Over the last 10 years, we’ve all seen gimmicky home tech upgrade options. Many people find themselves spending enormous amounts of money on gear that they ultimately wind up hardly using.
The good news is that there are some investments that are really worth your money. These can either save you time or make your life so much more convenient you don’t know how you ever lived without them.
Mesh Wi-Fi networks
Traditional Wi-Fi networks are annoying because the moment you walk out of range and lose signal, you’re suddenly stuck without the Internet. This can be frustrating if you work from home and want to step out into the garden for a little bit.
The moment the signal drops, you can no longer communicate with your colleagues on Slack, send emails, or write documents online.
Fortunately, there is such a thing as mesh Wi-Fi networks. Routers push out a signal from a single point, but mesh systems use multiple nodes to push out the signal from multiple points.
This means you can set them up wherever you want in your house without the fiddly range extender issues that used to dog these sorts of setups in the past.
Battery connected solar panels
Battery connected solar panels are another high-tech investment you can make in your home. Home solar storage technology has improved dramatically in recent years, and the price has come down.
The chemistry has changed significantly, and home battery storage is no longer reliant on lithium-ion, which pushed up the price in the past. Other technologies are now embodied in these battery cells that make them even more suitable for home usage, even if there is a slight weight penalty.
When you connect them to solar panels, you effectively do away with your need to rely on the mains power supply. You can generate all of the electricity you need at home and then store it and send it back to the grid.
Smart water leak detectors
Smart water leak detectors are probably one of the highest return-on-investment technologies you can make in your home.
They can save you tens of thousands of dollars in damage costs every year and keep your insurance premium down.
All you need is a small, battery-powered sensor that sits under your sink or behind your washing machine. The sensor can detect whether water is being emitted from the appliance and send an emergency alert to your phone.
You can immediately shut off your property’s mains water and inspect the issue before it becomes severe. What’s nice about these sensors is that they can detect even small amounts of water leaking into your home, so you can deal with those slow leaks that cause mould and other problems.
Keyless smart locks
Finally, you might want to upgrade to keyless smart locks. These are the perfect way to eliminate the problem of constantly having to fumble around in your pockets looking for keys when you are carrying heavy groceries with you. It also eliminates the panic of wondering if you lock the front door.
