STACK #196 Feb 2021

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Smart Home for Less continued

Sensors A cost-effective security solution, a simple sensor will send a push notification to your smart device alerting you of an intruder. The Eufy Security Motion Sensor has a range of nine metres and a 100-degree field-of-view and can be positioned anywhere around the house. And as it says on the box the Lenovo Smart Window/Door sensor connects to any door or window protecting Vision Sensor is a unique proposition in that, unlike a camera, it captures just the outline of the object and sends the clip to your phone. On top of that it doubles as a wall light that comes on and off when it senses you. That will come in handy during the midnight trip to the toilet. that point of entry. The Samsung SmartThings

Lighting Probably the easiest pathway to a smart home is a progressive collection of smart bulbs. You can start by swapping out your lamp bulbs and then progress to downlights or an LED strip behind the TV. The range is practically inexhaustible but the Philips Hue White Bluetooth 90mm downlight, the Lenovo Smart colour bulb and Lenovo Smart LED two-metre lightstrip will get the ball rolling. A word of warning here though: once you start down the smart lighting route it can quickly become addictive. Before you know it, you’ll have the whole home looking like the Opera House.

Cameras Buying a multi-camera pack is the best way to get bang for your buck. For a simple internal camera solution, look at the Eufy Security Indoor 2K camera that captures great vision both day and night and has two-way audio. Externally, our pick is the easy-to-connect weatherproof Eufy 2C wire-free HD two-camera kit that comes with a Home Base. We’ve opted for Eufy here because you get 16GB of free local storage within the Home Base unit – that means you don’t have to get tied up in a costly monthly subscription service. For a video doorbell, the Ring Video Doorbell Gen 2 is hard to beat for price and comes with a rechargeable battery, advanced motion detection (great if you have a tree in the line of sight that continues to trigger the video doorbell), two-way talk and 1080p HD video.

42 FEBRUARY 2021

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