Our Favorite Smart Home Gadgets of 2024 (So Far)

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Robots are here. Whatever cyberpunk future they were imagining last century, we're living it. You can start easy with smartphones and health-tracking wearables like smartwatches, smart glasses, and smart rings. But once you’re comfortable, and have likely already taken it to the next level by connecting your kitchen to the Internet, it's time to bring the Internet of Things into every aspect of your home.

Google and Amazon have paved the way with smart home gadgets with their respective virtual assistants—Google Home and Alexa—whether it’s a smart speaker, smart alarm clock, robot vacuum, security camera, or air purifier. Sure, you can sit there and worry about data tracking. But tech is generally getting better with privacy. Honestly, though, whatever data you're worried about is already in the hands of the tech giants—you're robot coffee maker won't tell Amazon anything it doesn't know.

The erosion of privacy isn't our favorite thing, but your social media accounts are more detrimental than any smart home gadget. So if you're interested in leveling up your home with new tech, start here with the best smart home gadgets our tech experts have tested and reviewed.

Plug Mini

The easiest way to get started on the whole smart home thing is with smart plugs. Essentially, these things can make any electric device "smart." At the most basic level, you can plug in a lamp and then be able to turn it on via smartphone or voice assistant.

But, if you really want to get crazy, you can create preset combinations. Think like: Your lamp, coffee maker, and speaker are all plugged into smart outlets, and you set up a "morning" routine where one press of a button turns on wake up music, kitchen lights, and kicks on the coffee maker. That's what really makes these fun.

Purifier Cool Formaldehyde TP09

Breathing in unsullied oxygen—or, you know, cooling yourself off with it once in a while—while getting a live report of your home's air quality? That sure as hell beats getting prescribed an inhaler. So quit sniffing and coughing and get yourself Dyson's purifier-humidifier-cooling-fan that can draw in even the smallest particles and pollutants from afar, then circulate and project cleaner air throughout the room. It's so smart that it does the sensing and adjusting on its own. But even if you have no idea what in the hell formaldehyde is, you can control the purifier via your app or voice to cleanse some more particles.

Roomba i3+

I've done deep dives on robot vacuum cleaners, and the one that always stood out was this Roomba i3+ from iRobot. It's not amazing at any one thing, but it's the least fussy smart robot vacuum out there. Turn it on and forget about it, which is how a robot vacuum should be.

And of course, there's the option for app control, voice assistant control, and all the things you want from a smart thing.

Q Revo

But if you want a full-service robot house cleaner, Roborock makes a great vacuum-plus-mop. It's as good as the Roomba is at vacuuming, and then it'll go over your floors for a mop as well. And when it's back at its station, it gets a hot air dry, so your place doesn't smell like old mop.

Of course, all the regular smart features are there as well. The Roborock app is specifically good at giving you feedback on how your little guy is doing and where you might need to pick up some furniture to help him out.

360 Vis Nav

We had the Dyson Vis Nav for a while before it officially hit the market. It only took us a few days to realize this is far-and-away the best robot vacuum that's been made.

It's better at mapping your home. It's better at actually vacuuming, with about two-times the suction of competitors. (It actually lives up to that tagline.) And, it conquers the most difficult task any robot vacuum faces: rugs. This little guy has no issues jumping from hardwood to tile to carpet to rugs. It's a feat of smart engineering. Of course it was Dyson who did it.

Video Doorbell

For a doorbell, if you're just looking for something compact yet crated with features to see who's ding-donging or monitor deliveries, Ring's video doorbell does just that and far more—with cool feats like motion detection and night vision. Once installed—which requires some brains and muscles—you'll be able to see, hear, speak to anyone from your connected devices. It's your home, after all. Gotta know what's happening to protect it.

Nest Learning Thermostat

Maybe we should listen to SCOTUS and touch the thermostat less often. Google's smart thermostat gives you the reason. It learns from your habit to regulate the on-and-off schedules at the temperature you like. It can even sense and program which rooms should be at which climate, and knows to turn off the AC when you're away from home. Once properly installed—some efforts, of course—you likely will never need to touch it again, as the SCOTUS demands.

Echo Studio

For a one-stop-shop of smart home owners' delight, look no further than Echo Studio, the ultimate version of Echo Dot. It's likely the only speaker that sounds as good as it is smart, merging high-fidelity Dolby Atmos sound quality with, ta-da, Alexa. On one hand, its auto acoustic sensor ensures a playback that's fine-tuned to the room. On the other, it can connect to over one thousand smart home gadgets. Really, Echo Studio is as smart-home-living as smart-home-living gets.

Echo Show 5

The Alexa with speakers is great, but if you're setting one up in the kitchen or the bedroom, this is a better pick. The screen lets you use it like an alarm clock or as a recipe-reading, weather-checking, do-it-all kitchen screen.

One Smart Speaker

We endorsed this speaker waaaayyy back in 2017, and nothing has changed since then—just talking about smart speakers. It's still got the best sound profile of any smart speaker on the market, so it's a great bang for your buck.

Arc Soundbar

The ability to amplify spatial audio layers throughout the room as you binge-watch House of the Dragons or Only Murders in the Building has gotten Sonos' Arc soundbar to this list—and many more. It maps out that room’s acoustics first to decide whether to reduce echo and sound swallowing, then replicate a surround sound system for 3D experience if needed.

Set it up with two Sonos Era 100 speaker and one Sub for a smart wireless surround sound setup.

The Standard

Does a $10,000 music console make your eyes water? Probably. I get that. But in the world of luxury smart audio, no one does it like Wrensilva, and the craftsmanship justifies the price.

The idea is that this is a full-service modern music console with vinyl, bluetooth, Sonos compatibility, and even an RCA connection. But, it's got the luxury look and feel that you get from music consoles of old, with the highest-quality materials throughout.

It's really the analog aspect that makes Wrensilva so groundbreaking. You can play your favorite records in their old-school analog. Then, with the flip of a switch, you can beam your records to your Sonos home system and listen wherever you are on your property. Or, you could flip one more time and stream music directly from your phone. All of it is backed by the brand's industry-leading sound. This is the all-in-one home audio setup.

Indoor Wireless HD Security Camera

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Discreetly erect one (or three, or five) of these wireless security cams to keep the bad guys from Us or The Strangers on their damn toes. They're powered by batteries, so those bad guys can't disable them by cutting off the main power. If the bad guys in this case just happen to be your pets, then it can record video clips and let you monitor your paw-y roommates. You can even get creative and customize what kind of movements deserve alerting—moonwalks, taps, renegade dance from TikTok, etc. (Simply speak through the connected device to make the last one stop for good, please.)

Pro 4

If you're more interested in outward-facing cameras, don't worry, we've tested those too. This is the one that always came out on top. It's got great weather resistance, reasonable storage, and the battery lasts for about a month.

Flo by Moen

A security camera is the all style, no substance smart home protection device. Sure, homes get burgled, but it's way less common than the local news makes it out to be.

What's way more common than anyone thinks? Water damage. No matter big or small, water damage is a nightmare for property owners. Thankfully, tech companies have gotten this one right with smart water monitors. This Flo by Moen can detect leaks. It will alert you if a fixture got left on. It will give you usage data with goals on lowering your water bill. And, it can even sense pressure changes, alerting you if you're at risk of a frozen pipe. You'll have to pay a plumber to set it up, but this is really life changing stuff.

Smart Home Hub

When you hit a certain level of Smart in your home, you're going to want a hub for all these gadgets. It's stupid, but because all your gadgets are on different apps, your phone can end up getting a bit cluttered.

This hub essentially just aggregates all your smart devices to one control center. You can use it to make different brand devices play nice, automate, and do all their smart things in sync.

Smart Alarm Clock

Call it the Roger Federer of getting your ass out of bed on time, or the Serena Williams of putting you to sleep. Loftie's smart alarm clock plus sleep assistant will get you banish unhealthy sleep habits, like checking your phone before closing your eyes, with white noise, medication guide, music player, and soothing wake-up tones. It's the sleep-focused alarm clock if we've ever known one. And even though there is a snooze button, we doubt you'd need to use it often.

AirDresser 3

One of the most future-thinking smart gadgets out there is the AirDresser that Samsung makes. Essentially, it's a dry cleaner that fits in your closet. With options that have three or five hangers, it'll fit most closet situations. It steams, sanitizes, deodorizes, and dry cleans, all from an app.

Lines Wall Lights Starter Kit

If and when every utilitarian device in your home is smart as a whip, move on to smartening up your home decor. Nanoleaf's Lines will put on a bespoke light show for you, courtesy of its configurable accent lighting, which you customize via your voice or your phone. Or, simply choose from its pre-set "scenes" to view the RGB animations. It even reacts to the rhythm in your song of choice—wanna see how the lights will dance to "Turkish March" or "Stayin' Alive"?

RGB Play Gradient Light Tube

The Nanoleaf is great, but hanging it on your wall is a bit overbearing, from a design perspective. A Philips Hue bar will do everything the Nanoleaf does—RGB gradients, synch with music and TV, etc.—in a more out of the way package.

Set it up on a dresser for bedroom ambiance. Put it behind your TV and sync it for an immersive display. Or, display it on the entertainment set and sync it with your music for a fun party display.

Smart Espresso & Coffee Machine

Yes, $800 for a coffee maker is a wild, we're on your side. But if you add up all the $4 espressos, $5 cortados, and $6 lattes you drink... The investment starts to make sense.

The Spinn makes about 30 unique drinks and grinds the exact amount of beans for each input. (Literally an at-home barista.) You can place an order from anywhere with your phone with the Spinn app, which is incredibly easy to navigate. Or if you want to really level up, you can pair it with your smart home assistant and order coffee as you would in your local third- or fourth-wave coffee shop.

The only downside to The Spinn is that you have to do your own milk frothing. But the upside is that you can buy with a matching milk frother, and it takes mere seconds to use.

The Frame TV

Our favorite status TV in 2023 is actually way more than a cool gadget to wow your friends with. It's actually a great fucking TV.

Samsung created The Frame as the antidote to having your TV function as a giant black hole when not in use. The brand sees it as a legit societal issue, and we agree seeing art or pictures of family when the thing is off gives your house an air of Zen. But the real innovation from that is the matte screen, which is meant to better display artworks and photos. We've found it works wonders if your TV sits in a particularly sunny spot, drastically reducing glare while keeping images nice and crisp.

Beyond that, Samsung's SmartThings Hub is probably our favorite in the industry, as it does a great job of incorporating any smart home object and makes sure they all play nice. Control your Samsung TV, Sonos speaker, Google thermostat, and Amazon Ring doorbell all from the same interface.

PX1-PRO Short Throw Laser Projector

But if you're looking towards The Future, we are really bullish on projectors. Like Samsung's Frame, this is a totally different solution to the void that is a blank black screen.

Some projectors offer portability and outdoor watching, but this top-of-the-line Hisense model is meant to stay indoors. It's a short-throw projector, meaning it can sit on an entertainment set mere inches from your wall and give you a silver screen style 4K ultra-HD picture. Plus since it's a laser projector (we'll spare you the science behind that) you get a clear image day and night, no need for blackout curtains.

Air Conditioner

Wouldn't you know it, they made window AC units smart, too. The utilitarian solution to air control can has been welcomed into the Internet of Things.

There's a lot of great window AC units out there these days, but July makes one of our favorites. First, it looks great, with neutral matte finishes that are our favorite on the market. But it's also one of the best smart options out there. The app is easy to use, and July is pairable with Google Home or Alexa (Siri compatibility is on the way).

Konnected Joe, 18-inch

If you think that charcoal grilling is smart-home resistant, you're wrong! Kamado Joe's Konnected Joe—which won Best Grill in the 2023 Esquire Home Awards—is a revolution.

With Wi-Fi connection, it's as easy to use as a pellet grill, but the ceramic kamado build gives you all the advantages of a world-class charcoal grill. It feels like old-school grilling, but you can set more exact temperatures with digitally regulated airflow, making this thing ideal for more precise roasting and smoking.

Plus

Nothing changes the way you cook meat like a smart thermometer. No more guesswork. No more opening doors and losing all your heat. Pop this thing in the thickest part, and get meat as well as ambient temperatures straight to your device.

What to Consider in Smart Home Devices?

• Assistant software: Are you a simp for Google or Amazon? Or are you too above them and only able to tolerate Apple? Decide on which voice or virtual assistant you'd like as your home steward—Amazon's Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple's HomeKit, Samsung's Bixby, and so on. Some smart home gadgets here are compatible with more than one or two assistants, but many don't. Once you get the right one, voice control or hands-free control shall prevail.

• Connectivity: Thankfully, most smart home appliances operate via a wireless connection, which is good. And ultimately, it boils down to Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connectivity. Thus, here's a takeaway you should know for all wireless devices from now on: Wi-Fi is faster than Bluetooth, and provides steadier connection.

• Installation: Do you want to break a sweat or not? And how much sweat are you willing to break? Most smart home devices require zero to little—as in just read the manual and get the device set up—installation. But for some, especially if you need to mount them, get your tool kit handy. Or call for help.

How We Pick Smart Home Devices?

These 11 different smart home gadgets are all valedictorians within their respective classes. And below are the factors that we consider as we evaluate their GPAs.

• Look: If it doesn't look good, it won't cut it. Better to be smart and pretty than smarter but ugly. Hence, all of our picks will blend in with your home.

• Ease of setup: Most of our picks require little to zero effort in setting up. However, for thermostats and doorbells, installation is inevitable.

• Control: The best smart home devices offer both app and voice control in addition to buttons or screen displays. Remote control when you're away from home is also taken into consideration.

• What they are: Obviously, the categories they belong to matter. Our picks of smart devices will be the main course of your home, instead of appetizers like smart plugs, smart bulbs, or smart locks. And yes, you'll need them, even Samsung's AirDresser smart closet.

And no, we don't consider price much. Not that we're snobby, but because we firmly believe that if it's good, you should buy it. And if it's good and expensive, then consider the purchase as an investment with huge returns, which it likely is.

Why Trust Esquire?

We've been poking, prodding, and stress-testing products for years, allowing us to recommend the best tech worth your hard-earned money. With years of experience, we know what smart-home gadgets are actually worth the money and which ones are bullshit you don't need.

We promise to give it to you straight—no-frills, no-nonsense. We compile our guides by performing heavy research and testing, and the gadgets we choose are what we'd spend our money on.

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