My Smart Home Sucks...

[@abbofun9022]

A motto my teachers taught me and saved me numerous times was KISS, ‘keep it simple stupid’.

[@dhrandy]

Next year will be my 10th year with a Smart Home. In the very beginning I knew I wanted a hub and to use protocols that don't lock me in one ecosystem. Started with Wink and used Zigbee and Zwave for everyone along with Alexa. Worked great for 5 years until Wink wanted to start charging and they weren't adding new products. Switched to SmartThings and have been happy ever since, since I stuck with Zigbee and Zwave every product converted over. We had IDE, then Edge drivers which continue to support things not supported. I've dabbled outside the ecosystem a bit because I really like the Switchbot Blindtilt, but it does integrate with SmartThings. I've had MyQ since before they had integratings (started out just using the app). Had a spare Switchbot Bot and added it to my garage door opener, not I have a backup way to open and close the garage. I had Ring, Arlo, and Wyze cameras in the beginning. Ended up going completely with Ring and it's been super reliable. Arlo would miss motions half the time. Sorry for the long post.

[@SteveDOES]

Wow, 10 years in the hobby! That's pre voice assistant days.

[@dhrandy]

@@SteveDOESYes sir.

[@deonh9303]

Agree with a fellow poster below. Starting with a reliable network is key and having a dedicated IoT network accessible from your main trusted network is a must. I also support the idea of picking an ecosystem and then using something like Home Assistant to bring all the other non-native products into your smart home. Home Assistant has come a long way and is much easier to get into these days. Looking forward to the series and your journey 👍🏼.

[@rnice3364]

Hi Steve. Below is my current smart home setup. It is 99% reliable with programmable automations and/or Sir voice control via Home Kit. All lights, shades, thermostats, door locks, Arlo security cameras and music are controlled via voice command using Siri. Garage door, sprinkler system, water and temperature sensors, smoke alarms, vacuums and home security system are controlled via app on phone or daily functions (e.g., sprinkler system) are programmed. 1-gigahertz wireless Network speed. 1. Apple TV with Thread for home Hub 2. Apple Watch and iPhone for voice commands 3. Lutron switches for all exterior Lights 4. Hue Hub and bulbs for all interior lights 5. Lutron Hub controls all Serena shades 6. Honeywell Thermostats 7. Rain Bird for Sprinkler system 8. Schlage Door Locks 9. Govee for Water and Temperature sensors 10. Arlo Security Camaras and Doorbell camara 11. MyQ Garage door 12. Eufy vacuums 13. Kidde Smart Smoke Alarms 14. Honeywell wired and wireless alarm system (OnQ EyezOn app) 15. Denon AV receivers for whole house music

[@Rich33527]

Im in the process now of removing Alexa from my home and replacing with Voice assist in Home assistant. 95% of all I have in my home is locally controlled through Home Assistant already. That guy that got locked out of his Alexa devices was teh last straw for me..

[@JamesMossR33]

Once (DIY) Assist is more dependable this will be where I'm at. I've built one with OPenAI and it's ok, but I'm not ready to throw out the echos just yet. I'm also almost fully local with HA.

[@Rich33527]

@@JamesMossR33 Ive built 3 Wyoming satellites so far and they are working quite well.

[@GregOughton]

I set up my first home assistant server about a year before the birth of my first kid, I got almost all my existing stuff integrated and even bought a few extra sonoff devices now that I could control them on my lan. Then my son was born, and my available spare time went to zero and a year later, my smart home is in shambles, z-wave network is not working at all, myQ api is gone, and the Google assistant I was using somehow became unlinked. The automated humidistat controlled bath fan doesn't trigger, and my whole server crashes every couple weeks. It seems that if you don't have time to perform maintenance these things tend to fall apart. Next time I move I think I'll just stick to a dumb home.

[@DGBQ_ME]

Thank you for your most recent Vlog posting! It sounds like you've got quite an exciting journey ahead. I appreciate that you'll be providing videos over the next few weeks focusing on the best products in each smart home category. It's crucial to find products that not only excel in performance but also seamlessly integrate with our smart home ecosystems. I wanted to kindly mention that a product might not always be the best fit if it doesn't align with one’s specific smart home setup. Compatibility is key, and not all devices are supported across all ecosystems. For instance, some devices may be compatible with SmartThings, while others might not be. The same applies to platforms like Hubitat, Homey, and Home Assistant. With that in mind, I'd like to suggest including information about the compatible ecosystems for each recommended device. Whether it's through built-in drivers or community-developed support, knowing which ecosystems a device works with would greatly help us make informed decisions for our smart homes. Looking forward to your future videos!

[@volcolby]

Great take on the issues that develop as you install all these devices and then want them to continue working. It’s a real problem that is ultimately quite costly as we have to continue to “upgrade” things. We used to replace light bulbs and that was about it. Thanks for the “opening” video. Look forward to the follow ups.

[@NewHomeTech]

One thing I tell everyone that wants to get into the smart home scene is make sure your network is solid. The network is your foundation to a happy smart home. Next local control and limit devices that rely on the cloud. I made my smart home functional where I can switch between the three major brands and eventually move to home assistant. Look forward to see where you go in this new adventure.

[@maxking3]

One thing I tell everyone that wants to get into the smart home scene is … use KNX. 8000 devices, 500 vendors, guaranteed compatibility since 1990. My 2006 home has still the original components and shows up as 400 entities in a single home assistant Integration. Next stop: A KNX/Matter gateway and make my 20 dimmer channels, 48 switching actuator channels, 20 venetian blinds and 16 heating circuits available to Matter-capable apps & dashboards. Unfortunately KNX is like the hidden champion, when it comes to Smarthome tech.

[@nicola3540]

Your video has only reconfirmed that “smart” homes are a never ending headache. They’re expensive to set up and keep up to date, they’re a potential privacy nightmare and far more trouble trouble than their worth. How hard is flicking on a switch anyways?

[@allenbythesea]

all of the problems you mentioned are exactly the same problems we have with our smart home!. Very interested in how you solve all of this.

[@jasonpilla]

Cannot WAIT until you do best wireless, no subscription security cameras. I miss my old simple Arlos. Perfect, no monthly fee, local storage.

[@derekb4life]

So in other words, we have to get devices that have locally controlled protocols.

[@jackolantern7342]

This need for online accounts is really annoying. I wish Eve made more products; they are expensive, sure, but (for now) their MO is local-only.

[@davidbailey1666]

I have found Home Assistant invaluable. But it isn’t for the layman… I also run many brand’s apps and keep them concurrent with my HA setup. I do keep manual options for door and light operations…

[@myredeyelife7010]

I have an echo hub,echo 15 ,Samsung smart hub on my fridge, Blink cameras, Kasa switches. I am controlling ameras at my home, and at my business. i’m looking for a good door lock that can be controlled from my hub for my home and office and I prefer not to have to pay a prescription when linking to my eco-hub. Another mistake I made was buying the myQ door controller. It will not link with my Eco. It would also be nice to have a garage door review Could you please do a video on door locks?

[@RevWillBreeze]

Everytime I get my system working, the whole thing drives itself off a cliff. 38 devices from 19 different companies

[@jeffshoket5155]

Steve, great channel! I very much appreciate the insight and the reviews. Yes, I have had the same issues you are experiencing. I myself want to possibly change ”UPGRADE” my WIFI to a larger umbrella of coverage instead of having to use repeater hubs across my 3000+ sq ft. single story home, because the WIFI is not setup in the center of the home and can not be, I am stuck where it is located in my home. My biggest issue is my hardwired for power Nest cams loosing connectivity from time to time, but the solar powered Google cams do the same some times. I am currently sending out a WIFI signal from my 4 year old “Netgear - NightHawk”. I really want a WIFI system that blankets the whole home for lossless coverage, but I know environmental and weather factors play a big role in the effectiveness of signal delivery and connectivity. Your insight would most helpful for a more powerful WIFI product. Big thank you for any response!!! Sincerely - Jeff

[@jpileggi1]

Great video! I hope when you start your journey that you follow a number of underlying principles to guide your choices. Based on your Amazon Alexa story as a backdrop, I hope you only choose ecosystem(s) that are completely local and private. Another principle that I do not see in your video and in the comments is that any automated home should always be viewed as a luxury option for those of us creating their smart home. By this I mean everything “smart” or automated in our home should always retain the manual functionality of those devices (when possible) in case the smart home system is down. If my wife wants to turn on a light in a room manually by operating a manual switch (for example), the “smart” part of that switch should always be the background functionality. Maybe this principle is an understood concept, I just never hear it being emphasized enough by KZbin influencers. Being “locked out” of your (smart) home should never be a possibility.

[@lauraelladillon]

Thanks for sharing this and offering to review the various smart categories in conjunction with hubs/controllers in an eco system. I’ve been reluctant to expand knowing the technology is changing quickly and repeatedly as well as limit the controllers.

[@mhoffman30]

Most people don't have anything close to the proper network for this stuff. I could never for myself justify the time, money and effort it would take not only to set all of this up properly but maintain it through upgrades, updates and failures. The general maintenance on several PC's, tablets, router and on and off site backups are already more than I really want to deal with One of these services just deciding they will cut subscribers off from any usage because somebody made an accusation is the last straw for me Not only is the barrier to entry a lot bigger than most people think, the players already seem to be committed to making it as unattractive as possible I am sure my opinion on this isn't popular and that's fine Back when I decided to add a VPN client to my router and found out Amazon Prime Video and Hulu would not let me watch anything while using a VPN I didn't complain to them I just canceled my subscriptions I don't need to use a VPN and I could get around it to use their services. I use a VPN because I want to and they don't get a say in that Nothing else I need to access online seems to have a problem with a VPN They don't get to make my rules - they need to get me to agree to theirs I refuse

[@alfrede.newman1838]

Has there been some sort of an easy baseline user expectation developed yet? Might be an idea if we define the home as with(out?) a garage, with(out?) multiple bathrooms (for eg. water leakage detection,..) ... Then it'd help to see if the devices meet the user needs, and not the other way around where devices dictate user expectations

[@techhealthandfood9952]

HomeKit has been rock solid since 17.3 update. No response is a thing of the past. I outfitted a 10k sq ft church 24 Leviton switches, nanoleaf bulbs and a wemo scene controller. Plenty of automations making the technology just disappear and work.

[@andrewbreton7062]

If I spent as much time possibly going to school, as I have fumbling with my smart products, I'd have a degree by now. 🤦 When people say, "Oh, I should get into that more." I discourage them, unless they're tech people and like to mess around with this stuff, like I do.

[@josephmelchers5371]

Indeed, local control is the goal, and for me, Hubitat has been the eventual answer. I’ve done Smart Home for years (X-10, then Lowes Iris, then SystronicsRF, and finally Hubitat). I’m no programmer, and the Hubitat hub hits the sweet spot for local integration of my Zigbee and Z-wave devices without needing an IT background to figure it out. That said, the ability to write a large variety of rules that run locally is robust. If my internet goes down (or Amazon shuts me out!), all I lose is the ability to use Alexa voice commands. The Hubitat rules still function, and I can still run commands from my phone.

[@sgt_retiredcharlie4102]

The guy getting locked out of his Smart Home by Amazon is EXACTLY why ALL my security cameras are HARD WIRED into a DVR that's in my gun safe, that's bolted to my concrete pad. Only then is it backed up on the Google Cloud, but nothing else in my house is "Smart" except my TV's and I WISH I could go back to DUMB TV's.

[@SmartHomeJunky]

I’d start your series with hub/controller pros/cons and then pick one to build out your new smart home setup.

[@BernieKattner]

Look forward to hearing your comments on Eve as well as other devices where you can disconnect your internet yet still have everything work.

[@brucebondi6104]

One Word "HOMEKIT"

[@Nicktals]

Ive constantly been impressed and overwhelmed by home assistant. It can do just about anything, but you might need a day or two dedicated to figuring out how if youre as new to it as i was.

[@davidbell7094]

And over here all the ring gadgets are going up in price too have your cameras recordings that are knot saved for as long as they used to be!

[@veganguy74]

Lutron for lights/switch control. Never failed me once in the 7 years I’ve started using their gear. I have a mix of stuff around the house, everything is controlled by voice via Alexa but I’ve been switching things back over to Zigbee via Hubitat after using a lot of WiFi bulbs. I started out using Wink but we all know what happened there.

[@adambezark2293]

I’m not entirely sure: why is this video titled “Rip It All Out - My Smart Home Sucks”? It seems like a pretty generic overview of the Smart Home universe. There’s no indication that your Smart Home sucks, or that you plan to rip anything out. Did I miss something?

[@BrianRoy86]

It’s called clickbait

[@evamuhlhause]

I've always wanted my gear to be local but does that mean that you can't use a voice controller?

[@billr8564]

Thanks Steve. Interesting as always. I look forward to seeing your videos as you progress through a rebuild of your smart home. I'm a long time subscriber. And, as you mentioned, some of us have a real mishmash of items. My security is Ring, but my cameras are wyze, blink and Arlo.

[@ShadyfoxUK]

Really like Aqara, they have a lot of good, reasonably priced products and their range is growing all the time. Also Home Assistant has come a long way in the last year or so, now even beginners can get simple automations up and running.

[@YukonHawk1]

Thanks for doing this.

[@chipete1]

I'm looking to buy a wifi Smart plug that can be programmed to power up a car battery charger bi weekly, that comes on about 8 hours every other week. Is this such a thing?

[@Kate.g.]

I have only light switchs from Kasa (TP-Link), smart bulbs in light with no switch, TV/Sound bar/Chromecast/Video game with smart powerbar or smart plug and 3 Google nest mini, that it 😅 Google nest mini is to open, close, dim light, open TV/Sound bar and timer in kitchen 😆 I always keep that simple, no time to set so many things and I 💛 simple things. Nice video to remind to people that take time to build that.

[@virutalnewscenter]

If you are going to reset your smart home, please give the Homey Pro 2023 hub a shakedown. It says it offers local control and ALL the radios, zw zb,wifi, ir bt and so on. I don't have one yet, but I am watching it closely, and would enjoy your feedback. Cost of one OUCH.

[@cedricgijsen]

I recently bought one . Because I have everything on the cloud and sometimes ran in some lag while watching videos on my phone etc. So I'm slowly gonna make a local network with homey. There's a lot of options and I've got a lot to learn . How to integrate tuya/scenes with homey . I'm mostly tinkering on my phone but the computer should be better .

[@darronvanaria2952]

What problems so smart devices solve? I don’t have to flip light switches? Instead I can use my voice? And even then it only works half the time?

[@1csearle]

There are days I want to rip my things out but I also want to learn and understand

[@TheGreatBlumpkin]

This is why I make all of my own electronics

[@Misticzerx0r]

The Aqara u100 is a perfect example of systems changing. Although aqara hasn't done it yet they have literally set the door lock up in such a way that in the future, you will be required to pay a monthly fee. Otherwise, why make the hub force connect to the cloud to verify the key. Why not just store it on the hub? They are paying more money storing it in the cloud. The only logical answer is that they will eventually charge a fee. Security makes no sense either because storing everyones keys in a single location for a hacker is just dumb.

[@larrydaddio2315]

Please start your smart home audit with light bulbs and spot lights. Thanks

[@Nifty-Stuff]

Subscribing! I'm doing a whole-house remodel and starting my smart-home from scratch. Leaning towards Google Home (since I have Android and like the Google ecosystem) and also Home Assistant. Should I start with simple and setup my devices in Google Home now and integrate Home Assistant later, or dive right into Home Assistant from the start?

[@andrewsmith2792]

I’m doing the exact same thing I used to use Amazon but fell out with them when they ripped me off over a return I then tried google and now use google but mainly apple homekit but they don’t work well together so I’m looking at home assistant green going to do a bit of research first looking forward to your new videos on the subject

[@martinborgenby4047]

Don’t forget to test Homey Pro.

[@itsthomasYT]

What do you think about Homy?

[@manicmarley5731]

You never seem to mention Homey Pro, is there a reason for this as I’m looking to start a smart home and I was going to go down the homey pro route

[@zoltar666pz]

So far we have from Tapo 4 cctv, 7 Energy Monitoring Smart plugs, 3 Smart Bulbs, one bulb is Multicolour, 2 Ecoflow Samrt Plugs, one Google Nest Min, one Google nest audio, & two Echo Dot (5th generation, we are going to buy 3 more Tapo 3 Smart Bulbs sam we love tapo haha

[@BreakTime10101]

Have you thought about doing a review of the Hoobs Pro?

[@jpileggi1]

Will you be looking into Homey Pro?

[@MrMarco7ify]

Waiting for the new comparing videos 🥲

[@sharms888]

Amazon sucks 👎

[@extrakimF]

Have you tried Homey Pro?

[@DavidLongo22]

There are things in the world that I feel are best kept dumb.

[@michaelwerbick]

dont use google and amazon. yeah people say Apple sucks but security is second to none

[@cyberlight22]

x10 had it all

[@remixandkaraoke]

DO NOT INVEST IN ANY SMART HOME TECH.

[@thehonestman26]

I can't stand the new business platform of 3rd parties owning you by charging you monthly fees to use the product you already purchased. I want to buy a product, own the product, and not be indebted or tied to anyone. Not sure if the software you were referring to is the way around this, but it might have to be the way to go for me.

[@JohnSmith-ti2kp]

You should title all smart home videos, "How to make one's life more Expensive, Time Consuming, Complicated and Drain one's Bank Account all at the same time".

[@SmartHomeHASHTAGS]

I agree... In my videos I make do with what I have. Doing more with less is what every DIY home automater should try to achieve. It's TOO easy if you've got unlimited funds to spend on products and subscriptions.

[@JohnSmith-ti2kp]

@@SmartHomeHASHTAGS Thanks for the reply. I strive to keep my home free of all these devices as I see no point in having them and from what I hear, they have a short life and are therefore not worthwhile.

[@colag1966]

EUFY IS FREE!!! AND GREAT CAMERAS

[@purplesabbath]

you're over doing it!

[@SteveDOES]

Probably... What's your favorite smart home product?

[@courtenaybournon4167]

Yes, Capitalism sucks. Let people get a taste and then let the fees begin. I have been sucked in a little myself and have started to think that smart home products are mostly a waste of time. For our new home I will be installing Nest Protect smoke detectors because of their quality and online notifications. I will have a few Alexa routines and Hue bulbs to turn lights at dusk etc. But most rooms will not have any smart home products because you tend to spend more time and money on maintenance than can ever be recovered. Having a couple of Wyze cams to detect motion outside seems to make a lot of sense and deters opportunistic theft. Probably the biggest money saver from smart home products is being able to call family in the UK free, and video too if they have compatible devices.

[@josephmartin7673]

Sadly marxism sux worse

[@Realmoflo]

So for a week or so we would have to turn our lights on with the switch again. No purpose for this video.

[@SteveDOES]

I couldn't agree with you more!

[@philipperostin]

I dont see any change here ? Or did you present us some pos of iot's for so many years ? I was hopping you already showed us ony the best !