Starting A Smart Home I ULTIMATE GUIDE

An unbiased look at the most future proofed solutions in the Smart Home market today.

From Smart plug sockets, to smart light switches, from Zigbee to Wifi it's STILL confusing as hell to build a smart home in 2021. Adding automations to your home is a daunting task when there is so much to choose from and so many different ways to achieve the ultimate smart home on a budget.

00:00 : Intro
01:00 : Amazon Alexa, Google Home or Apple Homekit?
04:25 : Smart bulbs and smart lighting
06:06 : Smart Light switches and Smart Buttons
08:20 : Smart Sockets
09:19 : Best Zigbee hub for Alexa and Google Home
11:53 : Harmony Hub alternative for Smart Home control of TV
12:57 : Smart Home Thermostat and wrap up

BUY THE PRODUCTS FEATURED IN TODAY'S VIDEO
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. By buying through any of the links below I will earn commission at no extra cost to you :)

AMAZON ECHO 4TH GENERATION:

MAINS SMART LIGHT SWITCH (no neutral required)
UK: Coming soon

FLIC BUTTON

MAINS SMART PLUG SOCKETS

PORTABLE SMART SOCKETS

BROADLINK RM4 PRO HARMONY HUB ALTERNATIVE FOR SMART HOME TV CONTROL

BEST SMART BULBS
E27 white temperature Zigbee bulb (works with Echo 4th gen)

E27 Best value for money RGB colour WIFI bulb (works with any Alexa device)

E27 Best Colour saturation Wifi bulb (LIFX works with any Alexa device)

GU10 White temperature Zigbee bulb (works with Echo 4th gen)
US: Not Available

GU10 RGB colour Zigbee bulb (works with Echo 4th gen)

SHELLY GIANT VINTAGE BULB

ZIGBEE HUB AND SENSORS

NEST THERMOSTAT WITH OPENTHERM

ECHO SHOW 10

FIRESTICK 4K

WIFI BLIND MOTOR

WIFI CURTAIN MOTOR (***CHECK CURTAIN TYPE BEFORE PURCHASE!!!***)

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BUY ME A BEER

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[paulhibbert]

Happy Saturday everybody! It's BBQ time!!! If you're interested in buying anything featured today it is linked below :) ...

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. By buying through any of the links below I will earn commission at no extra cost to you :)

AMAZON ECHO 4TH GENERATION:



MAINS SMART LIGHT SWITCH (no neutral required)
UK: Coming soon



FLIC BUTTON



MAINS SMART PLUG SOCKETS



PORTABLE SMART SOCKETS



BROADLINK RM4 PRO HARMONY HUB ALTERNATIVE FOR SMART HOME TV CONTROL



BEST SMART BULBS
E27 white temperature Zigbee bulb (works with Echo 4th gen)



E27 Best value for money RGB colour WIFI bulb (works with any Alexa device)



E27 Best Colour saturation Wifi bulb (LIFX works with any Alexa device)



GU10 White temperature Zigbee bulb (works with Echo 4th gen)
US: Not Available



GU10 RGB colour Zigbee bulb (works with Echo 4th gen)



SHELLY GIANT VINTAGE BULB



LED RGBIC strip WIFI (works with any Alexa device):



ZIGBEE HUB AND SENSORS



NEST THERMOSTAT WITH OPENTHERM



ECHO SHOW 10



FIRESTICK 4K



WIFI BLIND MOTOR



WIFI CURTAIN MOTOR (***CHECK CURTAIN TYPE BEFORE PURCHASE!!!***)

[alecruzcruz]

*I like the old style Echo Dot because it's small also **Newest.Technology**, gives out decent sound and doesn't take up a lot of shelf space if you want to put it on beam in the workshop or shed.*

[richardclarke]

"There's a w****r in the dining room" 😂😂😂 don't think I've laughed out loud to a video so much before. Brilliant!

[ashexs]

“how do you know someone has home assistant”
“they’ll tell you”
hahahaha i didn’t even realize how true this was until you said it

[markshaz]

My smart home journey started 3yrs ago and I'm still buying useless sh*t 😭.

[thiagosannafreiresilva]

Thanks to Paul I now can't hear the words Zigbee or Home Assistant without doing an air hump. Thanks, Paul.

[TheWebstaff]

Can we have a graveyard video of all the devices that are no more due to being culled / disowned or otherwise fucked..
So we know what not to buy..

[Mark]

I use HOME ASSISTANT!!!! And it's awesome. I learnt about it from Paul!

[GrandmaHatesTech]

I make my house smart by entering inside, when I leave it returns to being dumb 😜

[extrafoxjj]

That commercial was so good, I listened to the whole thing without fast forward. You almost convinced me to play!

[sharonmoran]

Thanks I didn't know what to get my tech loving brother and you gave me the idea for Shelly vintage bulbs!

[jackschapira]

Keeping me entertained every Saturday Paul another classic! So honest and true. You speak for all us mere mortals

[louminarty]

Radio 2 this morning was on about them wanting to change the format of the champions League.... Dermot said "it's corporate greed!!"... Had a little chuckle to myself 💰😉

[MyRetroWatches]

Your videos are so well done, edited and absolutely hilarious whilst being informative.
Superb!

[Rydian]

Okay, I was expecting just an informational video about smart devices... I didn't expected to laugh so much xD
Have a subscription, you are great

[mjcuknet]

I'm loving home assistant only started my smart home this year. Zigbee and tuya.

[christopherbrau]

We have run the Alexa and Google home setups for a bit and ultimately ended up favoring the Google home. While your comments on device support are accurate we haven't felt limited with Google home. More importantly the devices simply worked without needing to build routines or use overly long voice commands. For example I have a combination of smart switches and bulbs in my living room. Some of the switches are named "lamp" etc. since a floor lamp is connected. I can simply say "hey Google living room lights on" and the bulbs plus switches named lamp will all turn on. This required zero customization on my part.

It was more accurate and easier to follow-up on with questions and transfer results to my phone.

Pairing with calendar functionality, easy integration with YouTube and streaming ended up sealing the deal for us a few years ago. I think they are both great, but if you want to just use things without tinkering, you or your kids access YouTube a fair bit, you like smart phone integration and use Android... and you don't plan to order Amazon products via voice command... Google home has been the better choice for us.

[chrisjheath]

Sensational video Paul. I’ve been following you for years now after originally looking videos on controlling the cheap RF plug sockets. Its great to see Broadlink getting some love again. I totally agree that the RMPro is the single best smart home purchase I’ve made. I look forward to seeing your videos every Saturday and always have a chuckle whilst being informed. Thanks for your efforts.

[EWL-]

I was looking for smart home stuff and came across this guy. He’s funny AF 🤣

[robclarkson]

That's it. I'm going to Sainsbury's Loughborough and yelling 'OOOH THE ZIGBEE' every time I'm in the area.