What’s the most underrated device or feature in your smart home?

This week Lynn called in to the IoT Podcast Hotline to ask us a very intriguing question: What’s the most underrated feature in our smart homes? Stacey had me at an advantage on this one since she just moved and hasn’t yet set up her smart devices yet. That gives her a perspective I don’t have since she knows what she’s missing from her old house.

It turns out a motion sensor linked to her Hue light bulbs in the laundry room is what she can’t live without. I get it since you can often have your hands full when entering a laundry room and can’t easily turn the lights on. With the motion sensor, just walking in with a basket of clothes can flip that switch automatically. I’ve done the same with a closet door and contact sensor.

My case is a little different because I didn’t realize the value I’d get from an indoor webcam facing outside the front of our townhouse. I had originally set it up to see who’s walking up the driveway but it turns out I gained much more from a different use case when a neighbor backed into our parked car. They denied the incident and the camera footage proved what happened, causing the neighbor’s insurance company to reimburse us for the damages in full, no questions asked. And that damage exceeded $1,500, so the small investment in a webcam paid itself off many, many times over.

How about you: What’s the most underrated feature or device in your smart home?

To hear Lynn’s question in full, as well as our discussion of the question, tune in to this week’s IoT Podcast below: