Top 5 Most Useful Smart Devices for 2022 — Based On Daily Use
Before jumping into my personal top 5 most useful tech gadgets for 2022, I want to state that I purchased each one of them at retail cost and without receiving any discounts or other incentives. In fact, none of the respective product vendors were aware of this review until publication. Of course, this post does not include any affiliate links.
It is also important to mention that I used each one of these products pretty heavily for at least three months before the evaluation. For example, I purchased and installed the Eufy Smart Lock Touch & Wifi in August, 2021. Since then, I have added 12 individual users to the lock, my wife, my 8 and 10 year olds, and 12 neighbors and friends. While on vacation, I have been monitoring for failed attempts and asking neighbors about their experience with our door lock.
Eufy Smart Lock Touch & Wifi: A Smart Lock that Works
Get it if: you want a mature door lock that lets you in by fingerprint, pin, physical key, or via app.
Do not get it if: you live in an apartment where you cannot change your deadbolt.
Direct link: https://us.eufylife.com/products/t8520
Highlights: fingerprint reader, rechargeable one year battery, direct wifi connection without additional hub, Apple Homekit integration, USB-c port on the outside for emergency charging, ease of use and installation, reliability, can auto-lock when door is closed (via sensor)
Problems: auto-lock will lock (extend the deadbolt) on an open door and show the status as “locked” in the app. However, this can be resolved by adding an additional sensor connected to the Eufy Smart Hub.
I remember, when the first August WIFI door lock came out in 2017, I was more than excited to install it to make sure our then 6 year-old wouldn’t have to crawl through the dog door anymore when we forgot to take a key on a walk. This original version of the August lock demonstrated how a polished-looking product can be rendered highly impractical for daily use through a number of omissions that only become evident during extensive daily use. Batteries lasted a few weeks and ignoring the low-battery alert, even the initial one, was an option that would send your kid through the dog door once more.
Needless to say that there was no way to power the lock from the outside through USB to provide enough juice to retract the bolt one more time. The lock needed the door to be perfectly aligned, which may sound a rather reasonable request, but in certain climates doors expand and retract a little over the seasons and when this happens you can either send your 6 year old through the dog door or call a locksmith instead. The insidious thing in this case was that it was almost impossible to notice this minor kind of door misalignment until the lock choked on it. To connect to the WIFI, the lock needed a WIFI “bridge” that translated the lock’s bluetooth signal to a WIFI signal that could be picked up by any home router. That’s OK, until your cleaners, children, or yourselves unplug said dongle to plug in their vacuum. Or your kids unplug the dongle temporarily to charge their Razor Crazy Cart. And so on. Then, once more, through the dog door he goes. Then, when we used the auto-lock capability and the door was ajar, the bolt would still close and show on the app that the front door was securely locked. This is also very annoying when you take out the trash and the auto lock tries to lock the door after you so that you nicely hammer the bolt against the door frame everytime you don’t notice this happened. Finally, to top it all off, there was an optional wireless keypad that we came to rely on and when that failed, we had to send our son through the dog door yet another time.
In 2021, 4 years after the purchase of the first edition August Lock, I installed the Eufy Smart Lock Touch & Wifi. It was not an easy decision due to all the issues we had the last time around, when we jointly decided that the time for a WIFI lock was just not there yet. But having used this lock since August (no pun intended) of 2021, I can say that I am amazed at how well this lock works. Especially the capability of locking and unlocking the door via fingerprint found many “admirers” in our neighborhood, and also works great for the kids. Despite trying very hard to come up with examples of where this thing failed, I’m drawing a blank. The Eufy Smart Lock Touch & Wifi is a clear recommendation from my end.
Spider-22: Smoker Attachment for Weber Kettle
Who it is for: everyone who wants to smoke perfect briskets, ribs, pork bellies, or other meats, with minimum effort and consistently excellent results.
Do not get it if: you want an app controlled smoker, if you need a grill that is more than 22" in diameter, or if you do not like to use wood pellets.
Direct link: https://www.spidergrills.com/products/spider-kettle-grill-pellet-adapter
Highlights: For $299, the Spider-22 turns any basic Weber 22 inch kettle grill into an excellent smoker, Spider-22 simply docks to the Kettle, enough space for about 12 hours worth of pellets
Problems: There is no app for monitoring and changing temperature remotely.
When you talk to passionate BBQ guys, no matter where they live, you will always hear them recommend pellet smoker brands like Traeger, Yoder, ReqTeq, and Weber. They will mention specific sets of pros and cons when talking about each of their respective favorite brands. In general, they will agree that you cannot go wrong with either one of these >$1000 pellet smokers. And this may well be true.
Having smoked countless ribs, briskets, pork bellies, and even a few burgers on the Spider-22 pellet smoker attachment for the Weber kettle grill, I can say that we are making plenty of use of this smoker. I can also say that the $299 Spider-22 has lead to near-perfect results, right from the get go. You simply fill up the Spider with pellets of your choice, set it to the desired temperature, wait until it reaches said temperature in typically about 20 minutes, and you are all set to put on the meat. The Spider keeps the desired temperature almost exactly for any period of time, depending on outside temperature, quality of pellets, and chosen temperature. Then the only remaining “secret” is to use a reliable meet thermometer to continuously be able to check meat temperature without opening the lid of the Weber kettle (see the Meater below). The smoke rings are as thick and as red as the ones from the most expensive dedicated smokers, while I can still use the Weber kettle for standard charcoal grilling using Spider’s new charcoal temperature controller (I have not tried the Spider Venom charcoal controller).
Meater Plus: Wireless Temp Control for Smoking, Grilling, and Cooking
Get it if: you like to cook, grill, or smoke meat.
Do not get it if: you want a built-in temperature controller for your grill or smoker with your wireless meat thermometer.
Direct Link: https://store-us.meater.com/
Highlights: up to 4 wireless and rechargeable probes, excellent app, reliable, WiFi
Problems: The single probe version requires a phone or tablet to be connected via bluetooth to make temperature data available via WiFi.‘
The Meater Plus wireless thermometer is unrelated to the Spider Grills pellet smoker add-on, but these two devices work very well “as a team”. While the Spider Grill ensures that you can consistently hold the desired temperature for a specific type of meat, the Meater Plus provides real-time temperature measurements from inside of this meat. The app compares the meat’s temperature curve with the smoker, grill, or oven’s inside temperature (measured through the back of its probe) to then calculate the estimated time until the desired meat temperature is achieved. The app connects to the probe via a Bluetooth connection between any smartphone or tablet and the Meater’s base station. The base station connects directly to its probe or up to three probes, via another low energy Bluetooth connection to enable about 12 hours of use before it has to be clipped back into its base station where it is recharged by a single AAA battery.
Please note that the version of the Meater that comes with the single probe requires a smartphone or tablet to be within reach at all times to be able to connect the Meater base station to your WiFi in order to make live temperature data available from anywhere. For an additional $129, you can get the Meater Block that is able to directly connect to WiFi without the need for any additional devices and it includes 2 probes instead of one. I think this is excellent value, as you no longer have to worry about a direct phone connection and I like to take temperatures from different parts of my meat anyway.
The Meater App is nice in that it includes optimal target temperatures for basically any cut of meat and the desired end result (rare, medium, well done). Why on earth the Meater guys were not able to do a better job with the app’s capability of estimating completion time of the cook is an absolute mystery to me. Having used it many times for smoking and cooking at different temperatures, I observed that the app does not consider the specific heat absorption characteristics of the type of meat, nor does it take into account the thickness of the meat or the phenomenon of the “heatbreak” that occurs at a temperature of around F 165 degrees, causing the internal temperature not to increase for an amount of time that depends on the weight and surface of the individual slap of meat. Instead it seems to simply estimate cook time through a simple linear function, based on the untrue assumption that it takes the same time to get from F 60 to 70 degrees as it will take to get from F 160 to 170 degrees. Of course, the Meater software guys could fix this issue any time, rounding out the only rough spot within their otherwise truly excellent product.
Aqara Water Leak Detector: Simple and Cheap Water Leak Detection
Get it if: you live in a house, condo, or apartment.
Do not get it if: your house, condo or apartment does not have running water and is not subject to precipitation of any kind.
Direct Link: https://www.aqara.com/us/
Highlights: tiny sensors, sensors can monitor an area instead of just one small spot, long lasting batteries, cheap, super simple, Apple HomeKit integration
Problems: needs a hub
I have been waiting for a water leak sensor that is reliable, cheap, and lasts for at least a year without having to change or charge batteries, for at least 10 years. I learned the critical importance of these key requirements in 2013, when I bought v1 of the Samsung SmartThings hub. The original SmartThings hub was not bad at all, but especially water sensors were expensive, unreliable, and ran out of battery often within a month or two. Buying more sensors at a price of $50-$70 per piece was a painful experience, especially as there was no way to be sure where to optimally place each sensor.
Aqara Water Leak Detectors currently cost $19 on Amazon.com and they have proven easy to deploy and monitor over the previous four months. They are disks of approximately 2 inches in diameter and 0.5 inches in height, and can be placed in pretty narrow locations, including under the dishwasher, fridge, sink, washer, and water heater.
Elgato FaceCam: Professional Video Feeds
Get it if: you are not happy with your image quality on Zoom, Teams, Webex, Blue Jeans, etc.
Do not get it if: image quality for video conferencing is not important to you.
Direct Link: https://www.elgato.com/en/facecam
Highlights: Excellent video quality under difficult lighting, plug and play, choice between manual and automatic image optimization, great image quality for the price, great on mac and PC
Problems: After near-daily use for 3 months, I have not come across any issues.
The Elgato FaceCam might not appear spectacular at first glance, but it is an excellent low-cost solution to participate in virtual meetings in a professional manner. While the overall resolution plays a minor role for meeting cams, the Elgato FaceCam’s ability to produce an excellent quality image despite poor office lighting is the key value this camera delivers. I like the level of control the bundled software offers, but even without ever touching that software, the FaceCam offers a video feed that is significantly sharper and better lit compared to a built-in laptop camera.
While at $200 the FaceCam cannot deliver the same quality as a mirrorless DSLR, I produced many decent interview recordings at 1080p. Paired with a good quality microphone and some very basic studio lighting, the FaceCam produces very good results. Elgato also offers a small condenser microphone, a mini key light, and a portable green screen to further enhance production quality at a very reasonable cost. But even on its own, I love the Elgato webcam’s ability to produce a good video stream that allows easy keying under difficult lighting conditions.
