I remember listening to an episode of This American Life many years ago on the subject of the saying "build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door". The long and the short of it was that that particular saying was untrue because there is no market for a better mousetrap. The $1.00 mousetraps work just fine, and though they're not perfect, anything better won't be better enough to justify the additional expense.
I feel precisely this way about smoke detectors. I recently bought a house, and the first two things I did were: a) purchase a nest (which I love) and install it, and b) go to Home Depot, pay $50 for 4 new well-rated smoke detectors, and install them. Are they ugly? Sure, although the fact that every interior space in every developed nation on the planet has them tends to take the edge off. Do they occasionally false alarm when We're cooking something? Sure, it has happened once or twice.
Neither of the above are justification for me to spend more than $10-15 on a smoke detector. It would have to do something truly marvelous to be worth even $30 a unit for me. The thermostat was worth the extra money to me because it's cool and saves me a bit of money and I wanted to give my money to a company that was doing right by the energy consumer. I will withhold judgement on the smoke alarm until I see one, but the exuberance around here for it seems premature to me.
Also, if my house burns down, I will already get a smartphone alert in the form of a phone call from my neighbors.
I feel precisely this way about smoke detectors. I recently bought a house, and the first two things I did were: a) purchase a nest (which I love) and install it, and b) go to Home Depot, pay $50 for 4 new well-rated smoke detectors, and install them. Are they ugly? Sure, although the fact that every interior space in every developed nation on the planet has them tends to take the edge off. Do they occasionally false alarm when We're cooking something? Sure, it has happened once or twice.
Neither of the above are justification for me to spend more than $10-15 on a smoke detector. It would have to do something truly marvelous to be worth even $30 a unit for me. The thermostat was worth the extra money to me because it's cool and saves me a bit of money and I wanted to give my money to a company that was doing right by the energy consumer. I will withhold judgement on the smoke alarm until I see one, but the exuberance around here for it seems premature to me.
Also, if my house burns down, I will already get a smartphone alert in the form of a phone call from my neighbors.