10 Underrated Smart Home Gadgets That Changed My Life!

Welcome to the ultimate Home Assistant setup for my Smart Home, chez Matheson! In this tour of my smart home, I share 10 ways I’ve optimised my house to save our family time and money.
🛒 iRobot Vacuum: geni.us/iROBOT-VACUUM
🛒 Robo-Lawnmower: geni.us/ROBO-LAWNMOWER
🛒 Yale Smartlock: geni.us/YALE-SMARTLOCK
🛒 Smart Plugs: geni.us/SMART-PLUGS
🛒 Tado Smart Heating: geni.us/TADO-SMART-HEATING
🛒 Apple TV: geni.us/APPLE-TV
🛒 Ring Doorbell: geni.us/RING-DOORBELL
🛒 Home Assistant Android App: geni.us/HOME-ASSISTANT-ANDROID
🛒 Home Assistant Apple App: geni.us/HOME-ASSISTANT-APPLE
🎥 Best Smart Thermostat for 2023: • Best Smart Thermostat ...
🎥 Tech Reviews Playlist: • ⏯ TECH REVIEWS
Chapters:
00:00 My Smart Home Journey
00:27 Smart Vacuum Cleaner
01:19 Smart Lawn Mower
02:27 Keyless Life
03:37 Smart Plugs
04:13 Smart Heating
05:15 Apple TV & Ring Security
06:09 Motion Sensors & Lights
07:19 Home Assistant Software
08:29 Get Cheaper Electricity!
#PETEMATHESON
❤️ Thank you Patreons!: / petematheson
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My name is Pete and from 2011, I started and grew an IT Support and Services Company from £0 to over £1m in turnover before selling the business in 2020. New video's every Wednesday and Saturday! I upload vlogs, tech reviews, how-to / behind the scenes technology videos.
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Website: www.petematheson.com
Website: www.notabusinesscoach.com
Disclosures: All opinions are my own. Some links in the descriptions are affiliate links that if you click on, I’ll receive a commission at no additional cost to you.
--SMPOST--Is this the ultimate smart home? Welcome to Chez Matheson!

[@PeteMatheson]

What smart gadgets do YOU use in your home?

[@vijaysmarthome]

Love the smart heating! I Should look into whether it if it's available in the USA. I use the RoboRock, I have a similar setup to you one for upstairs and another for downstairs :)

[@ajfx]

I have a fibaro smart home system. It's affordable, flexible, and highly configurable

[@TheAppleFreak]

At this time, we've got: - plugs (Kasa, ThirdReality, and Sonoff) - in-wall switches (Kasa) - a smart switch flipper for a switch I wasn't allowed to replace lol (ThirdReality) - IR blasters, one with a temp/humidity sensor in the cable (Broadlink) - two energy monitoring plugs hooked up to our washer and dryer (ThirdReality) - two water leak sensors in the basement (ThirdReality) - One (1) smart bulb from AliExpress - Echo Dots Most of the new stuff is Zigbee only when possible, and everything is controlled via Home Assistant. We don't have a lot in the way of automations yet, but I'm building that out. Currently, the several we've got: - Obnoxious "water in the basement" alerts via critical push notifications and Alexa TTS when the leak sensors are tripped. Already saved us once recently but I have improvement ideas - Personalized notifications for when the laundry machines finish, toggleable by scanning a NFC tag via your phone - AC automation in the basement to turn on the dehumidifier occasionally to manage humidity and stem mold growth Still early days, but I'm excited for the future!

[@bitsmarttech]

Smart plugs ftw. Kids leaving stuff on all the time. We used one for the xmas lights this past xmas and was a game changer.

[@PeteMatheson]

Automated Xmas lights that are on only when you're in the room. Classic!

[@LTULOfficial]

When you talk about smart plugs, you should also mention how much energy the plug itself use so they people can compare of it's efficient than other plugs

[@ShervinShares]

Tesla Battery & Solar!!! ooooo i dream of that life

[@PeteMatheson]

Just wish we had 2 more powerwalls!

[@AlexValtchev]

I would be extremeply interested in a video showing your entire dashboard of Home Assistant and all the custom cards and colors and icons. How did you create it? IS there such video have or CAN you make, *please* !!

[@mobgz2217]

Great video like always

[@PeteMatheson]

Thank you!

[@user-hz7bi8lz4m]

Great video. How do you get a live feed of your ring doorbell when someone presses it?

[@SondelaConsulting]

Great vid as always mate. You mentioned about the UK regs for smart locks. do you have a link to that

[@PeteMatheson]

Thanks bud! Check your home insurance. Most need a multi point lock installed, so you're limited to basically the Conexis L1 or L2

[@L33tw0rk]

What happens to smart home in the event of a power cut? Is there a manual override on most of these?

[@TheDropForged]

Great Review Pete!! I too have Conexis L1 but I haven't been able to connect to HA. I always get errors. Did you have any sort of issue when integrating?

[@PeteMatheson]

Thank you! Took a few goes! You just need the blue Z-Wave module?

[@TheDropForged]

@@PeteMatheson Thanks for the reply. I do have the Z-Wave module. I am holding on to my SmartThings just because of this lock. With SmartThings, it works flawlessly. According to the Internet, this lock is indeed very picky when it comes to HA.

[@cansarac7937]

Hi there I have a quick question,(I do use the same garage door opener and samsung phone)how did you create a button on your phone(next to the wifi button on the top slider) to open the garage 3:12 can you please help? I never saw such a thing seems awsome! (also can someone tell me what those top slider buttons called?) Thanks in advance

[@PeteMatheson]

Hey man! This is just from the Meross app, if you get it installed then you can edit the quick buttons at the top and just drag the garage door right there :) Which top slider buttons were you talking about sorry? :)

[@cansarac7937]

​@@PeteMatheson Hi Pete! Thanks a lot for your super fast response! I do have meross app but I can't find the quick button for it on my phone. Maybe my phone's Android version doesn't support that feature. (I use S20 FE). Also, the name of the slider buttons I was searching for was "quick buttons". Thanks again for your helps!

[@MonkeyBusiness1315]

Back on the G9 I see? What happened to the OLED G8? I’ve moved to C2 42, it’s great. 👍🏼

[@PeteMatheson]

I sent it back as I'm now holding out for the G9 OLED or possibly the new 57" Model! Can't wait to try those out 👀

[@SondelaConsulting]

You mentioned your garage door opener, what do you use ?

[@PeteMatheson]

It's a Meross homekit opener. £30 from Amazon!

[@BootlegEL]

Is HA better on the Pi or NAS? Does the Tado work with the Nest?

[@theloudestscreamiveeverscrem]

My personal opinion (yes, almost a year after) is that it doesn't matter for the most part. Most of the automation is carried by devices themselves. What matters is the storage. SD cards are not suited to handle constant non-stop use

[@AdineP]

Thanks for the video! May I ask about your watch? It doesn't look like a Fitbit or an Apple watch.

[@PeteMatheson]

Oh do you mean the Whoop strap?

[@AdineP]

@@PeteMatheson I do not think so... Whoop straps, as far as I know, do not have a face that seems to be touchscreen and even numbers or receive what looks like a weather notification (I am at 5:52 and 7:27 of your video). The one I am seeing looks like an oversized Fitbit. Thank you!

[@stevebauman]

Dannng, this video actually convinced me to stay with my iPhone 😬 Seems like theres so many quirks still with the Android experience.

[@christianhamilton342]

What made you choose Roomba over Roborock, or any other brand/model?

[@PeteMatheson]

I had friends who had one so we followed suit. Also heard good things about roborock but haven't tried them personally 👍🏼

[@danielwolman]

i use a yale nfc sticker on the back of my phone in case my battery dies, for my conexis l1

[@PeteMatheson]

Ah yeah that's definitely an option. I change cases too often though so it would get expensive to keep buying them! And I don't like carrying tags on me :)

[@danielwolman]

@@PeteMatheson its stuck on my phone. Not to the case

[@ric889]

Run the robot vacuum then do with regular one. I bet robot one only does on top of carpet

[@PeteMatheson]

We've been through 2 expensive Dysons in recent years. They both lose their suction after a while. Both of these have been rock solid

[@CompleteMisc]

Wait, in the UK the government tells you what door locks you can use? What’s the logic behind that? Shouldn’t that be up to the individual to decide how they want to secure their home???

[@PeteMatheson]

It's more the insurance companies. You can't get house insurance unless you use a certain standard of locks. And that here in the UK is Multipoint locks rather than a single deadbolt lock that most US houses use?

[@decisionsdecisions8906]

Never understood smart plugs to turn off item as technically you need to leave them turned on so there’s still power going to the plug your using to turn off items. I just turn everything off on a plug job done

[@PeteMatheson]

Loads of stuff consumes way more EV non standby than a smart plug that's always on. This way I can automatically switch on plugs around the house to charge various devices when electricity is cheap

[@decisionsdecisions8906]

@@PeteMatheson yes totally get that for the turning on and off just always thought the same about lighting leaving the switch on to control the bulb there’s constantly electric to it just on the off chance you want to turn it on using your voice.

[@Max86421]

I love Google nest hub max a matter 1.0 device

[@rodent]

I use chromecasts even on smart tv's, let me turn on/off remotely.

[@collinlinebaugh9817]

Home assistant? Is that skynett 🤷

[@gregzeng]

Home Assistant and their hardware require geek skills. Compared to "Brand Name" products, the overall cost is a few times cheaper than the very flexible Home Assistant. It might be easier & better to upgrade the Brand Name, every few years. Not yet decided for myself. Perhaps my no-name brand name might end up as open-source Zigbee, with its many hardware choices of low cost, continually being improved.

[@micahjohnson9184]

I would personally much rather use Home Assistant. Especially now that they have Home Assistant Green out it's much much easier to implement. The big companies can always pull the plug on Brand name devices and features. I much rather go local and have the peace of mind my devices will always be supported and updated with the latest version OTA as well. Trust me as someone that has bought in a google ecosystem I've found products I like and will definitely keep but even till this day Google is pulling features and devices because of the Sonos lawsuit. I love my nest 2nd gen, and especially my Chromecast with Google TV, but they still pull features and I'm tired of it.

[@TWatcher_]

3:51 What app is that?? I've been looking for something like that for a looooong time now.

[@PeteMatheson]

That’s home assistant! 👍🏼