Just looking at these smart home products, lights, thermostat, locks and things.
It all seems unnecessary but kind of neat. Anyone do this?
Anything more useful than anything else? 
Nope.. My home is dumb as shit. The door lock can't even find my key sometimes when I come home drunk.
Google Nest is getting pretty interesting. IMO it's 2-3 years before smart homes get over the hump and become really workable. At the moment it's still in gadget geek territory.
We have a wifi enabled thermostat. We used it to adjust the heat when we are away on a trip. We set the heat down while we are gone and then when we are driving back from a road trip we will turn up the heat so we get home to a warm house. It is a minor convenience a couple time a year, and that is pretty much it.
I have a wifi thermostat (Honeywell), a Wemo switch and outlet, Philips Hue lights, and a wifi video camera doorbell.
It's all neat, but not really must have. 
More gadgets more problems. Most smart homes are nightmares. Shit always go wrong. Software is often buggy, constant updates needed, less reliable.
I'm a home developer and learnt the hard way. We are def headed to the smart home route but right now in 2016 it is very clunky and unreliable.
It's ok to do one thing here or there that is a great need for you but don't go overboard.
I have not seen a control4 system yet that wasn't buggy.
Bad idea IMO.
How long will the software be updated? I expect lots of glitches.
Wifi=hacker paradise. Think of a hacker controlling your entire home.
Same goes for other smart shit. Need the tech to mature.
Smartthings with 10 or so switches, 2 ecobee3 thermostats, Schlage smart deadbolt, 1 hue lightstrip for ambient lighting behind the TV, then 8 other hue bulbs throughout the house, and an Amazon echo and echo dot so I can operate all the features by voice. It's fun to play with, especially when someone comes over. It doesn't have many problems at all, sometimes the echo doesn't hear things right though. All in all, it can get a little pricey, but being a tech geek, I love it
No need for guns anymore, smart home are what rich people do, poor people do the gun route.
Have an Ecobee thermostat the power company gave me for free. May go to a smart deadbolt at some point.
BTW, don't get a Nest. Their business is on the verge of going under. Google paid top dollar for them and they aren't making shit for profit, morale is in the shitter, and their products, while elegantly designed, are buggy. If you buy one, you're looking at getting stuck with no support when Alphabet chops them up and sells them off.
Akron OG - No need for guns anymore, smart home are what rich people do, poor people do the gun route.
Rich people just leave the lights on when they go out to make it look like someone is home
I know people with smart features in their house (door locks, home alarm, thermostat, etc). They're nice, but some have various problems, like the door lock not noticing your phone when you come up to the door so it stays locked. Little things like that are annoyances that I hear about. None of them seem like they couldn't go back to the old way, it's more of just something different and not a game changer
SupesUp - Just looking at these smart home products, lights, thermostat, locks and things.The thermostat is awesome.
It all seems unnecessary but kind of neat. Anyone do this?
Anything more useful than anything else?
I remember moving a 20,000 custom cd-changer with piped music in all rooms into a house in Boston in 2001.
2 years later and almost everyone in the country had more my music in their pockets.
Technology moves to fast to completely commit to new tech.
Philips hue...3d cameras around for shits and giggles..
Got some smart lighting and motion detection set up:
LED lighting under my floor trim that's responsive to my camera. When I wake up in the middle of the night to go to the washroom I have LEDs give off a nice gentle glow.
I also have smart washer and drier, it's hooked up to my wifi - sends alerts to my phone when its done and if you're not at home you can put it on a 'hold' mode where it tumbles your clothes every 30s so when you do get around to doing it there's absolutely no wrinkles - pretty legit.
Have a smart door bell that lets me answer from my phone and talk to the person (I don't even have to be home).
Smart garage door opener that works both ways (I can open my door or I know when its been opened).
I have a security system set up as well but I won't go into too much detail except to tell you that I have multiple 'zones' where encroachment on my property activates lights and gives me a warning, anything closer gives a audible warning and more lights and anything even more potentially dangerous lets the neighbourhood know shits going down.
I don't know WTF you guys are bitching about. The gestation period for smart gear was 20-30 years ago. This week, I'm pulling a 15 year old Crestron rig out of a house that's getting demolished & it works fine fine fine. Unless you're specifically meaning new smart phone apps, you're talking ragtime.
I have an entire Savant system... locks, lights, tv, audio (90 speakers in the ceiling throughout the house), garage doors, etc etc.