Gadgetory

Hives standard home automation kit comes with a thermostat a motion sensor to door and window sensors to smart plugs and four LED lights these ZigBee devices communicate with a router tethered hub which then translates everything over Wi-Fi setup was ridiculously simple download the hive app on your phone select install devices and follow the instructions to get everything up and running although I configured 10 devices and a hub each product connected to the app in seconds the thermostat was the lone exception since it required some basic electrical work after everything's installed you can create rules or actions so you receive alerts whenever the sensors detect motion or notice the doors open hive is also compatible with Amazon Alexa speakers the Google home and if if you want to use voice commands to control your devices or setup advanced automations with the if this than that service i've worked consistently well for me from start to finish I like the layout of the app and found it easy to navigate but there's one thing about hive I really don't understand rather than paying for these devices outright you're actually locked into a monthly contract that lasts for two years the standard kit costs twenty-five dollars per month so you're ultimately paying six hundred dollars over two years and even more if you continue to use high for longer than that and weirdly you aren't getting professional monitoring or any other fancy services for that monthly fee so while I like hives functionality I'm totally stumped by its pricing plan and have a hard time recommending it as a result