Joe TriesHonest smart home experiments
Home automation from real Joes.
One suburban homeowner trying things in his house and reporting back honestly: what worked, what didn't, and whether it was worth it.
Real bills, real mistakes, real verdicts. Read the latest below.
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Smart home devices with the specs that actually decide whether they work together. Filter by what you already run, from Alexa, Google, and Apple to SmartThings, Home Assistant, and Hubitat. Every listing is checked against the manufacturer.
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From the blog
All posts →- Jul 10, 2026·Smart home
Smart home brands that shut down or changed the deal, and how to spot the next one
Wink, Insteon, Iris, and most recently Wemo. A running list of smart home brands that died or quietly moved the goalposts, why it happened, and the warning signs that show up months before the announcement. Every date sourced and linked, and cross-checked against my own catalog.
- Jul 5, 2026·Smart home
How I made my garage opener with no app or WiFi open from my phone
My basic Genie opener was a dumb motor on the ceiling. I didn't want to replace it, I just wanted to open the garage from my phone on my walks and let people in when I wasn't home. Here's the cheap add-on that did it, the one wiring thing that tripped me up, and five years of honest verdict.
- Jun 30, 2026·Pool & yard
Is a variable speed pool pump worth it? Three years with my Pentair, and my real electric bill
My single-speed pool pump died in the middle of a Southern California summer, so I put in a Pentair variable speed. Three years later, here are the real numbers: what it actually pulls, what it cost, and the thing about when it runs that almost nobody mentions.
- Jun 29, 2026·Smart home
Matter, Thread, Zigbee, Z-Wave: what they actually are
I run a smart home and could not have explained the difference between Matter and Thread if you paid me. So I went to the groups that make these standards and read what they say. Here is the plain-English version, with every source linked so you can check my work.