This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Hive Home. The opinions and text are all mine.
Anna: I have heard about smart home systems for a while, and thought it would be too complicated to work. However, with our electric and heating bills lately, Gabe and I decided it was time to commit! We started using Hive smart products, and I don’t think either of us were expecting to love it as much as we do. It has made converting our home to an economical safe haven simple.
We started with the Hive Welcome Home Pack which had an easy self-install approach, and worked with our need for safety, thermostat control, and electricity control. Every home is different, so it’s nice that you can choose a home pack that fits your life. After installing the thermostats and sensors, we downloaded the Hive app, and can now control each of them from our phone. Coming from someone who still hadn’t figured out how to work our thermostat, this became my new best friend. Gabe is committed to a firm 67 degrees in the winter, and I love that I can now amp that thing up to a wild 69 degrees should my perpetually cold nose request it.
I also can’t get over that we can set up a motion sensor for our lights as we walk in the door, so they don’t have to remember to plug and unplug. They only need to be on when we are in the room!
We even hooked up the tree lights to the app so that we can turn it on and off with our phone at night. Our electricity bill is going to be way less scary from here on out!
Gabe: As Anna can attest, I am not big on technology. I much prefer the simpler tried and true, almost timeless aspects of life. Heck, my current hobbies are wood construction, pipe carving, and cider making. But I will say that Hive has changed something inside of me. A few reasons why:
– Total control of the temperature at the touch of my fingers. In my wildest dreams I never imagined how awesome such a customizable system could be. Anna might argue I’m a bit overboard with the Hive Active thermostat. I have every moment of the day scheduled to the just the right temperature based upon our standard family schedule of comings and goings. Every day can be set to a different schedule, but best of all, I can set each floor to circulate the air for a given amount of time every hour, thereby cutting down on my heating bill. I, truly am in love.
– The Hive window or door sensors offer some peace of mind, especially when you have a Max and a Rocco. If any of you have seen the new Thor movie, there is a moment when a character named Scourge shows off two M-16s, which he has named “Des” and “Truction” (Destruction). I firmly believe that Max and Rocco may have been the inspiration for that scene. They have an uncanny attraction to danger, destruction, and unlocked doors, but I can now know every time a door is opened, how long it has been opened for, and even set a schedule where I can be notified if a door opens between certain hours of the day. Brilliant! Yes, if you have an Alexa you can sync with Hive.
– Linking devices opens a world of possibilities. Nearly any device can be linked to another through the Hive Hub. Link lights to a door sensor to automatically turn on when the door opens, schedule how long that light will remain on, and preset this function to only work during dark hours. For instance, link a motion sensor to one of the Hive Active Light bulbs to light the way for a midnight bathroom run, and prevent a little boy from using a closet as a urinal. Not only that, but set the brightness of the bulb nice and dim to prevent night blindness. Heck, you can even link a motion sensor to turn on the coffee at the first sign of movement after 7:08 AM in the morning. That my friends, is genius!
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This post is in partnership with Hive. All opinions are our own.
