This Alexa smart faucet is the coolest smart home device I’ve ever used

This Alexa smart faucet is the coolest smart home device I've ever used

(Image credit: Futurity)

My family and I realized we needed a new kitchen when, at the offset of the pandemic, the lever of our pull-out faucet snapped. Although we scrambled together a temporary replacement, our 1980s-built kitchen continued to crumble around us. At present, a few months into our DIY smart domicile renovation, we've come total circumvolve: I just splurged on one of the smartest, most characteristic-packed sink faucets money can buy.

Moen has ever been known for faucets, but its U by Moen sub-make has grown into a key player for plumbing system-based smart home devices. Not only do the visitor's smart faucets aid regulate water flow to kitchens and bath sinks, but they pack motion sensors and pair with Alexa or Google Banana then you lot can control them with your vocalism, also.

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While motion-sensing has become a popular faucet feature, letting you plough the water on and off with a wave of your palm, it doesn't allow you change the temperature easily-free. That's where my new U past Moen faucet lives up to its steep $450 price tag.

Through our nearby Amazon Repeat (4th Gen) smart speaker, I can ask Alexa to make the water flowing from the faucet warmer or libation. I tin even ask my assistant to set up a specific water temperature, as long as that value falls inside my plumbing's capabilities.

The party tricks don't end there. When asked, Alexa can dispense verbal h2o quantities, from ane tablespoon to one cup. In the companion app, I tin also combine the temperature and quantities under custom presets, which has already come up in handy for filling up my 32-ounce water bottle.

For this feature, Alexa will showtime running the water and tell me to wait for it to stop. When the indicator light on the spout is solid, that ways the water is the requested temperature, and I can wave my difficult over the sensor for the requested amount to trickle out.

Setting up my U past Moen smart faucet

Of class, these clever abilities don't work out of the box. Like whatsoever regular faucet, my smart ane from U by Moen came disassembled. Luckily, we had some basic plumbing knowledge, and were able to install the hardware ourselves in near 30 minutes.

The only concrete set up-upwards deviation betwixt a dumb faucet and a smart faucet is the smart one requires a bombardment pack, which y'all're encouraged to mountain in your under-sink chiffonier.

Since you can't hardwire it, Moen considerately provided the half dozen necessary D batteries, which the manual said should last two years as long as at that place'south a strong two.4GHz Wi-Fi indicate at your sink'southward location.

Y'all tin always hire a plumber to install your smart faucet, too. Even if you lot skip on using the smart features, the faucet works like a normal faucet with manual controls for adjusting the temperature and switching between stream to spray.

In fact, we waited a few weeks to turn on the U by Moen faucet'south intelligence. When nosotros were ready, connecting the faucet to my Wi-Fi and enabling my Moen account in the Alexa app took a matter of minutes. I think information technology's reasonable to say information technology's one of the easiest smart dwelling house devices I've ever set up, from a software perspective. This earned the faucet major points in my volume.

Why a smart faucet is a smart investment

If y'all've been following along this series, yous'll know that I otherwise skipped on smart kitchen appliances. You'll besides know that I settled on a smart thermostat under $100, and preached most how taking the DIY route can save y'all thousands when designing your smart home organization. And then what am I doing with a $450 smart faucet?

For 1, a faucet is something we use all the time. Nosotros brand nutrient, care for plants, keep ourselves (and our canis familiaris) hydrated and wash our easily with water from our kitchen sink. We were prepared to loosen the purse strings for the germ-free benefits of a motion sensor faucet, because how much we handle raw meat for the barbecue. But when I came across a voice-activated one, offering conveniences that suited our lifestyle, I felt like information technology fulfilled my dreams of a smart home fit for the 21st century.

You definitely don't need a pricey faucet. Despite the smart features, we still use the manual controls out of habit, and capeesh how when guests come over, they don't struggle to admission running water. Still in the moments when our easily are full, or we just want an automated experience, having the movement sensor and voice control options are a game-changer.

And more than that, later the fiasco with our old faucet's snapped lever, nosotros idea a smart faucet was a smart investment. When used properly, the faucet's hardware should suffer less wear-and-tear, since you're pulling at the different parts less often. Information technology could likewise lower your h2o bill, so long equally you take reward of its precise water dispensing characteristic.

Are you lot sold on smart faucets? Let me know why (or why non) in the comments. Be sure to cheque out my guides to the best smart abode devices and best cheap smart home devices ) for more gadget recommendations. And equally e'er, email me at kate.kozuch@futurenet.com with annihilation you'd similar to run into me cover in the connected space — I might but address information technology in a time to come installment.

Kate Kozuch is a senior writer at Tom's Guide covering wearables, TVs and everything smart-dwelling house related. When she's non in cyborg mode, you can find her on an exercise bicycle or channeling her inner celebrity chef. She and her robot regular army will dominion the globe one mean solar day, but until then, reach her at kate.kozuch@futurenet.com.