Switching up your smart home with Switchbot
| Pros | Cons |
| Affordable. Connects to almost all smart assistants. Can create very powerful automations. | Not Wifi connected out of the box Some products can feel more polished than others |
Whether you are just getting started with your smart home journey or you already have a thriving ecosystem of devices you may already know the name Switchbot for the smart finger bots that have revolutionised how we look at smart homes and ‘dumb’ products but what’s less known is their additional offerings to create a budget-friendly well rounded smart home. So in this article, I had the pleasure of looking at a range of swtichbots products from bulbs all the way to Thermometers. Paring all of these devices together into 1 Switchbot ecosystem truly does rival that of any Smarthome system I have used in the past and can even perfectly integrate into pre-existing smart homes with ease.
Setting up any switchbot device and integrating it into your network is a breeze, be that a Bluetooth device or Wifi enabled bulb, opening the app the bots and accessories appear ready for connection, if you have a hub it will walk you through the cloud setup process too linking to your existing assistants and accessories is applicable. I have never had such a simple setup experience and many companies should take note, this is how smart home setup should be.
Many of SwitchBots offerings are significantly cheaper than that of other manufacturers with devices starting from as little as £11.99 for their RGB smart bulb. Alongside that low price SwitchBot offer significantly more value in terms of their hardware, let’s take their contact sensors, for example, alongside being a great way to know if the door is open or closed, it can also act as an ambient light sensor and even detect motion, giving 3 powerful smart home sensors in 1 low-cost device. All of these sensors can be accessed and used within the switch bot app for incredibly powerful scene automation. A large majority of their offers work without a hub too meaning it’s about as plug-and-play as it gets and setup is a breeze every time.
Energy efficiency is key for smart home products and almost all switch bot accessories are powered by a single or double AAA battery allowing for use for upto 3 years before needing to be changed which is certainly a plus for this kind of system as it enabled you to set and forget these accessories as they simply blend into your home and life. Their mains-powered products are also incredibly energy efficient too with the RGB bulb sipping just 10w of power compared to other smart bulbs on the market sucking back almost 60w of power with fewer lumens of brightness to boot.
Through its cloud integration with third parties (many devices will require the hub for this feature to work) such as Alexa, Google Home and others. switch bot devices and sensors can become fully integrated into any smart home ecosystem. every product SwitchBot offers can be integrated such as the thermometer, motion sensor and switch to automate things such as climate and lighting without a second thought.
It’s not always the case that you want to replace ‘dumb’ appliances in your home with smart offerings and this is where SwitchBot come into its own. Their bots and hub product lines make it easy to take almost every appliance in your home no matter its age and make it connected. Let’s take integrated ceiling lighting, for example, sure you could replace every bulb with a smart one, but this is not only costly but sometimes not an option at all. instead, placing one of the bots on your light switch and attaching the included anchor, you can remotely operate the switch from wherever you are in the world. Similarly, with the hub, you can replicate IR signals for devices such as TVs or sound systems. Building this sort of granular device control with the smart sensors SwitchBot sell did take my smart home to the next level. in the morning, my office contact sensor is tripped, A little bot powers on my PC and the hub turns on the monitors and sets the lighting perfectly for my work day.
To conclude new and veteran smart home users alike will be sure to find a switchBot product/s to meet their smart home needs from automating non-IOT devices to its plethora of data points for powerful automation and for their functionality and price I truly believe switchbot has a place in every smart home in one form or another.
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