CES is a humungo show and I surely didn’t catch all the announcements, but here are a handful new smart home products that caught my eye.
Ring Solar Path Lighting, April, $40
Ring looks to massively improve upon their connected pathlights, that I currently value, by swapping out four D batteries per stick with solar+USB charging, yet retaining high lumens and inverting the reflector so as to be less blinding. Hopefully they’ve also tweaked the motion sensitivity as mine illuminate with even often distance motion.
Kwikset Halo Touch Smart Lock, 2020, $250
Instead of punching in a numeric code, fumbling with an app, or relying Bluetooth proximity of questionable security (Kevo), the Halo Touch provides efficient access to your home via fingerprint reader and easily keyed to match your existed locks with Kwitset’s smart key tech. It comes in a couple of finishes and styles — my home would probably be best served by the ‘traditional’ in bronze and hope the green lighting only appaers on scan. Honorable mention goes to the refreshed August Smark Lock retrofit kit which is no longer comically large, just large, and adds native WiFi connectivity.
Kohler Moxie Alexa Showerhead, 2020, $230
It seems pricey and probably requires more care and feeding than I’d like, in periodic charging and wipe downs, but man I’d love this Alexa speaker — an elegant package that places the mics and speaker exactly where we can hear one another within the noisy, enclosed shower vs screaming at the counter speaker that I can barely hear.
What else looks good?