Top 5 Smart Home and Home Automation Product Buying Rules

Considering a new purchase to start, add to, or complete your automated home? Most people find it daunting shopping for electronic goods. I probably look over 50 products a month. Some are available in Australia and others aren’t but the ideas or concepts sometimes trickle through. 

I always find it interesting what consumer “itch” the product is trying to “scratch”.  I see very similar products from differing brands but IS there always a difference?  Maybe it’s the App, integration simplicity, overarching alignment to another integration service, or something much more random.

How do you work through your purchasing decisions that you may not understand completely?

Here are my Top 5 Smart home and Home Automation product buying rules.

1. Buy ONLY reputable products
   1. Look at brand longevity, Australian accreditation and warranty 
   2. This is your home, treat it as a valuable asset, don’t risk poor performance from dodgy brands
2. Data safety as a pre-requisite!
   1. Your credentials, stored and activity information and authentication are a priority to be safely kept.  Yes the company can move its operation or get bought out, but hopefully your operating data is kept with you or the country you reside in
   2. Really think twice about buying  products that export commends/data to process
3. If it fails do you have local in-country representation?
4. If you need an electrician to install, abide by that requirement
   1. Don’t assume electrical safety, make sure your products are installed correctly
5. Ensure you can control, administer and alter features/functions or power down from YOUR device
   1. Local control is always so much better
   2. Ask the question to the manufacturer and/or your retailer on ‘what if’ scenarios if you lose internet connectivity – the responses may surprise you!

If you apply these as your purchasing guideline, it probably narrows down your brands to purchase goods from.  Looking at it another way, the non-enforcement of any above listed rules is where you potentially now have a risk with your home smarts or a pathway to obsolescence.

I am often asked, “why this product and not that product?”.  Using the rules above in parallel with a smart home functional strategy of my client always guides my recommendations.  

And by the way there is a 6th rule – don’t ignore the first 5 rules!

Buy Wisely. Stay Safe. Be Smart!