Nest announces Protect intelligent smoke & carbon monoxide detector
Former Apple executive Tony Fadell's Nest on Tuesday took the covers off of its newest intelligent home product, a smoke and carbon monoxide detector dubbed 'Nest Protect.'
Nest on Tuesday added the Nest Protect to its offerings alongside the well-received Nest Learning Thermostat. The device's unveiling comes after rumors of the product began circulating last month.
The company said it chose a smoke detector as the followup to its successful thermostat because the current generation of devices often annoy homeowners and renters into disabling them all together, decreasing safety dramatically. Nest cited a study by the National Fire Protection Agency that found 73 percent of smoke detectors which failed to activate during a fire did not do so because their batteries were dead, missing, or disconnected, with false alarms cited as the most prominent reason for disabling the detectors.
In addition to detecting smoke and carbon monoxide ??a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas that is toxic to people and pets ??the Nest Protect features several user experience innovations. The device will produce a spoken warning, rather than a shrill alarm, if it detects levels of smoke or carbon monoxide that are considered below emergency levels, for instance. Warnings can be silenced by simply waving one's arm from within about eight feet of the Nest Protect.
Like its sibling, the Nest Learning Thermostat, the Nest Protect connects to Nest's cloud service via Wi-Fi and can be monitored and configured with an iOS application. If a home has several Nest Protect units, they can communicate with each other even if Wi-Fi is not working to deliver emergency warnings throughout the residence; Nest demonstrates this by showing a Nest Protect in a couple's living room broadcasting an alert that smoke has been detected in their bedroom.
The Nest Protect also communicates with the Nest Learning Thermostat. In the event of a carbon monoxide warning, the Nest Protect will instruct the thermostat to shut down a home's gas furnace. Additionally, The Nest Learning Thermostat can leverage the Nest Protect's built-in activity sensor to enhance and extend its own capabilities.
Similar in size and shape to Apple's previous generation AirPort Extreme, the Nest Protect comes in two versions ??battery powered and wired ??and will be available at launch in both black and white. It can be pre-ordered for $129.
When the Nest Learning Thermostat first launched two years ago, it promised to bring smart home capabilities to the masses with a somewhat affordable $250 price tag. The original device was sold through Apple Stores and home improvement chains like Lowes.
A second-generation thermostat was released about one year ago, with the aluminum clad device getting a slight redesign and enhanced functionality. It's available from Amazon and other retailers for roughly $250.
Nest on Tuesday added the Nest Protect to its offerings alongside the well-received Nest Learning Thermostat. The device's unveiling comes after rumors of the product began circulating last month.
The company said it chose a smoke detector as the followup to its successful thermostat because the current generation of devices often annoy homeowners and renters into disabling them all together, decreasing safety dramatically. Nest cited a study by the National Fire Protection Agency that found 73 percent of smoke detectors which failed to activate during a fire did not do so because their batteries were dead, missing, or disconnected, with false alarms cited as the most prominent reason for disabling the detectors.
In addition to detecting smoke and carbon monoxide ??a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas that is toxic to people and pets ??the Nest Protect features several user experience innovations. The device will produce a spoken warning, rather than a shrill alarm, if it detects levels of smoke or carbon monoxide that are considered below emergency levels, for instance. Warnings can be silenced by simply waving one's arm from within about eight feet of the Nest Protect.
Like its sibling, the Nest Learning Thermostat, the Nest Protect connects to Nest's cloud service via Wi-Fi and can be monitored and configured with an iOS application. If a home has several Nest Protect units, they can communicate with each other even if Wi-Fi is not working to deliver emergency warnings throughout the residence; Nest demonstrates this by showing a Nest Protect in a couple's living room broadcasting an alert that smoke has been detected in their bedroom.
The Nest Protect also communicates with the Nest Learning Thermostat. In the event of a carbon monoxide warning, the Nest Protect will instruct the thermostat to shut down a home's gas furnace. Additionally, The Nest Learning Thermostat can leverage the Nest Protect's built-in activity sensor to enhance and extend its own capabilities.
Similar in size and shape to Apple's previous generation AirPort Extreme, the Nest Protect comes in two versions ??battery powered and wired ??and will be available at launch in both black and white. It can be pre-ordered for $129.
When the Nest Learning Thermostat first launched two years ago, it promised to bring smart home capabilities to the masses with a somewhat affordable $250 price tag. The original device was sold through Apple Stores and home improvement chains like Lowes.
A second-generation thermostat was released about one year ago, with the aluminum clad device getting a slight redesign and enhanced functionality. It's available from Amazon and other retailers for roughly $250.
Comments
If $250 didn't sink the thermostat, I'm not sure why $129 would sink a smoke detector.
If $250 didn't sink the thermostat, I'm not sure why $129 would sink a smoke detector.
In my case, my home requires only one thermostat for a total of $250, but five smoke detectors for a total of $645 (local codes dictate that a typical 3-bedroom, single-story home requires five detectors). Plus, CO detectors have a finite life - typically requiring replacement every five to ten years because the CO detection becomes ineffective. Most CO/smoke detectors will emit a specific "chirp" when they expire. Nest has not yet mentioned this "little" fact. Perhaps they are using a new type of CO detection that doesn't wear out, but I doubt it. I suppose you could buy only one or two Nest detectors and use cheaper detectors elsewhere, but the cheaper detectors won't communicate with the Nest and you lose most of the advantages - you can't "wave" at cheaper detectors nor will they report your location. In fact, it's often not even legal to mix detectors since codes required them to be linked together so if one goes off they all go off. It will be interesting to read the legal disclaimers that accompany this product. Fire safety devices are governed by far more codes and requirements than thermostats.
If $250 didn't sink the thermostat, I'm not sure why $129 would sink a smoke detector.
I have 7 linked smoked detectors in my house. The cost/benefit on that becomes challenging for many.
Exactly, was about to say the same thing.
My home has 7 smoke detectors...i can't imagine sinking $1000 into smoke detectors. Would have loved to see Nest go after home security or something, like Canary.
The Nest thermostat was cool because it's something you interact with once in a while and it looked good. The smoke/C.O. detector is something you install and forget about until battery replacement. I don't think this will be near as popular as the thermostat. Most people also don't want a black device on a white ceiling (hopefully they offer it in white).
If $250 didn't sink the thermostat, I'm not sure why $129 would sink a smoke detector.
I have 11 smoke detectors and only 2 thermostats. That's $1,548. I don't think I want 11 wifi devices helping to clog up my network either.
I really like the idea, but honestly- using a monitoring company in addition to your security alarm is typically a much better choice- and at no additional cost other than the hardware. They hardwire a couple of smoke detectors into your security system and monitor it.
Again- great idea- particularly using automatic lights to light your way at night, wave to silence, and turning off your furnace when it detects CO- Nest is definitely attractive and trendy and on its way to commonplace automation in the home. But currently, it's still not the best option out there unless you're in a small condo or apartment home.
Starting to feel unsafe that my house has only 1 smoke detector...
I hate to be a party pooper, but I think this is going to turn out to be an epic failure for Nest. The detector requires AC power - something that the homeowner would have to pay an electrician to take care of in older homes in addition to the high price of the detectors themselves.
As for their thermostat - I love mine, but I feel they should be free. Why? Think about how much data they are harvesting from the hundreds of thousands of Nest thermostats in use. By sensing motion, light, wall temperature, ambient temperature, user temperatures, humidity, and knowing your utility (gas/electric) consumption by linking to utility companies through a recent acquisition, they can determine TONS of information including:
Size of your home
Size of your HVAC
When you're home
Your temperature and humidity preferences
Efficiency of your home
Efficiency of your HVAC system
Type of HVAC system
When you go to bed and when you wake up
The size of your home
When your home was built
Where you live
You local weather conditions
...
The list goes on. Nest is gathering extremely valuable data about real-world HVAC usage. This data is worth its virtual weight in gold to LOTS of people including utility companies, product manufacturers, our government... The concept of collecting, analyzing, and selling data is what is going to make Nest a fortune - not the hardware.
Not everyone is like you. They don't need to suit every single potential customer in order to be successful.
My home has 2 smoke detectors and 2 thermostats.
Not to mention, of course, that the smoke detectors just might save your life.
Not everyone is like you. They don't need to suit every single potential customer in order to be successful.
My home has 2 smoke detectors and 2 thermostats.
Not to mention, of course, that the smoke detectors just might save your life.
No, not everyone is like me - obviously, some require MORE than 5 detectors! If your home is large enough to require two HVAC systems, then having only 2 smoke detectors is probably well below the minimum required by the NFPA for new construction. I agree that every home should have working smoke detectors - and the correct number. If you have one in each bedroom and the doors are closed at night, they won't do any good if your kitchen catches fire until its too late. The NFPA requires a smoke detector in each bedroom and additional detectors in hallways outside of bedrooms and by a garage at minimum. Most houses will require at least five detectors. Nest wants you to put a detector in every room - bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens, garages, family rooms, studies, laundry rooms, etc. so you can pinpoint where the fire is. THAT is above and beyond what is reasonable and is a very different (and significantly more upscale) market than that of a $250 thermostat.
You should have one on every floor. Doesn’t have to be anything special.
I hate to be a party pooper, but I think this is going to turn out to be an epic failure for Nest. The detector requires AC power - something that the homeowner would have to pay an electrician to take care of in older homes in addition to the high price of the detectors themselves.
There are four versions of this - two black, two white - each color having a wired (AC) version and a battery powered version. Battery powered version will only connect to the network once a day to check for updates/communicate with Nest thermostat, wired version will connect every half hour (specs: nest . com /smoke-co-alarm/inside-and-out/)
Not everyone is like you. They don't need to suit every single potential customer in order to be successful.
My home has 2 smoke detectors and 2 thermostats.
Not to mention, of course, that the smoke detectors just might save your life.
Have you replaced your 2 thermostats with Nest Thermostats yet jrag? And are you going to replace your 2 smoke detectors with these?
Not everyone is like you. They don't need to suit every single potential customer in order to be successful.
My home has 2 smoke detectors and 2 thermostats.
Not to mention, of course, that the smoke detectors just might save your life.
So do the regular ones. I've never once taken a smoke detector down because it was chirping in the middle of the night. But yes, these look very nice and will sell to many. My local building codes would make it cost-prohibitive for me.
In the UK you're only allowed hardwired ones linked together and encouraged to use ones with a built in backup battery so in the event of a power failure the alarms still work. Battery only ones aren't allowed at all and a wifi network isn't acceptable for connecting them. It makes the Nest Product useless and non compliant with current regulations.
Nest does make hardwired ones. The requirement for the hardwired link is for two reasons - power and comms. But the law was written when wireless comms didn't exist in smoke detectors. I'll bet you could get it changed to accept WiFi, AC wired models.
The great thing about this device is that you can stop it going off by waving at it. If your house has many detectors probably only one or two go off frequently. I have taken out the one on the ground floor because it sometimes goes off when cooking. To have a detector that can warns you and which you can then silence is worth its steep price. The other detectors can stay as they are.
In the UK you're only allowed hardwired ones linked together and encouraged to use ones with a built in backup battery so in the event of a power failure the alarms still work. Battery only ones aren't allowed at all and a wifi network isn't acceptable for connecting them. It makes the Nest Product useless and non compliant with current regulations.
Similar to how it works here in the US. The NFPA (National Fire Protection Assocation) publishes the most widely accepted standards in the US. Most people don't know or even need to know who they are, but these are the folks that publish NFPA 70 - also know as the "National Electrical Code". They publish the standards that affect electricity, gas, fireplaces, chimneys, cooking equipment, heaters, smoke detectors, alarm systems, wiring, fire trucks, fire hydrants, fire extinguishers - pretty much anything you can think of that has to do with anything fire or safety related.
NFPA says about smoke detectors:
One in each each bedroom AND
One outside each sleeping area AND
One on each level
Hardwire interconnected so they all go off if one goes off
Installed by a qualified electrician (this does not include homeowners unless they are qualified electricians)
Replace every 10 years (or sooner if they fail a monthly test or recommend by the manufacturer)
Most jurisdictions adopt NFPA 72 National Fire Code standards as part of their code requirements. Detectors that are not AC powered or hardwired together are not permitted in new construction! It appears there is NO MODEL of Nest detector that meets current requirements for smoke detectors in new construction. Certainly, Nest is aware of this - you'd think!