As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, I’ve been Nest-ifying my house lately. First came the Nest Thermostat E, then came the Nest Secure, then came a couple Nest Cam IQs (still working on installing the outdoor model…), and this week I’ve topped things off with a Nest Protect.

I’m going to dive deeper into my experiences with Nest Cam and Nest Secure in forthcoming episodes, but this morning I felt compelled to write about the most recent addition to the group: Protect. Actually, I haven’t even “used” it, and that’s part of the point I want to make here.

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Before last week, I had very little first-hand experience with smart home products. I guess it really depends on how you define a smart home product, as I’ve had ample time with smart speakers like the Google Home, mesh WiFi systems like the Google Wifi, and plenty of others. But prototypical smart home products, like the Nest Thermostat, Philips Hue bulbs, or the August smart lock, have been mostly foreign to me up to this point. Now, that’s changing.

I figured many readers here are probably in the same boat. You’ve heard of all these products, but maybe you live in an apartment that doesn’t let you make the necessary changes. Or maybe you’ve thought about diving in for a while, but have never been able to justify the costs. Regardless, I thought I’d share my journey with you, starting with the Nest Thermostat E.

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