In line with a report from last month, iPod creator Tony Fadell's company Nest today announced the launch of Nest Protect, a $129 connected smoke and carbon monoxide detector for the home. The detector wirelessly connects with other units and with the Nest Learning Thermostat to enhance the functionality of each product while also offering a more informative and flexible experience for users.
These products should keep us safe, not annoy us. Nest Protect: Smoke + Carbon Monoxide does much more than just sound a shrill alarm when there’s danger in your home. It speaks to you, telling you where the danger is and what the problem is. And before it sounds a piercing alarm, Nest Protect gives you a friendly Heads-Up warning that you can silence with a wave of your hand – no more swinging towels or brooms to try to quiet a false alarm. It integrates with your mobile devices and even messages you if the batteries run low, avoiding that all-too-familiar midnight low-battery chirp.
Nest Protect contains six different types of sensors (photoelectric smoke sensor, CO sensor, heat sensor, light sensor, ultrasonic sensors, activity sensor) to help the device interpret its environment, and includes a green glowing light that can serve both as a quick indicator that the device is functioning properly after lights are turned off and as a nightlight, automatically lighting a person's path when it senses their movements.
The connected nature of Protect allows multiple units to alert users to rising smoke or CO levels anywhere in the house while also specifying where in the house the issue is occurring. Integration with the Nest Learning Thermostat improves the thermostat's Auto-Away feature, which automatically adjusts heating and cooling based on whether anyone is in the home, allowing Protect units to serve as remote sensors for detecting any occupants in the home.
Nest Protect is available for pre-order now and will launch next month. It is priced at $129 and be available in both black and white versions, with each color being available in wired and battery-powered versions. Users will be able to control Protect and receive alerts through the Nest Mobile app for iOS, which will updated with Protect support when the device launches.
Top Rated Comments
Yeah same here. I have an 8000 sq ft home with 2 Ferraris. Plus I have a 1000 sq ft gazebo next to my 2 hole golf course. Gonna have to pass.
Seems cool but a little expensive considering you will most likely have to buy a few.
Do you even know how a smoke detector operates and how it has to comply with safety code? In the case of a smoke detector, do you even know what safety code implies technically speaking? Before saying such non-sense, why don't you look it up and then post an informed comment?
It's becoming increasingly annoying to read people only on MR to point fingers for random reasons when the most they can achieve in a day, it seems, is to be sitting in front of a screen to do just that - pointing fingers for no reason.
I'll buy 6 (even if it's still taking batteries, duh) in the meantime.
They should make the "expensive" one to act as the master, and some simpler slave units that are only slightly more expensive than a current high-end smoke/CO detector, but add a radio transmitter that just chirps its status to the master unit on a regular basis.
If you have a typical house with three bedrooms, a kitchen and a living room, then you need five smoke detectors. At $129 each, you would need to spend $600+. If you have a basement, then you may need more and may spend more. And you'll spend even more if you have them professionally installed.
If you have that many new devices that are on your wifi, how will your bandwidth fare? Will you need to pay for even more expensive wifi speed?
If you have cathedral cielings as I do, then you won't be able to wave your hands in front of it to shut it up as it will be more than the 2-8 feet from you.
This will be a cash cow for Nest as most homes only have one or two thermostats, but most have three to ten smoke detectors. Mine has seven - and I'm in a condo.