let's promise the world of improvements
on its second generation smart home
system we were lukewarm on the first it
had fees just for basic features the act
was pretty thin and we found some of the
devices slow and unresponsive this
generation does fix a lot of those
issues response time as snappier device
pairing is easier and the app is much
more functional as a result Lowe's Irish
is showing a ton of promise with this
system but those fees are still there
and they feel really unnecessary the app
also has a lot of functionality but it's
really tedious and counterintuitive to
use for instance the rules section of
the app doesn't actually let you add
rules you have to come back to the
dashboard hit the plus button add rules
and there's no custom rules in the rules
section you have to find your specific
device under the category this
all-important dashboard of the app lists
every single thing Lowe's iris does when
you have compatible devices or not
altogether this cost one hundred and
thirty dollars and you get the hub you
get a plug you get a button that you can
customize two rules you get two of these
contact sensors and you get a motion
sensor and when it's working every
device in the pack responds to your
commands in less than a second which is
pretty good but over the course of a
couple of weeks of testing some of the
devices went in and out as far as being
connected and this button even though it
was supposed to turn the lamp on would
only work five out of six times but you
need to pay a $10 monthly fee for basic
features such as creating rules and
groups and getting certain types of
notifications and on a lot of other
smart home platforms that stuff's free
so look
Lowe's iris is promising a ton of new
hardware and capabilities for this
system in the coming year but it's tough
for me to recommend this system on
potential as a number of first gen
customers felt Lowe's left them in the
dust when they move to the second
generation without proper support for
all the first gen devices so for right
now gambling on this system to reach its
potential by buying into the second gen
Lowe's iris system is not a bet I would
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