If you take a look at our series there are a lot of great gift ideas, and today we’re going to talk about one of my favourite gifts: the gift of Nest.
Nest thermostats have been around for a while, but they’ve since added some Nest products that work together seamlessly to create a very functional smart home for anyone who has them. Although I don’t have the Nest thermostat because I don’t have a furnace, I do have the Nest Protect Carbon Monoxide and Smoke Detector and I tell everyone I know how great it works and what a stress relief it is to have it.
Maybe you know someone (or a bunch of someones) who would love the gift of Nest. Here’s a quick look at what you can find right now at Best Buy:
Nest Learning Thermostat
I remember those icy cold mornings when the furnace hadn’t cut in and I had to get up out of bed, walk out to it and turn it on, then run back to bed until the heat had cut in. Maybe you’re braver than I am, but icy cold floors aren’t my favourite thing when I haven’t even had coffee yet.
That’s where the Nest Learning Thermostat comes in, and this is a gift that will keep giving all year long. The 3rd generation Nest Thermostat is thinner, has a bigger display, and an even sharper screen resolution so you can read it from across the room. It connects to your Wi-Fi network so you can remotely turn your heat up or down or schedule it to turn on when you get home for the day.
Because it’s a Learning Thermostat, it picks up on your patterns and automatically adjusts the temperature to suit you, and it has Weather aware to monitor your outdoor temperatures to best adjust your heat. Put all of this together and you have a huge savings on your energy bill, because you aren’t heating your home when you don’t need to.
Don’t think this is a smart home device that’s just for winter either: if you have a heat pump in your home you can use Nest to automatically control your home’s air conditioning too.
Nest Protect Smoke Detector and Carbon Monoxide Monitor
True story: my first experience with Nest Protect was in my previous home. It was a battery-operated version and I installed it in the hallway. Once in awhile I’d test it, and I monitored the battery power via the Nest app on my phone. One day, not long before we moved, I received an alert on my phone from my Nest Protect. It said smoke was detected in the hallway, and thankfully I was only 5 minutes from home so I could rush there and check it out.
Turns out it was my neighbor BBQing/burning something big, and because my windows were open the smoke flooded into my house. It was crazy that the Nest Protect picked that up.
The Nest Protect will also pick up carbon monoxide, and if it does detect either smoke or carbon monoxide, it will tell you there’s trouble with an actual voice. I like her voice, and I imagine that would wake me up from a sleep easier than just a simple beep of a smoke detector.
These are only a few of the reasons why I decided to buy two more wired Nest Protects when I moved into my renovated house, and they truly give me peace of mind. I can’t imagine a better Christmas gift than that.
Nest Cam Wifi Indoor Camera
I’ve had people ask me why I have so many cameras on my property. It’s not just because they monitor my home and surrounding area in case anyone gets any ideas and saunters on in, it’s because I have a border collie puppy and he’s a little destructive when left unattended. I like to be able to check in and see what’s going on.
That’s why Nest Cam is so great. It connects to your home’s Wi-Fi network and will be your eyes and ears when you’re away from home for an hour, the day, or on vacation. It gives you 24/7 video streaming you can watch live or record, and if it detects motion the Nest Cam will send you an alert to your phone.
You can also use the Nest Cam to talk to whomever is at home. With 2-way audio, it will record sound and let you listen in or speak through the camera to anyone from family members to naughty dogs.
Nest products work together
The best part of gifting a Nest product this Christmas is that they all work together to add convenience to someone’s life. If you have a Nest Thermostat, Nest Protect, and Nest Cam, they automatically connect when you install them, and they can save you in an emergency.
For example, if your Nest Protect detects carbon monoxide, it will alert your Nest Thermostat to shut down the furnace. It will also alert you, so you know not to go home. The Nest Cam will share you video clips of any emergency event it detects, so if there is a fire detected by the Nest Protect, the Nest Cam will share images that could help show you how it started.
Nest products also work with a host of other smart home devices. You can see them all here, but the list includes Phillips Hue smart light bulbs, the Withings Aura Sleep System, and many more.
There’s no end to the possibilities when you have Nest products, and any one of these would be a great Christmas gift for someone this year.
That’s it for Day 6 of the 12 Days of Christmas gifts. Take a look at all of the other 12 Days of Christmas gifts we’ve done, and tune in tomorrow when Lindsey’s Day 7 talks about all of the great things you can find from Dyson.
Main image from giphy.com
