Our goal is to make sure that whatever path you take to turn your home into a Smart Home is as easy and fulfilling as possible! And that means sticking with a single “protocol” for all the devices in the system. There are actually a number of different protocols out there, from WiFi, to Bluetooth, to Z-Wave, plus a number of proprietary ones that we won’t even bother mentioning. The one we believe in, and most of the industry experts have decided on, is Zigbee. It’s so robust and effective that it was actually chosen as the communications protocol for NASA’s ingenuity helicopter on Mars! If Zigbee is good enough to control a helicopter from a million miles away, it’s good enough for you! (just kidding, it’s controlled by the Perseverance rover, but still, it’s got to be good if it works on Mars!).

What this all means is that while in the past we have recommend users run multiple “hubs” in their homes to cover a wide range of protocols, today we think that’s just too complicated. If you already have that running in your home (like we do), good for you. Frankly, you probably don’t need this guide. But for folks who want to jump into Smart Home today without jumping into the deep end, we’ve decided the best way is to piggyback on Amazon’s ubiquitous Echo ecosystem.  Several of Amazon’s Echo devices have built-in Zigbee controllers, and that’s what we recommend you use if you’re getting started today.

Just to be clear, we’ve tested every major hub ever released, and have been reviewing Smart Home devices since Smart Home hit the mainstream, around 2013. So we know there have been a lot of start-ups with big, bold ideas that went nowhere. We think the world is ready to move on, because Smart Home should be as reliable as a furnace or toilet. If you needed to “reconnect” those devices every few days, we have a feeling you’d be over them quite quickly. That’s why we no longer recommend all the products that have been favorites of the tinkering crowed. Again, if that’s where you see yourself, that’s fine with us, but we’re not writing this guide for you!

With this as your starting point, there’s almost nothing you can’t achieve in a Smart Home. For security cameras, Ring is a clear winner, for lighting, we’ll go with Leviton switches and Sylvania bulbs, for HVAC controls Ecobee is the only one to consider, and for locks, our recommendation is Schlage Connect. It’s that simple. Everything else is a waste of money. By the way, in addition to a reliable Hub, you actually will want a robust wireless home network to ensure that your Smart Home doesn’t get “disconnected”, so if your router is more than a few years old, you should probably check out our Wireless Networking Buyer’s Guide for potential upgrade options, but we’ll recommend one “mesh networking” system in this guide as well, because a mesh network is definitely what you want for a great Smart Home experience!

As always, we appreciate if you use the products links we provide to purchase any of the products we recommend.