Nest Protect: A smoke detector

While smoke detectors are essentially installed for your safety, it can also tend to be quite annoying at times. For example, if your cooking produces too much of steam, it can end up setting off the fire alarm. Sometimes, the low battery warning can set off at odd hours of the day or even at night while you’re asleep. Most people for the sheer annoyance simply disconnect the fire alarm thereby putting their safety at risk. Coming from the Nest Labs Company, the Nest Protect in the generation of SMART gadgets has come up with a “Smart” smoke detector. Nest has already made an impact in the US market with its thermostat and the Nest Protect works on similar lines of technology. Features

Apart from the obvious smoke detecting sensor, the Nest Protect has several other sensors that also have a carbon monoxide sensor to protect people against any harmful combustion gas produced inside the house. Other sensors include an ambient light sensor, humidity sensor, three motion detectors, and a heat sensor. The humidity sensor helps differentiate between smoke and steam. The Nest Protect’s additional and “Smart” features include a dual wireless radio and an 802.11 Wi-Fi enabled feature through which you can connect to your home internet network. Multiple smoke alarms installed in the house can help you communicate with the other alarms through the Wi-Fi enabled system.

One of the best features of this product is the light ring that glows in three different colours- red, green and yellow. The red glow is the indicator for the fire alarm while the yellow alerts you for low battery. At night when the lights are put out in the house, the alarm ring glows green thereby indicating that the device is functioning well. Its motion sensors at night can sense when you get up and glows in a soft white light working as a night lamp. Since the Nest Protect is a smart smoke detector, and therefore an internet connected device, you can download the special app on your iPad or iPhone and get alerts on them for low battery or the smoke alarm being set off. Functioning The smoke detector has a high volume siren and also announces the location where it has been set off in a loud female voice. The location is usually labelled while installing the alarm in the house. So when there is smoke in the bedroom, the alarm set off would announce that “there is smoke in the bedroom”. In case of false alarms set off by smokes in the kitchen, the signal from the alarm can be put out by simply standing underneath the alarm and waiving your hand back and forth. The Nest Protect has received several positive reviews from most users who no longer have to worry about incessant false alarms being set off. However, considering its many positive features, the Nest Protect comes at a price of around $129, which can be expensive considering the many dual smoke detectors available in the market for around $50.