Feedback on Nest Protect 2nd Generation Smoke & CO Detector?

[Erik]

I need to get new smoke and CO detectors for about 10 locations in my house. I'm looking at the Nest Protect 2nd generation detectors as a good option: https://nest.com/smoke-co-alarm/meet-nest-protect/ They're pricey at about $120 a pop, but when you start pricing both smoke and CO detectors for multiple locations, plus factor in that the Nest is supposed to be effective at detecting both smoldering and fast burning fires, plus take into account the smart features and interconnection, the price starts to seem reasonable-ish. I know there were issues with the first generation of these. The second generation seems to get good reviews. Before I drop $1,000 plus, I wanted to see if I could get any first-hand feedback. Thanks.

[Gray222]

I have a NEST thermostat and a protect.

The protect is in the living room, about twenty feet from the kitchen and we had it go off once when I was not home, the app on my phone instantly alerted my wife and I to the smoke alarm going off.

When you setup the protect you name it where it is located for quick location identification, so you know if they go off which one it is. The app is pretty good, and I have a few friends that couple them with indoor nest cameras, you get a pretty good bang for buck.

The protects cover a wide range and having one in each room may not be necessary, probably best to research to see what is recommended.

[Erik]

Thanks. Most recommendations I've seen are for locating detectors in each bedroom, the basement and common areas. Code requirements come in too. Frankly, it's difficult to sort out the requirements and the recommendations since it's kind of a patchwork and confusing at best. My thinking is to err on the side of too much versus too little, just given the cost-benefit but I can't say it's really necessary.

[Gray222]

So just to add, I bought the hardwired protect's instead of the battery versions. You can have an electrician extend ceiling light power sources to power them if you want.

As far as the location of the protect's, I've read one on each floor would be sufficient as long as its not a 500sq+ space.

[Erik]

Thanks.

[JCS]

If I was going to drop $1200 on a system I would just put up hard wired interconnected smoke alarms throughout my house, have it monitored and spend the extra cash on fire extinguishers and buying quality power strips and extension cords.

Personally, I don't see the value at $120 a pop. All those features sound neat on paper but I can't really see a benefit to them that justifies the cost.

Being able to get alerts on your phone is cool and all but it's not going to save you family from a fire in the middle of the night better than the system I listed above.

CO monitors are nice but aren't necessary in every room of the house. Typically you will want them in areas that have a gas appliance.

As far as locations go, you'll want one in every bedroom and outside the bedrooms in the hallway. Additionally, you'll want one on each level of the house. Avoid areas like kitchens because they are prone to nuisance alarms.

I really don't see much of a benefit of getting alerts on your phone over having it monitored by an alarm company.


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[JCS]

In addition, the nest alarms are only warrantied for 2 years. The industry standard is 10 years. That means you should be replacing those every two years. In reality the ten year cost of a nest alarm is really $500+. Compared to a high quality standard smoke alarm you're looking at $50 for ten years. That's just for one alarms. If you have 10 locations you're looking at $5000 for smoke alarms over the next 10 years compared to just $500. That doesn't even account for the cost of batteries and the nest take 6 batteries a piece.

I think the split sensor technology may be the future and testing seems positive at this point. But again it's not 2x-5x better than what's currently on the market.


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[Erik]

Thank you for the input.

[Erik]

One quick correction. The Nest is rated for 10 years of life, but warranted for 2. I don't know that it changes the value proposition though. The one thing that I find attractive about the nest is that it combines dual sensors and CO, is available both hardwired and battery operated and all of them can talk to each other. I'm can't find any traditional smoke detectors that do all that and it would be cheaper for me to buy a set of these and replace batteries then it would be to pay for the wiring plus the devices. As a secondary matter, I like the idea of buying a smart thermostat down the road that will shut down the central air in the event of a fire. I'm still wrestling with this one.

[JCS]

Erik, do you have gas appliances?


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[Gray222]

Since this thread is still going, I want to post some experience with the protect and nest thermostat....

I installed both when I moved into my new house, old systems were 20-ish year old analog types and useless for me.

While it was expensive to initially order I went with it anyway because I have several friends with NEST thermostat's and other products, they are super happy with them.

As far as the protect goes, I have only had one "signal" from it and that is the one I posted about earlier in this thread. The notification was instant on two cell phones, one not being connected to my home network and the audible alarm was loud enough to prompt my neighbors to txt me to say that the alarm went off - we normally cannot hear a peep of each other and they have large, loud, dogs. The protect auto-tests itself from what I can tell and you can manually test it if you want to, I do once or so a month when I remember. It seems to work really well as a "set and forget" type of setup, hardwired into the electrical system. We have had two power outages so far this year and on both the protect notified me instantly of power loss, I don't know if this is normal or not, but it did.

As for the NEST thermostat, it is awesome and I have no idea how you can live without one in a four season climate area. It learns and changes the temp for you if you did not set a hard temp to heat or cool to. The ECO setting is awesome for saving cash on bills, it cut down my monthly bill by about $30-$50 depending on time of year. The best part is that you can turn it off or set to "away" when you leave and then on your way home turn the heat or cold on to get the house to the right temp, no walking into the front door and running to the thermostat in order to set it before you freeze or die of dehydration. It also, automatically, sends you monthly reports, which is good. I like metrics and statistics on what is going on and these emails are interesting to read.

I know there are a lot of other wifi thermostats and smoke alarms out there, these are on the expensive side but they are totally worth it.

[Erik]

Erik, do you have gas appliances?


Oil heat/hot water, electric stove, fireplace. The furnace is in the basement. The chimneys for it and the fireplace run up through a chase in the center of the house into the attic and through the roof. One of the problems I'm wrestling with is whether and how to get some kind of detection into the attic. The attic is unfinished and I'm in CT so it exceeds the high and low operating temps for most smoke detectors. I also have two basement-level garages that are each underneath portions of the house - one's under the master bedroom and one's under the living room. (Two garages is what got me to buy this house!)

[JCS]

Oil heat/hot water, electric stove, fireplace. The furnace is in the basement. The chimneys for it and the fireplace run up through a chase in the center of the house into the attic and through the roof. One of the problems I'm wrestling with is whether and how to get some kind of detection into the attic. The attic is unfinished and I'm in CT so it exceeds the high and low operating temps for most smoke detectors. I also have two basement-level garages that are each underneath portions of the house - one's under the master bedroom and one's under the living room. (Two garages is what got me to buy this house!)

That sounds like an awesome house! The attic is a great place to have a detector. Attic fires mostly go unnoticed until it's much too late. For attics you can get a heat detector. As you noted smoke alarms/detectors aren't an option for attics. You can select from fixed temp or rate of rise heat detectors.

Unfortunately, they wouldn't be compatible with any smart system. They are just detectors so they are a part of a larger alarm system so I'm not sure it's much of an option for you :/

Sounds like you have thoroughly researched this and it's awesome you're willing to protect your house like that. I doubt you would be disappointed with the nest system. It is a lot of money but you can't put a price on your families lives!


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[Erik]

Thanks very much.