re: Smart Home Technologies

Things i like the most:

I have a rainbird wifi controller for my irrigation system(I've heard Rachio is good and may be preferred as mentioned above). I like the ability to just change my schedule, delay it if I'm going to spray for weeds or mow, do a quick irrigation after putting fertilizer down etc all from an app on my phone.

I have a myQ garage door opener. It works well. It's nice to be able to open the garage if I'm having a big package delivered and have them place it in there instead of on my frontsteps. Also have it scheduled to close the garage in the evening at a set time. There are some garage door openers that have them built in to the system.

I have a wifi schlage door lock. It's nice to be able to program codes for certain people (parents, cleaners etc), you'll get notifications when those numbers are used. You can also remotely lock and unlock the door as needed as well. Usually the batteries last about 1 year with my use.

Aside from those:
I have a ring doorbell, 3 camers(two wired spotlights and one wireless spot camera with solar panel). I like them okay. I found myself over time adjusting it to almost the point where I didn't get notifications from it. I also don't like the delay in recording. If I was building, I would favor doing cat5/6 runs to areas where I want cameras and having a dedicated PoE system.

If building, I would do a dedicated media closet with all the cat5/6 runs terminating there. Place for your hub, router, etc.

I have some Phillips hue bulbs. Mostly useful for table and floor lamps. I wouldn't personally use them in any other light fixtures. Honestly mostly use them for dimming quickly with my app on my phone when putting kids to sleep. I haven't installed any smart switches. But truthfully, I think I would not really use them. Unless you have things set up on routines, I'm not sure how much I would use lighting vs just flipping a switch.

Eta: I have a couple nest thermostats. Probably would do ecobee or Honeywell next time just due to the reports about nest stats killing hvacs in certain situations. I almost made the switch when one of my nest thermostats but the dust but they sent me a free replacement. Truthfully though I just use it be able to adjust the temp from my app, but for the most part the temps stay the same and are on a schedule which is no different then what I would use with a non smart thermostat. I do like having the remote temp sensors for certain rooms and having the a/c adjust for those rooms at certain tims(i.e. follows my master bedroom at nighttime instead the tstat location.). I don't use any of the learning features. And someone is nearly always home so I don't make use of the home/away features.