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2017 Smart Home Christmas List - The Best of 2017 Automation

266 views · Published 4 December 2017 · 11:12 · Indexed 10 October 2026

Channel: Automate Your Life · 2017 · Science & Technology

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2017 Smart Home Christmas List - The Best of 2017 Automation

Which smart home products should you buy this Christmas season?  I take you through my picks for the best home automation products available in late 2017.  I pick from the top smart home lighting, smart hubs, thermostats, cameras, speakers, and entertainment systems, as well as giving you the top smart home fitness device and of course, my pick for the top home automation product for this holiday season.

For your home's smart home lighting, I've chosen the Philips Hue lighting system.  Philips Hue is the best because the lights are excellent, they're LED, and they're so easy to setup.  You'll need the bridge as well as lights, but once you have the bridge you can add in lights as often as you'd like.  

Here are the Amazon (affiliate) Links to the Starter Packs:

4 Lights, 1 Bridge - https://geni.us/Trqhd (Amazon)
2 Lights, 1 Bridge - https://geni.us/DbkpWL (Amazon)
3 Colored Lights, 1 Bridge - https://geni.us/DkeEg (Amazon) 

The bridge is all you'll need.  Go get it!

From the best in lighting, we move to the best in entertainment.  Here, I struggled to pick a winner as the Harmony Hub with the Companion Remote is an excellent device (here's the link: https://geni.us/b9QqbVR (Amazon)) but ultimately I have chosen the Google Chromecast (standard edition).  Google Chromecast gives you so much functionality and provides so much automation, especially when it's paired with a Google Home or Google Home Mini.  I love this device, and I love telling my Google Home to "start Daredevil on Netflix on my Chromecast".  It's a thing of beauty.  Here's the link to Google's store: https://store.google.com/product/chromecast_2015

Now, I love a good speaker as much as the next guy.  That's why this year's choice for speakers is Sonos One.  What's amazing about this speaker is that it has Alexa contained within it (keep in mind, not all Skills are turned on for Sonos One).  I'm sure over time it will have more and more skills enabled and it will become more and more a home automation hub.  Either way, the Sonos speaker quality found here is tops in the industry anyways, and the integration of Alexa is fantastic.  Here's an Amazon link for the speaker: https://geni.us/XGhPY (Amazon)

Speaking of Alexa integration, let's talk about the Ecobee 4 with Alexa built right into it.  This is tops for 2017 in terms of a smart home thermostat.  Ecobee is already one of the premiere thermostats out there, especially when it comes to smart homes and home automation.  Once you add in Alexa, this becomes tops in the industry in my mind.  Again, here's a link: https://geni.us/C5htFVh (Amazon)

The market for cameras is massive these days.  There are so many smart home cameras on the market and all of them are relatively expensive (I don't know why).  Having said that, Nest gives you the most bang for your buck in terms of function and functionality.  Their cameras are high quality and give you great smart home integration, especially when you consider the capabilities given to you through IFTTT and Stringify.  Either way, Nest is the way to go in late 2017.  https://store.nest.com

In our final category (Fitness), I'm choosing the Fitbit Charge 2 as the way to go.  I love Fitbit's simple fit paired with their complex function.  They're top of the line when it comes to fitness tracking and they have sleep, water, food, exercise, and heart rate tracking all within their tiny device.  It's an amazing product and in my mind it can compete with any fitness device on the market.  With a price under $200 in both the US and Canada, the Fitbit Charge 2 hits the mark in 2017.  Here's the link to the device on Amazon: 

Large - https://geni.us/xBBBM (Amazon)
Small - https://geni.us/aLd4 (Amazon)

Finally, I took the time to pick what I'm calling Editor's Choice.  With that pick, I'm choosing the Google Home Mini.  The reason I'm doing that is because it's such a strong home automation hub for such a low price.  It's also easy to get your spouse or significant other interested in the device because it's so smart and accessible.  From recipes to the weather, Google Assistant will provide you anything and everything.  It's simply an amazing device, and right now you're getting them for around $30 USD here: https://store.google.com

All in all, it's been an amazing year in the world of home automation and I'm looking forward to 2018!

Thanks for watching, and please subscribe below!

Brian

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtRSKEipM17PF7n0mi66btQ?sub_confirmation=1

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