Better, Smarter Smoke Detectors Push All the Right Buttons
Smoke alarms, which have become a standard and required feature of every house and apartment, don’t work very well. They typically emit a high-pitched tone when activated, and it's difficult to tell which direction the tone is coming from. When there’s a fire, knowing where that fire is happening is the most important fact. Also, children and some adults have slept through smoke detectors in tests.
Many people have trouble controlling their alarms, which go off each time they cook or for reasons unknown. So they remove the battery and leave themselves unprotected. Most smoke detectors run on just one battery, which has to be changed frequently. When the battery is low, most smoke detectors sound off with a loud beep, which can happen in the middle of the night and scare everybody. You often need a ladder to reach them to turn them off.
Finally, a new breed of smoke and carbon monoxide detector is coming on the market.
Nest Protect - $129 Nest, the innovative company that reinvented the thermostat, now makes a talking smoke alarm and carbon monoxide detector. Like its thermostat, the Nest Protect is an object of relative beauty. It looks like it could be an Apple product, with a square shape with rounded corners and a light circle in the middle.
The Nest Protect sounds off with a very loud alarm like other detectors do when smoke, heat or carbon monoxide is detected. But well before that point, the Nest gives you information about where the problem might be and what is going on, according to the company. A voice says, “Heads up. There’s smoke in the living room.” Note that all the Nest Protect units in the house will tell you this. You can silence it by waving your hand in the air near it.
If you don't dismiss the alert, the beep, beep, beep alarm will sound like any other smoke detector. However, just as with the "preview," the beeps will be punctuated by that voice again, giving details about what's going on. While the alarm is beeping, it will again say: “Emergency. There’s smoke in the living room,” so you know exactly what it’s detecting even if you slept through or weren’t home for the initial heads-up.
Nest Protect - $129 The green glowing ring even doubles as a nightlight. It runs on six — count 'em, six! — AA batteries, which the company says will last for years. The Nest Protect tests itself every 10 minutes. When the battery gets low, the light changes from green to yellow.
As with so many new networked home gadgets, the Nest Protect comes with a smart-phone app, which can give you low-battery alerts and heads-up and emergency alarm notifications, so you can be alerted even while away. It even has a big panic button that dials 911 for you.
The Nest Protect is scheduled to launch in fall 2013.
Birdi Another innovative alarm system is called the Birdi (formerly Canary). It detects not only smoke, but overall air quality. And it alerts you to not just spikes, but air quality over time.
It’s controlled via a smart phone app for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry. When there’s an “event,” your phone is alerted, and the Birdi tells you if it’s an emergency situation or if the battery needs changing.
It also works via landline phone. Users can call to get audio updates on the status of the battery and the quality of the indoor air. If there’s a fire, smoke or excess carbon monoxide, the Birdi will call the phone and give details.
It will also tell you if the levels of carbon monoxide in your home are enough to harm health; it will consistently show on the app or tell you by phone whether your indoor air quality is good, OK or poor.
The company hasn’t announced when the Birdi will become available or what the price will be.
