If you are fortunate enough to have a backyard or garden. In that case, you might consider optimizing the space for optimum comfort and convenience. Outdoor activities like barbecues, dining outside, or just enjoying a cup of wine on the patio while watching TV-To intelligent controllers that help keep your garden green and lush. All these could be enhanced with outdoor smart home devices. Even if you have access to a small patio or rolling yards, here the best outdoor smart home devices that can make your garden, backyard, pool more comfortable and useful, and they will make maintenance less of a hassle.
This article discovered the highest rated outdoor smart home IoT devices and left out the fluff. These ideas will make your outdoor space astonishing and easy to maintain.
Here are the best outdoor smart home devices for making the most of your backyard and garden
1. Best-premium lighting to create ambiance outdoors: Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance Calla Bollard
This Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance Calla Bollard is the best looking smart outdoor light bulbs from our guide to the best intelligent outdoor lights. At $150, it offers an intuitive user interface and delivers up to 16 million brilliant arrays of colors and various temperatures of white light to illuminate your garden or backyard or around a pool. These bulbs genuinely bring the best of the worlds of fun along with energy efficiency.
The setup requires the Philips Hue Bridge to get the full spectrum of possibilities or a Zigbee hub or Amazon Echo Plus. It supports more smart-home platforms and devices, including Alexa, Google Assistant, HomeKit, IFTTT, and SmartThings. They are always ready to come on by app, schedule, or voice. You can also combine the bubs with the outdoor motion sensor – for when visitors come over. And for use as security lights that might scare away burglars. They are bright enough, and we highly recommend them for anyone looking for a unique approach to illuminate landscaping, late-night dip in your backyard or pool.
Read our full review of The Best Outdoor Light Bulbs for Decor, Patio, Security, and More
Pros:
- Dimmable LED
- Easy setup and control, and intuitive app
- Loads of automation, schedules, and scenes
- Eye-catching design and protection from the elements
- 16 million colors to add a splash of color
Cons:
- Quite expensive
- Limited wireless range
- Require a Hue Hub to operate
2. The best smart outdoor plug: Kasa Smart Wi-Fi Outdoor Plug KP400
The Kasa Smart Wi-Fi Outdoor Plug KP400 is an affordable dual-outlet smart plug designed to monitor, automate, and control lights or decorations from anywhere with your phone or your voice. The plug worked flawlessly, and it responded instantly to on and off commands. You can also set schedules on each individual plug to turn it on/off at certain times, and they followed the programs to a tee.
It can be linked with string lanterns or lights for easy control of backyard lighting. Each outlet is independently controllable, using a free mobile app or voice control via Alexa or Google assistance. The Wi-Fi range up to 100 feet without any issue, giving you the flexibility in where you place it in your yard. In fact, the Kasa Smart Wi-Fi Outdoor Plug does everything other expensive outdoor smart plugs do for less. It’s our overall best smart plug for adding all your home’s lamps, lights, or other low-power devices.
Further reading: What Is A Smart Plug? An Extensive Guide
Pros:
- Affordable price
- Voice control
- Simple setup and intuitive app
- Can withstand rain and dust
- Dual independent controllable outlets
- Supports IFTTT applets
Cons:
- No power usage reporting
- No HomeKit support
3. Best All-Around weatherproof: SunBriteTV 43-Inch Outdoor TV
The SunBriteTV Veranda Series produces a bright (50% brighter than your indoor television), punchy image. It offers the best value 4K HDR-capable options for outdoor use. Veranda provides a safer, higher performance, and more durable alternative to indoor TVs as long as you don’t need to watch it in direct sunlight.
The TV had a great picture with no glare during the day. Watch TV from the Pool, hot tub, or while eating a meal or having an outdoor party. “The movie Jaws at night in the patio or pool, a big hit with the kids Dun Dun Dun.” SunBriteTV outdoor TV is the best bang for your buck as far as weatherproof outdoor TV’s go; the only thing is its audio quality. But we recommend you get a soundbar. And it also works with Apple TV, Firestick, Chromecast, and even Roku TV Wireless Speakers, and basically any hardware that outputs to one of the ports at the back of this set.
Pros:
- Relatively affordable
- 3 HDMI ports and 1 USB
- Visible at a majority of angles in full shade
- Sealed to protect against any weather condition
- Bright display-extreme contrast, HDR color capabilities
- Compatible with other streaming devices
Cons:
- Built-in speakers are not so great
- No built-in smart TV functionality
- Few features beyond weatherproofing.
4. The best Smart outdoor speaker for less: Ultimate Ears Megablast Speaker
If you want a compact smart outdoor speaker that’s rugged, waterproof, and capable of pumping out strong bass, the Ultimate Ears Megablast is the right choice. It’s arguably the best-sounding portable Alexa-enabled speakers you can use in your backyard, garden, or take anywhere. It’s loud, reliable, looks great, and boasts steady Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connection.
It is much like the Megaboom, but the Megablast is more prominent and louder and can be controlled using Amazon’s Alexa assistant. Both speakers are ideal for listening to music by the pool, campsite, on a hike, or wherever your listening habits take you. However, it has a large price tag (check the smaller version); but, it still sounds better than the latest-generation Echo speaker. But it doesn’t respond to Alexa voice commands as well as the Echo’s speakers.
Read our full review of The Best Wireless Multiroom Smart Speaker.
Pros:
- Offers strong battery life
- Rugged and portable design
- Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Speaker
- Compact, durable, and powerful sound
- Customizable EQ (Boom app)
Cons:
- No Party Up mode
- Doesn’t have a speakerphone
- No Google Assistant or Siri integration
5. The best wireless controllers: Rachio 3 Smart Sprinkler Controller
If you want your lawn green and lush, the Rachio 3 Smart Sprinkler Controller is a smart way to go. The eight or 16 zones sprinkler controller connects to your smartphone or PC, offers the newest weather-based scheduling engineering, and supports more smart-home platforms and devices, including Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant, and much more. It’s installed quickly and performed amazingly, and its Weather Intelligence does an excellent job of rescheduling watering cycles when significant rainfall is in the forecast.
The Rachio 3 isn’t cheap, though it includes the Weather Intelligence Plus (WIP). This service produces a hyperlocal forecast based on local weather data, radar, satellite, atmospheric flight information, and other weather sources, and it is very useful. The Rachio 3 is also the best smart controller you can buy, controlling up to eight separate sprinkler zones with custom app-controlled watering schedules.
Read our full review of The Best Smart Sprinkler Controller Systems
Pros:
- Intuitive App
- A fantastic list of smart features
- Better Weather-based watering
- Easy plug-and-play functionality
- Easy to mount and install and works like a charm.
- Integrates with a lot of smart home platforms.
Cons:
- Expensive than most options
6. Best accurate, modular weather station: Netatmo Weather Station
If you want to know and be sure of what’s going on with the weather where you live, the Netatmo Weather Station with its add-on Wind Gauge and Rain Gauge is an excellent tool. It’s easy to configure and set up. Combined with its intuitive app, it provides a reliable and accurate up-to-date overview of your local weather conditions. It is also the most useful way to smarten up the gardener, yard, or to know what the weather’s like for a hobby or sports activity, or if you’re really keen on what’s happening around you.
It’s also unique among the weather stations currently available due to its modular design of two separate wireless modules instead of one big integrated sensor. This allows you to place the device in the best location and quickly expand the system with additional sensors. The outdoor module is battery-powered and can give you the temperature, humidity, and pressure readings. While the indoor component, which has to be plugged in, can provide accurate readings of the temperature, humidity, CO2, and noise readings.
Read our full Netatmo Indoor & Outdoor Wireless Weather Station Review
Pros:
- Customizable alerts
- Modern and intuitive apps
- Records and shows historical data
- A well detailed and accurate view of the weather
- Work with Alexa, Siri and supported by the IFTTT channel.
Cons:
- A bit expensive
- App-Based and slow app refreshes
- Misses some momentary gusts of wind
7. The best smart water monitor for pools and hot tubs: pHin Smart Water Care Monitor
Suppose you want to keep your pool or spa water correctly sanitized and crystal clear. In that case, the pHin Smart Water Care Monitor is a small, connected device that monitors the water’s health in your pool or hot tub using your phone or Alexa for voice queries. The device promises to help keep track of the water quality and temperature. It alerts you on what to do, which chemicals you’ll need if needed, how much you need, an online chemical shop, and pool maintenance resources.
It requires a $99 yearly subscription to get the full spectrum of the water monitor possibilities; however, the first year is included already. One of the many benefits of subscribing to the annual monitoring plan is that you can replace the device with a new one whenever you need it. Overall, the pHin smart water care monitor is a good investment for any pool owner if you consider weekly professional maintenance. It’s really a simple way to care for and maintain your pool yourself.
Further reading: Make your water valve smart with FORTREZZ Automated Water Shut-off Valve
Pros:
- Easy to install
- Tests the pool over 1,000 times per week
- Accurate chemical and water temperature readings
- Prompts you with recommendations and maintenance tips
Cons:
- Expensive
- Two-year lifespan
- Requires $99 subscription after one year
- Not compatible with Google Assistant or Apple’s Siri
8. Best without subscription: Eufy Security, Wi-Fi Video Doorbell
The Security Wireless Video Doorbell by Eufy allows you to see who is at your door. It is the best subscription-free option, but as a trade-off: It does require a hub, which makes it a little delay when watching a live stream and also make it slightly expensive. The Eufy Smart Video Doorbell blows away other smart doorbells regarding reliability, performance, and price. Making it a reliable choice if you are looking to beef up security.
It’s a wired high-resolution smart doorbell loaded with tons of features that most companies charge for, like local storage to store up to 30 days of motion-triggered video for free. It also features an HDR image, a high-resolution camera, smart motion detection, and a separate wireless chime.
Pros:
- Smart alerts
- Setup is straightforward
- No monthly fees are needed
- 4:3 ratio at 2K high resolution
- Works with Alexa, Google voice commands.
Cons:
- It requires wiring
- Slight delay in voice chat and video
Read our full review of The Best Smart Video Doorbell Camera for Every Home
9. Set-it-and-forget smoker grill: Traeger’s Ironwood 650 Pellet Grill
The Ironwood 650 is a wood pellet grill without equal when it comes to slow-cooking foods like smoking ribs and brisket. It’s equipped with wireless connectivity and a built-in probe thermometer. Meaning, the grill handles the rest without you leaving the couch while still monitoring or adjusting settings as needed from afar or asking a voice assistant like Alexa to check in on things.
The Traeger includes a library of recipes, cooking tips, and more, but the alarms are the most useful smart feature. It is also significantly more straightforward to master than any other grill currently on the market. Simply load the hopper with pellets, set a precise temperature on the thermostat, and the grill handles the rest; you get a notification on your smartphone when the food is ready. The Ironwood 650 is not cheap, although it strikes the right balance between features, ease of use, and price.
Pros:
- Sturdy, well-designed grill
- Built-in recipes
- Cooks delicious wood-fired foods
- Clean and easy to use-app
- Precision cooking from the convenience of your couch
Cons:
- Expensive.
- Requires two people to assemble.
- Traeger recommends only using its own pellets.
10. Best wireless grill thermometer for multiple pieces of meat: Soraken Wireless Meat Thermometer for Grilling
The Soraken is a wireless Bluetooth probe thermometer with a magnetic base that sticks to the side of an oven or grill and supports a total of six plug-in probe thermometers, so you can monitor different portions of food simultaneously. Soraken connects to your smartphone via Bluetooth and has a range of about 100 ft indoors and 170 outdoors, depending on interference.
It features an easy-to-use app. The screen displays 11 preset temperatures based on USDA suggestions for different meats and alarms and a programmable feature. Its temperature range from 32F to 572F, which is one of the widest ranges available. The features on the device are handy, and the notification alerts are great as well. We also found the Soraken to be very accurate. We really like the magnet on the thermometer to attach to the outside of the grill or oven.
Pros:
- Good price
- So accurate and easy to use
- Equipped with a magnet on the back
- Easy to grip silicone handles on probes
- Quick sensing and transmitting to the intuitive app
Cons:
- Not all probes are color-coded
- Only has a magnet, no way to stand up base unit.
Why you should consider smart outdoor home devices
In the same way that smart, lights, doorbells, thermostats, and smoke alarm can enhance the efficiency and convenience of your home, there are plenty of outdoor smart home devices that make it easier to improve or maintain the condition of your backyard, garden and patio while also making it more comfortable, functional, and fun.
Interested in discovering other smart devices? Check out Best Smart Light Bulbs Review.
