This is 100% the exact requirements I had for my smart home technology. You brought up so many issues that people rarely bring up when it comes to smart homes. I went with the caseta switches for that very reason. Lots of great suggestions!
@@TalesOfWar it's not the apple based system that makes it work. Linus just refused to pay for iftt and the liftmaster subscription etc as it was working fine when he had a dumb door but it died
Lutron are widely used by construction companies when building higher end apartment buildings and one off residences. There are a huge number of devices, ive been using them for years and they are bullet proof just as you say. Good choice
They are ugly as all hell though, it’s the main reason I decided to go with TP-Links Casa line, which includes smart plugs as well as switches and lights.
Quinn, I admit, I’ve missed your content for a few months now. I watched this video today and wanted to say how much I love this new style. High quality, professional video and audio, and great presentation as usual. It’s great to see you take another leap forward from what was already top notch content. Congrats!
Dude.. The only thing I hate about this video is how incredibly fine-tuned, well-chosen, and practically biased your smart ecosystem is. I've used them all, acknowledged what's available and how each is "ideally" implemented, and would just repetitively forget about it altogether (too much flexibility eventually pushes people back to that "it's just a damn light switch" mentality). I think it's fair to say your setup gives chaos some seriously needed structure and organization while leaving a healthy amount of room for flexibility in how you choose to use it. You clearly write code that most would find desirable. How well you explain your choices and exactly why you went each setup route was just the cherry on top. Like and sub absolutely deserved my friend....
The videos production are getting so good, nearly Linus Media Group class. Really impressive for a such a small team. Well done, this smart home series is amazing
Just gonna keep coming back every few months asking for a part 2 lol. Just one of my favorite smart home videos out there. Your approach is so much better than the deep, cross platform integration that ends up having everything work half as well as it should. Wondering if any new smart home tech has caught your eye that you’ve been using lately
Also I'm waiting for the video where he explains VLAN, like he said he would in this video. And that robot vacuum supposedly has a successor now (which he made a sponsored video on), so I'd like to see a video in which he compares his favorite robot vacuums / compares his favorite robot vacuum to others as well.
Videos like these are why I keep coming back to this channel - Quinn's tasteful pragmatism pairs perfectly with his aptitude and understanding of the technology that makes the tech work. Keep up the good work. 👍
Holy CRAP, I LOVE that new intro, I’m so tired of blaring sound intros that are just shy of 10 seconds that I can’t skip past. Yours was clean, simple, looked awesome, wasn’t too long, and it was QUIET. Nice work, keep it comin’!
Great video and the G4 doorbell message display working with HomeBridge is something I didn't know about. Also those are some good rules to keep your smart home from getting out of control.
I discovered your channel yesterday while doing research on how to make my internet connections at home wired through ethernet. Still working on that project, but now you've got me wanting to turn my whole house into something smart. I love the video for all of the ideas it's giving me, and I hate you for how much money I'm about to spend. Thanks!
85 year old house guy here.... I watched this video and was like, "Yep, did that. Yep, he's right about the Hue, although I didn't have a choice a few years ago. Yep, good call on Lutron. Yep, Ubiquiti." Learned something new about the shades, though. keep these smart home vids coming! Even when I think I've done it all by now, i'm still learning something.
Big thumbs up on the water sensor and automatic shut-off. I'd also strongly recommend using their alarm or doing some other integration to ensure you wake up and go running if the leak sensor goes off. The time it can take for the alarm to get tripped and the shut-off to finish and then the pressure expansion tank to de-pressurize, you can have gallons of water soaking into the floor and running into the walls and ceiling of floors below. Just got done ripping the ceiling out of my neighbors for a toilet hose connection that broke when they were home. They had the alarm go and they shut it off within a minute but water had still gone everywhere. Unfortunately they didn't have an auto-shut off which would have saved a few gallons worth that got out.
I decided to start using Smart Home stuff with homekit last year and after looking around a bit, landed on Caseta. Such a good system to use and setup. It went from a few key light switches to now ceiling fans, almost all of our house lights via hardwired switches or plugin dimmers and we couldn't be happier. The only mistake I made was plugging in a high amperage device (saw) into an outlet on one of the switched circuits (overhead plug-in basement lights rather than the 20A unswitched line) and cooking my switch. I ran out to home depot, bought a replacement and had it up and running on the system in 5 min.
FINALLY someone recognized that having a smart home doesn’t necessarily revolve around digital assistant! Like you, I mostly use wireless switches (which acts like dumb ones) in addition to Home app & NFC tags. Homebridge exposes all of my Xiaomi ecosystem devices to Apple Home.
I'm actually pretty happy with Alexa, and this surprised me. I installed wired in TCP smart switches which have manual switches and also $10 sonoff switches where manual switches aren't required. Having lights on timers is super useful too. Alexa is way cheaper if you buy all of your amazon echo on prime day (June and December).
@@straightlinetech it’s such an obvious thing to do, however I feel like he’s the first one to care about us apple users not having all our devices go crazy during a video.
I really like the content you’ve been making about home gadgets. I feel like the Mac UA-cam scene is so saturated right now, and while you do make the best content in that area, this is a breath of fresh air and I’m here for all of it.
Thank God! Finally someone using common sense and logic to actually make their house smart. I pretty much have the same rules with physical buttons for all smart things and went with Lutron.
The presentation style in these videos has grown significantly. Quinn could one day host an Apple event with his constantly improving style. Also, nice approach that the smart devices should not get in the way of doing anything. Keep up the good work 😃👍.
This is the HomeKit video everyone has been waiting for. With the lack of smart home videos out there, most are anti HomeKit. I’ve found it’s quite easier and simpler to be all-in on HomeKit. Like you said it erases the need to have multiple smart home apps and it makes it easy enough for my wife to want to use it on a regular basis.
Quinnskyyyyy. Just bought my first home and I’m closing in a month. Been leaving comments on this video asking for a part 2 for almost 3 years now since it came out 😂 hoping one day you see them but if there was ever a time, the 3 year anniversary of that video is a week from tomorrow. I think it would be awesome to see an update 3 years later. Give me some ideas for the new pad. Anyway, hope you’re well brother!!
@1289 nic I’m pretty sure that’s what UA-camrs do when uploading to make sure we see the full quality version. After UA-cam processes the video, then they make it public.
This is a great video. Quinn, thank you for not just making a shake-y vlog tour of you changing the lights in a couple of rooms to different colors. It's nice to see that even in your older home, it doesn't look like a Best Buy forgot to pull out. Also, you dropped a bunch of smart-home knowledge that more people need to know (like how smart devices should be able to be used manually, and not EVERYTHING needs to be in the system, that it's ok to have an island or two in your setup). My only critique is that I don't think HomeBridge and Home Assistant are the same, though I believe they CAN be used to achieve the same thing. You nailed Homebridge being, well, a bridge and being a part of a HomeKit setup, but HASS is it's own automation platform, so it's more of an alternative to HomeKit for people who know what YAML is. I've heard of folks using HASS with HomeKit by putting devices into HASS and then exposing everything to HomeKit and using that as the front-end while HASS has all of your devices and automations.
@@ChrisC-vr9mp I meant to say that home kit sucks and the fact that Google home is cross platform is alone the reason to not use home kit on ios . That line was just to match your last line. Never mind!
@@djsnowpdx What do you mean man. You are trying to justify using something that sucks. I mean who doesn't know that siri Always sucks. You should better get yourself out of that ~ecosystem~ shit. I use android Because I find it better. Everyone knows why Amazon and Google home is better. The fact that one asked for homekit to come on android is very lame despite knowing the fact that it can't even match competitors on iOS let alone Android. There is nothing like Android fanboys. Android has enthusiasts and apple has fanboys. It's as simple as 2+2=4. There are people who do things other than calling browsing and social media and they need a better operating system and I find android doing better for these tasks. Sorry iPhones are restricted so there nothing about being better.
@@jonathanschober1032 If you're outside of the Apple ecosystem, everything sucks and doesn't work neatly. It's a shame because there are tons of people that only own iPhones and nothing else from Apple.
This changed my mind on smart homes. I only know one person who turned their home into a smart home and it just seemed stupid to me at the time. He had a smart lock on the front door so you had to wait for the phone to pair with the lock to get in instead of just using a key and then you had to stand in the dark and be quiet so his Alexa could hear him issue the command to turn the lights on and then wait for it to understand what he said and then wait again for it to actually turn the lights on.
@@MichaelBrawn HomeKit itself is a closed-source Apple framework, so considering the amount of personal data Quinn is sharing with Apple (geotracking, personal preferences etc.), this kind of smart home ecosystem setup is a gold mine worth of data tracking, enough for a reason the 'big 4' are drooling over
@@altrogeruvah good point. I imagine the whole reason that many like us allow Apple to access that location info and preferences is because of their privacy first approach.
This is a great video about automation and I love the rules, especially the one about still being able to use that product manually. But it also illustrates the good and the bad side. The blinds for example. Good for security, time saving, potentially even better for the environment (allowing in natural light means potentially less time lighting and possibly heating are on). If you have a disability, medical issues or just the fact old age has crept in it would also be great. But is it also bad? 8 batteries per blind?! Sure they might last several years but then they might not. And what’s wrong with closing or opening a blind by hand? Is it just a sign we’re getting lazy? What about warranty? What about if in 2 years you change colour scheme and want different coloured blinds, do you have to buy an entire unit (that assumes of course they are still in business, make the same model/product etc)?
It’s been a year and a half since this video came out. Time for an update of your smart home devices. All the other videos I watch have smart homes that “Are Stupid” lol. Need an update from ol’ Quinn-ski
Looking forward to the VLAN video. Very interested to see how you manage your IoT network. Keeping things connected on isolated networks is tough and something I'm currently having trouble with.
Please make a part 2. Loved the workout room/garage video but would be great to see how your house is holding up and the tech since this video was made!
Alright, I’m back. Now that Matter is coming out, I feel like you need to update this video. We’ll give you time to make some adjustments to your house but we want a part 2 with the dopest smart home tech that uses matter. Thanks Q!!!
@@shaneanagrams Is that so? Then why is Siri universally considered as the worst Assitant? Did everyone in the world confabulated against Apple to make it so?
My personal system only has like 3 devices connected using Home Assistant and controlled with either my phone or a cheap tablet in my living room. I mainly use it to control my AV center since I have like 12 game systems, an HDDVD player, HTPC, a 7.1 AV reciever, 2 5 port HDMI switches, a 6 port component switch, an OSSC, a Turntable and of course the TV itself. It is all connected and controllable using the tablet by selecting scenes and I have one of the Broadlink RM4 Pro IR/RF universal remotes connected to do most of that. I also have some smart plugs for my lamps since the living room doesn't have ceiling lights and some LED strips that change colors based on the scene. Movie mode is a dim yellow/white, xbox modes are green, Playstation modes are blue, nintendo are Red, Sega is orange etc.
Lol, when he started talking about his light switch dilemma I was screaming inside “Lutron!”. I’ve been using this system for 6 years now and it’s rock solid.
Great video Quinn, love the 3 principals and think they are extremely important for anyone getting into the smart home world! So many people dont take these into consideration 🤯 P.s would love to try convert you to Home Assistant sometime 😅
Watching this video for the first time in 2022 and I think the key with a smart home really is making what works best for you. I started a few years ago with dirt cheap (I’m talking $15 aud each) wifi smart bulbs and a few google home speakers and frankly that setup did NOT work for me. The lights gave me endless grief with disconnects - and I don’t live in a big place - and google was really anything but smart by the time I finally ditched the platform. Now more recently I’ve invested in Philips hue (and a better modem/router, definitely a big factor in reliability imo) and the investment has been absolutely worth it. I haven’t had a single issue with reliability and I’ve set up a series of automations, some hue dimmer switches in prominent locations and a motion sensor in the toilet. Which lemme tell you, is an absolute game changer that I would highly recommend. Hard wired smart switches aren’t an option for me as a renter but I feel like I’m getting to a point where I have something that works near perfectly for me. Just gotta pick up a cheap computer (I’m thinking an old Mac) that I can run homebridge on again since I sold the windows laptop I was running it on so I can bring my ring doorbell and camera back into HomeKit.
This is exactly what I was looking for. Once I finally take the plunge and start making my house smart this will be very useful. Your rules for smart devices should also prevent me from tearing my hair out trying to get everything “perfect”.
Been a few months. Hope you’re snazzy over there brother! Still holding out, hoping one day there will be a part 2 to this video. Too many gimmicky videos out there, you keep it real and don’t waste my time with work arounds. What smart home tech have you been using lately? Anything new?
Best video regarding smart home setup I’ve ever seen! About to buy my first house and I’ll 100% be copying this setup, more or less. Thanks for the inspiration and doing the research for everyone else’s benefit!
Hi! I'm always looking for new ideas on smart homes, thank you for this. I 've tried to stick to Homekit because then and now there are so many standards; Siri was fun, but since it became catatonic, I use Alexa. We have a premise: Automation means doing things by itself -mostly no voice controls or switches-. In our case, this is a family issue, we use timers, presence detectors and geolocation. No centralized controls: we use Echos, IPhones, etc, working and sometimes competing between them, as an example, the Home app and the Hue app, use different schedules and mess with each other. This is just starting. bye!
Just bring some cash.... each window shade starts at $700... yes, it’s a great product. Just expensive as hell. Caseta is the small system for diy. Lutron radioRa2 and grafik eye system is big bucks but cool... I was shocked they released so much tech on Caseta at the cost they did...
This video was huge for me, because my main requirements are the same. However, I started out with homebridge and quickly realized that there are too many things I want to integrate that are just so much better being done with HomeAssistant rather than HomeBridge - like zigbee sensors for motion/light/temp/humidity/etc. One or two well placed zigbee routers (enbrighten light switches) and range issues are a non-issue.
Yo!! Love to see that you bought a new house. Yesterday's video was cool to see some personal vlog style as you built furniture and took off wallpaper, etc. My wife and I also just bought a house a couple months ago. Slowly been making things smarter and smarter. Would love a part 2 to this video in your new house to see if there's anything you're adding to make it smarter or more connected. I'll make a comment on your last video too. Congrats on the new digs!
Great video. I’m looking to do a smart home when I move in the summer. Have you thought about doing an update in regards to Matter? I’m avoiding Google and Amazon devices as well and I’m hoping that Apple Home/Matter makes things easier. I’m assuming some of your “never coming to HomeKit” remarks will be different with Matter
I freaking love this. I had a hazy recollection that someone mentioned there was some way to link UniFi stuff and HomeKit, but I had no idea how simple it was. And now I can see my Protect cameras on my AppleTV. Love it! Thank you for the encouragement to actually check it out!
Excellent video. I'm moving, and my current smart home is feeling outdated. I'm redoing everything, and this video came at the perfect time. Your setup is an inspiration for what's going in my next home!
I also set up custom wallpapers for each room. But love what you did with the color gradients and masks. Definitely stealing that. Thanks for the great video!
I purchased the ‘Lutron Aurora’ dimmer switches to pair with the many, many Hue bulbs throughout my house, LOVE THEM! Takes seconds to install over the existing light switch, and works even if WiFi or network is down, they’ve been flawless. Also, Hue makes Edison style bulbs now, but they are expensive.
If his wife decides to ever cheat on him, he's gonna pull up all the receipts lol " why was the humidity really high in our bedroom, when I wasnt there? I know you were at home I saw when you walked through the door"
Lutron is great we have them in all our homes. But there are some caveats if you have any interesting light fixtures (I.e leds with separate drivers, or low voltage light) there are definitely some issues. Good news is fixing them is as simple as to a herd reboot of the switch. You just disconnect it from power buy pulling out that tab at the bottom of the switch and push it back in again and done. No need to even take off the wall cover let alone take out the switch. Great design
I used Alexa to booby trap my home. I have to move very carefully about so I don’t get injured. The thrill of experiencing near death situations while navigating my house everyday brings me great joy.
Quinn! I'm house shopping as a first time home buyer. Love the idea of a smart home but I don't want silly lightbulbs that can turn purple and 15 home bridges for things I won't use. You're the guy I trust! Looking at that 8 sleep pod from your recent video but would love an update on your recs for smart home tech that isn't stupid. Maybe a part 2? Hope you're well man!
The biggest problem with "smart" things, just like smart phones, is reliability and longevity. You touched on it briefly, needing devices to be manual as well as automated, but at the rate things become obsolete these days, your smart things will start to fall out of compatibility after a few years. It's not very reliable when one software update can make part of your house suddenly not work. I've tried some turnkey home automation "solutions" and it's more trouble than it's worth. I have to babysit them because they don't work reliably anymore, usually because of software updates that breaks features or removes them entirely. If I'm going to babysit my home automation I might as well build it myself and code it myself instead of relying on broken promises from companies that are more interested in planned obsolescence than reliability and longevity. Welcome to the future, where the only reason something is "obsolete" is because a company decreed it from on high, not because it can no longer function.
About the bulbs switches. You can get sonoff switch ! It “clicks” by voice command or your finger. And the good news is when you turn it on by using voice or app, it turns on the button on wall as well so you don’t have to choose between control it by “ caveman” style or modern style. If you didn’t understand me, check out for sonoff smart switch.
Just found out about this channel and these videos are really refreshing to watch! The themes you pick and how you approach them are really what do it for me… Haven’t been this interested in a new tech channel some few years now. Definitely subscribing!
Dude is dripping like years and years worth of smart home experience and wisdom into one vid. Great vid.
Thanks!!!
@@snazzy how can we get his rooms pictures though? I really gladly would use it!!!
This is 100% the exact requirements I had for my smart home technology. You brought up so many issues that people rarely bring up when it comes to smart homes. I went with the caseta switches for that very reason. Lots of great suggestions!
Linus: Spends 2 years getting a dumb garage door to be smart then trying to avoid monthly fees on a smart one.
Snazzy: So I plugged this in
LOL.
I wonder if Linus even considered something Apple based? Not that he has an Apple set up for it all, but still.
@@TalesOfWar it's not the apple based system that makes it work. Linus just refused to pay for iftt and the liftmaster subscription etc as it was working fine when he had a dumb door but it died
perfect timing
@@RyanShiels The irony is he ended up spending far more and making it 10 times more complex in the process lol.
I love your focus on utility rather than purposeless flashiness in a smart home.
Lutron are widely used by construction companies when building higher end apartment buildings and one off residences. There are a huge number of devices, ive been using them for years and they are bullet proof just as you say. Good choice
What is the best motion sensor for Caseta other than the Lutron one?
They are ugly as all hell though, it’s the main reason I decided to go with TP-Links Casa line, which includes smart plugs as well as switches and lights.
Jank City: Linus Tech Tips has entered the chat (with his garage door opener)
His issues started with the limited choice in his area for installing the garage door, the control panel then isn't going to be great
Quinn, I admit, I’ve missed your content for a few months now. I watched this video today and wanted to say how much I love this new style.
High quality, professional video and audio, and great presentation as usual. It’s great to see you take another leap forward from what was already top notch content.
Congrats!
Thank you so much!!
Gross exageration. Are you perhaps in love with his new pointy moustache?
@@CogitoErgoSum777 Are you perhaps feeling unloved?
Dude.. The only thing I hate about this video is how incredibly fine-tuned, well-chosen, and practically biased your smart ecosystem is. I've used them all, acknowledged what's available and how each is "ideally" implemented, and would just repetitively forget about it altogether (too much flexibility eventually pushes people back to that "it's just a damn light switch" mentality). I think it's fair to say your setup gives chaos some seriously needed structure and organization while leaving a healthy amount of room for flexibility in how you choose to use it. You clearly write code that most would find desirable. How well you explain your choices and exactly why you went each setup route was just the cherry on top. Like and sub absolutely deserved my friend....
The videos production are getting so good, nearly Linus Media Group class. Really impressive for a such a small team. Well done, this smart home series is amazing
better than linus lol snazzylabs isn't nearly as opinionated about trivial things
Thanks so much, Kerian!
@@blzt3206 and doesn’t have bullshit lttstore plugs in every video
@@blzt3206 Ikr
Snazzy Labs is better than LMG
I’m an electrician and I install pico’s almost daily, they’re great for many different uses!! Love the shades! I’m gonna have to check those out
I’m curious how they can dim non smart lights. Do the lightbulbs still need to be LED, just without connectivity built in?
@@HowiMetKyle You probably have to buy any kind of bulb, as long as it says dimmable on the box.
I died at “hey siri eat shit”🤣
Same here, somebody call an ambulance 🤣😂🤣😂
Same here, holy hell I laughed loudly
Literally laughed out loud for the first time in so long.
I laughed so fricking hard!!! People in the office came to see what da hell was I going on about… 😂😂😂😂
Just gonna keep coming back every few months asking for a part 2 lol. Just one of my favorite smart home videos out there. Your approach is so much better than the deep, cross platform integration that ends up having everything work half as well as it should. Wondering if any new smart home tech has caught your eye that you’ve been using lately
Also I'm waiting for the video where he explains VLAN, like he said he would in this video. And that robot vacuum supposedly has a successor now (which he made a sponsored video on), so I'd like to see a video in which he compares his favorite robot vacuums / compares his favorite robot vacuum to others as well.
“Old” 2018 Mac mini.
What else do you call a 4 year old computer
I think he says it’s old because he’s not using it anymore. Not because it’s unsupported.
Doesn’t have M1 and is 4 years old
My 2011 MacBook Pro was offended but
@@Lucky_Meerkat a middle-aged computer?
Videos like these are why I keep coming back to this channel - Quinn's tasteful pragmatism pairs perfectly with his aptitude and understanding of the technology that makes the tech work. Keep up the good work. 👍
Holy CRAP, I LOVE that new intro, I’m so tired of blaring sound intros that are just shy of 10 seconds that I can’t skip past. Yours was clean, simple, looked awesome, wasn’t too long, and it was QUIET. Nice work, keep it comin’!
same here
Vanced have skip intro feature at least i can skip useless parts on my phone
Excellent stuff man!!! Glad to see the house coming along
Thanks, E!
I would like your house if it has a smart frige😳
Great video and the G4 doorbell message display working with HomeBridge is something I didn't know about. Also those are some good rules to keep your smart home from getting out of control.
Nice to see you here Reed, love your videos!
@@bergermaestro hey thanks!
I was actually recalling some of your videos while watching this.
When a smart home you tuber catches you watching another smart home video channel
“Oh,, hey Reed, I .. I didn’t expect to see you here”
Lol
I found it funny that the address in your automation at 18:16 is for Arby’s in Salt Lake City
oh, Quinn, as a native Spanish speaker, I really love your Spanish voice.
Same
I discovered your channel yesterday while doing research on how to make my internet connections at home wired through ethernet. Still working on that project, but now you've got me wanting to turn my whole house into something smart. I love the video for all of the ideas it's giving me, and I hate you for how much money I'm about to spend. Thanks!
Just gotta say Quinn your video quality and professionalism is amazing, glad to see how much success you're having over all these years
85 year old house guy here.... I watched this video and was like, "Yep, did that. Yep, he's right about the Hue, although I didn't have a choice a few years ago. Yep, good call on Lutron. Yep, Ubiquiti." Learned something new about the shades, though.
keep these smart home vids coming! Even when I think I've done it all by now, i'm still learning something.
Nice video! I'm glad you went for the "I have a smart home but it doesn't control me or bog me down" approach 😁
Big thumbs up on the water sensor and automatic shut-off. I'd also strongly recommend using their alarm or doing some other integration to ensure you wake up and go running if the leak sensor goes off. The time it can take for the alarm to get tripped and the shut-off to finish and then the pressure expansion tank to de-pressurize, you can have gallons of water soaking into the floor and running into the walls and ceiling of floors below. Just got done ripping the ceiling out of my neighbors for a toilet hose connection that broke when they were home. They had the alarm go and they shut it off within a minute but water had still gone everywhere. Unfortunately they didn't have an auto-shut off which would have saved a few gallons worth that got out.
Running homebridge on an “old” 2018 Mac mini? That’s more recent than anything I’ve ever had 😁
lol... I'm running HB on a virtual server hosted on my QNAP NAS... works great.
I decided to start using Smart Home stuff with homekit last year and after looking around a bit, landed on Caseta. Such a good system to use and setup. It went from a few key light switches to now ceiling fans, almost all of our house lights via hardwired switches or plugin dimmers and we couldn't be happier.
The only mistake I made was plugging in a high amperage device (saw) into an outlet on one of the switched circuits (overhead plug-in basement lights rather than the 20A unswitched line) and cooking my switch. I ran out to home depot, bought a replacement and had it up and running on the system in 5 min.
FINALLY someone recognized that having a smart home doesn’t necessarily revolve around digital assistant!
Like you, I mostly use wireless switches (which acts like dumb ones) in addition to Home app & NFC tags. Homebridge exposes all of my Xiaomi ecosystem devices to Apple Home.
I'm actually pretty happy with Alexa, and this surprised me. I installed wired in TCP smart switches which have manual switches and also $10 sonoff switches where manual switches aren't required. Having lights on timers is super useful too. Alexa is way cheaper if you buy all of your amazon echo on prime day (June and December).
Great video! I love how you censored Siri 😅
This man saved my whole house from shutting off
@@straightlinetech it’s such an obvious thing to do, however I feel like he’s the first one to care about us apple users not having all our devices go crazy during a video.
I laughed so hard on that
The beep was waaay too loud tho
@@antonijankowski3379 LTT did the same with "okay Google" recently.
I really like the content you’ve been making about home gadgets. I feel like the Mac UA-cam scene is so saturated right now, and while you do make the best content in that area, this is a breath of fresh air and I’m here for all of it.
Great video and coverage of HomeKit! I agree, can’t go wrong with Lutron. Also, the Home+ app is great for creating automations! 👏🏻 👏🏻
Thank God! Finally someone using common sense and logic to actually make their house smart. I pretty much have the same rules with physical buttons for all smart things and went with Lutron.
The presentation style in these videos has grown significantly. Quinn could one day host an Apple event with his constantly improving style. Also, nice approach that the smart devices should not get in the way of doing anything. Keep up the good work 😃👍.
This is the HomeKit video everyone has been waiting for. With the lack of smart home videos out there, most are anti HomeKit. I’ve found it’s quite easier and simpler to be all-in on HomeKit. Like you said it erases the need to have multiple smart home apps and it makes it easy enough for my wife to want to use it on a regular basis.
The beep on “siri” is making this video the funniest you ever made!
Quinnskyyyyy. Just bought my first home and I’m closing in a month. Been leaving comments on this video asking for a part 2 for almost 3 years now since it came out 😂 hoping one day you see them but if there was ever a time, the 3 year anniversary of that video is a week from tomorrow. I think it would be awesome to see an update 3 years later. Give me some ideas for the new pad. Anyway, hope you’re well brother!!
we didn't end up buying this house but we did buy one almost 6 months later. Fully moved in now and trying to make it smarter these days!
Here when it's unlisted! Cool cool
@1289 nic I’m pretty sure that’s what UA-camrs do when uploading to make sure we see the full quality version. After UA-cam processes the video, then they make it public.
how
@@blzt3206 he probably found it in a playlist
This is a great video. Quinn, thank you for not just making a shake-y vlog tour of you changing the lights in a couple of rooms to different colors. It's nice to see that even in your older home, it doesn't look like a Best Buy forgot to pull out. Also, you dropped a bunch of smart-home knowledge that more people need to know (like how smart devices should be able to be used manually, and not EVERYTHING needs to be in the system, that it's ok to have an island or two in your setup).
My only critique is that I don't think HomeBridge and Home Assistant are the same, though I believe they CAN be used to achieve the same thing. You nailed Homebridge being, well, a bridge and being a part of a HomeKit setup, but HASS is it's own automation platform, so it's more of an alternative to HomeKit for people who know what YAML is. I've heard of folks using HASS with HomeKit by putting devices into HASS and then exposing everything to HomeKit and using that as the front-end while HASS has all of your devices and automations.
Say it with me, "Cah-say-tuh." Took me a couple years to figure out. Great setup! When will the HomeKit app be available for Android?
They have better apps with much bigger smart devices support . Instead you should ask when will google home come to iOS
@@ChrisC-vr9mp I meant to say that home kit sucks and the fact that Google home is cross platform is alone the reason to not use home kit on ios . That line was just to match your last line. Never mind!
Did you watch the video at all. HomeKit doesn’t suck
@@djsnowpdx What do you mean man. You are trying to justify using something that sucks. I mean who doesn't know that siri Always sucks. You should better get yourself out of that ~ecosystem~ shit. I use android Because I find it better. Everyone knows why Amazon and Google home is better. The fact that one asked for homekit to come on android is very lame despite knowing the fact that it can't even match competitors on iOS let alone Android. There is nothing like Android fanboys. Android has enthusiasts and apple has fanboys. It's as simple as 2+2=4. There are people who do things other than calling browsing and social media and they need a better operating system and I find android doing better for these tasks. Sorry iPhones are restricted so there nothing about being better.
@@jonathanschober1032 If you're outside of the Apple ecosystem, everything sucks and doesn't work neatly. It's a shame because there are tons of people that only own iPhones and nothing else from Apple.
what a legend. he mutet the word Siri in order to not trigger it. love it!
Quinn, your videos have been nothing but pure art. Thank you so much for this impeccable quality.
Thanks for the kind words, Seth.
This changed my mind on smart homes. I only know one person who turned their home into a smart home and it just seemed stupid to me at the time. He had a smart lock on the front door so you had to wait for the phone to pair with the lock to get in instead of just using a key and then you had to stand in the dark and be quiet so his Alexa could hear him issue the command to turn the lights on and then wait for it to understand what he said and then wait again for it to actually turn the lights on.
"smart"
I can feel Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Facebook drooling over your personal data haha
None of these products require any services by any of those companies. That’s sort of the point with HomeKit security and local network support.
@@MichaelBrawn Yes, this is why they're drooling.
@@MichaelBrawn HomeKit itself is a closed-source Apple framework, so considering the amount of personal data Quinn is sharing with Apple (geotracking, personal preferences etc.), this kind of smart home ecosystem setup is a gold mine worth of data tracking, enough for a reason the 'big 4' are drooling over
@@possamei ah gotcha
@@altrogeruvah good point. I imagine the whole reason that many like us allow Apple to access that location info and preferences is because of their privacy first approach.
Perfect timing! Was literally trying to plan out my smart home. Thank you sooo much for this awesome video, you’re a life/time saver.
Video on vlan? Man! I really can't wait. So much crap on UA-cam and I'm sure you will do this properly. Thanks
This is a great video about automation and I love the rules, especially the one about still being able to use that product manually. But it also illustrates the good and the bad side.
The blinds for example. Good for security, time saving, potentially even better for the environment (allowing in natural light means potentially less time lighting and possibly heating are on). If you have a disability, medical issues or just the fact old age has crept in it would also be great.
But is it also bad? 8 batteries per blind?! Sure they might last several years but then they might not. And what’s wrong with closing or opening a blind by hand? Is it just a sign we’re getting lazy? What about warranty? What about if in 2 years you change colour scheme and want different coloured blinds, do you have to buy an entire unit (that assumes of course they are still in business, make the same model/product etc)?
Awesome video - interesting to get a deeper look into HomeKit (and customization beyond the officially supported devices)
It’s been a year and a half since this video came out. Time for an update of your smart home devices. All the other videos I watch have smart homes that “Are Stupid” lol. Need an update from ol’ Quinn-ski
love the meta moment at 6:00, need more of this! and the transition!
I like the little touch of adding a beep to you saying "Hey Siri" so it doesn't trigger anyone's Apple devices.
If you watch other smart-home videos, a lot of UA-camrs do this. The ones that don't get a bunch of comments how their Echo devices went off.
Looking forward to the VLAN video. Very interested to see how you manage your IoT network. Keeping things connected on isolated networks is tough and something I'm currently having trouble with.
Please make a part 2. Loved the workout room/garage video but would be great to see how your house is holding up and the tech since this video was made!
“These shades are bullet proof!”
Cut to: me standing awkwardly with a smoking gun in my hand, and a disappointed look on my face
Alright, I’m back. Now that Matter is coming out, I feel like you need to update this video. We’ll give you time to make some adjustments to your house but we want a part 2 with the dopest smart home tech that uses matter. Thanks Q!!!
Man this was such a good intro to doing a HomeKit based smart home. Might finally start working on something like this.
Homekit and smarthome don't beling in the same sentence lol
@Mardox What's wrong with homekit?
@@shaneanagrams Siri
@@Mardoxx7 Siri is significantly better than my google homes I have. They never understand.
@@shaneanagrams Is that so? Then why is Siri universally considered as the worst Assitant? Did everyone in the world confabulated against Apple to make it so?
My personal system only has like 3 devices connected using Home Assistant and controlled with either my phone or a cheap tablet in my living room. I mainly use it to control my AV center since I have like 12 game systems, an HDDVD player, HTPC, a 7.1 AV reciever, 2 5 port HDMI switches, a 6 port component switch, an OSSC, a Turntable and of course the TV itself. It is all connected and controllable using the tablet by selecting scenes and I have one of the Broadlink RM4 Pro IR/RF universal remotes connected to do most of that. I also have some smart plugs for my lamps since the living room doesn't have ceiling lights and some LED strips that change colors based on the scene. Movie mode is a dim yellow/white, xbox modes are green, Playstation modes are blue, nintendo are Red, Sega is orange etc.
OMG those leak sensors that's fucking genius! I've never heard of them, but I'm gonna get a bunch asap lol
Lol, when he started talking about his light switch dilemma I was screaming inside “Lutron!”. I’ve been using this system for 6 years now and it’s rock solid.
Great video Quinn, love the 3 principals and think they are extremely important for anyone getting into the smart home world! So many people dont take these into consideration 🤯
P.s would love to try convert you to Home Assistant sometime 😅
I would love to see a discussion between you two about the pros and cons of Home Assistant.
Watching this video for the first time in 2022 and I think the key with a smart home really is making what works best for you. I started a few years ago with dirt cheap (I’m talking $15 aud each) wifi smart bulbs and a few google home speakers and frankly that setup did NOT work for me. The lights gave me endless grief with disconnects - and I don’t live in a big place - and google was really anything but smart by the time I finally ditched the platform.
Now more recently I’ve invested in Philips hue (and a better modem/router, definitely a big factor in reliability imo) and the investment has been absolutely worth it. I haven’t had a single issue with reliability and I’ve set up a series of automations, some hue dimmer switches in prominent locations and a motion sensor in the toilet. Which lemme tell you, is an absolute game changer that I would highly recommend. Hard wired smart switches aren’t an option for me as a renter but I feel like I’m getting to a point where I have something that works near perfectly for me. Just gotta pick up a cheap computer (I’m thinking an old Mac) that I can run homebridge on again since I sold the windows laptop I was running it on so I can bring my ring doorbell and camera back into HomeKit.
This is exactly what I was looking for. Once I finally take the plunge and start making my house smart this will be very useful. Your rules for smart devices should also prevent me from tearing my hair out trying to get everything “perfect”.
Been a few months. Hope you’re snazzy over there brother! Still holding out, hoping one day there will be a part 2 to this video. Too many gimmicky videos out there, you keep it real and don’t waste my time with work arounds. What smart home tech have you been using lately? Anything new?
¡Me mato el "VAMONOS A LA CASA"!
I love to see Quinn speaking spanish!
What does that mean?
@@arnavodkaa Let's go home.
@@luisteheran4969 Thanks!
Best video regarding smart home setup I’ve ever seen! About to buy my first house and I’ll 100% be copying this setup, more or less. Thanks for the inspiration and doing the research for everyone else’s benefit!
thanks!
6:15 kept rewatching: "Casetta by Lutron" 😂😂
'Vamos a la casa!!'
It's Caséta which is a Venetian word, but same :D
I have come back to watch this video several times, this is the best example of what a smart home should be like.
Hi! I'm always looking for new ideas on smart homes, thank you for this. I 've tried to stick to Homekit because then and now there are so many standards; Siri was fun, but since it became catatonic, I use Alexa. We have a premise: Automation means doing things by itself -mostly no voice controls or switches-. In our case, this is a family issue, we use timers, presence detectors and geolocation. No centralized controls: we use Echos, IPhones, etc, working and sometimes competing between them, as an example, the Home app and the Hue app, use different schedules and mess with each other. This is just starting. bye!
Thank you so much for bleeping the Hey Siri bit. Every time an advert says "Hey Google, search blah blah blah..." I get infuriated.
This contest is like early access 😂
😂
How the hell did you get here when it's unlisted
@@jlnho1 Twitter :)
4:18 is the best part of the whole video. But nice job keeping your smart home ecosystem under one hub. Kudos to you sir.
Lutron… amazing company, amazing products.
Just bring some cash.... each window shade starts at $700... yes, it’s a great product. Just expensive as hell. Caseta is the small system for diy. Lutron radioRa2 and grafik eye system is big bucks but cool... I was shocked they released so much tech on Caseta at the cost they did...
This video was huge for me, because my main requirements are the same. However, I started out with homebridge and quickly realized that there are too many things I want to integrate that are just so much better being done with HomeAssistant rather than HomeBridge - like zigbee sensors for motion/light/temp/humidity/etc. One or two well placed zigbee routers (enbrighten light switches) and range issues are a non-issue.
Hahahahahaha vamos a la casa! Muy bueno el español en su voz 😂
Yo!! Love to see that you bought a new house. Yesterday's video was cool to see some personal vlog style as you built furniture and took off wallpaper, etc. My wife and I also just bought a house a couple months ago. Slowly been making things smarter and smarter. Would love a part 2 to this video in your new house to see if there's anything you're adding to make it smarter or more connected. I'll make a comment on your last video too. Congrats on the new digs!
i loved the two iPhones "hugging" to symbolize your wife and you both having iPhones
What a great video!
Man, you knocked it out of the park with this one :)
Great video. I’m looking to do a smart home when I move in the summer. Have you thought about doing an update in regards to Matter? I’m avoiding Google and Amazon devices as well and I’m hoping that Apple Home/Matter makes things easier. I’m assuming some of your “never coming to HomeKit” remarks will be different with Matter
I freaking love this. I had a hazy recollection that someone mentioned there was some way to link UniFi stuff and HomeKit, but I had no idea how simple it was. And now I can see my Protect cameras on my AppleTV. Love it! Thank you for the encouragement to actually check it out!
"Hey Siri, eat shit" is my favourite one.
Best smart home I’ve seen as of yet. That water leak automation is next level!
It’s pretty neat indeed!
@@snazzy it looks like dome has gone out of business. Their products are out of stock and their last social media posts were pre pandemic.. 😭
Your house is almost like you're Tony Stark with all the smart things.
:DD
@@snazzy please make a follow-up video showing all of the specific automations!
Excellent video. I'm moving, and my current smart home is feeling outdated. I'm redoing everything, and this video came at the perfect time. Your setup is an inspiration for what's going in my next home!
For a native spanish speaking guy, I really laughed when he said “VAMOS A LA CASA”
What does that mean?
@@deepaksabu3744 translated literally: "we're going to the house", but the actual meaning is "let's go home"
@@technicolourmyles thank you brother.
@@deepaksabu3744 No problem! :D
Same I was surprised, great pronunciation
thank you for bleeping the smart home name. I hate that when other youtubers don't do that
6:21 snazzy labs just became laboratorios elegantes for a sec right there lol
Dude, I never knew you could speak Spanish, and it seems so natural!
¡Gracias por tus videos amigo!
¡Igualmente a ti por verlos!
After seeing this video I feel like I need smart things in my home that I don’t need.
I also set up custom wallpapers for each room. But love what you did with the color gradients and masks. Definitely stealing that. Thanks for the great video!
Snazzy beard 🧔🏻
I purchased the ‘Lutron Aurora’ dimmer switches to pair with the many, many Hue bulbs throughout my house, LOVE THEM! Takes seconds to install over the existing light switch, and works even if WiFi or network is down, they’ve been flawless.
Also, Hue makes Edison style bulbs now, but they are expensive.
If his wife decides to ever cheat on him, he's gonna pull up all the receipts lol " why was the humidity really high in our bedroom, when I wasnt there? I know you were at home I saw when you walked through the door"
Lutron is great we have them in all our homes. But there are some caveats if you have any interesting light fixtures (I.e leds with separate drivers, or low voltage light) there are definitely some issues. Good news is fixing them is as simple as to a herd reboot of the switch. You just disconnect it from power buy pulling out that tab at the bottom of the switch and push it back in again and done. No need to even take off the wall cover let alone take out the switch. Great design
The answer is simple... Home assistant baby
If you know how to code then nothing is better than it, at least not yet.
One of the better home automation videos I've seen on YT. Functional and reasonable. Well done, Sir!
I used Alexa to booby trap my home. I have to move very carefully about so I don’t get injured. The thrill of experiencing near death situations while navigating my house everyday brings me great joy.
Nice server rack. I used to use a 2010 MacBook Pro for HB, finally dropped it to a Pi.
Quinn! I'm house shopping as a first time home buyer. Love the idea of a smart home but I don't want silly lightbulbs that can turn purple and 15 home bridges for things I won't use. You're the guy I trust! Looking at that 8 sleep pod from your recent video but would love an update on your recs for smart home tech that isn't stupid. Maybe a part 2? Hope you're well man!
The biggest problem with "smart" things, just like smart phones, is reliability and longevity. You touched on it briefly, needing devices to be manual as well as automated, but at the rate things become obsolete these days, your smart things will start to fall out of compatibility after a few years. It's not very reliable when one software update can make part of your house suddenly not work. I've tried some turnkey home automation "solutions" and it's more trouble than it's worth. I have to babysit them because they don't work reliably anymore, usually because of software updates that breaks features or removes them entirely. If I'm going to babysit my home automation I might as well build it myself and code it myself instead of relying on broken promises from companies that are more interested in planned obsolescence than reliability and longevity. Welcome to the future, where the only reason something is "obsolete" is because a company decreed it from on high, not because it can no longer function.
About the bulbs switches. You can get sonoff switch ! It “clicks” by voice command or your finger. And the good news is when you turn it on by using voice or app, it turns on the button on wall as well so you don’t have to choose between control it by “ caveman” style or modern style.
If you didn’t understand me, check out for sonoff smart switch.
Just found out about this channel and these videos are really refreshing to watch! The themes you pick and how you approach them are really what do it for me… Haven’t been this interested in a new tech channel some few years now. Definitely subscribing!