Are there any reliable smoke detectors out there

Smart Home Forum
21

@Richie
I bought several X-sense units on Black Friday, and they’ve met my needs perfectly so far.

22

@Richie
Some reviews mentioned that the LED lights are very bright. Has that been an issue for you?

23

Milo said:
@Richie
Some reviews mentioned that the LED lights are very bright. Has that been an issue for you?

No, the LEDs don’t bother us at all. The smoke/CO units in our bedrooms only blink occasionally, and it’s not disturbing.

24

I trust the Nest Protects completely. I use four of them with Starlight to sync with HomeKit.

25

Are you sure there wasn’t any smoking inside? My Kidde detectors have never gone off unless they were supposed to.

26

EvansBrown14 said:
Are you sure there wasn’t any smoking inside? My Kidde detectors have never gone off unless they were supposed to.

Sometimes insects can trigger false alarms. Try putting the detector in the freezer for a bit to clear it out.

27

I had a bad experience with Kidde alarms all failing at once. I switched to Nest Protect and it’s been smooth sailing since.

28

Make sure you are cleaning your smoke detectors regularly as recommended in the manual. It can help prevent false alarms.

29

Vivian said:
Make sure you are cleaning your smoke detectors regularly as recommended in the manual. It can help prevent false alarms.

Absolutely, regular cleaning is essential for maintaining smoke detector reliability.

30

I use Owl Home, which integrates well with my HomeKit setup. It’s been reliable, though I know reviews are mixed.

31

HomeGaurd101 said:
I use Owl Home, which integrates well with my HomeKit setup. It’s been reliable, though I know reviews are mixed.

Can you share more about your experience? Have they added support for Matter? Can it connect to Home Assistant via HomeKit?

32

@Isla
My Owl is part of a larger system but stands out because it hasn’t given me any false alarms. It also has additional sensors for temperature and humidity, and a microphone for detecting noise, which can be disabled. It doesn’t support Matter, and I’m not sure they plan to add it.

33

I switched from First Alert to X-sense which has an app for managing alarms. It’s been reliable and doesn’t have the false alarm issue I had before.

34

We’ve been using Kidde detectors that also monitor indoor air quality and haven’t had any complaints.

35

I was considering Nest Protect but found that the stocks were old. I’m looking into home automation relays as an alternative now.

36

If you’re experiencing false alarms at night, it might be due to photoelectric sensors reacting to voltage dips. Ionization sensors are faster and less prone to false alarms.