Nest Protect: a Better Looking, Better Performing Smoke Detector
I know it’s a first world problem, but I hate when a smoke or carbon monoxide detector starts chirping.
Fresh batteries are important, I know. But when your other half is out of town, two small kids are sleeping and you need to find a ladder and a screwdriver to stop it – and sometimes even that’s not enough, how they make those things difficult to pry open…
Enter the Nest Protect.
First you’ll notice how much better looking it is than the ugly white boxes it replaced. Nice.
But it does cost $99, so beyond aesthetics, let’s find out why I now have more than one.
- Combination smoke and CO detector in one.
- Industrial-grade sensor lasts up to a decade.
- Interconnected. If my kitchen Protect senses fire and I’m two floors up tapping away at this computer, the Protect outside my office door will speak up.
- Checks its own batteries and sensors daily.
- Get alerts anywhere, anytime with the Nest app.
- Hush a false alarm with a button on the device or a tap from my phone.
- Pathlight: motion sensor light for those midnight snackers.
Perhaps best of all, there’s Nightly Promise. Each night when I turn off the lights, I look for a brief green glow. This means all my Protects have tested themselves, the batteries are good, and there won’t be any chirps.
Andrew Groff
09/10/2015 at 12:36 pmIf you get the battery version, you will want to use the lithium batteries that they recommend. I’ve tried the good old copper tops and they don’t last very long (maybe 3 months). I think this is so because Nest sends firmware upgrades to their products a lot. The Thermostat isn’t so bad because it’s hooked up to the house power, but the battery version of the Nest Protect rips through regular batteries. Take them at their word, get the more expensive replacement batteries (about 6 months life).
Samantha
09/10/2015 at 12:57 pmGreat advice, thanks Andrew!