Smart devices to help you stay safe on vacation

Apr ' 22

Whether hitting the road for the long Easter weekend or traveling farther afield for a few weeks, you want to make sure that your belongings are safe. Try these smart devices and gadgets to help protect your home while you’re away or tuck them in your bag to stay safer when you’re on the move.

GET THE LIVED-IN LOOK

One of the biggest deterrents to thieves is human activity. If it looks like you’re home, most intruders will go elsewhere. These smart devices can give your home that lived-in look, even when you’re chilling on the beach.

Lights

A house that’s perpetually dark – or with too many lights on in the middle of the day – can signal that the house is empty. Smart bulbs or lamps plugged in to a smart outlet can help. Some allow you to set a timer to turn lights on and off at certain times of the day, while others will do so randomly. For external lighting, you might add motion sensors. Someone lurking will often turn the other direction in a hurry when startled by an unexpected light.

Sprinklers

Dead grass could be a dead giveaway that you’ve left town for a few weeks. Make it look like you’re still around, tending your garden, with a smart irrigation system. Many of them you can set and forget, such as by putting them on a timer. Others, when connected to your home network or smart hub, can adjust based on local weather reports, only watering when the lawn needs it and not right before it rains.

Sounds

Noise coming from the house can have the same effect as lights. You could have Alexa play music periodically to make it sound as if you’re having a great party. There are also playlists available with everyday sounds – pots and pans banging while cooking, dogs barking, TV show dialogue – you can use.

Lawnmower

Overgrown grass can have the same ill effects as a brown lawn. A smart mower like WORX Landroid can help. If you’re worried about keeping the mower locked up while you’re out of town, though, you might just pay the neighbor kid to do your landscaping for you.

ENJOY PEACE OF MIND

Keep an eye on things even while you’re away. It’ll be much easier to relax and unwind when you trust that everything is as it should be back home.

Smart lock

You’re at the airport and you’ve checked that you have your passport for the 100th time, your phone is fully charged, you have a full stash of beach reads … but did you lock the door when you left home? With a connected smart lock like Gainsborough Freestyle Trilock Smart Lock, you can check from anywhere using a compatible app. And if you did forget, no worries. Simply use the same app to lock the door and go catch your flight.

Maybe you’ve left a pet at home or are worried about your beloved new houseplants surviving while you’re away. Create a unique access code for a pet sitter or plant waterer. There’s no need to exchange a key and you can see when they’ve used their code. You’ll have better peace of mind knowing everyone is taken care of.

Video doorbell

Video doorbells are livesaving, such as Ring Video Doorbell. All from an app, you can see who’s on your porch, speak to them, and unlock the door with the Gainsborough Freestyle Trilock if you need. Again, it’s a great way to provide easy and secure access to a house sitter or see if someone is poking their nose around things when they shouldn’t be.

Robot vacuum

This is admittedly less about home safety and more about mental sanity. Come home to a clean house, especially if those fur babies are really, really furry, with a robot vacuum.

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