Smart Home and Yard

One of the greatest benefits of homeownership is the ability to create and enjoy your own outdoor living space. Whether on the lawn, on the patio, or in the pool, today’s new Smart Home products extend the same comfort, convenience, and security outdoors as they do indoors. Here’s a look at some of our favorites!

Smart and secure

Simplify your backyard watchfulness with a low-cost Blink XT wireless security camera and monitoring system. These unobtrusive, weatherproof units can monitor activity anywhere and their XT cameras have built-in motion sensors with the ability to record sound and send high-definition video to a smartphone or tablet.

Ring Spotlight Cam motion-sensing security cameras are designed for exterior use, and they can be permanently wired and mounted for year-round outdoor sentry duty. This camera’s video and two-way audio capability, and powerful LED spotlights allow you to hear and see activity in both darkness and daylight and can challenge an intruder if necessary. Also available in wireless battery-powered and solar-powered models.

Lighting the dark

The Ring Floodlight Cams security lighting can also double as convenience lighting. Use it to illuminate outdoor kitchens, garden paths, pools, patios, or any other recreational use area. Its bright LED floodlights will illuminate a 270-degree field of view, so one or two strategically placed units should be adequate for average yards.

Philips brings smart lighting outdoors with its new Hue White and Color Ambiance Calla Outdoor Pathway Light. These weatherproof lights wirelessly connect through a home’s Wi-Fi network via a Philips Hue Bridge and can be individually installed with a simple plug-in connection, or multiple units can be “daisy chained” together using available extension kits. Like other Philips Hue lights, they will change color on command for the ultimate in outdoor accent and mood lighting.

BBQ IQ

Barbeque the smart way with an outdoor grill thermometer controlled by an app on your smartphone! The intuitive Weber iGrill keeps track of your grilling with preset or customizable settings, temperature monitoring and wireless alerts. Simply download the free app, insert the thermometer probe, connect to the app, and enjoy the perfectly cooked results every time.

Smart sprinklers

The Rachio Smart Sprinkler Control System can control and monitor watering with almost any existing sprinkler system on the market today, and it will integrate seamlessly with Smart Home platforms like Google Home and Amazon Alexa. This controller continuously updates local weather data to automatically adjust your lawn or garden’s watering schedule and can even predict watering needs based on thousands of weather data points. This saves water and prevents plant damage from over- or under-watering, as well as sprinkler system damage from weather events such as sudden freezes.

Smart Home also means smart yard, so why not be the first on your block to update your backyard with forward-thinking technology? The pros at P.C. Richard & Son can help design a smart yard plan to help you get the most out of any outdoor space. Get started today!

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