Smart Home
Hubs, Lighting, Locks, Cameras, Speakers
Best Smart Lighting of 2026: Tested Picks
Bulbs, a wall switch, strips, panels, and 100 feet of eave lighting. We ran 15 products for six weeks; these seven earned their sockets.
Best Smart Light Bulbs of 2026, Tested
Six color bulbs, one hallway, six weeks, and a blind test our $50 favorite nearly lost to a $10 upstart. The full results, by budget and ecosystem.
Best LED Strip Lights & Panels of 2026
Strips for the TV, hexagons for the wall, and one string of holiday lights with a graphics engine. Four ambient picks that survived six weeks of testing.
Hue Gradient Lightstrip Review: Pricey, Polished
The smoothest color blending in strip lighting, if you can stomach $180 for 80 inches and a strip you can't cut. Hue households only.
Govee Floor Lamp 2 Review: The Smart Money
In a dim room, guests couldn't tell it from the $349 Hue lamp. With the lights on, they could. Which moment matters more in your house?
Wyze Bulb Color Review: Cheap, Bright, Walled
As bright as bulbs at triple the price, with a circadian mode Hue charges for. The walls around the Wyze garden are the real spec to read.
Govee Glide Hexa Review: Panels for Gamers
Ten panels, per-panel gradients, $170. Nanoleaf still wins the daytime beauty contest, but from a couch at night, Govee's argument is loud.
GE Cync A19 Review: Read the Box Carefully
GE finally shipped a Matter bulb worth buying. It's sitting on the shelf next to an identical-looking older one that isn't. Choose carefully.
Nanoleaf Essentials A19 Review: Thread on Trial
The $20 ticket into Thread lighting, if it pairs on the first try. Ours didn't. What went wrong, what went right, and who should still buy it.
Twinkly Strings Review: The $120 Tree Upgrade
Your tree becomes a display the neighbors slow down for. The price: $120, an account signup, and a mapping ritual every December.
Philips Hue A19 Review: Still the Benchmark
One bulb costs what a budget 4-pack does. After six weeks against every rival, we can tell you exactly where that money goes, and who shouldn't pay it.
Lutron Caséta Diva Review: Smartest Wall Switch
Smart bulbs are the wrong answer for ceiling fixtures. A $70 dimmer that never fails, works with dumb bulbs, and survives houseguests is the right one.
Govee LED Strip M1 Review: The Value King
Fifteen colors on one strip, Matter in the box, half of Hue's price. The catch lives in the app, and it's worth knowing before you buy.
Govee Outdoor Lights 2 Review: One Ladder Trip
Install holiday lights once, on purpose, forever. After a snow-heavy winter on real eaves, here's who the $300 ask makes sense for.
Hue Signe Gradient Review: The $349 Statement
A slim aluminum column that airbrushes three colors up your wall. Gorgeous, flawless, and $349. The question is whether that sentence ends the argument.
Nanoleaf Hexagons Review: Wall Art, Wall Worry
The best modular light panels you can buy, and two of ours fell off the wall anyway. What to know about the tape before you trust it over your desk.
Tapo L535E Review: The $10 Bulb That Delivers
Two of our three housemates picked the $10 Tapo over the $50 Hue in a blind hallway test. Here's what that does and doesn't mean.
LIFX SuperColor A19 Review: Beautiful, Risky
The deepest reds and loudest greens in smart lighting, from a company that's changed hands twice. Great bulb. Complicated bet.
Best Smart Locks of 2026: 6 We Trust
We installed and lived with every major smart lock. Six earned a spot on your front door, and one is the clear pick for Apple homes.
Schlage Encode Plus Review: Apple's Lock
Tap your Apple Watch, hear the bolt thunk, walk in. For iPhone households, this is the smart lock to buy. Here's why, and who should skip it.
August Wi-Fi Smart Lock Review: Renter's Best Friend
It clamps onto the deadbolt you already have, leaves the outside of your door alone, and finally looks good doing it. The catch: no keypad, no Home Key.
Aqara Smart Lock U200 Review: Most for the Money
Fingerprint, Home Key, code, NFC, app: every unlock method that matters, plus Matter, for less than the Schlage. The trade-off is a fussier setup.
Yale Assure Lock 2 Review: Build Your Own
Keypad or touchscreen, keyed or keyless, Wi-Fi or not. Yale lets you spec the lock your door needs. Just watch how fast the price climbs.
Level Lock+ Review: The Invisible Lock
From the street it's just your normal deadbolt. That invisibility is the entire pitch, and you'll pay $329 for it. Here's whether it's worth it.
Lockly Vision Elite Review: Three Gadgets, One Door
One hole in your door instead of three. The fingerprint reader is fast and the battery is huge, but the doorbell is merely okay.
Ultraloq U-Bolt Pro Review: Budget Do-It-All
Fingerprint, code, app, key, auto-unlock and knock-to-open, all for half a flagship's price. The one catch is what it takes to go online.
eufy Smart Lock E30 Review: Budget Matter
One of the few cheap locks with Wi-Fi and Matter, and easily the best-looking. The vertical fingerprint sensor is the thing to watch.
SwitchBot Lock Pro Review: $100 and Keep Your Keys
The cheapest legitimate way to make a deadbolt smart. Brutalist looks and hub add-ons are the price of that low price.
Wyze Lock Bolt Review: $80 Keyless Entry
Not a connected lock, just a cheap, fast keyless deadbolt. Know that going in and it's a phenomenal $80.
Best Budget Smart Locks of 2026
You don't need to spend $260 to ditch your keys. These budget smart locks nail the essentials. Here's which one fits your door and wallet.
The No-Drama Matter Setup Guide
One hub, three ecosystems, zero drama. The exact order to pair things in and the traps to skip.
Best Smart Home Starter Kits of 2026
The setups that actually work together, whether you live in the Apple, Google, or Amazon world.