How I got here
I started building a smart home about five years ago with a single Philips Hue bulb and a vague plan. Five years and 100+ devices later, I've replaced things that seemed brilliant at first, ripped out systems that got bought and abandoned by their parent companies, and found a small set of products that genuinely earn their spot every day.
Along the way I kept a private spreadsheet — what I bought, what I paid, what I still use, what I sent back. This site is that spreadsheet made public, with the reasoning behind each call instead of just the verdict.
Why you can trust what's here
Every device on this site was purchased with my own money, shipped to my address, and installed in my actual home. Nothing is gifted. Nothing is sponsored. When something fails or gets replaced, the listing changes.
Apple Home is my primary platform. I test across Google Home, Amazon Alexa, and SmartThings too — and when a device works better on a different platform, I say so. Matter and Thread devices get extra weight in my evaluation; open standards that work across ecosystems beat walled gardens when the hardware is otherwise equal.
For the full picture on what I check and how I decide, see How I Test →
What you'll find here
A live catalog of every device I run, organized by category and brand. Each item has the price I last paid, an honest one-line take, and a link to where I bought it. If a link is an affiliate link, it pays for the hosting and a small fraction of the next thing I buy.
If you want to see how the devices fit together room by room — with the automations each one enables — the My Setup page walks through every room in the house with the automations I actually use daily.
There's a perk built into the site: buy any device through one of our Amazon links and get the complete setup guide for that device free. Just visit the unlock page, enter your order number, and we'll generate a 100% off coupon on the spot. No subscription, no email list, no catch — it's a thank-you for using the link.
What you won't find
Affiliate-stuffed top-10 lists. Sponsored reviews. Every-light-strip-on-Amazon comparison tables. Products I don't actually own. Stock photography passed off as my house.
