Last updated on November 23rd, 2020 at 04:15 pm
There’s nothing sexy about smoke detectors—we put them in our homes and often forget about them until we cook smoky food without remembering to turn the exhaust fan on or start enjoying our fireplaces with the chimney closed. (That said, you should check your smoke detectors at least once a month to make sure that the batteries are fresh and that the detector can detect if you find yourself in a situation where mere seconds make all the difference.)
Smoke—and these days, carbon monoxide detectors—often play merely a background role in the life of a modern home, just something we expect to be there rather than tools to be kept up to date, ensuring we’re doing everything we can to take care of our homes.
But what if your home got ravaged by a fire tomorrow? Have you taken the necessary steps to protect the things you hold dear if the unexpected happens? Are your valuables in a fireproof safe and your files stored in another location should your computer get torched in the process? Do you have your possessions catalogued in an inventory and made sure you know what your home insurance covers? When it comes down to it, too many of us are woefully unprepared for the curveballs life’s all too ready to hurl at us, and we need to be smarter about the tools we keep around us if things go wrong.
And that oft-overlooked ancient smoke detector collecting dust on your ceiling’s an amazing way to start.
“In the 1970s, it would take almost 30 minutes for a fire to take over a room. Today, it can take less than 5.”
— Source: Underwriters Laboratories
It’s scary how quickly things can go wrong. In a quest to make things cheaper to manufacture and accessible to everyone through mass production, we’ve turned our homes into fire traps. The fires burn faster, the smoke’s more toxic, and the longer we continue relying on outdated technology to keep us safe, the more we leave ourselves open to calamity happening without a way to defend ourselves in time.
The second-generation Nest Protect is packed with features to give you a leg up against disaster, and if used in the right way, it can do far more than just detect smoke.
The industrial-grade smoke detector is just part of everything the Nest Protect has to offer—if you’re one of the 90% who fail to check their smoke detectors monthly, imagine a smoke detector with a built-in microphone to quietly test its horn monthly at a time of your choosing, and you need to do little more than key your preferences in on the Nest App to make it happen. Or putting the days of an overly sensitive smoke detector far behind you, with one you can hush with a press on your phone instead of frantically waving at it with a dish towel until it gets the picture. In an age where our phones may as well be extra limbs, having devices like the Nest Protect connected to them doesn’t just make sense—soon enough, it’ll likely become the norm.
A recent study commissioned by TELUS found that smart home technologies are on the rise—while 61% of people believe that they’ll definitely benefit their lives, only 34% currently own a smart home device. But that gap’s looking to shrink—with 63% of people predicting they’ll own at least one smart home device by 2018 (with half that crowd thinking they’ll own three or more), the world around us will continue to morph to accommodate the possibilities that simply didn’t exist before smart home technologies began making their way into the mainstream.
It’s time for us to stop fixating on the smoke detectors we used to know and start looking to a future that’s a lot smarter.
So if you’re up to the challenge of making your home a tad more intelligent (and I’m pretty sure you are with 57% of people believing smart home tech will save them money, and 44% believing it to increase security and safety), this is a great way to do it!
The Nest Protect—A Great Way to Keep the Things You Care About Most Safe From Harm’s Way
With technology continuing to evolve, so do our expectations for what’s possible from our devices. Don’t be surprised to eventually see insurance companies giving reduced premiums for households linking security cameras to their smoke detectors that can automatically record video in the case of an emergency. Or if you suddenly find smart home devices integrated into your kids’ school curriculum, like advising them to get a thermostat that speaks to their smoke detectors, shutting off the heating system in the case of a fire so the smoke doesn’t spread further!
In a world where the challenges change faster than we can keep up, it’s the little tools like the Nest Protect that at least point us in the right direction.
If you want to see the Nest Protect for yourself up close and personal, feel free to check it out at one of TELUS‘ “Connected Experience” stores in the Cadillac Fairview Toronto Eaton Centre or Edmonton’s Southgate Centre. And if you don’t happen to live near, don’t worry—TELUS has more Connected Experience stores in the works, and they’ll be introducing their smart home portfolio to 50 retail locations across Canada this year!
All that said, I hope I’ve inspired you to think about the steps you can take to build a smarter home. With enough in our lives that’s utterly irreplaceable, it’s worth the investment to make sure we protect the things we care about—before we regret not having done so sooner.
Hope to see you on the right side of the smart home revolution!
Until the next, I remain,
–case p.
Disclaimer: As compensation for this post, TELUS sent over a battery-powered Nest Protect to review and see how it could make our home a little smarter! But since we need a wired version to replace our current system, I decided to pass the device on to you—but believe you me, when we move to our forever home, I’m installing these suckers all over the place!
86 replies on “TELUS | Nest Protect Review”
The biggest thing I could (and really should) do is swap out the builder installed, hard wired only smoke detectors in my house. No batteries, no bueno if the power goes out.
We’re currently renting a brand new home. The builder has installed smoke detectors on each floor. We will be moving into our own home within the next year and will ensure that there are smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors on all floors.
I need to remember to check the batteries more often!
We need a carbon monoxide detector. Plus need to replace our front door and the glass beside it, I worry someone could break it easily to get in! new door and a good lock!
We need a carbon monoxide detector to make our home safer
test my smoke detectors regularly
I should probably have a fire extinguisher within easy reach in the kitchen.
My husband always makes sure everything is turned off before we go out.
I really should test the smoke detectors more often but I forget to.
One thing I could improve would be practicing a fire exit plan with our almost 3 year old. It hasn’t been something I’ve given much thought to it yet but now that we have a new baby in the house I think it is something we need to get her familiar with!
I would definitely say better locks on our doors and windows!
I would like another smoke detector in the far part of our basement!
I would have a better fire plan and have a couple more smoke detectors , i check the batteries every 6 months 🙂 thanks for the chance 🙂
We installed extra smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
I think it’s important to have your fire extinguisher checked regularly.
I need more fire extinguishers, right now I have 1 in the kitchen but want one near the pellet stove and at least one on the 2nd floor.
I need to test my smoke detector more often, I tend to forget.
I have a fire extinguisher and they have to be checked regularly. Also check the batteries in smoke alarms and CO2 detectors regularly too.
I need to do do more off-site computer back ups and I definitely need get a fire proof safe for a few precious and important items.
Install more smoke detectors
test your smoke detectors to see if the still works properly once every few months
I would add more detectors and test them more
I would test my detectors more and add more
Add more detectors
test more often
Add a fire extinguisher in the kitchen.
I could get a carbon monoxide detector for my home.
I need to buy a fire extinguisher for the kitchen.
We have smoke detectors in various rooms throughout the house and on every floor.We
also have a carbon monoxide detector in our home.The Nest Protect sounds fab!!
I asked my hubby just this past weekend how to properly use the fire extinguishers. I am not sure how to work them!
I need to check and or replace my current fire extinguishers. I would also like to upgrade my smoke alarms. Thank you for bringing up an important topic! It’s now on my to-do list! Awesome post and giveaway! Good luck all 🙂
We have to make an escape plan with our kids in case of a fire. Also keep our smoke detector batteries fresh and new.
We need to buy a fire extinguisher.
I would like to buy a fire proof safe for all of our important documents. With two wood stoves, there is always a risk of a chimney fire (although we are diligent about cleaning it). We could also have a fire extinguisher on both floors, instead of just in the basement.
We do pretty well at this. But I think less clutter would be helpful.
I need to go over our fire escape plan more often with the kids. We moved in July to our new home and they still aren’t very familiar with our fire escape plan in our home. Also testing the fire/smoke detectors periodically between battery changes is a great way to stay safer in our home.
We should really come up with a fire escape plan to improve our safety, putting in some new detectors might be a good plan too.
We need a carbon monoxide detector.
We could add a carbon monoxide detector in the furnace-hot water tank room.
Make sure our fire extinguishers are serviced every year.
I need to test smokes alarms more often. alos I need to clean out my dryer vent, haven’t done that yet this spring.
We really need to start from scratch for a fire safety plan! The dryer vents, no extinguishers!
Have an escape route planned out.
I need to check the batteries more often to make sure they are working
We could test our smoke detectors more often.
Make sure all your smoke detectors contain working batteries.
Have a fire escape route planned.
Check more carefully to make sure appliances are shut off before leaving home.
I would get some hard wired smoke detectors. I hate to depend on the battery operated ones.
we need a fire exit plan
I need to replace my fire extinguisher. It’s very old.
Increase use of smart technology within the home
We could have a better escape plan in case of a fire.
check the batteries in my smoke alarms every 6 months
Create an escape plan and have an emergency ladder
Have a fire escape plan
This year things are dry all over the place with lots of grass fires happening, so we’re going to plough a firebreak around the house and out buildings and have lots of covered barrels of waters around. Can’t be too save especially if there’s an old creosote soake railway trestle bridge around!
Check batteries every year. Thank you for the awesomeness, the contest, and generosity. 🙂
We do have 3 smoke detectors but only one very old fire extinguisher. The old one needs replacing and an additional one for the other floor of our house would be good.
make sure our escape route is always clear
I really should place a smoke detector in our basement. There is so much electrical in the basement yet I rarely go downstairs.
I would like to add a couple more detectors.
Be more aware of the fire safety in my apartment building
I should probably keep a fire extinguisher in my kitchen and also practice a fire drill and exit strategy with the kiddos. We have done the latter in the past, but its been a few years.
Reviewing our fire escape plan with the kids more often would be something I could improve, otherwise, my husband, being a previous fireman, has everything handled pretty well.
I need to check my batteries more often. I also want to make sure I review our family fire safety plan yearly.
To improve things, we should update our escape plan.
We could update our fire escape plan and do some drills
We should really check out our kitchen fire extinguisher.
Could use another smoke detector possibly.
I COULD invest in a small fire extinguisher to have in my home!
I should buy a carbon monoxide detector and check the batteries on my smoke detectors.
I think I should probably get a fire extinguisher – never know when cooking may go awry.
We should probably figure out where our fire extinguishers got put!
Always keep exit areas clear so they are easily accessible.
gates at all stair ways
I can always make sure batteries are changed at time change and that there is always an open path to escape from bedroom windows
Our family should have an emergency fire ladder upstairs in case of fire on the main level because it would be a long way down to jump.
Good locks for the doors, fire extinguisher ready and make sure the smoke detector is fully charged
I should be remembering to change the batteries often.
Clear out basement clutter.
I always make sure to not leave a candle burning when I leave the room!
make sure there is fresh batteries and working condition in all alarms as well as backups always on hand
I think getting more sensitive smoke alarms installed would help.
This would help me be better prepared. I also need better ventilation when I cook.
I’m going to replace the batteries in the smoke alarm & find the fire extinguisher! I know I bought one!!