This post is not sponsored, we just love our Nest Protect!

I always say you know you’ve reached adulthood when you get excited about receiving kitchen appliances, tools, etc, as gifts. We must really be adults now because we are pretty excited about our Nest Protect smoke and carbon monoxide detector. Well, I should say that the hubs is a bit more excited than me—he should be the one sharing this post, but he leaves the writing to me 🙂

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He put a Nest Protect on his Christmas wishlist and may have even squealed a tiny bit when he opened it. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that he loves any kind of high-tech device, especially when it’s home-related. If he could automate our whole house, he would. But after he got it installed and showed me all the things it can do, I have to agree that it’s a pretty nifty device and well worth the investment. I realize $100 for a smoke detector seems steep, but hear me out! After all, can you really put a price on the safety of your home and family?

The device itself was pretty easy to install – you can simply swap out an old smoke detector for the Nest Protect. Once you have it installed, you can test the alerts, which are spoken alerts instead of the traditional ear-piercing chirps. This is a huge plus, in my opinion! Our dog is terrified of those chirps, and of course it always seems like the batteries in our traditional smoke detectors wear out at 3 a.m., which sends us into a frenzy of trying to figure out which one is out while trying to soothe the poor dog.

The Nest Protect syncs to the Nest app and, if you already own a Nest thermostat or other Nest devices, they all “talk” to each other. With the app, you can log in and see a current status of your home, or it will send you a notification if it’s detected something.

You also get a monthly Nest Home Report emailed to you, which will show you the status of the battery, smoke and CO sensors (so you should never have to worry about 3 a.m. frenzies to change the batteries!). The other feature I like is that the alerts are very specific; the Nest Protect will tell you exactly what it’s detected (such as carbon monoxide), and what action you should take (i.e. get to fresh air).

Another perk is the “night light” feature. There is a ring of lights on the detector that are part of the indicator system—they will change color if there is an issue. And if you move around beneath the detector in the dark, it will emit a blueish-white light to help you see.

We’ve had our Nest Protect installed for about six months now. We haven’t had any alerts in that timeframe, but it’s nice to know you can check in through the app, especially if you’re out of the house.

We are planning to get at least one more Nest Protect to install on our our second floor, and if/when we ever finish out our basement, we’ll add one down there, too. And I’m sure the hubs is also hoping for a Nest thermostat in the near future!

Have you tried the Nest or “smart” detector? Leave me a comment—I’d love to hear what you think!

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