Smart homes are so called because they make life easier, safer, and more fun. Over the past few years more and more people have been making their homes incrementally smarter by adding one device at a time. This contest is your chance to give your home’s IQ a major boost. We are giving away over $5000 in prizes!
We are familiar with other forms of intelligence; mental IQ and Emotional Intelligence, EQ, are based on the work of Frenchman Alfred Binet who was tasked with creating a way to assess which children needed educational assistance. If Binet could time travel to 2016 to create a method of estimating “Domestic IQ” he would probably begin by looking at how smart the average home is in each area of Canada, then look at the smartest homes and the things that make them smart and arrive at some sort of scale to meaningfully bridge the gap.
Domestic IQ
We don’t have the benefit of the expert Binet to create a Domestic IQ scale so I will have to propose one. We know that millions of Canadians already have at least one smart home device, though many homes are still without any, so that must be the lower extreme; many other people have their homes loaded with smart lights, locks, cameras, sensors etc. Your home is probably somewhere between the two extremes. I listed 6 basic types of smart home categories and some examples of products in each.
- Give yourself a point up to a maximum of 2 per category for each device in your home,
- add them up and
- look at the scale to determine how smart your home is:
Lights and switches
e.g., Philips Hue, Lutron Caseta |
Locks and doorbells
e.g., August locks, Ring Doorbell, Yale Locks and Door Viewers |
Security Cameras
e.g., Nest Cam, Arlo Cameras, Logi Circle |
Temperature and environment control
e.g., Nest thermostats and smoke detectors, Ecobee thermostats, Netatmo |
Security alarms and Sensors
e.g., Skylink, iSmart Alarms, D-Link Water Sensor |
Other
e.g., Circle with Disney,Chamberlain Garage Door Openers, Rachio Sprinklers |
Is your house a GENIUS? Enter this contest and with over $5000 in prizes your home will be well on its way to becoming really smart if you win.
HOW TO ENTER:
You can submit a maximum of 2 entries for this contest. In a comment at the bottom of this blog article, tell us how smart your house is using the scale above: is it slow, average, clever, smart, or a GENIUS. In a separate comment, tell us one smart home product found at Best Buy that you would like to add to your home in the next year.
WHAT YOU CAN WIN:
We will randomly draw 10 winners. One person will win the Grand prize, one person will win the second prize and 8 people will each win one of the 8 individual prizes. The Prizes are shown here and also in the Rules and Regulations posted below.
| Grand Prize | Second Prize |
| ARLO SMART HOME 2 HD CAMERA SECURITY SYS August Smart Lock 2 – Silver – HomeKit edition August Doorbell Cam – Dark Gray AUGUST CONNECT 2 EN August Keypad – Dark Gray – EN LUTRON CASETA WRLSS SMART LIGHTING KIT ECOBEE3 HMK ENABLE SMRT THRMSTAT W/RS ECOBEE3 EB-RSE3PK2C-01 REMOTE SNSR 2 PK Circle with Disney Dog & Bone LockSmart Silver Keyless BT D-LINK DCH-S160 WI-FI WATER SENSOR |
ARLO SMART HOME 4 HD CAMERA SECURITY SYS Ring Video Doorbell Pro YALE KY FREE LCK PSH BTTN SATIN NCKL Circle with Disney |
Individual Prizes
Ring of Security Kit- Satin Nickel
Nest Cam Outdoor Security Camera
Circle with Disney
YALE LOOK DIGITAL DOOR VIEWER WIFI
YALE VDF KY FREE LCK PSH BTTN BRONZE
LOGI CIRCLE PORTABLE HOME CAMERA BLK
D-Link DCS-5010L Pan/Tilt Camera
SKYLINK SKBB-2S SECURITY KIT
The contest runs from October 21st until November 3rd.
Remember you can enter twice, in separate comments below this blog article. Be sure to tell your friends and family so they too have a chance to raise the Domestic IQ of their homes.
Good Luck
How smart is your home contest rules and regulations
Table of Contents
-4 is my rating
Definitely, the next thing on my list is a Nest Thermostat. Every little bit helps.
Unfortunately my home would only rave average. Looks like I’ve got a lot of work to do.
I like the Nest Thermostat.
Our home scored a Zero, not surprising.
I would like the Nest Thermostat.
My house scored a zero.
Average
I would like to add a Ring Wi-Fi Video Doorbell Pro.
My home ranks a 4 …average.
I would love to add a Nest thermostats and smoke detectors in my home next year
My home would be rated slow 2
OUR HOUSE IS AT 0, WOULD LIKE TO INSTALL A SECURITY SYSTEM, BECAUSE SOME ONE WENT THREW MY TRUCK ONE NIGHT WHILE IT WAS PARKED IN THE DRIVEWAY
Our home is about a five , we have a security system , but would definitely love to upgrade to , to a much much better system
Smart LED starter kit
The Wired 32-Channel 2TB DVR Security System with 24 Bullet 700 TVL Cameras, would be a real asset!!
Mine is just average. We live on rural property, so some of this would be impossible for us.
I would really like to add the August lock to our house in the next year
My house is rated a 2 (average)
I think that I would be interested in the nest cam.
Our home is average.
I would love to buy the Philips Hue starter light system if I were to buy one. It would be a nice thing to have in the dark winter months.
I would give my house a 5 out of 10. Of course a house is only as smart as the people in it too.
My house is slow. I would like to buy the Nest Wi-fi thermostat in the next year.
I would rate my home a 5 .I’m still a little afraid of being hacked in and loosing mt privacy .
I’d love to add some of the smart lighting and smart plugs in the next year
My home is a big ol’ 0. Hoping to change that though!
I would like to add the Netgear Arlo wireless Camera security system. With increased number of break ins in our area I’d like to do what I can to secure our home. The Yale look digital door viewer would also be amazing. Two nights ago a random drunk man was pounding on our door in the middle of the night, it was unsettling and without thinking my husband opened the door, the guy had just said wrong house and walked away but something could have happened and being able to see who is out there before you open the door would give us a better sense of security
My home is borderlands be slow/average. It really needs a lot of upgrading in the smart department!
I would love to have the nest thermostat, would be great to be able to program it while out of the house
My house is average
New alarm or thermostats would be great to add next year!
my house is slow!
Our house is rated average according to the scale.
I would be rated at a 4. Do not realize how unsafe we live until you see available products.
average
My house is average. I would like to have any of the security systems starting with the ARLO SMART HOME 2 HD CAMERA SECURITY SYSTEM
D-LINK DCH-S160 WI-FI WATER SENSOR is on my list to buy. My home is slow…much needed items on the list in the giveaway! zero here
The Night Owl Wired 8 Channel 1TB Security System with 4 1080p Bullet Cameras – Black/White would be a nice addition to my home.
I think the Nest Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat 3rd Generation woulkd be a great thing to have
My home is not very smart, it’s on the slow side
My house would be rated a 4 on the scale. Needs some work!
these products would be great! I would like to start by getting the Dog & Bone LockSmart Silver Keyless BT
2 but with two big dogs a feel pretty secure
Rated average.
I would love a security camera like the Motorola Focus73 Outdoor camera.
I would like a Chamberlain Garage Door Opener, but I would also need a garage haha
My house is average. 3
We are constantly trying to reduce our carbon footprint. As such, we are using energy saving and efficient devices. We use Honeywell thermostats to control the heat and take advantage of heat rising by keeping lower floors warmer and letting the rising heat take care of the highest level. We are in the process of finding the best lighting solution with sensors that easily go on and off when someone is in the room. Our kids complain sometimes about our energy saving measures but we constantly stress they are not as cumbersome if you make them a habit, hence the ‘habits are hard to break’ saying.
we would love to add the August Doorbell Cam to our home
my house is average but we are working on upgrades 🙂
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