Sponsored by RACV
For many people, it may seem that basic home security hasn't made much progress in recent years. In addition to professionally installed surveillance facilities in mansions, most people will no longer have to think that the same basic and ineffective alarm systems available 20 years ago are still the only option for securing their home. However, thanks to the latest smart home technology, this is no longer the case.
With the RACV Smart Home Kit, you can quickly and easily set up and monitor a powerful smart home system using just your phone, priced at just € 249 (no charge in progress), it's also incredibly affordable.
Everything in this Samsung kit is designed to be accessible and easy to understand, even the package is easy to use, with simple, easy-to-follow instructions. Inside, each of the six components is individually packaged and comes with its own quick start guide. Follow them and you can literally be up and running in 5-10 minutes.
The starter kit includes six separate devices that can be quickly and easily installed in your home.
(Image credit: future)
Link everything
The most important component of the RACV kit is the SmartThings Wifi Hub, but setting it up is simple - it simply plugs into your existing Wi-Fi router. This allows the other five included sensors to connect to your Wi-Fi network, so you can communicate with them over your home network or the Internet. This is necessary because smart sensors use special low-power wireless technologies to communicate with each other. Using this technology over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth has the following advantages: Battery life only lasts a few days at a time...depending on the sensor, life is measured in months or even years! Therefore, once installed, the sensors generally require less maintenance than a standard smoke alarm.
The hub can communicate with SmartThings sensors in a range of approximately 140 m2. If your facility is larger than that, you can simply purchase a second hub to expand your reach. Five additional sensors are included in the starter kit. There are three motion sensors, which can detect movements up to three meters away. These are divided into two parts, each sensor magnetically clings to an adhesive base. The latter can be mounted almost anywhere, and once activated, it can direct the sensor in almost any direction. The kit also contains two "versatile sensors". Each of them consists of two adhesive parts, designed to detect when doors and windows are opened with an internal magnetic switch. They can also detect vibrations and measure temperature.
The SmartThings multi-function sensors may not be able to tell you exactly who stole the cookie in the cookie jar... but they can immediately alert you when the cabinet door is open!
(Image credit: future)
Easy to monitor and manage
All kit content is controlled and monitored through the SmartThings app, available for Android and iOS devices. The app will guide you through the setup process, starting with connecting devices by simply scanning a QR code in each box. Scanning codes and placing all the sensors with this method is extremely simple and only takes a few minutes for each one. To facilitate administration, the application allows you to organize the sensors in different "virtual" rooms according to their location in the real world. Once this is done, you can immediately use the kit's safety features.
For these, the SmartThings app comes with a tool called Home Monitor. This preconfigured applet can be armed or disarmed with a single touch. The "disarmed" mode is obvious, but there are two arming settings: "Standby" and "Away" When set to Away, each time one of the sensors is activated, the application sends notifications to your phone a few seconds later. . When this option is set to Stay, you can secure the boundaries of your home, that is, the sensors on the exterior windows and doors, without worrying about activating alarms and notifications of movements or activities in your home. inside the house
Recent app updates also mean that smart smoke detectors and moisture detectors (which detect floods) are also preconfigured with Home Monitor. However, thanks to the universal nature of smart home technology, you can add almost any type of smart device, from any manufacturer, to your network and monitor it. in the app
The SmartThings app makes it easy to monitor your smart home, as well as configure custom routines to automate responses to a wide variety of triggers, or based on time.
(Image credit: future)
Customize it according to your needs
This universality means that more elaborate answers are also possible. For example, by adding smart bulbs or speakers (including Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa devices) to your network, you can, for example, automatically turn on lights when motion is detected or trigger an alarm if a window is open. home. SmartThings makes this even easier by using so-called "automations". These are simple commands, "if x then y", in which you decide what the trigger is (motion detected, for example) plus what the response is (turn on the lights and send a notification, for example).
These responses and triggers aren't necessarily just about security - the same smart home technology can allow for a bit of entertainment. This can activate mood lighting at a certain time of the day or send a message on a loudspeaker indicating "Father's house" when your smartphone's position is recorded as nearby. And as if that were not enough, the Google Assistant and Alexa devices also allow everything to be activated by voice.
Create your smart home today
The RACV Smart Home Starter Kit is more than the sum of its components. With six components, some of which can cost $ 80 or more when sold separately, it's a great way to get all the gadgets you need to create a next-gen smart home. And if you live in the greater Melbourne area, you can even hire an expert to organize everything for a flat fee of just € 79.
So if you want to set up a fully automated and secure smart home, or both, make sure the RACV Smart Home Starter Kit is the foundation of your system by checking it here.
The Comparison has been supplied with a Smart Home Starter Kit to be tested by RACV.