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
01:41feel like they're part of your smart home for example we've got these really cool bulbs over here that are
01:47controlled via smart switches hidden behind here turn on the bookshelf lights and then if you're
01:54like me and you're starting to get into records even budget options like this electro home here for a
01:58hundred dollars have Bluetooth built in which allow you to easily connect to your other smart devices
02:04your smart speakers whether those are Alexa's or via Bluetooth to your bookshelf speakers not too far
02:12way across the room I have the echo show 10 and this is probably my favorite smart home device that
02:17I've tried to date it's a display that you can always look at so whether I'm cooking whether I'm
02:22watching dishes I'm just trying to get ingredients it's a display that I can always keep my eyes on
02:27I actually mostly keep this mode set off but when I'm cooking show me recipes for steak tacos I'll read
02:33the directions one step at a time it's actually been pretty cool to be able to have a screen that does a
02:38semi-decent job at following me around so that I can continue watching my favorite show or play live
02:43news live from ABC news or follow along with a recipe without needing to actually touch the display
02:50beyond that these speakers are one of the best ways to get great sounding multi-room audio with very
02:56little effort but actually my favorite part of this entire setup is the lighting specifically syncing it
03:02with the TV and for that we're gonna be installing the govi backlight 3 this is the newest part of my
03:07setup but I saw so many people raving about it online that I just had to try it out myself with
03:12the govi TV backlight 3 anything on my screen can expand into a lighting canvas thanks to the camera
03:17on top coming from more traditional smart lights it's on a whole other level when it's actually
03:22syncing with what's happening on screen in real time it's incredible now this is the Hisense 65 inch
03:28u8k even those last year's model this is still one of the best TVs that you can get for under a
03:33thousand dollars that's 4k and 144 Hertz it gets extremely bright with 1500 nits peak with impressive
03:39blacks and contrast thanks to its mini LED panel making it great for sunny rooms like this a really
03:45nice TV like this brings the smart home together and Hisense makes some of the best value non OLED TVs
03:50that you can get today again don't be afraid to shop for a TV that's a year or two old like this one
03:54since it's a great way to get most of those same smart features and picture quality but at a decent
03:59discount this also comes with Google assistant built in either the mic built into the TV or via
04:04the remote so I can say okay Google open max opening max stream HBO and if you have your smart home
04:12accessories connected with your Google home account you can control them with your TV this could either
04:16make it a great starting point for when you're first creating a smart home or an easy way to expand
04:21it 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 thought
04:56it was the perfect pair especially with my Alexas and for the most part it still is but they're pushing
05:02really hard to get people to buy their monthly ring protect plan which starts at five dollars to get
05:07video history and enhanced notifications so just keep that in mind I'm not the biggest fan of having
05:12security cameras in the home but I do like having them to monitor entrances like this one here to my
05:18balcony just because you never know so this is the GE sync smart camera and it's cool for a couple
05:26of reasons one it's pretty affordable it also has a physical shutter so I can pull it up and I know for
05:31sure it's not able to record anything it also has this really nice swivel here so I can get the perfect
05:36angle and you'll also notice that it has a micro SD card on the side here so it can actually record and
05:41save footage locally without the need for cloud storage so that actually saves you a little bit of
05:46money in the long run because you don't need to have a subscription service which is one of the
05:50main things for me I'm tired of having subscription services for everything and again it's only about
05:54thirty dollars so it was perfect for what I needed and because it's compatible with Alexa I can say Alexa
06:00show me the porch camera okay so that all goes back to finding one ecosystem and a bunch of products
06:06that all work perfectly together I've been testing and reviewing robot vacuum cleaners for over four
06:13years now and as weird as it is to get excited by a vacuum it's also really cool to see how far
06:19these have come over the past few years not just in terms of how well they clean but also with their
06:25design 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 of
06:52its body instead of the submarine like sail that smart vacuums usually have this allows the vacuum to
06:57clean under lower clearance obstacles that were once out of reach that said you'll still probably find a
07:02few crannies and corners that the vacuum still can't reach and for that you now have the new handheld
07:07stick vac which is attached to the station's right hand side on top of doing a really great job at
07:11replacing a traditional vacuum even better when you're done cleaning it auto empties and charges
07:16using that same station because of all this i think this combo is one of the best all-in-one smart
07:21vacuum systems that you can get today the thing is you don't need to spend a thousand dollars like
07:26on this combo here you can get a model that's a couple years old maybe one that's used if you're just
07:31trying it out for the first time and you're actually going to be really impressed especially if it's
07:35from one of those bigger brands and again the idea with these is that you're going to be able to trust
07:39them to do your automated home cleaning without much of your own input you're not going to need
07:44to bust out that traditional vacuum as often but we've all seen robot vacuum cleaners what about a
07:50robot cleaner for your windows this is the windbot w2 omni within a few clicks it attaches to your
07:56windows it begins suctioning cleaning and in just a few minutes it's done so it's got actually enough
08:01water to do a couple of these place it at one corner turn it on you'll hear it we're up
08:11and hands off it's got little nozzles on its front and back it's actually going to start spurting in
08:16each direction as it moves now one thing that's really great is again this is an all-in-one unit
08:21with a battery built in so even though i do have an outdoor outlet i don't need to worry about staying
08:25tethered because it has enough charge to clean all of my windows exterior and interior on a single charge
08:30is this something that i thought i'd ever need let alone ever get to try no but now that i have
08:36it really has me excited to see what the future of home automation holds so not only is this easier
08:40and quicker than using a bucket and squeegee it's doing a better job there's no streaks and you know
08:46i can sit inside and not have to worry about it to me that is part of the house of the future
08:52and all this is kept safe with my yale smart lock this is one of the cheapest smart locks that
08:56he 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
09:16but it's actually its auto lock feature that i like most even if i forget to lock the door
09:21after a few moments it'll just lock itself but what purchase would you make to start your smart
09:27home journey today let me know in the comments you can also follow us everywhere at tom's guide
09:32to see more cool tech and you can follow me to see what i'm reviewing next until the next one i'll catch you
09:37later
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