Smart Home questions

[LASERWOLF452]

so i got some geeni lights (WiFi lights) from Walmart and i was thinking to turn my home into a smart home, but i dont know what be the best thing to get

 

basically what i want is a all in one hub that i can control my smart devices including the geeni lights, i plan to give new use to my laptop that can be a tablet and have it as a command center for the smart gadgets in the house that everyone can use plus have anyone use their phones to control devices in my network i allow them to use such as for their rooms and so on

 

thank you

[Scheer]

Return the WiFi lights and get either Z-Wave or Zigbee ones (protocols actually intended for HA use), then get a Smartthings Hub and use Sharptools.io for your dashboard.

 

Better yet, get smart switches rather than bulbs, because if someone turns your switch off the smart bulbs won't do you any good. You also run into the issue of the bulbs getting out of sync where one won't turn on/off, its just a headache all around if you intend to actually use it. The only place IMO for smart bulbs are in desk/bedside lamps, even then I've been replacing all of mine with Aeon Micro Switches embedded into the lamps, I regret ever wasting money on smart bulbs.

 

Not sure how you feel about Amazon listening in, but I started with tablets as dashboards, and once I put an Echo in every room they were never used. Voice control of a smart home is far and away the best option, really the only thing I physically trigger anymore is a button for a good night routine so I don't wake up my wife when going to bed.