The holiday season is upon us, and this year might be quite different from many before it. This might be the season where you may not want to wait until the last minute to pick up gifts. With chip shortages, delivery delays, and shipping issues, you may want to pick these up as soon as possible to ensure they arrived on time. With that being said, let’s dive into some top picks this season.
Nest Cam with Floodlight
Our first pick and definitely has been one I’ve personally been waiting for, is the new Nest Cam with Floodlight. If you are a long-time reader of G Style and ever read our Building a Smart Home Series of posts, you’ll know that while I love the Ring Floodlight cams, I hate that I couldn’t watch the live streams from my Google & Nest Hub devices. Google/Nest at the time didn’t offer any floodlight outdoor cams I could use……until now! Google now has a set of new Nest cameras in their lineup including their Nest Cam with Floodlight. We’ll have a review on this later on, but spoiler alert, it is definitely worth getting. Especially if you live in the Google Home ecosystem. Finally, there is a smart floodlight that you can view from your phone and any Google smart displays you have in your home. When compared to the Ring floodlight and the Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight, the Nest camera goes head to head, even beating out some in certain categories. The Nest Cam with Floodlight goes for $279.99, but with some upcoming Black Friday deals, can be found for $229.99.
Nest Cam with Floodlight – $279.99 (Best Buy)
Ring Floodlight Cam Pro
Speaking of Ring, I do still have a love for them. Their Floodlight Cam was in our holiday guide from last year. But Ring definitely hasn’t made any changes to their Floodlight since it first came out. Now fortunately they upgraded with the Floodlight Cam Pro. This time around you can purchase this in a couple of configurations. Hardwired or as a plugin, providing you with a few methods for getting this setup. If you live in the Amazon ecosystem of smart home devices, this will fit perfectly for you, as you’ll be able to view the live streams on your echo display devices. Compared to the older version, the new Pro builds upon all these great features with a new design and advanced features including radar-powered 3D Motion Detection, Bird’s Eye View, Audio+ for enhanced audio, HDR video, a 110db siren, dual-band wifi, and an array microphone that limits sound distortion.
Ring Floodlight Cam Pro – $249.99 – $269.98 (Amazon) or (Best Buy)
iRobot Roomba j7+ Self-Emptying Robot Vacuum
iRobot and their Roomba smart vacuums have been around for a long time now, and they just keep getting better with time. One of the latest in their line is the Roomba j7+. Not only do you get a smart vacuum with the ability to uh avoid pet waste (didn’t know this was a thing, clearly I’ve been fortunate) and charging cords, but also one that self empties itself. I’ve experienced myself with their s9+ model, and self-emptying is great to have. I have an older Roomba as well and having to keep empty so it can keep running as normal, is a pain (first world problems I know). Self empty is where it is at, trust me! With this ability and iRobot’s ever-evolving upgrades to the smarts of these devices, it just makes sense to add to your existing or newly created smart home!
iRobot Roomba j7+ Self-Emptying Robot Vacuum – $849.99 (Amazon) or (Best Buy)
Wyze Plug Outdoor
We are in that holiday season, and you know what that means……time to sprinkle the home with outdoor seasonal lights and light sequences. The tried and true are those outdoor plugs that work on a timer, but we are talking a smart plug here. The Wyze Plug Outdoor is WiFi controlled, works with Alexa or Google Assistant, and you can control each plug independently from the other. So you can turn off your decorative lights and still leave your lawn inflatable decorations still going. Wyze has been just on a roll with smart home items, that don’t break the bank, so you can find this one for a very affordable price. Check it out for this season and definitely the next!
Wyze Plug Outdoor – $11.99 (Amazon)
QardioBase2 WiFi Smart Scale and Body Analyzer
And last on the list, but not least of course, once for the bathroom area. You don’t hear much about smart items for the bathroom, but for this year we’ll start off with the scale. Something we probably intensely obsess about, but at the same time fear and hate, is the weight scale. Well if you’re going to track your weight, with this smart scale by Qardio you can get a whole lot more when you step on it. The QardioBase2 can not only track your weight but your BMI, body composition, water level, bone density, and muscle. It can sync up to 8 users and sync up with popular fitness apps like Apple Health, Google Fit, Samsung Health, and more.
QardioBase2 WiFi Smart Scale – $119.00 (Amazon)
That wrap’s up this list for 2021, be sure to get in your orders early, the earlier the better! Enjoy this holiday season with your loved ones and be sure to keep checking out what is hot, trendy, and cool at G Style Magazine!
