Today, I’m flying solo while the illustrious John Dudley is off gallivanting on some top-secret assignment. But fear not, because we’re diving headfirst into the exciting world of home tech! We’re talking about everything from supercharged Wi-Fi networks that’ll make dead zones a thing of the past to nifty robots that’ll mop your floors and even mow your lawn. Seriously, who needs to break a sweat when you can let a robot do the heavy lifting? We’ll chat about setting up that perfect Wi-Fi system to keep all your smart gadgets humming along smoothly. Plus, I’ll share some hot tips on the latest and greatest robot vacuums that are basically a must-have for any tech-savvy home. So, grab your favorite drink, kick back, and let’s get into some home tech magic!
Takeaways:
- Setting up a solid Wi-Fi network is crucial for all your smart home devices to function seamlessly, so consider investing in a mesh router for coverage.
- Keep an eye on your internet speeds and make sure you’re actually getting what you’re paying for, as this can save you a lot of frustration later.
- When choosing smart home devices, think about compatibility and interoperability to avoid the headache of managing multiple apps and systems.
- Robotic lawnmowers are becoming more advanced with features like LIDAR navigation, making lawn care easier than ever, so you can finally kick back on the weekends.
- New fire suppression technology using sound waves could revolutionize home safety, providing a non-invasive way to prevent fires without the mess of traditional systems.
- Don’t forget about outdoor tech! Robot lawnmowers can save you time and effort—perfect for those who want a lush lawn without the labor.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Aroundthe House
- Red Wing
- Xfinity
- Asus
- TP Link
- Euro
- Starlink
- Tesla
- Amazon
- Apple
- Control4
- Savant
- Akura
- Roborock
- MOVA
- Yarbo
Transcript
Foreign.
Speaker B:Coast to coast, it's the nation's number one home improvement radio show and podcast with certified kitchen designer Eric G. And co host John Dudley, a former contractor and online technology expert.
Speaker B:Delivering real fixes, smart tech and trusted advice.
Speaker B:Remodels, repairs, energy savings, smart homes, diy.
Speaker B:We've got your answers.
Speaker B:It's around the house.
Speaker B:Dive in and get inspired.
Speaker A:Welcome to the around the House show, your trusted source for everything about your home.
Speaker A:Thanks for joining me today.
Speaker A:I'm Eric G. John Dudley is out on assignment this hour, but we have got a great show coming up for you here today.
Speaker A:First off, if you want to find out more about us, head over to our website and that's Aroundthe House online dot com.
Speaker A:Well, I wanted to talk today about the latest in smart home tech.
Speaker A:Kind of what's going on with the smart stuff around your home.
Speaker A:And there is so much that's happening, so much that's changing out there to really make your house easier to operate, not have as many apps and to automate some stuff that just, well, either gets forgotten or just to make your life easier.
Speaker A:Now, first, though, I wanted to talk a minute about your WI fi around your home.
Speaker A:Now, the best thing that I think to get WI fi moving around your home is a mesh, basically router.
Speaker A:And what this is, instead of having that single point for your WI fi in your home, here's what we run into.
Speaker A:You'll have washers and dryers, refrigerators, appliances, fireplaces, all those things that create kind of a block to that WI fi and there's a dead zone around it.
Speaker A:So what a mesh system does is it puts two or three kind of mirrored WI fi.
Speaker A:So you have instead of one tower, maybe three or four out there in your home.
Speaker A:And so really you can put those in the other corners where those are.
Speaker A:And so now you can get great WI fi on the back patio or maybe you're listening to music while you're in the pool or for that camera system out by the driveway.
Speaker A:And it works really well.
Speaker A:And if it's done correctly with the right speeds, and that's where you really need to pay attention to compared to what you have at your house, you'll be good to go.
Speaker A:And so really planning this out is the first stage of no matter what you're doing in the smart WI fi space or smart things that are around your home, if you get this dialed in, it makes it so much easier.
Speaker A:So take a look and see what kind of speed you have.
Speaker A:One easy way to do that is jump on your phone or jump on, you know, your laptop or, or iPad or whatever you've got out there for tablets, jump on there and do a speed test, see what you're getting and compare that to your bill.
Speaker A:Sometimes you're getting a lot less than what you're paying for, which means you might have an issue either with the router or the line that's coming into the house.
Speaker A:And so another trick here is if that doesn't work, restart that WI fi router, reboot it, give it 10 seconds off, re, reboot it, see if it needs updates, that kind of thing.
Speaker A:And if you're with cable company like Xfinity, for instance, you can jump in your app and do that automatically.
Speaker A:So that's kind of easy.
Speaker A:Let it reboot and then test it again.
Speaker A:Sometimes you need a service person.
Speaker A:You know, in my neighborhood that I had at my last house, every year I'd have to have somebody coming out because we had squirrels and other stuff and trees banging off stuff.
Speaker A:It was really kind of a maintenance headache.
Speaker A:So every year somebody have to come out and do some work on it, and that's just because of the harsh environment we were in.
Speaker A:That's okay.
Speaker A:It didn't cost me anything and I would just schedule it when I needed to have that fixed.
Speaker A:So don't be afraid to make sure that you're test to get what you're getting so you can make sure you're getting what you're paid for.
Speaker A:Now, once you've got that figured out, you have to think ahead.
Speaker A:Okay, if I'm going to buy a WI FI router or a mesh system here, how far, how long is this going to last?
Speaker A:Well, two or three years.
Speaker A:Kind of like your cell phone.
Speaker A:Maybe four is good.
Speaker A:So buy the fastest one you can afford, because as speeds get better every year, you want to have a system that's going to kind of work for a number of years.
Speaker A:You don't have to buy it and spend a few hundred bucks.
Speaker A:And all of a sudden next year you're like, ah, I've already outsped this.
Speaker A:So make sure that's working great.
Speaker A:That's the first key to any smart home system, is just to make sure that you've got a solid wifi throughout the house.
Speaker A:Now there is some cool technology I want to talk about, but let's run out here first to our red wing tip of the day.
Speaker A:This is a good one.
Speaker A:Hey, it's Eric G. From around the house.
Speaker A:Have you ever tripped over a tool in a dark garage?
Speaker A:That's exactly why proper lighting is so important for Project Safety.
Speaker A:Good lighting lets you spot hidden hazards like sharp edges or spills before they cause trouble.
Speaker A:For indoor jobs like basement electrical work or painting, adjustable LED task lights work great.
Speaker A:They eliminate shadows so you can see exactly what you're doing outdoors.
Speaker A:Handle yard work during daylight when you can.
Speaker A:For those evening projects, use weatherproof floodlights.
Speaker A:Check your bulbs regularly and use outdoor rated extension cords to avoid those extra risks.
Speaker A:Poor lighting leads to accidents, but good visibility keeps you safe whether you're spotting a loose nail or reading a label.
Speaker A:Light up your space properly.
Speaker A:Safety first.
Speaker A:And let's keep those projects bright and injury free.
Speaker A:This project Safety segment is proudly brought to you by Red Wing.
Speaker A:This month Red Wing is launching their brand new clothing line built for the way you actually work.
Speaker A:Same legendary durability.
Speaker A:You trust in their boots now, in shirts and hoodies that move with you.
Speaker A:Breathe when you sweat and stand up to the real jobs around the house or on the site.
Speaker A:Comfortable enough for all day wear, tough enough to keep you protected.
Speaker A:Check out the new collection @redwing shoes.com or your local Red Wing store today.
Speaker A:Red Wing gear that works as hard as you do.
Speaker A:Gotta love my friends over at Red Wing.
Speaker A:Now before we get into some other stuff here, I do want to talk about something that just hit the news this last week.
Speaker A:And this is about the Federal Communications Commission basically banning most of the routers out there for sale now.
Speaker A:And so what is banned?
Speaker A:This ban applies to new FCC authorizations for foreign produced routers, particularly focusing on those linked to risks from China though it covers many foreign manufactured items.
Speaker A:So you can continue to use what you got out there.
Speaker A:But buying new models is going to be an issue.
Speaker A:They're basically, if they're coming from overseas, they're not going to authorize them.
Speaker A:So this ban began here in March and you know, just days ago, targeting new product models.
Speaker A:So almost every consumer Wi fi router brand is impacted.
Speaker A:Asus, TP Link, Euro, all these other manufactured or designed overseas routers are impacted.
Speaker A:So they're worried about security gaps exploited to disrupt networks, all that stuff.
Speaker A:Looking around and doing a little bit of a peek, it looked like the only thing that really dodged it was the Starlink Tesla stuff that's made in Texas.
Speaker A:Now they are using foreign components.
Speaker A:But I think because what they're doing is they're assembling there and they have control of the system here in the US that is being allowed.
Speaker A:So make sure if you're going to go out and buy something, you better do it today because new stuff is going to be hard to find and they have to rethink about how they do this.
Speaker A:This could lead to a massive shortage of new routers out there in the US because they're not going to have stuff licensed, which means they can't be used.
Speaker A:And so older models will go out there.
Speaker A:So if you have a model that's been on the shelf, they're not going to stop it.
Speaker A:But the new stuff isn't gonna come out until it's being built in the US or meets whatever regulation the FCC needs.
Speaker A:So be very careful out there.
Speaker A:Finding the new stuff is gonna be tough.
Speaker A:So it hasn't gotten out across the US yet, but there's gonna be a massive shortage.
Speaker A:So get what you can.
Speaker A:If you're gonna go buy a new one, today's the day to do it.
Speaker A:Now, with new stuff, it could be a year or two before we see that get replaced out there because you're just not turning on electronics manufacturing the US that quickly.
Speaker A:It could take six to nine months to even see something come up and running produce to fill the holes.
Speaker A:You see where this is going.
Speaker A:So this is kind of a big asterisk to this whole episode to make sure that you've got that dialed in.
Speaker A:That's going to be an issue.
Speaker A:Now the next thing that I want you to think about before we go out to break here is going to be what are you doing with your system?
Speaker A:What do you want it to do?
Speaker A:Is this going to be some luxury home system where you're going to have everything controlled by whatever system you're going to do?
Speaker A:Now there's a lot of different systems out there.
Speaker A:It could be Amazon Alexa, could be a Google home based system, could be an Apple home system, or it could be another system that's using some of the different languages out there, like zigbee, Z Wave, thread, that kind of stuff.
Speaker A:We'll talk about that when we come back because this is a really important one because I want you to be able to use everything that you have on one single app, which makes life so much easier because then you don't have 12 different buttons to turn stuff on.
Speaker A:If you can do this within a system, it's going to make things simple and easy to operate around the house.
Speaker A:We'll be right back after these important messages.
Speaker A:If you want to find out more about us, head over to our website@aroundthehouse online.com.
Speaker A:We'll be right back.
Speaker A:Don't change that dial.
Speaker B:Make sure you subscribe to our new YouTube channel.
Speaker B:Just look for around the House HQ and make sure you subscribe and ring that bell for updates.
Speaker B:We will be right back.
Speaker A:Welcome back to the around the House show, your trusted source for everything about your home.
Speaker A:Thanks for joining us today.
Speaker A:I'm Eric Giving John Dudley is out on assignment this hour, but he'll be back for next hour.
Speaker A:Now we've been talking about smart home tech.
Speaker A:How to get stuff going in your home to really build that out, whether you're brand new to this space or you're just looking for new stuff to put in your home that's going to make life maybe safer, easier, that kind of thing.
Speaker A:And we've talked a lot about that in the show because, well, I used to be the smart home educator for smart home tech for the national association of Home Builders.
Speaker A:So when all the builders would show up for the international Builder Show, I had my own stage up there and I was teaching remodelers, home builders how to start out with home tech and how to get this stuff going.
Speaker A:So this is really in my wheelhouse now.
Speaker A:I was looking around and found something that hit the news recently here this last week.
Speaker A:And this is a smart home tech that I think is really going to be interesting because it is something that, that you plug in, doesn't take any water and it's a fire prevention device like sprinklers would be.
Speaker A:So it's called sonic fire tech.
Speaker A:I reached out to these guys, see if we get them on the show because it's something that I think is interesting.
Speaker A:This is the next level of fire defense for your home.
Speaker A:It uses infrasound technology to suppress fire instantly without the need for water, foam, chemicals.
Speaker A:So non disruptive for people and pets.
Speaker A:It continuously protects your property providing damage free, maintenance free and compliant with wildfire safety standards.
Speaker A:So this is cool.
Speaker A:So you never run out of water, you never run out of suppression.
Speaker A:Customizable coverage so you can have a hundred percent coverage for every floor plan from homes to critical facilities.
Speaker A:It could be off grid ready.
Speaker A:It's autonomous.
Speaker A:It has proactively detects fire threats.
Speaker A:This is really cool stuff.
Speaker A:So there's detectors you mount around.
Speaker A:There is, you deploy the barrier which is really just this system of sound emitters.
Speaker A:So it uses sound to disrupt fire.
Speaker A:So you think about it, what do you need for a fire?
Speaker A:Gotta have fuel, get, have oxygen, right?
Speaker A:You have a, a source for that.
Speaker A:What this does is it has first off UL certified IR3 sensors that continuously scam for embers and ignition threats in real time.
Speaker A:Then when heat signatures cross the risk threshold, the system deploys automatically, no human trigger required.
Speaker A:And this infrasound technology, those waves decay embers and prevent ignition without causing collateral damage or leaving any residue.
Speaker A:So non disruptive for people and pets.
Speaker A:So what it does is it basically breaks up the oxygen.
Speaker A:So it just suppresses the entire fire.
Speaker A:So it looks like when you turn this on.
Speaker A:And I saw some things on their website, it's like you're having a candle and you blow it out, but there's no wind, so it just takes it down.
Speaker A:So it's something that is very interesting in smart home tech out there.
Speaker A:And I think with the wildfire season that we have coming in the west coast, especially where we're so dry, I was looking here in my Portland area and it is absolutely insane.
Speaker A:Tom in my local area here, I think we had 9% snowpack that we should have at the year.
Speaker A:So our climate here in my area, if you're not in this area, if you're other places in the US or around the world, listen to the show.
Speaker A:We have a rainy season, we have a dry season.
Speaker A:Our rainy season is going to wrap up here in a couple months where we pack up all the snow and then summertime is traditionally dry.
Speaker A:So all that snow melt comes down.
Speaker A:It feeds the rivers, keeps us from wildfires.
Speaker A:We don't have that.
Speaker A:Most of our ski resorts on the west coast have been barely open or closed due to lack of snow.
Speaker A:And I joke here in my area, we'd have been better off having a lawn care team up next to the ski resorts than a snow shoveling one because you'd have been mowing lawns more than shoveling snow this year.
Speaker A:So it's pretty dead pretty bad.
Speaker A:But I think what we're going to see is these systems here deploying across the country.
Speaker A:In homes where water's a problem, you can run out of water.
Speaker A:And this is just really designed for homeowners, for business owners.
Speaker A:Anything else?
Speaker A:So it's basically a sonic home defense for your home.
Speaker A:So I looked up the.
Speaker A:How do they mount.
Speaker A:It looks like there's about 4 inch copper pipe that goes around with emitters and it basically runs the sound out that way.
Speaker A:And so once it detects it, fire, for instance, it will put it to that area and so it doesn't go everywhere and there's no mess to clean up afterwards.
Speaker A:So it's not like you have a sprinkler system shooting stuff off or anything else.
Speaker A:So new smart home tech that's out there now They've got installers out there.
Speaker A:It is super cool.
Speaker A:Hopefully we can find out some more information on it.
Speaker A:Again, we just found this here online and it's been a really interesting one.
Speaker A:So Sonic Fire tech solutions are aligned with the IBHS and CA state, you know, California State Zone zero perimeter defense Wildfire prepared home guidelines.
Speaker A:So this is really cool because it can really stop 90% of wildfire home ignitions with this.
Speaker A:Pretty impressive.
Speaker A:I like it and I think it's the future and I like that we see that we're spending some time working on these kind of things to get us going and there's a lot of other stuff out there.
Speaker A:We've talked about it in other episodes.
Speaker A:You know, there's a lot of other smart home things for fire prevention out there that we can talk about later maybe in the show here.
Speaker A:And I want to keep moving but a new product out there that grabbed my attention and I think it's something that's really going to be trick out there for anybody trying to keep that fire down.
Speaker A:Now let's jump into talking about kind of the system that you want to use around the house.
Speaker A:Some people like it really basic.
Speaker A:I just want to have my Amazon Alexa do stuff for me or Echo Show, Echo Dot, any of that stuff like that.
Speaker A:Super good for the entry level budget stuff but it can be a little frustrating sometimes that voice control doesn't do exactly what you want to do.
Speaker A:Like yesterday I was standing in my kitchen getting something to drink watching a YouTube.
Speaker A:Actually no, it was a Instagram reels and the guy was talking about how to punk your family and it used the command prompt, shall we say for that.
Speaker A:So I'm not going to do it to you.
Speaker A:And it said set up a alarm at 5am and play traditional Hispanic music at the high volume.
Speaker A:I didn't want my alarm doing that so I had to go back and actually stop it from doing it because it automatically set it up funny but also was gonna burn me with it.
Speaker A:Yes, I made that mistake early on about four or five years ago in the show where I talked about ordering a pizza and I had a couple hate mails from me actually ordering pizzas for people that were unattended that showed up at their house whether or not that happened or not.
Speaker A:But I tell you what, I got the hate mail.
Speaker A:So sometimes that stuff can be glitchy at best.
Speaker A:I prefer going into like Apple Home, Google Home are really getting into, you know, some of those smarter devices without having to spend the big money out there.
Speaker A:I think it's really cool what you see going on out there with this stuff.
Speaker A:We're seeing a lot of more integration stuff where things are working better.
Speaker A:The Apple home seems to be one of my favorite where you're using The Home Kit, HomePod or Apple TV is the hub.
Speaker A:I think it's the best of the kind of easy retail stuff for privacy and security with local processing via Siri and it's seamless if you're in the Apple ecosystem with phones and pads and all that stuff.
Speaker A:But it is more limited device selection than Alexa, Google, but super reliable, super secure.
Speaker A:So that's kind of the next one up.
Speaker A:Personally I have been a Samsung's or a smart things user.
Speaker A:That's where things have really worked better and it gives you kind of the most out of those retail things now.
Speaker A:There's a lot more stuff coming out now with zigbee, Z Wave Thread that's going to be as we get more out there, it's going to give us more universal usage where you can implement these things.
Speaker A:We'll talk about that more when we come back after these important messages.
Speaker A:Don't change that dial.
Speaker A:Around the House we'll be right back.
Speaker A:Welcome back to the around the House show, your trusted source for everything about your home.
Speaker A:Thanks for joining us today.
Speaker A:w stuff that we're seeing for:Speaker A:And we were talking about earlier, if you're just joining us about the mesh WI fi band routers, really talking about some of the basics to get it going and some of the things where technology is going now when it comes to smart home systems.
Speaker A:We were talking last hour here at the last segment about Amazon and Google and Apple and all those things like that.
Speaker A:Now if you're building the luxury home or you want to have the ultimate of control now you're going to start to talk to professionals that build out these systems like Control4 or Savant.
Speaker A:So these are really your whole home installs high end integration Pro installed.
Speaker A:This is not a DIY system.
Speaker A:This is where you've got designers and installers and this is really if you're doing The Total Lux package.
Speaker A:And you want to have something where every control panel looks a little bit more like a tablet than it does, maybe a light switch.
Speaker A:That's for you.
Speaker A:Now, the other thing too is matter is really another language that's coming out that's really.
Speaker A:Is going to make compatibility and switching between systems way easier.
Speaker A:So that way, if you change out a light switch, for instance, it can work across platforms without any of the proprietary hubs where many of the older zigbee or Z Wave devices still benefit from those kind of dedicated hubs to work within that.
Speaker A:So there's a lot of cool stuff out there.
Speaker A:One of my favorites, too, on a budget is Akura.
Speaker A:And these guys.
Speaker A:You've.
Speaker A:We had them on the show before.
Speaker A:They're really an affordable option out there for sensors, lights, cameras.
Speaker A:They work really well, and I'm just a fan of them.
Speaker A:For Bang for the Buck.
Speaker A:It's probably the best bang for the buck out there.
Speaker A:Their cameras are absolutely stunning.
Speaker A:And maybe someday I'll talk about this.
Speaker A:But let's put it this way.
Speaker A:At my house last year, I saw way more than I wanted to, and we'll leave it at that while I was out of town.
Speaker A:And you learn from these things.
Speaker A:I tell you what, the cameras are almost too good.
Speaker A:Sometimes there's stuff you just don't want to see having in your backyard.
Speaker A:But that's why you have a camera, right?
Speaker A:You have a system to make sure that people aren't breaking in and you can document it so you can track them down.
Speaker A:Really, the next big step after you have the WI fi out there is figuring out the direction you want to go so you can design around it.
Speaker A:There is nothing worse in my mind than going out and saying, oh, I want to get this smart home device and figuring out it won't work in your system.
Speaker A:Or if you're going to put a system in, you go, oh, half my stuff won't work with this, which is super common out there.
Speaker A:So I want to really try to see if we can design it around what platform you're going to use to make it way easier.
Speaker A:cause the name of the game in:Speaker A:And what that really means is we're going to see things working together.
Speaker A:So maybe your LG TV will work with your H Vac system or your dishwasher.
Speaker A:That's maybe another brand.
Speaker A:So we're going to start to see that happen more and more out there, because that's really the name of the game.
Speaker A:And it's been that way for a couple years.
Speaker A:So that's important.
Speaker A:h coming on out there here in:Speaker A:Now, one of my favorite toys that I've gotten here recently is the latest from roborock on their smart vacuum that basically goes around.
Speaker A:We've seen the smart vacuum space for a long time out there, right?
Speaker A:Little things go around, the robots go around, do their thing.
Speaker A:But they have really elevated themselves over the last couple years.
Speaker A:Roborock here, about two years ago, I used one here at my house with my big dogs.
Speaker A:And they were always coming in and outside with dirty paws.
Speaker A:You know, when you've got a large dog with 70, 80 pounds, that can be a bit of a mess no matter how well you clean it outside.
Speaker A:Muddy is muddy and it comes across the floor.
Speaker A:So it did really well and it was by far an industry leader.
Speaker A:But it has come in two years so far ahead because I just came out and I'm in the middle of testing right now with the Roborock Saros 20.
Speaker A:Now this is the Adaptolift chassis 3.0.
Speaker A:So this Roborock vacuum will actually lift itself up to get over thresholds.
Speaker A:Furniture like leg stabilization legs for like a.
Speaker A:Maybe it's a metal leg for a coffee table or something like that.
Speaker A:So it is really interesting.
Speaker A:It can lift itself up 3.46 inches in a double layer lift.
Speaker A:So it's got the Hyperforce digital motor.
Speaker A:This thing is absolutely amazing in autonomous cleaning throughout your home.
Speaker A:It's got these flexi arm edge and corner cleaning so it will clean those corners.
Speaker A:This isn't trying to do a circular clean like with a lawnmower with square corners where you're like, I can't get in there.
Speaker A:It is all brand new.
Speaker A:The new rope, rock dock and hot water self cleaning.
Speaker A:It is just absolutely amazing.
Speaker A:So it will actually clean a carpet pile that is 1.1 inches.
Speaker A:So super, super thick.
Speaker A:You know where this works?
Speaker A:We've got a really thick area rug underneath the couch and front.
Speaker A:I guess it's the coffee table up there.
Speaker A:It's got to be at least an inch.
Speaker A:This thing jumps up on it, navigates it cleans it and it will fit under the couch, which it navigates down to 3.13 inches.
Speaker A:It is got the Dirt Detect AI stain recognition, adaptive pressure mopping for tough stains.
Speaker A:It's got the voice control that I don't use.
Speaker A:It's got pet friendly recognition and video interaction.
Speaker A:And it's got all these Siri shortcuts, Alexa, Google.
Speaker A:So it's got matter protocol compatible.
Speaker A:It is absolutely insane how well this cleans.
Speaker A:And it will make your floors look like they're brand new.
Speaker A:You can go out there, get the bucket, you can get the mop for those hard floor systems out there.
Speaker A:You can mop it around, you can clean it up and then you turn this thing on and it will show you what you missed.
Speaker A:It's got two rotating scrubbing pads that actually just polish the floor and make it look really nice.
Speaker A:And it will detect carpet, so it will vacuum the carpet.
Speaker A:You can set it up to vacuum all the floor systems and then go back and mop later.
Speaker A:It's got this brush stabilization module which adapts the height of it.
Speaker A:This is absolutely amazing how it hits the 100% edge and corner coverage.
Speaker A:Just square corners get clean.
Speaker A:So this thing is just absolutely insane.
Speaker A:And it has its own docking system so you don't have to go over and empty it every time.
Speaker A:It's got its own bag built into that so it recognizes 300 types of recognizable objects.
Speaker A:This is insane and I just absolutely love it.
Speaker A:They are not paying me to say this.
Speaker A:It's just one of those things.
Speaker A:It's a little bit more money.
Speaker A:But if you think about how much time that this will do in savings for you for cleaning around the house, I have it go around a couple days and talk about a way to keep dust allergens.
Speaker A:It's about regular priced.
Speaker A:I think it's:Speaker A:But it's great for long and pet fur, pet food pellets, all that stuff it picks up.
Speaker A:So this is something that I think is absolutely amazing.
Speaker A:And we come back.
Speaker A:I want to talk about some of the latest that I've found out there.
Speaker A:When it comes to the outdoor stuff we are seeing out there now, all price points of robot lawnmowers.
Speaker A:That'll make your job so much easier out there where you don't have to go around and spend the time of mowing the lawn, you can set it and forget it and reclaim those Saturdays.
Speaker A:Now, if you're one of those people that like to go out and it's a therapeutic thing for mowing the lawn, totally get you.
Speaker A:This isn't for you, but for the people out there that are spending a ton of money each week on lawn care and having a hard time finding good lawn care people.
Speaker A:This could be part of your solution where you can set it and forget it and it's going to automatically do it.
Speaker A:And depending on how big a yard or what you got going on, they've got an answer for you.
Speaker A:We'll talk about that just as soon as around the House returns.
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Speaker A:Welcome back to the around the House show, your trusted source for everything about your home.
Speaker A:Thanks for joining us today.
Speaker A:I'm Eric G. I wanted to talk real quick before we jump back into smart home stuff.
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Speaker A:art home innovations here for:Speaker A:One of the biggest things I think that is really changing out there is those mowers, those autonomous robot lawnmowers out there that you see and here's where it's been over the last few years.
Speaker A:What you would see is you would see things that were a little glitchy.
Speaker A:Now you might have to put a perimeter wire around the outside of the yard.
Speaker A:Nobody wants to do that.
Speaker A:It used RTK navigation which I'm not gonna get into the weeds on this because this would make for the most boring radio and podcast you ever heard.
Speaker A:But real time Kinematic RTK is a satellite based navigation technique that basically gives you better data.
Speaker A:So what you're seeing now though is with technology now they're starting to move into using LIDAR and things like that.
Speaker A:So that is where we're starting to see where they're using a 360 degree 3D lidar with AI vision intelligence.
Speaker A:So one of the players out there that's really starting to get noticed is MOVA and their page is us.mova tech.
Speaker A:Again, I've never talked to these guys.
Speaker A:I've just seen their stuff on some CES and that kind of things.
Speaker A:And they are really moving ahead with the latest in this.
Speaker A:or:Speaker A:So what that gives you is you manage it all from your phone.
Speaker A:You can draw no go zones to keep it off the patio, that kind of stuff and to make sure it's not going a place that you don't want it to go, but it's really under complete control.
Speaker A:You set it out there and forget it.
Speaker A:And so it's one of those things that really puts that super intelligence into mowing the lawn.
Speaker A:And so many of these lawnmowers now you're starting to see that they really have it dialed in.
Speaker A:Now some of these mowers have string trimmers based around all three sides of it, front, side, back, so it'll edge it for you as it's going.
Speaker A:Many of them have real mower decks out there, so it's actually got two smalling blades underneath it.
Speaker A:And so really the new ones here like this move a mova.
Speaker A:You can really adjust the height on it.
Speaker A:It will trim up to 5cm close of an edge.
Speaker A:So it will really get clean edge cuts even when riding over borders.
Speaker A:So it's really doing a next level job.
Speaker A:And it can climb up to a 45 degree slope, which is huge.
Speaker A:That's pretty cool.
Speaker A:And so it will go as wide, as narrow as 60cm centimeters across.
Speaker A:So it's really important how this goes.
Speaker A:I think it's really cool how technology is getting us to that next level.
Speaker A:All wheel drive.
Speaker A:On some of these you get up to the 3,000, it'll do three quarters of an acre lawn, which is a lot of lawn.
Speaker A:So really you can start to take a look at this stuff here.
Speaker A:And many of these you can get on Amazon, which to me is fascinating.
Speaker A:Again, these are things that you get there where you've got them on.
Speaker A:Great example.
Speaker A:l right there, you're looking:Speaker A:And so that comes with a little free garage that goes out there.
Speaker A:So it's really got everything built in, ready to go.
Speaker A:So that's comes with all the different pieces you need and a charging tower, all that stuff.
Speaker A:You're good to go.
Speaker A:ou start getting up into that:Speaker A:You can really start to get into some of the bigger stuff there.
Speaker A:But it really changes the game for mowing lawns out there.
Speaker A:ut if you get up to the Ultra:Speaker A:And it gets a little more expensive.
Speaker A:But would you rather pay twice of a good mower and get something that's going to do the work for you?
Speaker A:It's cool.
Speaker A:So it's really got it set up.
Speaker A:And I think this is the future of lawn care.
Speaker A:It's not going to be having the guy come by or the girls come by every, every week to mow it.
Speaker A:It's going to be something where it's going to go, hey, it's a sunny day.
Speaker A:It's going to automatically go out with a pet safe operation.
Speaker A:You're not going to have any privacy concerns because guess what, there's nobody getting into your back lawn or forgetting to shut the gate.
Speaker A:It works with Alexa, works with Google Home.
Speaker A:A lot of these have three year warranties on them.
Speaker A:And so you're really getting something that's going to do probably better than what your lawn care professional is.
Speaker A:So think about that.
Speaker A:We're seeing the same technology out there in pools that's been going.
Speaker A:It's a little bit easier because pools are, even though they're underwater, they do have a limited area.
Speaker A:You don't have to worry about it taking off and going through the flower bed or anything like that.
Speaker A:So really we're seeing this autonomous lawn care, really stepping into a new one.
Speaker A:And I think that's really fun to see and it's going to be A game changer out there for lawnmowers.
Speaker A:We've gone from gas to battery.
Speaker A:Now we're going from battery to autonomous where it's going to mow the lawn for you.
Speaker A:And I know as a kid I would have paid billions of dollars to not to have to go out and push that push mower on the yard when I was a little kid because that wasn't as much fun.
Speaker A:And maybe putting those chores away could be a good deal.
Speaker A:So I think technology's having fun with this and we'll see how it goes.
Speaker A:But if you look at the difference that we've seen in two years, I can't just see what we see two years from now because technology is getting dialed in without the tons of setup work that we've had in the past.
Speaker A:Now, I would be dropping the ball on you guys if I didn't mention another company, Yarbo Y A R B o.
Speaker A:And they're yarbo.com.
Speaker A:Now these guys here are not your typical lawnmower.
Speaker A:So these guys have a complete system that is super cool.
Speaker A:This is the Yarbo Lawnmower Pro.
Speaker A:It's made for the wild lawn, as they say.
Speaker A:This is a complete system.
Speaker A:So it comes with the trimmer, it comes with, you have all these different packages.
Speaker A:You can get it with the snowblower.
Speaker A:So this is a multi tool system.
Speaker A:Now, pricing is not for the faint of heart.
Speaker A:You can be lawn mowing, you can be leaf blowing to snow removal.
Speaker A:It will do all these things, but you're gonna bundle it up and you're probably looking six grand for something like this.
Speaker A:But if you're paying hundreds of dollars or thousands of dollars a year in lawn care for people that are blowing up the leaves coming in there, this starts to make sense.
Speaker A:So you've got really great blades, you've got, you know how it's done.
Speaker A:You can do up to six acres of max coverage.
Speaker A:So this is next level stuff.
Speaker A:So if you've got that big lawn and you're looking for that type of thing, check out Yarbo.
Speaker A:They've got your kind of total lawn care solution all in a robot that'll do it for you.
Speaker A:That to me is interesting and it's something I'm going to explore a little more because I think it's something that's going to be really innovative to go out and have a large yard, up to six acres and get it dialed in without having to call the pros in.
Speaker A:Now there is something therapeutic.
Speaker A:And I will say for all you guys out there that love to be on the riding lawnmower, listen to the game, listen to your music, listening to this show while you're mowing the lawn on Saturday.
Speaker A:And if you want to spend your time doing something else for the price of that lawn tractor, you could probably get into this and do something a little bit different and you can just watch it go with your feet up instead of riding around getting covered in dust, hauling all the stuff that happens when you're mowing the lawn.
Speaker A:All right, guys, well, that's a wrap of this hour.
Speaker A:We've got another hour coming up here now.
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Speaker A:Because what we're going to do is we are going to be doing some live streaming events that will end up turning into the show and that's going to be coming up soon.
Speaker A:We've got some really big stuff coming up here.
Speaker A:We're going to be able to include you in for questions and answers, whether you've got your own home improvement questions.
Speaker A:This is going to be:Speaker A:We're building out our systems for it.
Speaker A:We're going to have Apple Video coming out soon where you'll be able to watch us do the show on video through that.
Speaker A:Lots of new technology coming up for us.
Speaker A:I appreciate you guys as always.
Speaker A:I'm Eric G. Thanks for tuning in to around the House.
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