Best Deals on Smart Home Devices

The Aqara Camera E1 is a strong performer, especially for video quality and alert response time. It can store footage on a microSD card (up to 512 gigabytes; sold separately) and offers plenty of features, including person detection, motorized pan-and-tilt so you can remotely change the camera’s view, and a privacy mode that will point the camera at a wall or ceiling.

The Ring Stick Up Cam (Battery) is an all-around great camera, and it’s currently available at the lowest price we’ve ever seen. It works both indoors and outdoors and gives you activity zones, voice and app control via Amazon Alexa, and alert schedules so that you can silence alerts at certain times of day. In our tests, this Ring camera receives strong scores for daytime video quality, response time, and data security. Cloud video storage and additional features (such as person detection) require a Ring Home 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 Eufy Smart Lock Touch & WiFi S230 receives strong scores in our brute-force tests for kick-ins and picking, and manages a satisfactory rating for drilling despite not being a keyless model. The affordable lock also performs well in our tests for ease of remote access and connectivity. Its features include a fingerprint scanner for one-touch unlocking, a touchscreen keypad for PINs, auto-locking, an access log, and voice control via Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.

If you’d prefer a smart lock that doesn’t connect to the internet, consider the Bluetooth-only version of this lock, the Eufy Smart Lock E130. It’s one of the best Bluetooth smart locks in our tests.

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.

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 Blink Wired Floodlight Cam, still at its Prime Day price, offers great daytime and nighttime video quality, quick response times, and robust data security. Its features include a siren, activity zones, voice/app control via Amazon Alexa, and up to 5 minutes of continuous live streaming. You can store footage locally without a subscription if you purchase a Blink Sync Module 2, $50, and plug in a USB flash drive. Cloud video storage and other features (such as person detection and AI descriptive alerts) require a Blink subscription plan.

The Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight Camera can run off either a rechargeable battery or plug-in power cord, sold separately for $50, which connects to the bottom of the camera and can run up to 25 feet to connect to an outlet. It performs quite well in our lab tests, includes a siren, and offers voice/app control with all four major platforms: Amazon Alexa, Apple Home (with an Arlo Pro Smart Hub, sold separately), Google Home, and Samsung SmartThings. Additional features, such as activity zones, person detection, and cloud video storage, require an Arlo Secure subscription.

The Govee Permanent Outdoor Lights 2 are a great solution to the annual routine of putting up holiday lights. You mount them once and leave them up year-round. They can display dozens of different lighting patterns for every holiday you can imagine, and when you’re not in a holiday season they can be used as white accent lights for your home. In my evaluation, the lights were very easy to set up and worked with every major smart home platform thanks to the Matter standard. Amazon is discounting 50-foot, 100-foot, and 150-foot sets of these lights in both black and white finishes by about 30 percent.

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 water on the ground and water that drips on them from, say, exposed pipes. Each sensor has a siren, too, allowing you to easily identify the source of an alert without checking the X-Sense app.

The Rachio 3 8ZULW-C is a solid sprinkler controller that’s easy to connect to WiFi and is highly responsive to local forecasts. It lacks a backup battery and weatherproof casing, but a weatherproof enclosure is sold separately for $30. It works with up to eight sprinkler zones; four-zone and 16-zone versions are also available.

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.