I Tested and Score 6 Smart Home Systems to find the BEST!
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- čas přidán 1. 06. 2024
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Finally an update video to test and compare 6 very popular smart home platforms today, I gave my recommendations at the end which I think is the best advice I can give!
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Timestamps (0:00)
(1:55) - Automation
(2:53) - Integration
(3:33) - Ease of Use
(4:43) - Maintenance
(5:33) - Local Control
(6:03) - Cost
(7:21) - Vision
(8:15) - Overall Best
(8:38) - Important Recommendation!
(10:50) - Conclusion
@SmartHomeSolver - • The BEST Smart Home Sy...
@AutomateYourLife - • Why I'm Ditching Samsu...
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All opinions expressed are my own and do not represent any other parties.
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![The TRUTH About Home Assistant [Vs SmartThings]](/img/n.gif)
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As a Samsung user (phone, watch, tablet, tv) I'm going to use smartthings. The interface and the easy-to-use app makes it easy to get in the smart home thing (i have the Hub v3). And for what I want my smart home to do it's perfect. (Lights on/off, blinds & doors open/ closed)
Got into Smart Home System with Tuya light bulb, controlled by Google at first, now it's whole house on homeassistant, not regreting until some points like connecting to it remotely sometimes fails, but local control is on point 👌great video, I recommend trying out some themes for your dashboard, mushroom strategy with mushroom theme and mini graph is the easiest to setup and maybe the prettiest yet
Hi Alex! Totally agree with your assessment. There is a spectrum of options in the smart home world and that is good for consumers who can then try out and find the solutions that fit them the best. As someone who basically went straight to Home Assistant, I will say that the learning curve is not so bad, and a little effort to learn can unlock so much power that you'll never go back. And HA can only be so awesome because of the ecosystem that they work with: the core of experts at Nabu Casa, prosumers who help debug issues, contributors on Discord and the forums that support new users, and the companies making the products (those enlightened ones catering to tinkerers and even those that simply don't resist others using their products creatively).
hey thanks! maybe because you went straight to HA, so you will not compare the effort required to achieve the same thing on other systems, eg. integrating switchbot products or configuring geofencing is 1min on other platforms haa
Great advice, big thanks!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you too!
You too! 🎄
Hi Alex i am renoating my new EC now. I would like to use Apple homekit but the vendor i engaged mentioned said for ziptrack, ceiling fan, air con controller even lighting, this system will have a lot lesser options and some may not even have one support AHK, therefore he recommended to use Google instead. May i know if Home Assistant is able to address this as i really like to use AHK as i just got my iphone (ex-samsung user) and ipad, prefef to use one app to control all if possible.
Can you do a video on home assistant for newbies?
will consider!
Please consider @@AlexTeo
Please consider @@AlexTeo
This video was answered my concern. Thanks Alex.
Thank you! That's a great update on how-to & what's-out-there on Smart Home platforms. I'm still at stage one and might not exactly move to stage 2 or 3 due to several factors e.g. lifestyle need + non-tech-preference household members. 😂
Yeah thats perfectly ok! Different requirements for everyone, no right or wrong, willing to even take the first step into smart home i think is less than 5% of the families
Hi Alex, I am currently using Philips hue lights & sensors (using google hub or Alexa to only voice to turn off/on) and eufy cameras. My BTO is coming in Q1 2024 and am looking to automate my home. I'm looking to re-use my Philps Hue for lighting and am looking at Aqara for it's curtain, sensors (FP2, window & door), doorbell and door lock to complete the smart home. Is Aqara the best choice in Singapore? And can you do a video on how you do automations with the Homey and Smarthings? Thanks and Merry X'mas
as usual, decide on the system you want to use first then pick the device manufacturers. Will consider your video suggestions, thanks!
I would recommend to add resilience as a comparition factor. I mean how good works smart home: response time, device availability etc. What is the role of smart hub in this case?
Hi Alex, I understand that you bought Aqara switches from Taobao, I heard that it may have region lock that needs a China E1 Hub. Can I check if your switch itself works with home assistant without the hub?
with home assistant, you won't need any aqara hubs, region settings is only a thing if you are using the aqara app
Thanks Alex! This was super hopeful to a new smart home user (stage 1 definitely but thinking once I know what I'm doing I'll skip straight to stage three). Anyway, you get a subscribe because this is great information. Keep it coming!
thanks for the sub!
Hi I want to get on Apple HomeKit but I am worried about the devices that are compatible with Apple HomeKit, I understand the Home Assistant Yellow is able to include other devices, so does it mean if I have a Google home device I am able to include this into Home Assistant and use Siri as for voice command as well as access the device thru Apple Home App?
no you can't integrate google home devices directly into home assistant, you have to deal with each device manufacturer integration separately
In your video you talk about the VPN. I have a normal router and a VPN router. I have some devices connected to each one. But, in the smart home, I want all to work together. Which of these hubs supports that the best?
I am at stage 2 option 1, thinking if stage 3 option 1 is worth the effort. Is there a way to easily migrate from homebridge to home assistant without the need to resetup the whole thing again. I have a few tuya devices, some meross switches, aqara shade (using conbee II), switchbot, unifi protect etc that have already been nicely intergrated in the homebridge.
that depends whether you have any devices that you still can't integrate or automations that you want to do but can't do, home assistant has integrations to homekit devices, so you can easily have everything you already configured then slowly move the devices over, tuya and switchbot integration are not very straight forward in HA
Hi Alex, Currently, I'm on stage 1 option 2. All my smart switches and bulbs are Tuya wifi. Devices are connected to smartlife app and linked to my google home for command and control.
However, recently, my router connect seems to be pretty unstable. As some devices will get DC e.g camera, vacuum robot and switches.
Im not sure if it is due to too many wifi devices(70-80) tagging on the 2.4Ghz.
Should i consider to process to stage 2 to manage all the devices from a HUB instead of direct connection to the main router?
i think you should look at them separately, figure out what is the problem first
Hi Alex! Great content as always, answering what people is curious about. Can I ask, what is 1 brand of smart home setup that has the least problems that you will recommend to someone who is new to smart home?
go with my no.1 then, apple homekit
Thanks for the video bro, Merry Christmas!🎉
Happy holidays! 🎄
Do you manage to have the Aqara H1 switch to control yeelights?
Hi Alex , what zigbee stick are u using for your home assistant ? Coinbee II? And what integration fits best deconz or zigbee2mqtt?
i'm using home assistant yellow which come with zigbee and thread already, i picked zha since its the supported one and no issue with all my zigbee devices yet, if there is i will go with mqtt
Hi Alex! Just curious if you know how to automate a zigbee rain sensor to the google home assistant such that when it detects rain, google home will be automated to run the scene to close the zip tracks. In one of your previous videos I saw that you configured something similar to close a blind but for some reason I’m unable to make it work for my zip tracks. Just to share further, both my zip tracks and the rain sensor are already set up in google home however I can’t seem to make both of them work simultaneously😂 any help is appreciated ! Thanks !
you can try google script editor shown at 2:32 to set the automation
Good categories- it really gets at what actually works.
Hi Alex, thanks for the video! Can I check if I can pair my IR remote control for my aircon to the M2 aqara hub and then add it as a bridge into home kit? To use Siri through my HomePod to turn my aircon on?
homekit don't support IR devices
@@AlexTeo Thanks Alex! I just bought SwitchBot hub 2 and configured my IR devices to it. I tried to add SwitchBot hub 2 as accessory to HomeKit and error message was “couldn’t add accessary”. Could ignore be because home kit don’t support IR devices hence it didn’t allow my SwitchBot 2 to connect to HomeKit?
Hi Alex, I like am currently using google home and trying to test if I am able to use my Apple home kit concurrently. Can a smart device or hub can added to both platform at the same time? To fully utilized homekit I will need a bridge or a System 2?
some can some cannot, most of the case I will suggest not to complicate a setup, what's a System 2?
System 2 referring to your recommendation like home bridge/hoobs and home assistant.
Currently thinking of utilizing the Siri for voice activation as sometime the google home just doesn’t register well but already invested in the devices.
About to embark on my journey of smart home, I have been reading a lot of materials online just wanted to clarify, can I use a smart switch with a smart light, I have seen articles online that it’s not recommended to do so and guess what, I have all smart switches bought (Aqara Z1 Pro) certain lights I have are also smart light, does it mean I have to pair the smart light with a traditional switch?
you can set the z1 switch to wireless or wire the smart lights to L instead
Excellent video Alex, Very informative.
Thanks!
Merry Xmas..!! Sorry for the late nite comment 🥂Really like u giving ur grading weightage, a v pro way of presentation. Content wise love the “authorware” looking homey (shit disclosed my age), hates the scripting platform of Google hm even when im in tech myself, but of cos best goes to Apple for the modular IU. Catch-up wif the rest of the content come sober tml, MERRY XMAS & HAPPY NY cheers😁
thanks for the support! merry xmas!
Will there be any use of adding home assistant into the mix since I already have smartthings hub?
Also, which platform is capable of connecting to the most sg smart deivces preferably not by WiFi
how long have you been using smartthings? if you are happy with it then no need to think of home assistant. How do you define sg smart devices?
@AlexTeo so far only limiting factor for smartthings is the access to those cheap zigbee/z-wave sensors and switches. Since there's a need for their own hub to link to smartthings or no official support when added to the smartthings hub
By sg I mean those that communicates at sg approved frequencies and works with 230v ofc. Don't want to be blasting illegal RF signals that isn't approved by IMDA since there's 2 different standards of frequencies. If there's sg cybersecurity label would be best, wouldn't want to encourage weak security devices and causing people's homes to become botnet and potentially get them into trouble
Runs with smartthings and legally within sg. Securely, if possible, but not necessary as there's knox protect within smatthings currently
If you consider Shorcuts on Apple to be part of the Automation, then you should also consider Modes & Routines on Samsung phones. There are way more triggers in it. You missed that part.
its fair to consider shortcuts on Apple because homekit users will definitely be using iphones while that's not the case for smartThings. I mentioned that for the last category there are many options that I can include and platform ecosystem is one of them
Hi can I check which supplier you got your home assistant? Try looking at the website however a lot of different option
from crowd supply
Aww man... Im stuck.. i love the ring peephole camera and i bought it.. but i love how itiuitive the google assistant is.. how should i go about it :(
find a way to use both!
Hi Alex
What would you recommend for someone who is retrospectively trying to turn his home smart but didn’t plan anything in advanced. which means I did know I want to implement a smart home set up, but I didn’t bother with the products specifics ( whether or not they worked togehter)
i will suggest to do a bit more research, youtube videos are a good way and there are many more smart home focused youtubers out there. Decide on the platform first, then you will more or less know what to buy
Iv given home assistant a go, the prob is i want a system that works without me spending my life maintaining, im leaning on homey as i used to to love stringify and it looks very similar, i have smartthings atm, google and also alexa, its a total mess my setup, i just cant decide if google or alexa, then what hub, i also have a full somfy setup with tahoma, i think i can sell the tahoma if i get homey and run it direct.
Hi Alex, would you know if HA works well with fibaro devices? thinking to move to HA eventually.
No idea how well is the integration as I don't have a single fibaro device. You can check out the details here, www.home-assistant.io/integrations/fibaro/#:~:text=Go%20to%20Settings%20%3E%20Devices%20%26%20Services,screen%20to%20complete%20the%20setup.
Which system that can connect to power source and dont have to replace individual devices battery?
Thanjks Alex. Do you have any YT links to Homebridge hobbs?
can check out this channel - youtube.com/@ShaneCreates
any idea where we can purchase home assistant hub? so far i searched sg dont sell it. and any plans for a step by step setup video?
i got it from crowd supply, i will do a dedicated video on home assistant but most likely not a step by step tutorial type of video
Thank you for the great overview information as always. I am under option 1 stage 2. Stage 3 here I come 😂
Gogogo!
To remote access HA, can't we open port + use reverse proxy, or use tailscale vpn instead of using the paid service?
Yes there are cheap workaround ways to resolve remote access to the HA app, then you still have to figure out your voice assistants. Paying the sub is just the easiest n supported way
I think this comparison shoul be based on what kind of smart appliances you have at your home. If most of them are apple base like your setup then of course homekit is best for you but if they're samsung then smartthings works best with them and so on. It depends on what you want. Many smart appliances work with google or alexa too.
Yeah as far as integration is concern, after i look at the results based on my own setup, i think the scoring is still fair. You should always pick the platform first before choosing the device manufacturers
Hi is there a reason why you went with HA Yellow prebuilt instead of starting from scratch with a Pi?
1. i like the case
2. i want the easiest way out
I’m in the market for one, what’s the best way for me to purchase one for sg? Asking since you recently got one.. I see they have a few sales channels on their official site
I agree with the conclusion, but I don’t have as wide experience with different ecosystems as you.
Thanks!
Hi Alex, Thanks for the video. It is very informative.
have a question though, would you consider Aqara as a stage 2 option?
I am pairing it with Google Home.
Thanks in advance
I'm thinking of this as well, since Aqara seems one of the most reliable and affordable ecosystems right now.
That is probably a stage 0 setup. Aqara is a device manufacturer that integrates into these platforms, you can't integrate other brands into aqara
Thanks!
wow thanks for the support!
How about Tuya/Smart Life as a smarthome system? I have been using it with Google Assistant and it has been working great. I dare say given how widely available Tuya products are available (and cheaply), it's actually the closest thing to home assistant when it comes to integration.
To use tuya as a smart home system means that you are locked in and limited to just using their devices as you can't integrate non tuya devices into the app. Tuya has a very wide range of devices so you could potentially have your entire smart home to base on Tuya. And thats how you have many smart home companies white labeling their products using tuya ecosystem as their business. I consider that as Stage 0, similar to an aqara centered setup, risk is you are putting all eggs into a basket
Alexa, I understand the term putting all your eggs in 1 basket. Tuya's range is so vast and all encompassing. It could not fit possibly fit the same thought category as being "one basket". There are so many disparate and brand specific apps in the thousands of Tuya devices. All can work in a monolithic system of either Smart Life or Tuya App. Most important and missed by many proponents and other channels - THEY ARE ALL NATIVE DEVICES - no third party cludging in. There are also serious upmarket sellers of smart home devices selling Tuya products BECAUSE the Smart Home device solution is NON-EXISTENT. You talk about Stage 0 for both Aqara & Tuya. I completely disagree. Having a Tuya only smart home of over 300 devices is not a Stage 0 user. Its an all in, live & working NOW solution. And Stage 3 if you mean Home Assistant (nearly all devices) can go LOCAL Tuya can stick in anyone's throat Smart Home because it is so inexpensive. It is not just for the wealthy and geeky nerd fraternity and the co-dependent channels presenting fads. Tuya to be honest is shunned too much - yet it as DIY as you make it.
@@rossjaniceourhouse8852except it relies on the cloud and you’re sending all your data to China… no thanks
Sorry, but any smart home solution that is dependent on which phone, and computer I have, is a non-starter.
100%
That's not the case for the majority of consumers
Classic Apple move 😂
@@spasokukotsky amazing people still think aaple is superior. Especially considering some of those peeps consider themselves techy peeps.
Hi Alex, have u done any review for Built In Dishwasher?
nope i didn't
Awesome video man. What is your view on getting China version for devices under companies like Aqara? They are way cheaper but you cannot integrate with their global version products.
Thx thx, in that case then don't pick google or amazon
Home Assistant! Welcome to the foray! The dashboard for HA can be customised in anyway, especially when using Bubble Cards or Mushroom Cards, recommend to give those a try.
Will you look into creating a smart home community or already participate in any?
Also, Merry Christmas!
Realistically i dont know how much i will make use of the HA dashboard, most likely just do 1 for fun, this youtube channel is my community haa
home assistant walkthrough please!
On apple home now. Possible to do a walkthrough on Homebridge and Hoobs for the Apple users that wanna move to stage 2?
Most likely not as i dont carry an iphone on a daily basis
What happen to Smart life? You didn’t seems to talk about it in this video. Do you have any solution to link all my mi home and tuya lights?
tuya is a device manufacturer not a central management system like those compared in this video
@@AlexTeo ooh icic. What about smart life app? They are also not central management system?
@@hanliangding they aren't, only for tuya devices
Can you do a reviews and ranking for wet and dry vacuums please?
i will consider :)
Hi Alex! What do you think about Hoobs?
i don't have first hand experience with it, can't really comment
Hey Alex, ever considered doing a Home Assistant consultancy service? I would gladly pay for you to help me start it up and guide the basics of home assistant!
I have far more experience than him with Home assistant. Actually he's very new to this system. There are dozens of channels with vast experience with home assistant.
First, check these other channels and read. It's not that difficult.
Hit me up if you can't do with the videos and need more assistance
no more free time for any side projects with my job + youtube + gaming haa, are you based in singapore? there are smart home companies here providing such services though
@@AlexTeo do you have recommendations for these companies?
Hmmm, so Google Home is the best option. Kool, this video narrowed down which app I will use to manage all my home smart devices. Not sure how Apple solution got such a high mark when it comes to not being free. But hey I get which you prefer.
Alex, You are doing an excellent job on your CZcams channel. Keep them coming. Your Kitchen renop was really incredible. Sometime (time permitting) in 2024 I will be launching my own CZcams channel but it will be almost all Tuya products. I will detail the EcoSystem in practical application to a standard suburban modern Australian home internally & outside property Smart Home application in gardens and landscaping application. Our homes are at the cutting now with improved environmental insulation (re: climate change), resilience to cyclones & energy efficiencies such as Solar Panels and batteries. Our country is going through a energy revolution quietly. Smart Home will play a major role in increasing that energy efficiency per household. Way beyond the stick on wall devices & their associated applications. Proliferation of electric cars & charging stations will escalate in the next 4 years here. There will be a lot of material to cover. Larger full housework & aged care by improved robotic development for smart home I am seeing come together. Finally the channel will not only be smart home but rather the application of improved life quality outcomes such as health, cost effective solutions and energy efficiency (lowering the carbon footprint applications). Till then have great New Year.
Thanks and all the best to your youtube channel. Remember to tag me if you did a video to evaluate smart home systems, i am curious how your scoring matrix will look like
Home Assistant no doubt for best integration and support and cost is as little as 50-100sgd or just use an existing pc to run. I no idea why it was placed far ahead than the rest. also the ease of use is depending on if you want to customized to your own ui look. It provides the basic functionalities.
Assume not every household has a pc, pc itself is a cost both hardware and software license, and if you are going to run on vm or container 24/7, thats operating cost, still have to get zigbee stick and how about other protocols. Not every integration is simply just giving login credentials, some have to deal with api, write yaml or follow bunch of config steps. This entire comment i really dont expect an average person to understand so that explains the ease of use too
Yes that's why I mentioned basic functionalities. :) also yes it used to be very difficult for average to set those custom settings and writings those yaml files. HA has changed alot since the beginning of this year. You can create quite advanced setting with no code at all.
@@dotcypher ok give you some examples of basic functionalities, 1 remote access, 2 geofencing, 3 integrate switchbot, all these can be done by other systems in 1min. I didn't expect to justfiy why HA has a lower ease of use score vs the others in the list haa
@@dotcypher having to encourage people to try out smart home is hard enough, now you have to tell people that they don't need to write codes but still need to read documentation, watch tutorial guides to do something basic, not easy man
Yes some certain extend I agree with you but it wouldn't be the best or the worst in this case. Cost is subjective here depending what hardware do you have. Aren't all the devices are 24/7?
can I subscription to google nest aware from singapore?
Hi Alex..how about Tuya?
they are at 3:12
Alex , for stage 2, smart things. Need get a smart things hub ..
yup, i briefly talked about it under the cost section
Home Assistant, no debate.
But if you consider ease of use and maintenance effort then its a different story
Any old PC can run Home Assistant, so for many user the hub cost is 0
i choose to go with a baseline that I think to make sense for the comparison, smartthings user can also say that smartthings is 0 cost too from one of their samsung appliance, or a homey user can argue homey is just 2.99
do you know why the google nest speakers can't be found in Singapore from the google official store or major retailers anymore?
I just checked and they are there
Nr1 should be homey
Got Aqara?
yeah i got aqara in my setup 3:12
I mainly use alexa and feel I've maxes out on what I can do with it. I also add all devices to Google but rarely use the app.
I've looked at smarthings but not bought the hub. Well I did then returned it as I couldn't connect a few things.
Now I'm looking at smartthings again but for the same price or a little bit more I could go with home assistant green. I'm worried about the jump and what is involved with home assistant.
Overall I'm happy with alexa but it just needs to allow me to do a few more things.
its how much you want alexa to do those few things, just get the home assistant green and try it out then, if you don't like it then just sell it away
Why is local rated so lowly 😮
Because i really dont rate it as super important haa, companies don't even bother to run their own servers in a datacenter anymore and moved to cloud, that's why i mentioned unless your internet is constantly down then you have a very good reason to want a local setup
integration and ease of use should have been 1 category... you even overlapped the whole point of the 2 categories....
I'm sure everyone will have their own evaluation scoring matrix! i applied some of my enterprise IT knowledge taking references from gartner and forrester haa
this is the lamest video i've seen on this topic 😂 apple is user friendly? lawl
So which part of homekit is not user friendly and how would you rank them, please share your non lame opinion
@@AlexTeo homekit need a seperate fuking device for automation while google does everything on app. google's app also work on every fking device. on apple home u have to scan thing like 2008 while on google everything is supported & get connected automatically. not to mention ios itself is lame af in terms of user friendliness. no way in hell apple will be in front of google in terms of user friendliness
@@YasinHasan i wanted to response to the points you made but as i read on your comment, you just sound like a typical apple hater that is irrational, no idea what apple has did to you. Please copy and paste your comment to all other apple homekit videos on youtube
@@AlexTeo sure buddy 😂 whoever says the truth is a hater. apple home isnt even comparable to google home.
useless advice, Home Assistant all the way. Apple Home will drain your phone battery and Google will give away your private data. How on earth did I get a recommendation to watch this Video??!
Have to ask yourself why still watch when you have already drawn such a conclusion
@@AlexTeo Maybe because I try to be open minded? my bad!
sorry man totally disagrees, i got rid of Google in Favour Amazon. The routines have been there for years and the built in Zigbee hub save my ass when Osram decided to drop support for the Gu10 and other lights. Was left with the decision of replacing 48 downlights or going to Amazon and buying one with Built in Zigbee. All the lights were transferred. All Zigbee lights including Phillips lights work without a ZigBee gateway! Google does not have a built in Zigbee hub which takes away the devices connecting to the Wi-Fi router directly. Found that Zigbee lights also respond quicker than devices connected to the Wi-Fi router. Your personal preference does not sit with everyone here. I have over 129 devices and that would be a nightmare connecting to the Wi-Fi router directly. As an example, I have TP link door ZigBee door sensor, when it opens in an open state its instant. All my other door sensors there is a delay from 5 seconds to 30 seconds.
Definitely everyone will have their own ranking! The built in zigbee had a super limited compatible support, amazon also didnt seem to put dev resources to it after adding it couple of years ago. Zigbee vs wifi is a separate discussion man, from my testing performance is tied to multiple factors, not simply just zigbee better than wifi
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