(Image Credit: Nest)
Nest is well known for its smart/learning thermostats for homes. Now they bring you a WiFi-supported smoke and carbon monoxide detector that looks just as sleek and sexy, called the Nest Protect. It completely redefines what you would normally find in a home by including some interesting features; however, there are drawbacks that may lead you away (more like “most likely”).
The Pros:
- Placement is easy as they come in two model options, allowing you to power them via 120v wired or wireless via battery.
- Battery life is claimed to last a number of years for the battery models, not just months.
- The Protects link wirelessly to each other so that they can/will all go off if a risk is detected, allowing quick notification to everyone in the house.
- It judges the risk based on the detected amount of smoke so that it will either immediately go off or first give you a warning. If a warning is given, you are able to “wave it off” to cancel the alert in case you were just cooking and burnt something. The window of time you have to wave off the alert depends on the severity it detects.
- If a CO leak is detected and you have the Nest Thermostat, it will disable the heater automatically.
- When initially setting each one up, you tell it which room it will be in. That way you can see where an alarm was initially started and the following light feature will be disabled if it’s labeled as a bedroom.
- They also act as a night light during the night, as it will light up slightly when it detects motion near it allowing you to better find you way (again, if it is labeled as a bedroom location, this function is disabled).
- The alarm features a friendly female voice vs having a piercing siren to riddle your ears with thoughtless panic.
- All settings can be controlled via mobile by an app on both Apple and Android (including Kindle) devices.
- It won’t be long until someone develops a plugin to integrate it with Z-Wave networks.
The Cons:
- The biggest con for us is that by law, CO detectors have to be replaced every 7 years. This means the Nest will halt functioning when that time comes forcing you to have to replace them every 7 years. Since these cost $129 per unit…that can be a very expensive responsibility. You are better off having to replace cheap CO detectors then spending this kind of cash.
Update 02/02/2014: Nest had no comment to share in regards to this matter. We attempted to contact them about further details and their opinion and they replied with just a basic fact sheet and chose not to answer the question sadly.
- They only detect smoke via the optical approach and do not support the ionization approach. Optical is preferred but it wouldn’t have taken much to offer both.
- It does not communicate with your “normal” detectors if you still have any installed in the house, as it only communicates wirelessly via WiFi to other Nest products. So if the Nest Protect goes off, the normal units will not unless they too detect something. The option to communicate via wire to normal units should have been added, at least to the wired (power-wise) units.
- Again, $129 is a lot of money is a lot of money to pay for something that FORCES you to have to replace it a number of years later.
Our Conclusion
The Nest Protect has an amazing amount of potential, it simply fails to deliver it. We understand that it’s biggest flaw is beyond their control since the law is the law, but it still doesn’t change the fact that it takes away from the products purpose. The various features are great and it really leaves a Tony Stark feel to the home, especially if you have an automation system on top of everything. Our rating is 4.5/10 since we can’t get over the cost vs lifespan. If the price came down to about $30-40 a unit, it may be worth re-evaluating, or they could simply allow the CO detection to be modular so that you are only replacing a less expensive piece and leaving the rest of the unit intact.
Are you a manufacturer or vendor that would like us to test something out for review? Contact us and we can let you know where to send the product and we will try it out.
