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What to do with Nest...




As I began my Life After Wink, one of the first things I needed to fix (since it was broken already with Wink) were my Nest products.   As most should know by now, Google discontinued their "Works with Nest" program.  This generated fairly wide spread negative reactions across the internet.

When it happened, I had 7 Nest Protects (6 AC, 1 DC) and 3 Nest Thermostats.   I had however, just started a new job at First Alert (I work on connected products for them -- disclaimer)  so was already looking at the Safe & Sound devices as a "homekit" upgrade to the smoke detectors. (and figured employee pricing would help me out).  So that "fixed' part of the problem.   While they aren't perfect (yes, I'll say that about products that my company produces :-) ) they fit the bill.  Homekit, check, Connected, check, Alexa (not-all-that-interested-in, but can turn it off), and play music.   That solved one part of the problem.  (though installing 7 of them was  lot of work...)

But I love my Nest Thermostats.  They work great, great user experience (hey, designed by same guy who designed iPod -- which I think is also a great user experience) so not a big surprise I like them.    What do do about them?   I had signed up earlier for the Nest Developer program (as part of learning about Thread -- was trying to see if could tie in my weather sensors to that... topic of another post) But really hadn't done much with it...so wondering if there was some way to utilize that.. it let me get info from the devices... hmmm...

So, solution?  The Starling Hub!   I don't recall exactly where I initially heard about it (probably some of the Home Assistant blogs/forums) but basically it's a Hub designed specifically for integrating Nest products.  Not sure what HW it's running on (it's definitely not a Raspberry Pi -- It's a square device, shorter in length than a Raspberry Pi Zero.

So, time for Earl's Pros/Cons.


Pros:

  • Extremely easy to set up (just plug in, connect to the AP network it sets up, and basically done.)
  • It's a small device, just needs power and network.  
  • Has Wired Ethernet (I believe it will do WiFi.. though I've not ever tried that...I prefer my hubs to have wired connections -- I want them to work regardless of whether or not the WiFi is on)   
  • Standard Mini USB cable connection.
  • Software all comes pre-installed, and they do over the internet updates (I believe I've gotten 2 so far)
  • It's small (did I say that already? :-) )
  • Brings in all the Nest devices. (it brought in my Nest Thermostat AND the Dropcam!  Bonus! :-) ) 
  • You can password protect it as well.    
  • Has one job and does it well.
  • You can include/exclude devices by category OR one at a time.

Cons:

  • Yet another hub to worry about...
  • USB plug that doesn't do anything (so far).  I always have hated things like this.. if it's there, give it a use :-)
  • Not necessarily cheap.   
  • Requires Nest Developer Account to work (not the end of the world, but if you don't have one, you'll need to get one)
  • Has to be re-authenticated every month (or at least I think so... I'm not sure if it automatically updated or need me to do something since I have 2FA turned on for my account... and I've done "manually" so far before it's needed it... (usually during SW update or when I've been checking in on it)
  • No way to control devices directly via the webpage (but not a biggie to me, was planning on using Home and Home+ apps...

Now I've not exercised it for more than the Thermostats and Camera, but so far, rock solid.  Makes available to Homekit -- the Camera (static and video) Sound, Motion Detection, and on/off for the camera.   Not bad.    So that's the first things I got migrated in my "Life After Wink..."

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