9 NEW SmartHome Tech Upgrades - Fall 2023

9 New fall smarthome tech upgrades!

I’ve done a bunch of tech upgrades to our smarthome this year, so here are 9 of the new smarthome products I’m using and loving for fall of 2023. If you’re interested in snagging any of these for your own setup, use my links down below. This video isn’t sponsored so buying through my affiliate links helps a ton!

TP-Link Tapo mini smart wifi plugs

I set these up in the Google home app to replace my Belkin Wemos. Wemo Mini Smart Plugs had a really serious vulnerability earlier this year and since they are EOL, Belkin didn’t patch them so I recycled mine as e-waste and chose a new smart plug from a different brand because I like to vote with my wallet. The TP Link Tapo Mini Smart Plugs are my replacement. They’re matter enabled, really easy to set up in the google home app, and work as intended - as a simple connected on/off switch for devices that aren’t smart. For example, I have a plug in the ceiling that my studio light is connected to. I can’t reach that plug, so I use this to turn my light on and off. I also love that I can start integrating Matter devices seamlessly into my smart ecosystem without having to replace older devices that don’t support Matter - they all still work together in the app and with Google assistant.

And for the folks out there who reply to the video with a comment like “why are you using smarthome products if you care about security” - I am a true believer in taking control over your own security so if you don’t like smarthome products then don’t buy them. But you can totally put these on a separate LAN and block that LAN from communicating with your other products - I did a video showing how I set up my Ubiquiti home and work networks and built my networking rack. I also think a lot of smart home products are excellent for accessibility.

Govee Smart LED bulbs

These next two are both by Govee, a leader in smart home lighting. My husband got us these really cool smart home LED bulbs for our compatible A19 non-smart lamps and they make our gaming room and bedroom so fresh and updated. Best yet: no hub is required. A pack of 2 on Amazon at time of recording were about $24 but they had a 30% coupon deal going on. These are great because they also work with my Google Home smarthome automation. You can set them on a timer, change the brightness, and change colors based on RBG customizations or scenes. Each of them can be controlled separately from each other even if in the same room, but they can all be added to a room so you can control them all together if you want as well.

For example, I can say “turn on bedroom lights” and they automatically turn on to a set scene. I could also say “set office lights to purple brightness 50%” and all 6 of em change to purple at 50% brightness. These are less expensive that other brands on the market but you get the same functionality, so that’s a win-win for me!

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Govee RBG IC Pro LED Strip Lights

The Govee RBGB IC Pro LED light strip is next, and I’ve got one thats 9.8ft in length. Just light the smart bulbs, this can be set up in the Govee app with your other Govee lights, and you can control the schedule, brightness, and change colors or set it up on a scene to match whatever aesthetic you’re going for. For some reason on my S23 Ultra, the app crashed when I tried to customize my light strip, so it’s bit glitchy but clearing cache, uninstalling and reinstalling the app, etc should fix that problem. This one can also be added to a google home setup through the home app as a “works with google” device. I like that the LED strip includes 3M adhesive on the back but also nails so you have options for applying it to different surfaces. I also like that there’s a music setting, a built in remote for brightness and power, and that it’s cheaper than competitor RGB light strips.

ECOLOR Smart Table Lamp

I bought this lamp for my Sailor Moon collection room - follow Sailor Snubs for weeb moonie things. It’s a smart lamp that can be controlled via wifi with the ECOLOR app, and the lamp itself has several RGB LEDs built in that can be set to different colors independent of each other. This lamp is battery powered or can be plugged into a USB port, and it has multiple brightness levels as well as tons of colors to choose from. The scenes are really cute and easy to flip through, but you can set your own colors using the app if you want as well. The touch sensor on the top powers on the unit, while the two buttons on the base allow you to change brightness or adjust the colors locally without the need to connect to wifi.

The wifi version is pricey at $62, though at time of recording a 15% off coupon was available. The non-smart and not connected version that is just a lamp is $39.

Lutron Caseta Diva Smart Dimmer + Claro Smart Switch

Special thanks to Lutron for sending these products over like… months ago. I’m glad I finally had an opportunity to share ‘em with y’all.

The Diva Smart Dimmer replaces the older Diva switches from Lutron. It is $70 and has a glowing light bar and just like the previous ones I’ve demo’d on the channel, this one is also easy to install. You can simply tap on or off and when you tap it to on it’ll turn the light on to a preset dim level. The slider on the side is smooth and I like that lil glow.

The Claro Smart Switch is $60 and has a paddle design for a more traditional aesthetic, and it doesn’t have a dimmer. It also has that soft glow LED on the edge. This one is also easy to install. Pro Tip though: there’s an extra wire on this one that needs to be connected to your neutral wire. So if you see a bundle of white wires in that box in your wall, that’s probably where this needs to go but if you are unsure hire an electrician.

They both come with wired and wireless 3 way application support and they can work with your existing Caseta smart lighting controls like I have all over my house already.

Both of the switches make your non-smart lighting smart. Lutron also has a hub that can unlock more customizations. I like that I can program mine to turn on at specific times every day and I can set them to turn off at specific times. Personally, I really like Lutron products - they work smoothly with my Google Assistant home setup, so once I add one of these new switches to a room, I can tell google to turn on the room and all the lights in that room (that are connected) turn on via voice control. I also like that these match my current style, but they do come in multiple colors in case you have different wall paint or color preferences.

AirThings Wave Plus BLACK LE

I’ve talked about Airthings before on the channel - this is the Wave Plus Black edition. It’s $160 on their site. This little puck will track and monitor your air quality, including radon. I actually installed a radon mitigation unit in our sump pump about two years ago and this thing absolutely works - it had no idea that I got the mitigation set up, but my radon measurements went from super duper high, to less than 1 (picocurie?) the next day. I’ll never not recommend this thing especially if you live in places where radon is high, like Colorado, or places where other air quality issues like CO2, VOCs, etc can be critical to your health.

You can use the app to track historical data and analyze your air quality over time, and it can also notify you of spikes or changes. Now that I have a few of these, I have one set up on each floor on my house to spot any differences in air quality, especially radon in case my mitigation system fails at any time.

The Wave Plus got it’s name from the wave gesture that you can do in front of it to easily tell if your air quality is considered green, yellow or red.

AirThings View Plus

Lastly is the Airthings View Plus! This one is a little fancier than the Wave and comes in at $299. The View Plus has a screen on the front of it so you can easily view your specific data without needing to open the app. There are 7 sensors on board, including radon, CO2, and more. You can wave at the sensors on the front of the device to change the data seen on the screen and you can customize what you see on the display via the app. You can mount this thing on a wall or leave it on a desktop and it takes 6 AA batteries, lasting up to 2 years of battery life or you can connect it to USB power.

Both the wave plus and view plus integrate with Google Assistant and Amazon ALEXA.

My intention with owning these devices is to ensure my radon mitigation system doesn’t fail, and in the event it does, I’ll notice immediately and be able to get that fixed before it causes any health problems.

Litter Robot 4

Lastly, if you are a cat mom or dad, you need to get yourself one of these Litter Robots. Yes, it’s expensive, but when we first bought the OG version years ago it ended up saving us tons of money because it conserves litter. It keeps the litter box clean for our kitties by filtering the waste into a compartment on the bottom while sifting all the clean litter into a drawer so the clean litter is reused, and it’s automated, which saves us time. We have two cats and the newest generation of the Litter Robot has enough space in the waste compartment to hold waste for about a week before we have to empty it. It has carbon filters to keep odors down, so our house doesn’t smell like cat poo, and it’s smart connected via an app. The app gives me notifications when the litter robot is full, it gives me weight readings so I can tell if my cats are their normal weights. I’ve done separate videos about how it works in case you have questions about cleaning, weight requirements, how to set it up, all the technical info so check out those videos for more.

So those are all my recent tech upgrades! Of course links are below for all of these. What smarthome gadgets have you purchased this year? Any I should check out or review on the channel? Comment below, thanks again for subbing, bye y’all!