The 10 Hottest Smart Home Gadgets Of 2021

CRN’s top picks for smart home gadgets this year include a new ‘future-proof’ smart home hub, an intelligent camera that automatically captures family moments and a device that helps bakers make better starters for sourdough bread.

Adding Smarts To Cameras, Home Security… And Bread

This year has seen the introduction of several new smart home gadgets of note, including ones that offer all-new capabilities, like a device that helps bakers make better starters for sourdough bread.

The hottest smart home devices of 2021, selected by CRN, also include a new kind of smart home camera that automatically takes photos and videos of family moments as well as a “future-proof” smart home hub that supports multiple device protocols for “maximum compatibility.”

Other categories represented in CRN’s top picks include outdoor smart plugs, smart displays, smart home buttons, smart flood lights, home security systems and personal training systems.

What follows are the 10 hottest smart home gadgets of 2021.

Aqara Hub M2

The Aqara Hub M2 is a new “future-proof” smart home hub that supports Zigbee 3.0, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and infrared devices for “maximum compatibility.” The smart home hub has a built-in speaker that can be used as an alarm of doorbell, made possible by configurable automations, and it supports several voice assistants, including Apple’s Siri, Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. The smart home hub also works with a wide range of Aqara sensors, each of which has a battery life of two or more years. Its retail price is $50.99, but it may be currently available at a discount.

Breadwinner

Breadwinner is a smart device that helps bakers make better starters for sourdough bread. This is made possible by infrared and ambient air sensors built into the top of a standard, 16-ounce mason jar that tracks the growth of a sourdough starter and its temperature, helping bakers determine how much and when to feed it and when it’s ready to bake. The device has built-in Wi-Fi connectivity, which allows it to transmit the data to an app that displays visualizations on starter growth, temperature and height. It is currently a prototype, but it is available to buy for $140 when it is in stock.

Canon PowerShot PX

The Canon PowerShot PX is a new kind of smart home camera that is designed to capture life’s most important moments. With built-in face tracking, the camera can pan 340 degrees and tilt 110 degrees to follow the action and automatically take photos and videos. A companion smartphone app then recommends the best photos and videos, including those with faces the software recognizes as familiar. The camera can also be controlled via smartphone to capture photos and videos manually. It is currently available in the United Kingdom for £449.99 and in Europe for €499.99.

Caséta Outdoor Smart Plug

The Caséta Outdoor Smart Plug is one of the latest smart home products from Lutron Electronics, and it’s built to survive extreme weather, thanks to its IP-65 rating and solid construction. The Smart Plug can be used to power a variety of devices, from holiday lights and inflatables to select motors and pumps, and it can be controlled through voice command, the Lutron app or the Pico remote control. The Smart Plug also has a built-in smart timer, and it supports integration with Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant, and Ring devices. The device is available for $79.95.

Echo Show 10

The Echo Show 10 is the latest Echo smart display from Amazon, which says that the device is a “complete reimagination of Alexa” and “has been upgraded in every way.” The device consists of a 10-inch, adaptive HD display that can rotate automatically and silently so that users can always see the screen and stay in frame for video calls as they move around. The device’s front-firing tweeter speakers and woofer also rotate with the screen to provide directional sound. Thanks to the device’s rotational features, it can periodically scan the room and detect people when Alexa Guard is in Away Mode. Echo Show 10 is available now for $249.99.

Eve Weather

Eve Weather is a new device that provides hyperlocal weather trends, thanks to sensors that track outdoor temperature, humidity and barometric pressure. The data collected by the device is displayed on its LED display and the Eve iOS app, the latter of which visualizes current and past weather trends. Eve Weather is designed to be outside and comes with IPX3 water resistance. The device works with Apple Homekit, Bluetooth and Thread, and it’s available for $69.95.

Flic 2

Flic 2 is a system of smart home buttons that allows users to program each button with different actions for various smart home devices. Every button can perform three different actions by supporting triggers for one push, two push and hold. For instance, one button can switch on the lights, turn on music and begin a smart home routine through the three triggers. Users can identify buttons by affixing function-specific stickers to them from Flix’s set of 40 stickers. The buttons are compatible with more than 1,000 devices and services, which includes Apple HomeKit, IFTTT and Philips Hue. The Flix 2 Starter Kit, which comes with three buttons and the Flic Hub LR, is available now for $159.9 without any discounts.

Hex Home

Hex Home is a home security system that uses Wi-Fi waves to detect human presence and motion, giving customers an alternative to traditional security setups. The vendor, Origin Wireless, claims that Hex Home is designed to reduce the number of false alarms by allowing users to tweak 10 sensitivity levels to filter out things like pet and mechanical motions. The system consists of two devices: the Hex Command, which is a pod that sits on a surface, and a Hex Sense, which plugs into the wall. With these two devices, users can see motion changes in real time and historically. The Hex Home smartphone app also lets users change system modes to manage the siren and customize alerts. Hex Home is available now starting at $179.99 without any discounts.

Ring Floodlight Cam Wired Pro

The Ring Floodlight Cam Wired Pro is a “re-imagining” of a floodlight that Ring calls its “most advanced outdoor security camera” equipped with radar-enhanced 3D motion detection technology. The camera’s 3D motion detection technology comes with a radar sensor that can detect when an object crosses a certain distance threshold, which, in turn, activates the camera to send a motion alert. Thanks to camera’s 3D motion detection technology, the floodlight can provide an aerial map view of motion events and display the paths people take in the camera’s view. Other features include color night vision, a 110-decibel siren and a microphone array. The Ring Floodlight Cam Wired Pro is available for $249.99.

Tempo Move

The Tempo Move is a plug-and-play personal training solution that combines proprietary computer vision software with the iPhone’s True Depth camera system to offer real-time feedback during workouts. The Tempo Move includes Core docking station for the iPhone, which connects to a TV via HDMI cable to display workouts and real-time feedback. It also includes a sleek cabinet containing 35 pounds of weight plates. A subscription of $39 a month is required to access the thousands of workouts made by Tempo. The Tempo Move has a retail price of $495 but currently has a $100 discount.