My brother-in-law showed me his 'smart' doorbell and it was a total mess

We were at his house in Phoenix for a family thing last weekend, and he was super proud of this new video doorbell he installed. He pulled out his phone to show me the feed, and the video was so choppy and dark you could barely see anything. He said, 'It's supposed to have night vision, but it just shows a black square with two glowing eyes if a cat walks up.' The app kept freezing, and the motion alerts were going off every five minutes for no reason. He spent over $200 on it, plus a yearly fee. It really made me think about how many gadgets get great reviews online but just don't work right in a normal house. Have you ever bought something that got rave reviews but was totally broken in real life?

3 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In

3 Comments

paul_ramirez5mo ago

Ugh, my smart plug was just as bad.

10

eric_adams115mo ago

Come on, how bad can a plug be?

7

jessem595mo ago

That smart doorbell situation sounds exactly like my smart thermostat disaster. Got one that was supposed to learn my schedule and save money. It just cranked the heat to 80 at 3am for no reason. The app was so laggy it was faster to just get up and turn the dial. Felt like a total waste after reading all those five star reviews.

1