Best Deals on Smart Home Devices

The Arlo Pro 5S is one of the company’s higher-end security cameras. It’s weatherproof and battery-powered, allowing you to place it just about anywhere on your property within WiFi range. It offers decent video quality and features color night vision, a built-in siren, and two-way audio. Additional features like AI object detection and activity zones require an Arlo Secure subscription.

The well-rated Ring Indoor Cam 2nd gen features a manual camera shutter for privacy, two-way audio, activity zones, color night vision, a built-in siren, and voice/app control via Amazon Alexa. It also comes in a fun colors: pink and starlight (a dull gold). Cloud video storage and features such as person detection require a subscription.

The TP-Link Tapo C120 is an affordable outdoor security camera that offers impeccable performance for its price. It also offers a ton of features and doesn’t require a subscription to take advantage of them. Those features include activity zones, AI alerts (for people, pets, and vehicles), color night vision, two-way audio, built-in spotlights, and local video storage using up to a 512GB microSD card (not included).

The Wyze Cam V4 is a tiny, yet mighty, security camera that works indoors and out. It offers great video quality and speedy response times for motion alerts. It works with Amazon Alexa and Google Home, but cloud video storage and certain features require a Wyze Cam subscription.

The Ecobee Smart Thermostat Enhanced is one of the company’s newer smart thermostats. It performs well in our tests for manual operation and offers an array of smart features, but it’s not as proficient at learning your routine and making adjustments automatically. It features a new radar-based occupancy sensor and works with Amazon Alexa, Apple Home, Google Home, and Samsung SmartThings for voice and app control. It doesn’t come with one of Ecobee’s wireless temperature sensors (called SmartSensors), but you can buy those separately in a two-pack for $100 at Best Buy and Ecobee.

Google’s newest smart thermostat, the Nest Learning Thermostat 4th gen, comes with a remote temperature sensor that you can place in another room to balance heating and cooling. It’s one of just a few Matter-compatible smart thermostats on the market, meaning it works with any major smart home system, including Apple Home.

Among the best outdoor smart plugs you can buy, the TP-Link Kasa EP40 is fairly easy to set up and even easier to use, based on our expert evaluations, offering voice/app control via Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Samsung SmartThings. The plug’s two outlets can be controlled independently.

The TP-Link Kasa Smart Wi-Fi Plug Slim EP25 is one of the most versatile smart plugs on the market, offering energy monitoring and compatibility with all four major smart home systems: Amazon Alexa, Apple Home, Google Home, and Samsung SmartThings. It’s also very easy to use and set up based on our expert evaluations, and it offers decent data security. This four-pack is down to the lowest price we’ve seen for it.

The TP-Link Tapo D210 is one of the most affordable doorbell cameras in our ratings and it performs better than many more expensive cameras. This doorbell is battery-powered, meaning you don’t have to mess with doorbell wires, and it comes with a plug-in doorbell chime in the box. Its features include activity zones, color night vision, local video storage on up to a 512GB microSD card (not included), person detection, pre-recorded responses to ask visitors to leave a message, and voice/app control via Amazon Alexa and Google Home. Best of all, none of these features require a subscription.

The Arlo Video Doorbell 2K is one of the best video doorbells you can buy. It provides the flexibility to install it wherever you need it. You can run it using the rechargeable battery or hardwire it to a home’s doorbell wiring for continuous power. Features include geofencing and voice/app control via Amazon Alexa and Google Home. Cloud video storage and additional features (such as alerts for people, packages, animals, and vehicles) require an Arlo Secure subscription. The price has fallen $30 below the previous best price at Amazon.

In addition to two cameras (one aimed out at visitors, the other down at packages), the Eufy Video Doorbell E340 packs a ton of features, including color night vision (thanks to built-in spotlights), person detection, package detection, and 8 gigabytes of memory to store video locally. Eufy also offers optional cloud video storage subscriptions. The model can be powered with a rechargeable battery pack or low-voltage doorbell wiring.

The Google Nest Video Doorbell (Battery) offers impressive data security, speedy response times, and decent video quality in our lab tests. It’s also one of few video doorbells to give you monitoring zones, object recognition (of people, packages, animals, and vehicles), and 3 free hours of cloud video storage without a monthly subscription. Cloud video storage and additional features (such as facial recognition) require a Google Nest Aware subscription.

The Ring Battery Doorbell (2024 Release) is Ring’s entry-level battery doorbell. It performs well in our tests, offering especially speedy response times for alerts and decent video quality. Its features include motion zones, schedules for alerts, and voice/app control via Amazon Alexa. Cloud video storage and additional features (such as person detection) require a Ring Home subscription.

The TP-Link Kasa Smart KL125 smart bulb offers the best deal of the 10 smart lightbulbs we evaluated. It has a great array of colors and dimming performance that come close to the pricier Philips Hue. The bulb also works with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Samsung SmartThings for voice and/or app control. These bulbs are only a few dollars more than their Black Friday prices right now.

For a smart light switch that just works without fail, you can’t beat Lutron Caséta. Sure, it’s pricey, but these switches are easy to install and set up, and they’re one of the few options that don’t require a neutral wire. (Good news for people in homes built before the ‘80s). Amazon has two starter kits still discounted for their Prime Day prices. The Original Kit includes the Lutron hub, one dimmer switch, and one wireless remote. This Deluxe Kit includes the Lutron hub, two dimmer switches, and two wireless remotes.

To make your holiday light display really pop this year, consider the Twinkly Strings. We tried out these lights a few years ago and found them to be a fun way to put on an elaborate light show. The lights connect to WiFi, so you can customize them from your smartphone, but they also work with Amazon Alexa, Apple Home, and Google Home. You can currently get a 200 LED color set for 49 percent off, or a 600 LED set that can display colors and pure white light for 12 percent off. The 200 LED set can display white light by blending its colors, but it can’t display pure white light as it lacks the dedicated white LEDs found in the other set.

Want an easy-to-install floodlight camera? The Blink Outdoor 4 Floodlight Camera runs on batteries and offers great video quality. Features include activity zones, voice/app control via Amazon Alexa, and up to 5 minutes of continuous live streaming at a time. You can also store footage locally, without a subscription, by using the included Blink Sync Module 2 (worth $50) and plugging in a USB flash drive (sold separately).

The Floodlight Cam E340 is one of Eufy’s dual-camera models, meaning it has a 3K wide-angle camera and a 2K telephoto camera that work together to give you up to 8x zoom. It’s also one of the few motorized pan-and-tilt floodlight cameras available today, allowing you to easily check the camera’s surroundings. It receives top scores for video quality and response time in our tests. Its list of features includes local video storage with up to a 128-gigabyte microSD card (sold separately), motion tracking to follow subjects as they move around your home, and 24/7 video recording (not just recording when motion is detected).

The Google Nest Cam with Floodlight offers impeccable video quality, strong data security, and speedy response times. Its features include activity zones to control what areas in front of the camera trigger recording, app/voice control (via Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Samsung SmartThings), and free object detection for people, animals, and vehicles. That last feature is a big deal because most competitors charge you a subscription for it. Cloud video storage and additional features require a Nest Aware subscription.

In our survey-based owner satisfaction ratings of home security systems, SimpliSafe scores well both as a professionally monitored system and a self-monitored system. Our members report that SimpliSafe provides good value for the money, transparent prices, and great tech support.

Ring receives high scores in our home security system owner satisfaction ratings, whether you go with professional monitoring or monitor it yourself. The system requires a $5 per month subscription to receive smartphone alerts when the alarm goes off, but it works with Amazon Alexa (for voice control) and Ring video doorbells and security cameras.

The Eve Water Guard is a great leak detector, but it only works for Apple Home users at this time. When it detects water, it triggers a siren and sends you a smartphone alert. The device plugs into an outlet for continuous power and comes with a 6.5-foot water-sensing cable that you can run from the detector along floors and around pipes. To increase the reach, you can add a 6.5-foot cable extension for $20.

If you want to monitor a handful of trouble spots in your home, the X-Sense Wi-Fi Water Leak Detector SWS54 provides the best bang for your buck. You get a hub with a siren and three wireless sensors you can place throughout your home. The sensors are unique in that they can detect both water standing on the floor, and water that drips on them from exposed pipes or other sources. Each sensor has a siren, too, allowing you to easily identify the source of an alert without checking the X-Sense app. This is $3 more than the best price.

The Meross MSG100 is the best smart garage door opener controller from our at-home evaluation. It’s relatively easy to set up and install, and works flawlessly with all of the major smart-home systems (Amazon Alexa, Apple Home, Google Home, and Samsung SmartThings).