11 Coolest Smart Home Tech Gadgets to Add to Your Holiday Wish List
As the holiday season draws near, the excitement of festive gatherings and cozy nights in fills the air. This time of year is all about giving, and what could be better than surprising friends and family with the latest home tech gadgets? This year’s offerings are smarter and more innovative than ever, making it easy to find the perfect gift. Below is a curated list of 11 of my favourite home tech gadgets that should be on your holiday wish list for your tech-savvy loved ones. From smart speakers to kitchen tools, there's a perfect fit for everyone! Why 11 and not a top 10 list? Well, it makes the list that much better doesn't it? 😜
- Smart Speaker
We absolutely love our Smart speakers with built-in Smart assistants, and have one in almost every room around the house. The smartest, and most favoured, are the Amazon Echo and Google Nest, which are revolutionizing how we interact with our homes. With just your voice, you can play music, set reminders, and control just about any smart home device you have.
We use them right throughout our day to get weather updates, recipes, set our lighting, play music and instantly Google something we want more information on. Even your kids can get instant information to their endless questions like "How big do elephants get?" or "What colour do you get when you mix blue and orange?". These devices can easily integrate with other smart devices to help manage home lighting and security, turn down the volume on the TV, create a grocery list, inform you of the current traffic for your drive into work, and update you on what your schedule is for the day, making daily routines smoother and more enjoyable than ever.
- Smart Display
If you're looking for a gadget that covers video calling and entertainment while doubling as a digital photo frame and does everything a Smart speaker does, the Google Nest Hub or Amazon Echo Show is a fantastic choice.
These devices often have screens that are 7 to 10 inches wide, allowing you to enjoy recipes while cooking and watch videos during your downtime. A recent survey found that 62% of smart display users enjoy using them for video calls, keeping family connected no matter the distance. And, in our house, we do just that. We regularly use them to video call family and friends back home, even when we may be getting dinner ready or doing chores. Just chilling in the living room, chatting with our family like they are right there in the room with us is a pure delight and makes the call that much more special when you see mom's reaction after telling her you are expecting the stork arriving again!
I actually prefer these displays over Smart speakers as you get a visual experience as well. We love ours in the kitchen because we can even control it with hand motion gestures to control the screen. This is incredibly handy when your hands are full of burger patty or cookie dough mix and you need to check your recipe for what goes in next. You can even mute, pause or stop a video instantly, with a simple hand motion, after you started the blender with the top off and are now covered in batter from ceiling to floor. Sadly, they cannot clean the mess for you but, you can instantly ask it what the best method is to get batter off the ceiling! 😁
At your bedside, in the rec room or in your home office, they are also great for playing music, displaying album and song information and lyrics, displaying your favourite picture gallery, making a payment on your bill by uttering a simple phrase, seeing the upcoming weather for the week, reminding you with your timer that your cake or laundry is ready, and so very much more.
Setup is an absolute breeze, even for the most technically challenged. But, make sure you take the time to secure these devices on your home network! Check out my blog post: Best Practices for IoT Device Safety, for more information about the importance of securing these constantly connected devices.
- Wireless Charging Station
Tired of tangled cords? A wireless charging station lets you keep your devices powered up without the clutter. Many options can charge multiple devices, like your mobile phones, smartwatch, and earbuds, all at once.
These charging stations often boast sleek designs to fit any home decor style and have a very small footprint, so it will sit on any bedside or hall table without disrupting anything else. Utilizing a wireless charging device, can extend the lifespan of your devices since it avoids wear and tear from plugging and unplugging cables and helps keep your sanity in check by not having to chase after your teenager for stealing your charging cable.
Most Wireless charging devices charge at both high-speed and slow-charge options which offers great flexibility for protecting your smart device's batteries.
- Smart Thermostat
Upgrade your home comfort with a smart thermostat. This device not only allows users to program heating and cooling schedules but also learns your habits over time and adjusts accordingly. This is highly beneficial to both your comfort and providing substantial energy savings. There are many great brands on the market such as Google Nest, Ecobee, Sensi Lite, Mysa, Emerson and Honeywell, and they handle a range of heating and cooling setups and are incredibly easy to install.
As we are quite rural, our current home uses baseboard heating. Since implementing our Google Nest and Mysa Smart thermostats around our home, we are able to track and easily adjust our home temperature comfort through our phones and Smart Assistants from anywhere. We have noticed substantial savings through getting monthly reports on usage and adjusting for less used rooms by time of day and daily routines. We can easily adjust to suit changing needs and have received government and utility company discounts and rebates for implementing these Smart thermostats in the home. Who's going to turn down getting money back from the government?
Using this gadget can lead to an energy savings of at least 10 to 15% on heating and cooling bills. You can also manage your home's temperature from your smartphone when you are away, ensuring a pleasant environment when you return home without wasting needless energy when you are not there. I highly recommend implementing these into your home to bring much needed cost savings and smart home comfort!
- Robotic Vacuum Cleaner
For anyone who dreads vacuuming, a robotic vacuum cleaner is a game-changer. Brands like Roomba, Shark, Dyson or Roborock can be scheduled to clean while you kick back and relax.
Many robotic vacuum models can clean over 1,000 square feet on a single charge and feature advanced mapping to navigate your space efficiently. Imagine the time saved when you let technology handle the chores for you! My wife wasn't fully sold on our robot vac at first but once seeing how much it cut down on our weekly cleaning, her attitude quickly changed. No, theses devices are not for deep cleaning carpets and floors but, when running these throughout your rooms on a daily schedule to quickly pick up the day's collection of dust, dirt and pet hair, the deep down cleaning isn't needed. This makes weekly vacuuming a breeze! So much so, that we just have a robot vac and a stick vac to handle the whole house. And with our ever-shedding fluffy Australian Sheppard, trust me, this is a game changer! The robo-vac's also tie right into your Smart Assistants so you can easily send a voice-command to clean the living room or whole house or even just set up a daily routine to run while you are out.
While we have not tried the new mopping variety yet, which cleans your hard surface floors of spills and messes better than a mop, and vacuums at the same time, I am definitely going to consider getting one now that I see how well our robot vacuum has cut our vacuuming chores down to minimal amounts. This leaves me much more time to play with the kids or watch the big game!
- Smart Lighting
Smart lighting systems, such as Philips Hue, let you control home lighting with your smartphone or voice commands with your smart speakers. You can adjust colors, brightness, and program schedules to create the perfect ambiance. I was sold on these years ago and have them right through the entire house. And just like our smart thermostat devices, they help with energy savings too!
Imagine hosting a holiday party and being able to switch from warm, cozy lights to vibrant colors in a matter of seconds, which can even change timing to the beat of the party music! Or, setting time-of-day routines to have your room and outdoor lighting come on or off gradually as the sun rises or sets. I simply love being able to set perfect mood lighting instantly in combination with having set routines for the week. Amazingly, research shows that improved lighting can boost our moods by up to 34%, making your home feel more inviting, enjoyable and relaxing.
Trust me, give one of these a try and you will be instantly hooked on the convenience and with the look of specific room colour moods. Whether you are performing tasks that require bright white light, or need mellow soft warm light for reading or listening to soft jazz by the fire, you will love how these fit into your lifestyle and you will wonder how you ever lived without them! You can even get Smart bulbs that have built-in home network Wi-Fi signal boosting and others with built in speakers to enjoy your music everywhere in the house!
- Kitchen Smart Scale
Cooking enthusiasts and those watching their waistband will appreciate a kitchen smart scale, which not only weighs ingredients perfectly but also connects to apps on your smart devices to aid with recipes and provide nutritional information.
These scales usually provide precise measurements, allowing you to explore new recipes with confidence, especially during the busy holiday season when meal prep is essential and you want to make sure its done with accuracy. Not only do these handy devices sync up to your favourite fitness and health tracking Apps, but they will also provide you with a complete breakdown of the food's calories, vitamin and mineral content according to its weight. This is incredibly handy for those really watching their intake for afflictions (like me for my diabetes) or just needing to eat smarter and healthier.
- Smart Plugs
Transform everyday appliances into smart devices with smart plugs. By plugging your lamp or coffee maker (that doesn't support timers or Smart home automation) into one, you can now control it from your smartphone or use voice commands to your assistant to turn them on and off or set automated routines, just like your modern devices. As an example, I have these installed on some antique lamps as well as some holiday outdoor lighting to allow integration of these older devices into my Smart home design. This way, my older appliances can now be fully automated without having to replace them. Smart plugs can save time and add convenience to your morning routines for "dumb" devices!
- Smart Air Purifier
I have owned several room air cleaners through the years and have never been overly impressed with them. Yes they do remove dust and allergens from the air but I have never really noticed that much of a difference, especially compared to the cost of these units and their replacement filters. That is, until I purchased a new Smart air purifier last year.
Modern technology has really improved air purifiers as of late by leaps and bounds. Living in wildfire central, the beautiful land of British Columbia Canada, air quality in the summer months of wildfire season has really been horrible. Knowing that air quality can be very poor (and at times very dangerous) in our area, I decided to put my faith in air purifiers with a newly ratified design type that had just come on the market, first launched on Kickstarter. This year, there are now several good brands on the market like Dyson, Levoit, BlueAir, Coway, amongst many others, but I had gone with the original on the market by Mila. Within hours of first using it, I was highly impressed.
Now, I am not going to sit here and do a review of this unit, as I said, there are many excellent and effective air purifiers on the market currently. I highly recommend you research them and consider getting some for your home. The importance of indoor home air quality is greatly overlooked by many, especially in modern homes where they are so tightly sealed and insulated.
What I absolutely love about these Smart purifiers is how they now visually show you what's in your indoor air, the quality rating, the current quality rating of your locale's outdoor air quality, how the filter is improving and adjusting to changes in your air quality, and how they alert you of sensing dangerous levels of particulate, Carbon Monoxide, Carbon Dioxide, and VOC's (Volatile Organic Compounds), along with the the rooms current temperature, room air exchanges per hour, and humidity levels. Many of this info can be shown on the units display along with incredible detail of air quality history, explanation of measurements and how each level of particulate or vapour can affect you, in the App on your smartphone.
With health and wellness at the forefront this holiday season, an indoor air quality monitor might be the best gift for you and your loved ones, ensuring a safe living environment. I simply love our units and have noted significant improvement in our air quality with less allergens, dust, particulate matter, odours, and harmful off-gasses. This is, by far, one of my best Smart home purchases, with now owning a unit for every room in the house. The only downside of these units is their price-point being on the high side for the units and the replacement filters (which last about 6 months). However, Mila has a range of air filters, from basic air cleaning to removing everything foreign, so this can really help your wallet as you can have basic air cleaning in some rooms and higher cleansing in more troublesome areas. Even still, when it comes to our health, I think it is so very worth the cost!
- Smart Home Security System
Protecting your home is crucial, especially during the holidays when crime rates can spike. A smart home security system offers features like wireless doorbell cameras, solar charged area cameras and motion detectors that can all be connected to your mobile device to instantly alert you of approaching visitors and can even be connected to monitoring companies for a low monthly cost.
Having the benefit of monitoring your home from your smartphone, gains peace of mind whether you're out running errands or traveling for the holidays, or even while you are relaxing in your home for the evening. Statistics reveal that homes with security systems are 300% less likely to be broken into, making smart home security a very wise investment indeed.
There are several popular brands on the market like Ring, Google Nest, Blink, Wyze, SimpliSafe, and others through your mobility or internet providers, Telus, Rogers and Bell. All have their pro's and con's so I strongly recommend you research these devices and talk to owners of them to see which can suit you best for your needs.
Most require low monthly fees which is very reasonable for having the ability to record, save and download recorded history. I have witnessed the benefits of having this added feature as on more than one occasion, something has happened in our neighbourhood and we have been able to provide the police with saved footage of the events.
Whether it's protecting your home from intruders, package theft from your doorstep, animal nuisances (we have caught bears causing some mischief and damage in our yard), neighbour nuisances, being alerted of courier drop-offs, monitoring your children playing in the yard or in another room, not having to physically answer the door by remotely talking to an unexpected visitor, just to name a few benefits, I highly recommend having some sort of smart home security system for your property. They are incredibly easy to install, as all of them have wireless options, and are very easy to use as you do not have to be a tech genius to use the apps. Again, when comes to our health and safety, home security is definitely worth the investment and many are quite reasonable in price.
- Smart Locks
We all love our keyless entry on our vehicles so how can we not love the same for our home? Making our lives easier is what we are all about these days and having the ability to remote lock our house doors or not having to fumble for our keys to gain access to our home is definitely beneficial in our fast paced lives.
I myself was quite on the fence about these and questioned the true benefit but, I decided to give one a try and I have to admit, having a smart lock is quite handy. While it doesn't truly add any added physical security compared to a normal deadbolt and doorhandle, it most certainly adds a convenience factor. I can't truly say that this is an essential "must-have" smart home device, but I have decided to put it on my smart gadget list as owning one, has made a difference in our lives - for the better.
Here are some benefits of home smart locks:
Convenience: Smart locks allow you to lock and unlock your doors without the need for physical keys. You can use a smartphone app, a keypad, or even voice commands.
Remote Access: You can control your smart lock from anywhere in the world using a mobile app, providing peace of mind and allowing you to let in guests or service providers even when you're not home.
Enhanced Security: Smart locks can offer advanced security features such as tamper alerts, automatic locking, and integration with other security systems.
Access Logs: Many smart locks keep a log of who enters and exits your home, allowing you to monitor activity and ensure security.
Temporary Access: You can provide temporary or scheduled access to guests, family members, or service providers without needing to hand out physical keys.
Integration with Smart Home Systems: Smart locks can be integrated with other smart home devices, such as security cameras, lights, and alarms, for a cohesive home automation experience.
Customization: Users can often customize settings such as auto-lock timers and access codes to fit their personal preferences and lifestyle.
As you can see, there are numerous benefits of having a smart lock. I myself have found it quite convenient to just need a finger to enter a security code to unlock the door when my hands are full rather than trying to get my keys out or put everything down and go back to the car where I forgot them. Additionally, when doing chores outside and needed to quickly gain access to our front door, I didn't have to go around the house to the back to go inside as I didn't have my keys. I simply punched my security code and voila!
The added features of remote locking and being alerted that someone is trying to gain access to the door is also quite beneficial and adds further peace of mind. There have been multiple times where I have left the house and forgotten to lock our door so, having the ability to instantly lock them from wherever I am is a great help. Another feature I have found quite helpful is that I can integrate the smart door locks with my Smart buttons built in to my pickup truck. When pulling into or out of the driveway, I can instantly lock or unlock our front door. This has become very handy indeed.
Make This Holiday Season Memorable
So, there you have it, my list of my favourite 11 Smart Home gadgets that have really made a difference to our family. Upgrading your home with these innovative gadgets can truly make daily life easier, safer, more efficient, and a lot more fun. Whether you’re treating yourself or sharing the joy with loved ones, these tech gadgets are sure to impress and enhance any home. They certainly have impressed our family and have really made a difference in our daily living.
Remember, creating a cozy and functional space that suits your lifestyle is what makes a house a home. So, take note of these gadgets before you head to the store this holiday season! I know they will make a real difference in your lives! Happy shopping!
