adjust cooking settings remotely, allowing the ability to set the temperature to within a tenth of a degree or start and stop even when you’re nowhere near the kitchen.

This home lighting system is easy to use and offers complete control of your home’s lighting, both when you’re at home or remotely, via smartphone. Dim lights, set lighting schedules, create mood lighting in different rooms – the control is all yours, and the system can easily be expanded to include a variety of Philips lighting products that will take your home lighting to the next level.

Ensure you indoor comfort with the Netatmo Personal Weather Station, which measures the levels of your home’s humidity, temperature, air quality and more. Why is this important? Because indoor air can often be more polluted than the air outdoors, and a CO2 sensor measures pollution levels, and will sending you alerts so you know when to air out your home in order to achieve ideal air quality. You’ll also receive up-to-the-second weather information, in case you’re deciding whether to take the bike or the car to work.

Far more than just a garage door opener, the MyQ Garage allows you to control your garage door remotely via smartphone app, from wherever you happen to be in the world. Hooking into your home’s WiFi, the MyQ Garage can also send alerts and notifications to your smartphone whenever your your garage door opens and closes, offering an extra level of security when you’re not at home.

Barbecue aficionados will be drooling at the special features in this digital smoker, which sends information from the smoker to your smartphone or tablet – and vice-versa – allowing you to monitor your smoker’s progress remotely. Choose from pre-programmed recipes or set your own, simply add the wood chips of your choice to the smoker and run a chip burn; when the chips are smoking and ready to go, the smoker will send you a notification telling you it’s time to add the meat – the SmartChef app will take it from there.