New setup help

[Ferguson9]

I’m moving house shortly so starting from scratch.

In my current house I have a Nest thermostat, Neat protect smoke alarms, Ring Doorbell Pro, Sonos One speakers, Amazon echo. Standard pyronix alarm system and standard dome cameras. I will be leaving the thermostat and doorbell.

In the new house I’m renovating it all so can start from scratch and looking for some ideas. I don’t want to be tied in to one particular ecosystem. I’d rather buy what is the best rather than just for the brand name. Ideally they’d all need to be able to talk to each other though. Some things I definitely want/need are;

• Doorbell (bought eufy 2k doorbell)
• Nest protect (will bring these with me)
• Alarm
• Cameras (bought a single Eufy floodlight camera but doubt this is enough. Wonder if I should get one for the back and one for the front of the house? Would a camera system be better?)
• Thermostats for Underfloor heating and general heating

Other things I’m interested in but don’t know if theyre useful / needed are:

• Philips Hue light bulbs
• smart light switches
• Smart home hub

Can you please recommend any of the above as well as what system is good to link these altogether? I’m a bit of an Apple fan boy and have heard things about HomeKit but don’t know much about it.

Any advice?

Thanks

 

[Ferguson9]

Any recommendations?

 

[Jamie]

If you're Apple fan boy you only need an iPad, Apple TV or Homepod to try Homekit as all of those devices can function as a hub.

If you like the functionality then configuring a raspberry pi to run Homebridge can allow non compatible devices to work

Homebridge

Homebridge adds HomeKit support to your non-HomeKit smart home devices.

homebridge.io

 

[Ferguson9]

Thanks for your reply. I guess I'm not much of a fanboy because I don't have any of those devices ha!

I have an iPhone, couple of Macbooks, watch, Airpods Max, Airpods Pro so I guess somewhere in the middle!

Would you say I'm not necessary tied to Apple then and could/should explore others?

Thanks