00:00like tell me that's not the future I've recently moved into this new space but I had to downsize
00:09quite a bit however I've got a number of really cool smart home gadgets that make the most of a
00:14smaller space so whether you're just starting a smart home or you're looking for some really
00:19cool smart home gadgets that are easy to install maybe renter friendly there's something for
00:23everyone here from setting the mood automated home cleaning and smart home security here's
00:27some of the best picks that you can get today that actually make a difference one of the most
00:31important decisions that went into creating my smart home setup was making sure that everything
00:36works seamlessly together especially in the area that I hang out most my living room so for my
00:41brains I'm using Alexa now as a voice assistant it's not really the best and it doesn't hold a
00:46torch compared to Google home Alexa turn off all the lights wall lights isn't responding but when
00:52it comes to actually controlling my devices my lights my TV my Xbox it gives me the most
00:57flexibility with those custom prompts for example Alexa let's game okay without one custom command it
01:06turned on my govi strip lights my govi lamp my Xbox and my TV and when it all works well together it
01:12really makes you feel like you're part of the future in the living room I've paired the echo
01:15studio along with the echo sub now the really cool thing about this is you can actually pair up to two
01:21of these along with an echo sub and if you have a fire TV or a fire stick you can actually pair all
01:26three together for a really incredible surround sound system you can mix and match their other
01:31speakers and start even with a basic one and slowly expand into more if you just want to get your feet
01:36wet but there are a few other smaller things that you can do to make your older or more retro products
01:42feel like they're part of your smart home for example we've got these really cool bulbs over here that
01:47are controlled via smart switches hidden behind here turn on the bookshelf lights
01:51and then if you're like me and you're starting to get into records even budget options like this
01:57electro home here for a hundred dollars have bluetooth built in which allow you to easily
02:02connect to your other smart devices your smart speakers whether those are Alexa's or via bluetooth to
02:08your bookshelf speakers not too far away across the room I have the echo show 10 and this is probably my
02:16favorite smart home device that I've tried to date it's a display that you can always look at so
02:21whether I'm cooking whether I'm washing dishes or I'm just trying to get ingredients it's a display
02:25that I can always keep my eyes on actually mostly keep this mode set to off but when I'm cooking show
02:31me recipes for steak tacos I'll read the directions one step at a time it's actually been pretty cool to
02:37be able to have a screen that does a semi-decent job at following me around so that I can continue
02:41watching my favorite show or play live news live from ABC news or all along with a recipe without
02:48needing to actually touch the display beyond that these speakers are one of the best ways to get
02:54great sounding multi-room audio with very little effort but actually my favorite part of this entire
02:59setup is the lighting specifically syncing it with the TV and for that we're gonna be installing the
03:05govi backlight 3 this is the newest part of my setup but I saw so many people raving about it online that I
03:10just had to try it out myself with the govi TV backlight 3 anything on my screen can expand into
03:15a lighting canvas thanks to the camera on top coming from more traditional smart lights it's on a whole
03:20other level when it's actually syncing with what's happening on screen in real time it's incredible now
03:26this is the high sense 65 inch u8k even those last year's model this is still one of the best TVs
03:32that you can get for under a thousand dollars that's 4k and 144 Hertz it gets extremely bright with
03:371500 nits peak with impressive blacks and contrast thanks to its mini LED panel making it great for
03:43sunny rooms like this a really nice TV like this brings the smart home together and high sense makes
03:48some of the best value non OLED TVs that you can get today again don't be afraid to shop for a TV
03:53that's a year or two old like this one since it's a great way to get most of those same smart features
03:57and picture quality but at a decent discount this also comes with Google assistant built in either the
04:03mic built into the TV or via the remote so I can say okay Google open max opening max stream HBO and
04:11if you have your smart home accessories connected with your Google home account you can control them
04:15with your TV this could either make it a great starting point for when you're first creating a
04:19smart home or an easy way to expand it out without needing to buy a dedicated smart hub for that room
04:24ring makes smart doorbells that give me notifications to my phone or my Alexas whenever someone's at my
04:33door or rings traveling a lot this is a great way for me to keep tabs on my deliveries or make sure my
04:40packages are safe one of the key things for me since I didn't want to drill through my door for wiring
04:45was a long-lasting built-in battery in this case the ring gives me about 6 to 12 months depending on how
04:51frequently I get notifications and check in on things when I first bought into the system I
04:56thought was the perfect pair especially with my Alexas and for the most part it still is but they're
05:02pushing really hard to get people to buy their monthly ring protect plan which starts at $5 to
05:07get video history and enhanced notifications so just keep that in mind I'm not the biggest fan of
05:12having security cameras in the home but I do like having them to monitor entrances like this one here
05:18to my balcony just because you never know so this is the GE sync smart camera and it's cool for a
05:26couple of reasons one it's pretty affordable it also has a physical shutter so I can pull it up and
05:31I know for sure it's not able to record anything it also has this really nice swivel here so I can get
05:35the perfect angle and you'll also notice that it has a micro SD card on the side here so it can
05:40actually record and save footage locally without the need for cloud storage so that actually saves you a
05:46little bit of money in the long run because you don't need to have a subscription service which
05:49is one of the main things for me I'm tired of having subscription services for everything and
05:53again it's only about $30 so it was perfect for what I needed and because it's compatible with Alexa
05:58I can say Alexa show me the porch camera okay so that all goes back to finding one ecosystem and a
06:05bunch of products that all work perfectly together I've been testing and reviewing robot vacuum cleaners
06:12for over four years now and as weird as it is to get excited by a vacuum it's also really cool to
06:18see how far these have come over the past few years not just in terms of how well they clean but also with
06:25their design this is the Ecovacs X2 Omni and new for this year it has a lot of cool tricks up its sleeve
06:30so carried over from its previous models we see the auto lifting mopping pads which when first introduced
06:36was a huge game changer for me because it allowed you to clean your carpets and your hardwood floors
06:42during the same cleaning cycle but they've taken things even further new for this year the X2 Omni
06:47has managed to move all of its navigation and obstacle avoidance sensors into the main part
06:52of its body instead of the submarine like sale that smart vacuums usually have this allows the
06:57vacuum to clean under lower clearance obstacles that were once out of reach that said you'll still
07:01probably find a few crannies and corners that the vacuum still can't reach and for that you now
07:06have the new handheld stick vac which is attached to the station's right hand side on top of doing a
07:11really great job at replacing a traditional vacuum even better when you're done cleaning
07:15it auto empties and charges using that same station because of all this I think this combo is one of
07:20the best all-in-one smart vacuum systems that you can get today the thing is you don't need to spend a
07:26thousand dollars like on this combo here you can get a model that's a couple years old maybe one
07:30that's used if you're just trying it out for the first time and you're actually going to be really
07:34impressed especially if it's from one of those bigger brands and again the idea with these is that
07:38you're going to be able to trust them to do your automated home cleaning without much of your own
07:43input you're not going to need to bust out that traditional vacuum as often but we've all seen
07:48robot vacuum cleaners what about a robot cleaner for your windows this is the winbot w2 omni within a few
07:55clicks it attaches to your windows it begins suctioning cleaning and in just a few minutes it's done so
08:00it's got actually enough water to do a couple of these place it at one corner turn it on you'll hear
08:07it we're up and hands off it's got little nozzles on its front and back it's actually going to start
08:15spurting in each direction as it moves now one thing that's really great is again this is an all-in-one
08:20unit with a battery built in so even though i do have an outdoor outlet i don't need to worry about
08:24staying tethered because it has enough charge to clean all of my windows exterior and interior on a single
08:29charge is this something that i thought i'd ever need let alone ever get to try no but now that i
08:36have it really has me excited to see what the future of home automation holds so not only is
08:40this easier and quicker than using a bucket and squeegee it's doing a better job there's no streaks
08:45and you know i can sit inside and not have to worry about it to me that is part of the house of the
08:50future and all this is kept safe with my yale smart lock this is one of the cheapest smart locks
08:56that he can buy today from a reputable brand and as someone who hates to take their keys with them
09:01this is a great choice it doesn't have wi-fi so i can't control this remotely when i'm not home but
09:06at the same time maybe this actually makes this less of a security risk as it's not on an actual
09:12network you still have the convenience of bluetooth if you don't want to use the keypad but it's actually
09:17its auto lock feature that i like most even if i forget to lock the door after a few moments
09:23it'll just lock itself but what purchase would you make to start your smart home journey today let
09:29me know in the comments you can also follow us everywhere at tom's guide to see more cool tech
09:33and you can follow me to see what i'm reviewing next until the next one i'll catch you later
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