4 Simple-to-Use Smart Home Gadgets You Can Buy at Costco

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

If you’re shopping for smart home products, don’t overlook Costco. It has great deals on everything from security cameras to smart locks to smart speakers and lights, and the best thing is how easy they are to use. The Govee 180ft Elite Permanent Outdoor Lights, for example, can be fully controlled from the Govee Home app on your smartphone once installed. This isn’t uncommon with the gadgets on this list; ease of use was a major factor in the selection process.

Ideally, once you’ve installed a few of the essential smart home gadgets, you’ll want to choose a smart speaker from Costco like the Apple HomePod 2nd Generation. It lets you control other aspects of your smart home simply with your voice by calling out commands like “Hey Siri, lock the front door.” And to keep everything safe and secure, a Ring doorbell will monitor your home 24/7 and send an alert to your phone if anyone approaches the door.

A smart doorbell from Ring is a cheap, easy-to-install way to add an extra layer of security to your home, and the Ring Wired Doorbell Pro and Indoor Cam Plus bundle makes it easy to keep an eye on things from your phone.

Originally $249.99, it’s currently discounted to $179.99 at the time of writing. The bundle includes the 3rd Generation Wired Doorbell Pro to track anyone who approaches your door as well as the Indoor Cam Plus, which can sit on a table or be mounted on a wall or ceiling to monitor an area of ​​your home for potential intruders (or, more likely, funny things your pet does while you’re away).

The 3rd generation Wired Doorbell Pro offers Retinal 4K video quality and up to 10x zoom for clear images, which is useful in case you need to identify someone, capture a license plate, or read the tag and name on a delivery person’s uniform. When it’s too dark to record normally, the Wired Doorbell Pro activates a night mode filter to continue capturing in near darkness. Since this set includes the wired version, the doorbell will not run out of battery, but you will need to connect it to your home’s power source. If you prefer to use a rechargeable battery, the Ring Battery Doorbell Plus (2nd generation) is also available at Costco for $269.99.

A smart lock like the Yale Assure Lock 2 Plus DoorSense and Wi-Fi ($189.99 at Costco) is a smart home gadget that even your grandparents would love. The smart lock pairs perfectly with the Ring doorbell because between the two you get complete security and peace of mind knowing that you will never have to leave the front door unattended or forget to lock it again. But it is also perfectly usable alone.

The Yale Assure Lock 2 comes in three finish options, including satin nickel, oil rubbed bronze, and black, and the front side features a simple touch keypad for easy entry via code. You can also lock or unlock the Yale Assure Lock 2 using your phone, smartwatch, or Apple HomeKit and Google Home speaker for convenient comings and goings (it will also lock automatically). It also comes with IPx5 resistance right out of the box, meaning it should hold up well to rain or accidental water spills.

Apple HomePod (2nd generation) brings together everything in your smart home. It’s a premium smart speaker that allows voice commands for other smart products, like locking or unlocking the Yale Assure Lock 2. In addition to integrating with other smart gadgets, the HomePod can perform a number of convenient actions like setting timers, checking the weather, or converting measurements (such as cups to ounces while cooking).

It does, however, have the Apple logo, which means you can’t expect it to be cheap. At Costco, the Apple HomePod (2nd generation) sells for $339.99 and is available in two colors: white and midnight (dark gray). But for that hefty price, you get premium features and build quality like a high-excursion woofer and five beamforming tweeters for powerful bass and immersive audio fidelity, intelligent sound optimization for any room it’s placed in, and a sturdy 5.16-pound (2.3-kg) mesh and silicone frame.

If you’re part of the Apple ecosystem (meaning you own an iPhone, Apple Watch, AirPods, Apple TV, or Mac), the 2nd generation HomePod offers even more features you can use, like connecting to the Find My app to locate your lost iPhone or Apple Watch. Costco has surprisingly few smart speaker options (at least in their online retail section); If the HomePod doesn’t interest you, the Sonos Era 100 Wireless Smart Speaker Set, available for $409.99, lets you control Amazon Alexa rather than Siri.

Smart lights like Govee Elite Permanent Outdoor Lights ($339.99) are simple smart home gadgets and a great way to spruce up the home for any occasion. You can change them to festive colors during the holidays, your team colors during sporting events, or even just a dim, warm light to brighten up the surroundings of your home a little at night when you’re waiting for someone home late. And it’s all done from the Govee Home app on your smartphone, so once installed (with the included tape, clips and cables), they stay in place all year round and customization is as easy as a few clicks.

If you want to get creative, you can use all kinds of different effects, like a rainbow wave or strobe, and preloaded “scenes” (preset colors and light effects) in the Govee app for occasions like Halloween. You can also change the lights by zones, so if you want the front of the house to show normal white light while the backyard is lit in different colors for a party, you can do that right in the app. The string lights are also IP67 water resistant, so they are safe in typical rain and snow conditions.

In order to find these smart home gadgets, we went through an extensive list of options available on the official Costco website. We carefully analyzed the gadgets in the Smart Home, Security & Wi-Fi section to select four products based on a number of key factors. Besides ease of use, which was our main concern, we also considered price, performance, design and availability of the product. We used expert and user reviews to evaluate the performance of these smart home gadgets in an everyday environment.

Once the data was compiled, we then narrowed down the choices for this list based on how the products performed in each of the key categories mentioned, as well as which ones are most applicable to the majority of buyers in the smart home market.