With a market flooded with vacuums and mops and models changing so rapidly, it’s almost impossible to feel confident about what you’re buying in the moment. For the last month, I have been testing the Ecovacs Deebot T30S Combo ($1199.99)—a robot vacuum and mop, in a self-emptying tower, combined with a stick vacuum. It’s a machine trying to do a lot; I’m going to discuss the parts as they compare to other vacuums and mops already out. 

ECOVACS DEEBOT T30S Combo Robot Vacuum and Mop, All-in-One Cleaning Hub, 11000Pa, ZeroTangle Technology, TruEdge Adaptive Edge Mopping, Dual Self-Emptying, Hot Water Mop Washing, Auto-Mop Lifting

$1,199.99 at Amazon

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A huge tower

The T30S comes in two variations: The first has a handheld vacuum with a few attachments, but without the extension for the vacuum, it’s merely a nice Dustbuster. (For about 30 dollars more, you can get a fully extendable stick vacuum.) 

The first thing you’ll notice about the T30S is that the base is monstrous—it eclipsed in size any other robot I've tested in the last year, particularly in height. Water tanks and vacuum accessories can all be stowed in the tower itself, which is handy—but even so, its size and width makes it harder to place in your home. There’s almost no assembly except for clicking together the ramp to the tower and stowing the accessories in a drawer designed for them. Pairing the robot to the Ecovacs app was also fast and streamlined. 

Advanced features in app, but lots of advertising

Open the Ecovacs app, and without fail you’ll be hit with offers and banners. They’re easy to click off, but still, it’s an annoying distraction. Otherwise, the interface for the vacuum works very similarly to other advanced robots out there including Roborock, Switchbot, and Dreame. Like Roborock, it has a voice assistant named Yiko and it works about as well as Roborock’s (which isn’t very well, but shows promise). Unlike other robots in this price range, the T30S lacks onboard video. The T30S is missing two of my must-have features on robot vacuums these days: remote control and pin and go, which you now see in almost all high-end models, including those mentioned above. Remote control allows you to control the robot using your phone, meaning you never have to go fishing for a bot under the couch again. You can simply drive it over to you. "Pin and go" allows you to mark a spot on the map and have the robot proceed to that pin and clean in that specific area. It’s a great way to quickly deal with a spill.

In its favor, the T30S had a feature I’m beginning to see more of: the ability to designate room cleaning priorities. In other words, if it's cleaning my bathroom and any other space, I can have it always clean the bathroom last. If it's cleaning the kitchen and any other space, I can direct it to always get the kitchen first. Another newer feature I like is the maintenance log for all the working parts, which gives you a status report of every single replaceable part. Other standard features like child lock, schedules, and intensity settings for your mop and vacuum are present on the T30S. 

A better mop than vacuum

Every household produces different kinds of detritus. A floor that only has some dust could use almost any robot vacuum with success, and might want to focus on models like Dyson, which are specifically designed to capture microparticles. Some vacuums are specially designed to grab pet hair. I, on the other hand, have "macroparticles": large stuff that is tracked in by the dog, or dropped during various crafting or cooking activities. If you have kids who drop Cheerios, for instance, you have a macroparticle problem, and it’s one that robot vacuums struggle with. The T30S struggled with macroparticles, getting stuck on almost anything larger than a popcorn kernel, which meant I had to come clear out the roller brush. But it didn’t really capture smaller debris that well, either. This could be due to a singular roller design, but I think it’s also due to the small size of the debris container. The T30S did not seem to return to the base once full to empty itself, instead stubbornly continuing its run, unable to pick up anything else. If you, like me, suffer from larger detritus, then this is not the vacuum for you. But I believe this could be capable of picking up pet hair and dust, etc. without a problem. 

More successful was the mop, which is handled by two spinning mop pads, much like the Roborock Qrevo line. While I still believe that mop pads, like the Roborock S8 are better for mopping than spinning pads, I thought the T30s did an admirable job, better than the Dreame L10 I recently reviewed, and on par with the Qrevo. Because the pads extend out from the robot, they’re able to get into corners and room edges admirably. I generally found that this was all more successful when I ran a complete vacuum run and then a separate mop run. 

Roborock S8 Max Ultra Robot Vacuum and Mop, FlexiArm Design, Auto Mop Washing&Drying, Smart Dirt Detection, Self-Emptying, 8000Pa Suction, 20mm Mop Lifting, Obstacle Avoidance, Auto Add Cleaner, White

$1,599.99 at Amazon

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roborock Qrevo MaxV Robot Vacuum and Mop, FlexiArm Design, Hot Water Re-Wash & Re-Mop, Auto-Drying, Self-Emptying, 7000Pa Suction, Built-in Voice Assistant, Auto Mop Lifting, Smart Obstacle Avoidance

$1,199.99 at Amazon

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Dreametech L10s Ultra Robot Vacuum and Mop Combo, Auto Mop Cleaning and Drying, Compatible with Alexa

$899.99 at Amazon

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$899.99 at Amazon

Ecovacs Deebot X2 Omni Robot Vacuum and Mop

$999.99 at Amazon

$1,499.99 Save $500.00

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$999.99 at Amazon

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SAMSUNG BESPOKE Jet AI Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner w/All-In-One Clean Station, 280AW Suction Power, Longest Battery Life, Multi Surface Floor Brushroll, Lightweight, VS28C9760UG, 2023, Satin Greige

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Navigation issues might be more feature than bug

The T30S did something that surprised me: It moved through a curtained-off area. When robots used bump-and-go technology to map an area, they would go anywhere a little battery-powered motor could take them. New robots including the T30S use LiDAR (lasers that use light and distance to determine where to go), which means most robots these days don’t bump into things at all, and actively avoid them—they perceive obstacles they could get through or under as walls. So I was shocked to watch the T30S slip under a floor-length velvet curtain between my hallway and living room as if the curtain didn’t exist. While this is probably a bug (Ecovacs is still looking into it), I think it's a bug that could work in your favor if you have a space that previous LiDAR robots haven't "seen," whether that's a space blocked by a pet gate a robot could still slip under, someplace you're using a room divider, or a curtain, like me. While a bug could always get corrected, I think it's unlikely to happen, given that most companies just make a new robot altogether. In fact, this "bug" didn't exist on the Ecovacs Deebot X2 Omni, which I tried (and liked) just a few months ago.

On the downside, the T30S also stranded itself more than a few times once the job was completed. It struggled to return to the base, abandoning itself in hallways and other random spots, and although this only represents 15% of all the times I used it, it's still a consideration.

A near-miss on what could have been a killer feature

The hand vac included in the T30S makes you question how badly you want to use it. On one hand, it’s such a good idea to have a self-emptying hand vac; you never have to deal with a messy canister over a trash can. This one feature is what makes me prefer the Samsung Bespoke Jet AI vacuum over any Dyson I’ve tried, because you simply grab the vacuum all ready to go, clean, and then place it back on the dock, where it empties itself. Unlike Samsung, though, there are extra steps to use the T30S. You have to assemble it each time you want to use it, and then disassemble it to put it back in the dock, where it self empties. All the time and energy saved by the self-emptying feature is canceled out by the work to put the vacuum together and take it apart each time you want to use it.

At least when you get the T30S with the extended stick vacuum, you just remove the handheld portion to place it in the tower, and the stick and whatever accessory you’re using get docked on the exterior of the tower, so it's not as labor-intensive. However, this also means the tower now takes up even more space vertically and horizontally. 

Not a bad buy, but not the best buy

Despite all that, the truth is that if you were to buy a mid-range stick vac and robot vacuum, you’d still end up spending more than the list price for this combo tower. While I think if you want a better robot vacuum/mop you’d buy a Roborock or Switchbot, and if you wanted a better stick vacuum you’d get the Samsung Bespoke Jet AI, the Deebot T30S is going to work well for someone without major floor detritus who just wants a reliable bot to keep up with the daily dust, and wants a handheld vac nearby for things above ground level.

While people don’t eat houseplants and rarely munch on shrubs or ground cover, your pets probably do. That's why you need to be really, really sure your pet won’t try to snack on your plants before installing a plant that might be toxic—and it turns out that a lot of plants are. 

Use apps to identify plants

Most people don’t know the name of every plant in their yard, but a plant ID app will help you close the loop. Snap a pic, and have the app identify it. Some of these apps will also tell you if plants are toxic to pets. If they don’t, you need to use a database to do a little digging. Rover has a new searchable database that will tell you if plants are toxic, and what symptoms to look for in a pet if ingested. Dogs and cats have different sensitivities, so what is toxic to dogs might be fine for cats and vice versa. 

Toxic vs. poisonous

Not all plants are toxic to pets; some are merely poisonous—and yes, there's a difference. Toxic plants can do harm in all kinds of ways—through surface contact or inhalation. Just being around them can be bad for your pet, even if they’re not likely to chew. Poisonous plants, on the other hand, have to be ingested to be dangerous, so they are mildly less problematic. That said, some plants are poisonous enough that they only need to be consumed once to have dire consequences, so you’d need to really trust that your pet is isolated from the plant or would never look at, for example, a hydrangea branch as a chew toy. Dan Teich, DVM, who runs District Veterinary Hospitals in Washington, DC, notes, "The good news is most plants will not cause permanent damage to your pet. Many are irritants, can cause excessive salivation, and upset stomach, but usually these signs will pass. This is common with philodendrons, poinsettias, pothos, and many common houseplants."

Avoid these common plants

Teich notes that the most common plant-related incidents they see involve a commonly gifted flower. "True lilies are the most dangerous of all plants for cats; even the pollen can be deadly. Lilies can lead to irreversible kidney failure in a cat within days. Calla lilies and peace lilies are not true lilies and may cause intestinal upset in your pet." He warns that if you suspect lily ingestion, you should seek immediate care for your cat.

Other plants present similar risks, according to Teich. Consuming large amounts of azalea leaves can lead to cardiac collapse, and even death. Ingesting sago palms—a popular outdoor and indoor plant—can be fatal, and any consumption by a pet should be treated as an emergency.

Foxglove, an easily spread outdoor flower, is also dangerous. Like lily of the valley and oleander, it can have a grave effect on your pet's heart.

If you are uncertain if a plant is dangerous to your pet, you may contact the ASPCA 24/7 Poison Control Hotline at 888-426-4435 or the Pet Poison Helpline at 855-764-7661.

Learn to recognize symptoms

The list of symptoms that pets can exhibit as a result of toxic exposure to plants is long and varied. There are extreme, easy-to-note symptoms like vomiting, diarrhea, trouble breathing, seizures, and excessive drooling. There are also symptoms that are harder to appreciate, like lack of appetite, lethargy, muscle tremors or uncoordinated movement, unusual bruising or bleeding and yellowing skin or eyes. Cats tend to exhibit more neurological symptoms, while dogs might experience more gastrointestinal symptoms. Since many of these symptoms can look like everyday living to a pet owner (pets routinely eat grass and vomit without there being any toxicity), it’s important to pay attention when the symptoms begin and take action if they continue. Your pet throwing up once might not be cause for alarm—continued vomiting is, regardless of the underlying reason.  If you're not sure or want advice, call either of the above hotlines. You'll pay a fee (which some pet insurance plans may cover), but as Teich points out, "compared to the potential consequences, it might be worth the investment."

Take action

While the cost of emergency veterinary care is daunting, you should not try to induce vomiting in your pet unless under consultation with your veterinarian—doing so can lead to esophageal problems. If you can identify the plant in question, or take a photo and/or sample of it with you to the vet, that will be helpful. Whether it should require emergency veterinary care versus waiting for your veterinarian to open is dependent on what was ingested, but the faster the care, the better.

When a pet with potential plant toxicity presents at the vet, Teich says the course of action depends on how fast the pet owner was able to act. "We first try to identify the plant to assess which treatment plan is best. If within an hour or two of ingestion, making the pet vomit up any remaining plant material is the first course of action. For certain plants, an activated charcoal slurry is then fed to the dog or cat, which absorbs remaining toxins in the stomach and intestines. Depending upon the plant and clinical signs noted, hospitalization in fluids with other supportive care may be necessary."

While not all plants are toxic enough to cause death, many can cause long-term effects, and that will carry with it costs for treatment, as well as pain for the animal. Your vet might have a community care program to help with emergency costs, and almost all animal treatment centers can help you obtain emergency credit specifically for care of your pet.

Prepare, just in case

If you want to be prepared ahead of the game, always have your vet’s information, as well as the name, location and number of your closest 24-hour veterinary emergency care location printed out somewhere easy to access, and on your phone. Having pet insurance in place can help soften the financial blow of events like this. Whether or not you have insurance, you may need to pay out of pocket before getting reimbursed, so having money set aside, or a credit card for this purpose, might be smart. When you view it all through this lens, spending a little time and money now to ensure you have pet-safe plants, or appropriate barriers to keep your pets away from toxic plants, makes a lot of financial sense.

Early summer marks the beginning of scape season, as you’ll soon see at the farmers market and likely in your own garden. As the seasons change and we hit the right temperature range, onions, garlic, and shallots will try to shoot up a flower. Unlike the sprouted leaves of the plant, which stand hollow, straight, and tall, scapes have a solid stem and tend to grow in fantastical swirls and turns, making them easier to spot.

For most alliums, scapes represent a plant that has bolted, meaning that the taste will be ruined, since all the energy will go towards the flower rather than the bulb of the plant. (For garlic and shallots, this is not true: you can harvest the scape and the plant will quit being distracted and go back to working on producing a large bulb.) The good news is that scapes tend to erupt across your yard within a small window of a week or two, so if you’re diligent enough, you’ll be able to grab them all and do something with the scape harvest. 

How to harvest scapes

Begin by paying attention to your garlic, which you (theoretically) planted in fall. You should start to notice a curvy, curled “leaf” and on inspection, that will be the scape. You want to wait until the scape is as tall as the leaves and separated from the leaves, and then just snap it off at the base, or clip it with clean shears. You do not want the blossom at the top of the scape to open; it should still be tightly closed.

Your onions may also bolt and produce a scape, and you can choose whether to harvest it or leave it on the plant and let it go to seed. At this point, the onion isn’t going to be edible anyway (onions are different than garlic), and if you let the flower go to seed, it makes a really stunning visual in the garden. It will also drop seeds, producing more onions next year. 

Make scape vinegar

It may sound basic, but this spicy, garlicky vinegar is one of the easiest and most visually pleasing ways to use your scapes or open onion flowers. Wash your scapes, chop them into one-inch pieces, fill a bottle or jar one quarter full with the chopped scapes or open onion blossoms, and then top with white vinegar. Let the vinegar sit for a few weeks, and then it’s ready for use. You can filter the scapes out, or leave them in. The blossoms, in particular, look really nice on the shelf. 

Make scape koshō

I eagerly await scapes each year so I can make this garlic koshō from Jori Jayne Emde. It’s essentially just scapes, blended with 20% of their weight in salt, and allowed to ferment. This is one of my favorite fast ways to prep any protein or vegetable. Simply add a little olive oil to the kosho, and then rub it all over what you’re prepping, and then cook it. The koshō imparts saltiness, umami, and a soft garlic flavor. 

Use scapes the same way as garlic

Scapes have a woody stem and a closed blossom, so texturally, they’re different from garlic bulbs, but they have the same spicy taste profile. A thinly sliced or diced scape contributes the same taste as garlic, with a different mouth feel, and a little more bite. The different format of scapes to bulbs allows you to use the scapes creatively, including grilling or sautéing them, which will soften both the flavor and texture. 

Make scape pickles

I used pickled onions all the time, but I save pickled scapes for a special occasion. I use a simple brining solution that is 50% vinegar and 50% brine. You can use any vinegar you want, and the brine is a 3% salt solution. Split the scapes along the length as many times as you can (usually it's just once or twice) and then cut into three-inch pieces. Add the scapes to a jar, and then cover with the hot brine. Cap the jar and allow it to sit for at least two weeks. At that point you can move it to the fridge. 

Blend up some scape butter

Throw eight tablespoons (one stick) of your favorite room-temperature butter into a food processor with one scape. (Don’t add more—one scape is plenty.) Add a pinch of salt and blend until the butter is a pale green and you see only small particles of the scape. Scrape the butter into a jar, and place in the fridge. The resulting butter is stupendous on biscuits or any other application that doesn’t need sweet. 

Arrange a bouquet

If you hate the taste of scapes, you can still enjoy their beauty. Place them in a vase and turn them into a spectacular display on your table, either on their own, or with the snapdragons, sweet peas, or foxgloves that are blooming right now.

For most of my life, birds haven't interested me much, but sometime in the pandemic, I started adding bird feeders to my garden, and now I am completely charmed by my new visitors. The number one threat to bird feeders are squirrels—animals which, historically, I am quite fond of—but I’ve managed to create an environment where squirrels and birds can coexist on my property.

I have read every treatise on squirrel mitigation (and have tried just about everything), but here is what has worked for me. 

You shouldn't try to keep away squirrels altogether

The single best mitigation strategy I have for squirrels is to simply give them their own feeder. Squirrels are trainable, like most animals, and if you give them food they like in an easily accessible manner, they’re not going to care much about your bird feeders.

Squirrel Feeder - The Nut Bar

$26.98 at Amazon

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This strategy doesn’t just protect your feeder; it also distracts squirrels from ransacking your garden. Squirrel feeders are also, for the record, delightful. They range from basic horizontal jar feeders to more elaborate squirrel saloon situations. I myself went for an English tea feeder. 

Credit: Amanda Blum

Choose the right bird feeder

Once you have something that's enticing to the squirrels, you can move onto a better bird feeder. In my opinion, the best squirrel-proof bird feeders are those that are pressure sensitive, and will simply close the seed portholes when there is too much weight on the feeder. (Birds do not have enough weight, but squirrels do.) The best I’ve tried and keep going back to are produced by Roamwild. They have multiple kinds of squirrel proof feeders and the free-hanging versions work very well. 

Window bird feeders, as much as I enjoy them, are just squirrel bait. They’re just too easy for squirrels to get to (either from your roof line or a windowsill) and unfortunately even my Roamwild window feeder ultimately failed the squirrel test. It’s not just that squirrels will grab the food, either. Their weight on the feeder, particularly as they leap to it, will be too much for the suction cups and cause the feeder to fall, eventually breaking it. 

Use multiple squirrel mitigation strategies

Even with the right bird feeder, you still need a multi-faceted approach to squirrel management. This begins by choosing the right location, meaning that it's more than 10 feet from overhanging branches, roofs, or any sort of structure a squirrel could leap from, including hanging lights. This includes lower structures like patio chairs or raised beds. The pole for your bird feeder should be far enough away so that it stands a fighting chance. This isn't an option for every home, of course, but it is an important factor.

Rotating Dome Squirrel Baffle

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$30.99

The bird feeder should also have a baffle over it, which is a clear dome that you hang the feeder from. The squirrels can’t climb over it, so it’s harder for them to access the feeder from the top. While squirrel baffles exist for under your feeder, I haven’t found them effective. What has been effective is a cheap Slinky. Attach one end to the feeder and let the other end fall to the ground, unwound. Squirrels seem to struggle with the mechanism of climbing the coils. 

You can try squirrel-proof feed, too

It’s believed that squirrels can’t handle cayenne, while birds don’t care about the spiciness of the seeds, so bird food with added cayenne may help. I have had limited success with this, but as per the multi-faceted method, you should try a little bit of everything. 

I think it also comes down to the fact that some people are just determined to see squirrels as the enemy. I’ve found far more success seeing them as part of the ecosystem rather than trying to exclude them from it entirely, which is a losing battle.  I suspect that, like birds, once you start feeding them and paying attention to them, you’ll find the charm in them, too.

Six years ago, I bought a few fig trees on a lark. Each year, the trees get bigger, and produce a few figs I get excited about, and by mid-summer, the plant has dropped them and goes back to just existing. Why do some plants produce fruit prolifically while others can’t seem to set any fruit at all? Why do I wait all summer for tomatoes and then they all ripen the same week? The answer to all these questions has to do with pollination and making smart choices about what varieties you grow, where, and how many you plant. 

Even self-pollinating plants do better in pairs

All fruit and vegetables require pollination, which is the transfer of pollen from the stamen of a male flower to the stigma of a female flower. Yes, we’re talking about flower sex. Except the work is done by the wind or pollinators like bees, birds, flies, wasps, and beetles. In many cases, like vegetables, plants can be self-pollinating, which means one plant bears both female and male flowers, and they can pollinate each other. This is also true of fruit trees like elderberry, peach, and pomegranate. When purchasing a fruit tree, the label will tell you if the plant is self-pollinating or requires a mate. What the label doesn’t say is that even self-pollinating plants do better when there’s another one nearby. This is true of tomatoes, squash, cherries, and all other self-pollinating plants. The more pollen nearby, the better. 

Some plants require mates

Corn needs to be planted in blocks, no less than six feet by six feet, to really be successful. The wind carries the pollen from the tassels onto the corn silks, and if enough pollen makes contact, an ear is formed. Your olive tree must have another olive tree within 25 feet, regardless of whether it’s the same kind of olive in order to bear fruit.  Kiwi vines are either male or female, and to get kiwi fruit, you’ll need both. It’s vital to know which plants can’t be planted singularly and ensure that when choosing what you’ll plant, you plan accordingly. 

Choose varieties with different ripening dates

It’s a real bummer to wait for peppers all summer and then have them all ripen in the same week, but if you only plant one kind of pepper, that’s likely to happen. You can create longer windows of harvesting by choosing different varieties—some that ripen early, and some that ripen mid or late season. For instance, blueberry varieties are always marked by when they ripen during the season. If you can fit three bushes, getting an early-, a mid-, and late-ripening variety will ensure longer blueberry harvests. Strawberries come in two types: June-bearing, which are smaller, sweeter strawberries only ripening in June, or ever-bearing, which produce larger berries that will ripen all summer. Within each type are many varieties that will bear early, mid, or late within their season. Mixing and matching means you could have strawberries all summer. The same is true for raspberries, with some types even bearing fruit through the fall. Cherries, peaches, apples, and even cauliflower varieties all can be staggered so you get as long a season as possible.

Choose varieties for your planting zone

Everyone in the U.S. has a USDA planting zone, and it’s likely that it changed last year. These zones represent frost dates and expected lengths of growing time in the summer. If you want plants that produce, you have to grow plants that are designed for your growing zone. I have a Meyer lemon tree I nurse like a baby and cart indoors for the winter, but it doesn’t surprise me that it doesn’t grow very well because I live in the Pacific Northwest. My prolific raspberries wouldn’t survive the summer in Phoenix, where that Meyer lemon longs to be.

You also need to consider regional types of pests or blight. For instance, if you live someplace with prolific peach leaf curl, you want to buy varieties that are peach-leaf-curl free. Your local nursery will know what the local threats are and are the most likely to have varieties that have been bred to resist them.

Plant appropriately for the space you have

A plant, like my sad figs, that doesn’t have the right amount of space to grow, is going to have challenges. This can either be a space too small for it, a lack of support, poor soil or drainage, or lack of water. It can also be a space that is too large, like a small plant in a large planter, or without shielding plants around it, so wind exposure is an issue. 

Proximity also matters. If you plant squash close together, they will cross pollinate, which is a big problem because you get franken-squash.

Use your resources

Between my neighbor's house and mine are sixty feet of kiwi bushes, both female and male. The owners of our homes bought them together 30 years ago so both could benefit. You can work with your neighbors like that to coordinate plants that work for you both, but you don’t technically need permission. If you see your neighbor has an elderberry bush, you can get one, plant it nearby, and you both benefit; there’s no possible harm to either. Every pollinator-friendly flower you plant benefits everyone in the neighborhood. 

While there are other inputs that matter—like the pH of the soil, the nutrition of the soil, watering, weather, whether you are thinning your fruit or protecting it from pests—the fundamental considerations for choosing what you’ll plant are easier. Know what kind of pollination is required, how much space you have, and what your zone is.

There's more to consider when purchasing a wireless outdoor security camera than whether it functions as a decent camera—the solar generator has to work well too, even under less than ideal conditions. In my experience, this is a tough standard to excel at.

Reolink's newest model, the Argus 4 Pro ($219.99), is a wireless outdoor camera and solar generator, and I had few complaints about my experience testing it. It's Wifi 6 ready, offers great color night vision, and requires no subscriptions. The app is a little unfriendly when pulling up the camera, and it lacks pan and tilt capabilities, but is has a broad enough field of view to make up for it. All that, and the solar generator does the job.

Reolink Argus 4 Pro 4K Solar Security Camera

$219.99 at Amazon

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A pair of eyes

The Argus 4 Pro is made up of two parts, the camera and the separate solar panel. The camera design is worth discussing; it looks like a white plastic pair of eyes mounted outside your home. The solar panel comes with a separate mount and a substantial amount of USB cord to connect it to the camera, so you can position the panel in a location that gets a lot of sun.

Both the camera and the panel come ready to be installed right out of the box—all that’s required is to pop in a microSD card (optional and not included) and charge it indoors to give the massive 5000 mAh battery a head start. Of all the outdoor cameras I’ve mounted, this was certainly the easiest, involving no complicated connections and just a few simple plastic brackets. 

A few unique features among outdoor cameras

The Reolink app is easy to set up too, and the camera paired quickly on the first try via Bluetooth and then Wifi; since it integrates with Google Home and Alexa, I also connected it to my multi-hub in under a minute.

The Reolink app offers all the standard options I’ve seen in other outdoor security cameras—the ability to set a schedule, enable notifications, and determine the quality of camera and audio recording—plus three unique features. First, you have the ability to set up an FTP address for backing up the videos. This is interesting, since FTP protocol is not encrypted and feels like an easy vulnerability for hacking. (In fact, the app advises only using FTP to a home network.) Secondly, the Argus doesn’t set motion zones, opting instead for "privacy zones" that allow you to block areas from being recorded (in your recordings, you’ll see black boxes for those zones instead of images). Lastly, you can use an AI feature to define a size of objects you’d like the camera to pay attention to, and it will ignore everything smaller or larger. My cameras tend to record a lot of wildlife, so I was able to tell the app to ignore anything smaller than a cat, which cut way down on extraneous notifications. You could also set it to ignore everything bigger than a person, like a truck going by. 

A ton of backup options

Most people's relationship with their security cameras involves being alerted to activity that is unlikely to be a threat (like a passing mailman, or maybe a squirrel), and following the notification to view the recorded activity or check out a live view. My appreciation for a camera is mostly based on how fast and reliable that interaction is. Most days, I was able to pull up a clip by clicking on the notification, and connecting to the live view was quick provided I did so routinely. When I left the camera alone for a few days, pulling up the live view took about five minutes. 

The Argus 4 Pro was less reactive than other cameras in the same position, meaning I wasn’t bothered constantly with alerts for non-events like the wind rustling trees or people passing outside the main line of view. The Argus only captures clips when motion is detected, and stores them via the microSD card, FTP, a Reolink hub ($99,99) or network attached storage (NAS). You can also sign up for a cloud storage subscription from Reolink, starting at $6 a month for 30GB.

Exceptional video quality and power

The camera's 4k ultra high definition video is bolstered by exceptional color night vision, which can recording your yard at what looks like dawn, even in the darkest hours of the night, and with excellent depth of field. The camera does an excellent job capturing items within 100 feet of the camera with great clarity. 

The solar generator also works sufficiently well, even in terrible weather, to keep the camera functional. Granted, the panel is physically larger than those included with any other camera I’ve tested, trading form for function. 

A slightly awkward app experience

My biggest issue with Argus 4 Pro is the app experience. As noted, the camera can't pan and tilt, but the Argus has wide 180 degrees of vision, with almost 50 degrees of vertical vision.  That makes for a giant ,landscaped field of view, and the company hasn’t quite figured out how to display that well on your phone.

Each time you open the app, you’ll see a small preview if you’re holding the phone vertically, and using your fingers to zoom in doesn’t do the video quality justice. You have to hold the phone horizontally to get the most out of the resolution—but when you do, you’re stuck with a bunch of icons overlaying the video that allow you to use the intercom on the camera, turn the light on and off or take a screenshot or video recording. Not ideal.

The bottom line: A reliable buy

The Argus 4 Pro is an impressive piece of hardware, with all the features you’d see in other top brands, including high video resolution and good depth of field, great battery life, and a good solar panel. It excels in offering a wide variety of options for backing up your footage without a subscription.  Despite some shortcomings in the app, it's a good buy if you’re looking for a stationary camera and don't care about pan and tilt functionality. (That said, for about the same amount of money, you could also get my current favorite outdoor wireless camera, the Eufy Solocam ($199.99), which has an even wider field of view via pan and tilt.)

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I’ve had the Aqara M3 Hub ($129.99) running for a few months now, since it was a requirement for the new Aqara ceiling light I reviewed last month. Aqara is positioning the M3 as part of a new class of brand specific hubs that can act as multi-hubs—meaning they could be the only hub in your house and smart home app on your phone. It’s a lofty goal to compete with giant multi-hubs like Google, Alexa, SmartThings, and Apple HomeKit, particularly because, like other brand-specific hubs, the integrations don’t support that goal yet. You can add almost anything to Google or Alexa either through those apps themselves, or an integration like IFTTT or Zapier. 

For now though, the M3 is for Aqara products and can support any other Matter enabled device. While many devices are shipping with Matter these days, there are still some frailties to relying on Matter rather than a device's native application, so ditching the other apps might not be ideal. It probably doesn't matter whether I recommend the M3 or not—it’s all but required for some Aqara devices. What I would suggest, though, is holding off on trying to make it your multi-hub. 

Aqara M3 Hub

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All the wireless protocols packed in the M3

The M3 is doing its best to be everything to everyone, including every wireless protocol: wifi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, Matter, Thread (as a border router), Infrared, and Power over Ethernet under the hood. (The only standard I didn't see was Z-wave, which is an older standard on par with Zigbee.) The hub is powered via USB-C or PoE, which gives you a little more flexibility than most hubs, which are just powered by USB. The hub is a basic five-by-five inch square puck that can be wall-mounted or hidden away with all the other hubs you already own. (I can’t be the only person with a hub for hubs tucked somewhere.) Since I own an Aqara G3 hub, the puck was a bit of a disappointment, as it was just a hub without any additional functions. I’ve become really charmed by brands that figure out how to make hubs useful in ways that make you want to keep them out, rather than hiding them away. In comparison, the G3 ($109.99) is a clever pan-and-tilt indoor security camera (with a design some say is reminiscent of a cat), and SwitchBot turned their Hub 2 ($69.99) into a clock, thermometer, and hygrometer. Plus, the G3 and Hub 2 were both cheaper than the singularly focused M3. The only thing the M3 has close to this is the ability to act as an alarm or announce notifications over a loudspeaker.

One aspect of all the protocols supported here is that built-in IR transceiver—it means the M3 can support heat pumps, air conditioners, and more. Support is already built into the app for the hub, which walks you through setup using this feature, and I was impressed that I could control most aspects of my A/C or heater via the app. I’d still keep the native app around for fine-tuning, but I could get by with the Aqara M3 functionality, and this meant I could include these devices in automations. I haven’t seen another hub with this feature. 

Link Matter devices to other ecosystems

Like other brand-specific hubs, you can expose the Aqara hub to your Google Home, Alexa, Apple HomeKit, and any other major ecosystem. You’re limited to four additional ecosystems, which is probably not going to limit anyone anytime soon, and it won’t expose devices linked via IR, just via Matter. This allows you to access the linked devices from within the other ecosystem, like Google or Alexa. So if you pair a sensor, via Matter, to the M3 hub, you can then expose the M3 to Google Home and see that sensor in Google Home. It’s as if you’re creating a solar system, and the Aqara hub and all the devices on it are a planet. The foreseeable issue is this: If you’ve had trouble with devices going offline in your hub occasionally, you know that you have to go to the native app to correct the problem. So now you’ve added another step because you have to go through Google Home, Aqara, and the native app, which you likely have to keep around on your phone for instances like this. Also, remember that you only get limited functions for devices linked via Matter, and Matter does not support all platforms yet. You can turn lights on and off, but you can’t make nuanced configurations of those lights that might be available in the native app. I have a number of these hubs around the house: a Brilliant wall hub, SmartThings itself, and SwitchBot, all of which can be linked to devices via Matter, but what is the point if you have Google Home or Apple HomeKit? If you happen to have a vast number of Aqara devices, that might make sense—or if are a Home Assistant user, where Matter is going to bring everything to your Home Assistant interface. 

The M3 supports hub clustering

If that concept is new to you, it was to me, too. Simply, if you have previous hubs for Aqara products, this new M3 hub will marry them all into a network, and take over as the lead in that network. It will try to assume all the automations and actions assigned to previous hubs, and by keeping those previous hubs around, you create a stronger network so you don’t necessarily need to keep your hub close by the Aqara product—they’d be spread out. It’s an interesting concept since I’m looking to ditch hubs, not keep them around. Normally I’d replace a previous hub with an updated one. Again, if you could get away with Aqara as your only multi-hub, this would be a neat feature, working a little like mesh wifi. More impressively, the assistance offered via the app to set up this feature really held my hand, explaining each step and what would happen specific to my devices. This process migrates data from the original hubs, and then resets them to become part of the network. 

Bottom line: It has promising hardware 

In total transparency, brand-specific hubs don’t catch my fancy, since they tend to be best suited for that brand’s devices, and I’m not much of a loyalist (my devices are from a hundred different brands). It makes sense to make a hub with a voice assistant and tons of integrations with my main multi-hub. Still, I was impressed with the M3, not just in itself, but for what it indicates about Aqara moving forward—they’re trying to be a competitive player in the smart space. While Aqara makes a lot of devices, the meat and bones of the operation is all of their sensors, which ultimately any products they make are based on. If you’re using a lot of their sensors as the triggers for automations, it’s certainly reasonable to use an Aqara hub for those automations. While Aqara packed a lot into their little hardware puck, I’d still like to see additional functionality to make it worth staying out in the open instead of hidden—and at a more competitive price. Still, if you need to buy the hub to make an Aqara device work, I wouldn’t feel bad about the value. I think the future is bright for hardware like the M3 hub.

June is a cusp month in gardening: All the seedlings you’ve nurtured all spring have finally left the nest and are going into the ground. But as weird as it may seem, it’s time to start thinking about seeding starts for fall. All the while, there’s still plenty to be direct sown outside, from summer cucurbits to annual flowers.

Direct seeding outside

For the first time, I’ll be direct sowing a number of vegetables that I normally grow inside as seedlings. Growing starts is like a guarantee. You can monitor the seeds, they aren’t exposed to any outside influences like weather or pests, and you can choose the best to plant, precisely where you want them. At the point that the weather is safe to put the seedlings out, you’re already a few weeks ahead. Direct seeding requires a little more trust, and a little more patience—but less work.

Start with the priorities. Seed your corn into the ground, and make sure beans, cucumbers, pumpkins, squash, melons, basil, cabbage and carrots get in by early June. Once those are planted and you’ve marked where they are in the garden so you don’t overplant, make space to seed around them with greens like chard, kale, endive, dill, cilantro, and Asian greens. If you want to plant arugula (it becomes a spreading perennial easily), do so now. 

Then it’s time to consider your succession plantings, like lettuce, beets, radishes and scallions. I’m excited to try new seed tapes this year from Park Seeds for radishes, beets, and carrots, since it eliminates a lot of work on spacing and thinning. You can even make your own. 

Annual flower seeding

Sunflower seeds went into the ground this week, in rows according to height, with mammoth varieties in the back that will grow twenty feet in the air, and shorter five foot teddy bear varieties in front. Creating a sunflower wall is an easy way to create a border in the garden. You can also start planting zinnias outside now. Remember that zinnias come in heights ranging from a foot to four feet. Mix and match them for a greater impact, and consider the zinnia mixes from Renee’s Gardens. They always have spectacular mixes by color and size that I enjoy. You can still seed nasturtiums, and should, throughout your garden. They act as an aphid trap. 

Consider getting cosmos into the soil now, they’ll grow to five or six feet and grow bushy, with delicate flowers that fill the late summer season. Ammi, a carrot flower that makes a good filler flower for gardens, can be sown now, as can amaranthus. 

Start your perennials for next year

Once the summer starts are cleared from my growing room, I think about the perennials that I have space for. These are expensive starts to buy at the garden center, so they’re always worth nurturing at home. Agastache, also known as hummingbird mint, can be found in a wide swath of colors from Etsy growers. I haven’t found as many colors from commercial seed houses, and you could grow an actual rainbow of starts. Echinacea, one of my favorite July bloomers, now comes in so many electric colors and beautiful shapes, and will return each year. Starting seeds now means you’ll have a well-developed four-inch start by the end of summer to go into the ground. Consider perennial salvia (there is an annual salvia, too). Yarrow is no longer confined to the yellow and whites you’ve seen everywhere: Summer berry yarrow comes in sweeping reds and pinks. Columbines make delightful summer blooms, like upside-down bells. You can start them now. Lastly, consider giving delphinium, a notoriously tricky seed to germinate, a try. Having this perennial spike come up each year in the garden is always worthwhile.

Start to think about fall

You shouldn’t need to start fall starts until early July, but you should prepare lists and get your seeds now. It’s a great time to do so, because seeds are on sale everywhere. I receive sale notices daily from every seed house I subscribe to, so check in with the seed houses closest to you and grab what you’ll need.

June gardening is always marked by berries. The June-bearing strawberries, oso berries, and currants are ripe and ready to be picked. The first raspberry flush will come any time, and the fruit on the earliest blueberry bushes start to turn blue.  With the tulips, peonies, and irises completing their bloom cycle, we are fully in summer. Everything you haven’t planted yet should go in the ground, while we maintain and nurture the plants we have already established. 

Pruning

As soon as your lilacs have stopped blooming, you should consider pruning them back so you might get a second bloom this fall. You want to take as much as ⅓ of the plants stems, so you encourage new growth each year. This is the case for all your early summer blooming shrubs and trees, like azalea, forsythia, Japanese kerria, weigela, deutzia, mock orange, St. John's wort, viburnums, and red or yellow dogwoods.

The pruning should extend to your tomatoes, now established in the ground. You’ll want to prune for suckers, depending on what kind of trellis system you have set up. If you’re allowing indeterminate tomatoes to only have one strong “leader” or stem, prune aggressively, but you’ll need tall trellises. Also be sure to cut away any diseased parts of the plant, but remember you only want to touch your tomatoes after the morning dew has dried, and with clean shears. Spray with Lysol or other disinfectant in between plants, so you are not spreading fungus or virus yourself. 

Once the strawberries are done fruiting, mow them back and mulch them, so they won't continue to spend their energy growing runners, but will focus on root growth for next year.

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Fruit-thinning

Your pears, apples, stone fruit like peaches and nectarines, and even fig trees will have set fruit by now, and also gone through fruit drop, which is a normal phenomenon where the trees drop what they can’t handle. With the fruit still on the tree, you must decide on quantity or quality. Thinning the fruit on each branch will allow the tree to create larger, tastier fruit. You can also shroud the fruit at this point, covering the fruit with gauze bags, to protect it from invasive bugs or animals. 

Fertilizing

It’s important to not simply water your vegetables in raised beds, but remember to feed them. Your plants can benefit from a treatment like fish fertilizer as much as once a week, but if you haven’t fed your vegetables since planting, June is the time to start. Apply a vegetable-specific fertilizer, which will generally be a balanced 4-4-4 fertilizer at least once or twice a month. Your tomatoes can also benefit from a treatment of Cal-Mag or Rot Stop, which will provide the plant more calcium to help prevent tomato blossom rot on forthcoming fruit. Now that your asparagus has been harvested, apply a nitrogen-heavy fertilizer for next year. 

Your lawn should get a low-nitrogen based fertilizer in June. Your roses should get a phosphorus based fertilizer treatment after their first bloom, about now. All your trees and shrubs should get a summer fertilizer before July 4th.  Your garden center can help you find the right fertilizers, since not all plants should get the same one. For instance, blueberries and azaleas need a more acidic fertilizer. 

Pests

June is high alert for all the bugs and critters that love to find and attack our plants. Tomato hornworms, aphids, bagworms, beetles, borers, and all the slugs. Sprays won’t be the only solution at this point—you’ll need to manually remove the pests from your plant as well. Aphids may be sprayed off with water, but without a treatment like soapy water or a nearby trap plant like nasturtiums, they’ll be back. If you don’t have nasturtiums nearby, plant them now. The aphids will be more attracted to the nasturtium and will choose it instead. You just leave the aphid infested nasturtiums in place. Treatments like Sluggo can help reduce the slug population, but manual extraction is still necessary. Leave shallow lids of beer or yeasty bread starter around as a trap, and collect the slugs that run to it each day. Each plant in your garden has a number of pests that are trying to feed off of it; a daily walk around your garden will help you notice what might be attacking your plants. 

Sick plants

Gardens are highly susceptible to virus and fungus, and one of the best ways to prevent it is to water at the root of plants, rather than overhead, which splashes onto the ground, causing water to spray back up onto plants. As you see blight or mosaic virus in your garden, you must be vigilant to cut it out quickly, dispose of those plants in the trash (not compost) and be sure you wash your hands and tools before moving onto the next plant. If you see powdery mildew on your plants, you can treat it with a diluted vinegar spray. Now is when you might catch sign of infections like leaf curl on your stone fruit trees, which can be treated if caught quite early with copper foliar sprays. Fungicides can go a long way to helping prevent problems like black spot on roses. You want to be very judicious when using fungicides and copper sprays, these are mostly preventative treatments, not reactive. If you’re questioning what you see in your garden, take a picture and head to the garden center to ask. 

Planting

The summer vegetables should all be in the ground by the end of June. Your tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, and tomatillos need to be planted, and if the weather hasn’t met planting conditions yet, you need to consider putting mitigations like Argibon in place and planting anyway. The Agribon tenting will create the warm conditions you need, and you can remove it when temperatures get warm enough on their own. 

Beans, cucumbers, edamame, eggplants, melons, okra, summer squash, and sweet potatoes should get planted this month. If it’s early enough, they can still be direct seeded, but by mid-June, you should plant starts instead.  

Continue succession-seeding radishes, lettuce, carrots, scallions, and beets. Be sure you are thinning seedlings once a week. 

Flowers

You can still plant almost all your summer annual flowers, including zinnias, cosmos, sunflowers, salvia, and celosia from seed or as starts. Planting them in waves ensures multiple successions of flowers later in the season. Remember when planting these flowers to check seed labels for heights, so you can vary them. 

Now that your spring flowers are wilting, deadhead them appropriately. Your tulips need to have just the heads cut off, but no lower—remember they need leaves to mulch in place to return next year. Iris stems may be cut to the ground, but in a chevron, to ensure good growth next year. Deadheading your snapdragons and sweet peas will encourage more growth, but some flowers, like stock, are single -stems, so once they bloom, they should be cut to the ground. 

Through June, the best course of action is to take a walk through the garden once a day, even if it’s a quick one. Harvest what you can, take note of action items like pests or pruning, and be sure to take pictures and write entries in your garden journal. Moreover, it’s the reason you planted the garden: to enjoy it.

The only constant about a garden is change. It's not just the sweeping changes from winter to spring, but smaller differences you see week to week. I am sometimes impressed by how a patch of my garden can shift over the course of even just a day. With all that change, it's impossible to keep track of not just how the garden looks, but how you felt about how the garden looked at that time. Feelings aren't to be discounted, because they are precisely what you'll want to recall at the end of the season, when you make decisions about changes for next year. I am constantly making mental notes about particular plants or parts of the yard as I work, but remembering them all is impossible.

A garden journal, however you choose to organize it, is the best place to keep all these observations and notes this year so you can refer back to them in future years. My journal is the single most valuable gardening tool I have.

How to organize a garden journal

Actually, how you organize your garden journal doesn't really matter. The goal is to simply have a place to record all your important observations as the seasons go by. If you are someone who enjoys a traditional organizer, there are plenty of fancy options for planners or journals with daily prompts and sections. But if you're like me, you just need blank paper and a pen. There are tons of simple journals with gridded pages so you can record thoughts and sketches easily. This is the perfect excuse to go walk around a stationary store and find a journal that feels good in your hands and gets you excited about gardening.

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The journal lives inside, rather than in the garden, and I find that keeping it near my couch is helpful because I can reach for it anytime something occurs to me. Because it's sitting nearby, I'll sometimes force myself to sit and think about the state of the garden and make some notes. The proximity of the journal means I can grab it when ordering seeds or making other planning decisions.

What to record in your journal

You'll settle into a system that works for you of recording relevant information. What I've found most useful is just allowing the journal to be freeform, but I'll start an observation page for each season. In summer, this may simply be where I remind myself that a specific pea I planted tasted badly, or "next year, more melons!" It's where I note which areas of the garden need more color, or need a plant moved or divided. Things like, "the elderberries overhang neighbor's fence in August" pop up in observations, or notes about new trellises that I'd like. If I find a plant I like in the nursery, I'll make a note to find seeds for it next year.

Because I prefer to use my journal in a freeform manner, it's also where I sketch out plans for garden boxes or trellises I'll build. I sometimes make loose layout plans in the journal for my garden beds.

My journal is where I record how much compost or mulch I use over the season so I can plan for next year, or how much fertilizer was put down, where, and when it was applied. I often note big plantings, such as trees or shrubs so I can refer back if needed. Sometimes I leave notes about what was grown, like "four tomato plants = 18 pints of tomatoes" so I know how much to grow next year.

In the thick of winter, as I'm planning my summer garden, my journal is where I'll make a list of all the things I want to grow and begin breaking it down into smaller varieties and where I'll buy the seeds.

Each year, I record when my tulips finally pop open, as well as the snapdragons, and when corn and sunflowers sprout. These are landmarks for the weather that help me track how my garden responds to the seasons. You'll find those benchmarks for your own garden, too.

A written journal can work alongside a visual diary

Keeping these written notes isn't the only way I record what's happening in the garden. I often take pictures, as well, as I move through the garden. These images work alongside the journal, as a reference. When it comes time to plant tulips next year, I won't be able to remember where they need to go to accommodate the ones in the ground already, but a picture can aid in placement. I likely won't remember how the bean vines looked next year when I'm building a new trellis, but I can refer to pictures. If I'm worried my tomatoes have the same fungus as last year, pictures I can look back at will help me decide.

Once you have a journaling system in place, you'll discover how incredibly useful having these observations close by can be in maintaining your garden.

Until you start gardening, “soil” and “dirt” are interchangeable. Once you’ve tried to grow anything by just digging a hole in the ground, you’ll notice that the ground is probably full of clay or sand, and doesn’t break up into nice crumbly bits. That’s because soil health and the content of the soil matters, when you’re growing plants. Good soil needs organic material that will break up the clay, and healthy fungi like mycellium, nutrients from earth minerals and compost like nitrogen and calcium, and air pockets that will create help allow water to reach roots.

This is important in the garden, but it’s even more important in potted plants, where our green friends have access to a limited amount of soil. To create good soil conditions, there are a wealth of products and conditioners that gardeners apply. There are a whole class of additives that can help create those air pockets, and they include products like perlite, vermiculite, peat moss and coco coir. Knowing which to choose, and when to use them, is critical—because like fertilizer, these are more expensive products than compost, and using too much of them is just as problematic as not using them at all. 

What are perlite, vermiculite, peat moss and coco coir?

Perlite and vermiculite are volcanic materials that have been crushed and heated until they are small granules. They’re both porous, and they hold water well, although vermiculite is capable of holding more than perlite. Peat is a spongy moss that is harvested specifically from bogs, which have digested the Sphagnum moss, forming a bottom layer of dead moss that holds a lot of moisture perfect as a soil amendment. Since harvesting peat is unsustainable, there’s a great movement to use alternatives, like coco coir, which is a renewable product of the coconut fiber industry, but has similar properties to peat.

While each of these products can create air pockets and hold onto water, they behave differently in your soil. Perlite and vermiculite are granular, while peat and coir are more fibrous, and will hold your soil together more. Every one of these items can be found at your local nursery, and bringing in a sample of your soil will allow the garden center to help figure out which best fits your needs. 

Using perlite and other amendments in potted plants

Plant roots are the most important part of any plant—this is how they obtain nutrients, hydration, and stability. Indoor plants have access to limited resources in a pot. While plants outside would stretch their roots in search of what they need, indoor plants, for the most part, can’t do that. If you’ve ever wondered why plants form aerial roots, that’s the plant trying to find those additional resources, outside the pot.

In other words, the soil in the pot is extremely important. It needs to include all the nutrients for the plant. Pots are also quite drying, because we use drainage holes in them, and the soil is exposed to air moving around it, and there’s just less soil altogether to hold onto moisture. Those air pockets are even more important here, which is why potting soil usually contains not just perlite or vermiculite, but also peat or coir. 

If you’re going to make your own potting soil, the addition of these products, in the right amount, can help ensure your plant's roots have better moisture levels. The right amount is going to be determined by your plants. For those more likely to experience root rot, you want more perlite—go as high as 50%. But for most of your plants, you’ll start with a basic recipe: one part perlite or vermiculite, one part peat or coir, and two parts compost mixed with a slow-release fertilizer like Osmocote, per the instructions on the fertilizer package. 

Raised beds can use help, too

In your garden, using these amendments becomes a more costly endeavor. It also isn’t as necessary—a large mass of soil can hold onto moisture more easily. Outside, fungal structures like mycelium will form within your soil, creating those air pockets, and incorporating in large amounts of compost or compostable goods like leaves or chips will help create soil that has the right texture and composition. Compost invites worms, which will eat their way through the composting goods, also helping to create air pockets.

Still, if you have particularly clay-filled soil and want to break it up, adding perlite or vermiculite can help, if it is incorporated into the soil well, in amounts varying from 10-50%. That’s a huge swing, but the amount of soil you have in your garden is vast, and any amount you add is going to help to create fluffier soil. Start small and work your way up, season by season, to see what works, and also based on what you’re growing.  Generally, you don’t see the addition of peat and coir in raised beds due to cost at this scale, but you may find them in commercial soil mixes.

If you have planters outside, they subscribe to the same idea as indoor potted plants and should get similar amendments, including perlite, vermiculite, peat or coir. 

Understanding and improving the content of your soil is a never-ending process. Even if you start with perfect bagged soil, plants drain your soil of resources, causing the soil to need new inputs all the time. What works one year may not work the next due to environmental influences or new plants with different needs. While ensuring you have air pockets and hydration in your soil by using these four components are important, it’s equally important to consider all the other inputs you need. The best way to do that is to have your soil tested, and/or bring a sample of it to your local farm store or garden center and ask for help.  

I have a list of features I prefer in an indoor camera: discreet sizing, long cords, the ability to turn off indicator lights, remote pan-and-tilt functionality, decent night vision, and zoom. There are a few brands that are already doing this pretty decently: Blink, which has a relatively well-priced indoor pan and tilt at $39.99; Wyze, which has the best performing pan and tilt at $31.90 (if you can get past the security issues); and even PetCube, which has a 360 cam for $10.49. A new indoor camera would need to raise the bar set by those cameras, and I don’t think the new myQ Smart Indoor Security Camera ($39.99) from Chamberlain, who are known for their garage door openers, does. While it functions just fine, you can get better functionality from other cameras for the price. Even if you have myQ products and want to stay in the ecosystem, Chamberlain has enough integrations with hubs to make that a pretty seamless process with cameras from other brands.

myQ Smart Indoor Security Camera

$39.99 at Amazon

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Be aware of subscription costs

The Indoor Security Camera is a lightweight stationary one-piece camera with a four-by-four-inch camera face. It’s also a hard camera to disguise, and it won't blend into the background. Setup was easy enough: The camera paired easily through Bluetooth via the myQ app.

The myQ app allows you to set the same options you’d see in most cameras—zones to ignore, sensitivity levels, notifications. The video delivered is as good as any other 1080p camera I’ve tried, but does require a subscription after your 30 day free trial ends if you want to save any of those videos—plans started at $3.99 a month, which isn’t bad compared to competitors, but Eufy offers an almost identical camera for $28.97 that you can add to your Eufy Homebase drive, so you don’t need a subscription at all. Blink cameras have an option to use local storage, as well. 

Static camera means lots of areas are out of field

This camera made me realize how much I used pan-and-tilt options remotely to adjust the view. The camera has a 130-degree field of view, which isn't as wide as some others in this category. Unless you plant the myQ in a ceiling corner, it’s highly unlikely you’ll get a full view of the room, and you’ll likely want to zoom in and scan the space when you look at live video. My Wyze camera, for instance, actually follows activity on its own, rotating to always have activity in focus. I frequently brought up live video of the myQ and whatever I wanted to look at was out of range, but I couldn’t do anything about it, remotely. 

Annoying software update glitches

My second issue was the clicking. The myQ cameras update at night, precisely at 11pm. I know, because my camera began clicking, with the lights flashing, every night at 11pm, and would not stop. The app would tell me the camera was updating, but it never ended. I eventually unplugged the camera out of annoyance. MyQ even sent me a new camera, which experienced the same exact problem. Unplugging and power cycling the cameras a few times does eventually solve the problem, but that’s more work than I’m willing to commit to. 

There are better cameras for the price

In every scenario I tried to imagine this large, stationary camera, I just couldn’t come up with a reason that a smaller pan-and-tilt wouldn’t be better. A 360-degree camera could capture everything in the room.

Editor’s note: The original version of this article contained an incorrect product name and description. It was edited on June 4, 2024 to reflect the correct information.

One of the main things that prevents robot vacuums from being entirely autonomous is the need for us humans to empty the occasional vacuum bag or water tank. Switchbot's newest robot vacuum, the S10 aims to automate those tasks—and it works quite well.

The Switchbot S10 ($1,199, but you can get an additional $100 off with promo code LIFEHACKR100 at checkout until June 12), the new robot vacuum from one of my favorite smart companies, allows you to tie the water inlet and outlet for the mop directly into your water line, enabling the robot to fill and empty itself. If you commit to the work of making the water line connections (it is optional, but recommended), this bot can go for months without human intervention.

While I have some nitpicks about a few things, I was still impressed by the S10 and what it means for the future of robots in the home. 

Installation requires some basic plumbing

Before you even buy the S10, you can use Switchbot's compatibility check to ensure you have somewhere to make the water connection properly. Luckily, you can tie the S10 into almost anywhere water comes into your home, whether it's the toilet, the washing machine, or a faucet, and the S10 ships with every kind of connection you could possibly need.

To get an idea of how the S10 works, it's helpful to think of it as having four parts: the robot itself; a vacuum dock where the robot charges, empties the vacuum, and dries off; a dock to hook up to wherever it gets and dumps water (more on that in a second); and water tanks, which you'll need if you forgo hooking the S10 up to a water line. Unlike other floorbots, these docks aren’t all one large piece of hardware—they're separate, and while each is smaller than most robot vacuum docks, I would have preferred only having to dedicate floor space to one thing.

Back to the water tank situation: Ideally, the S10's water station is hooked up to the water line, but you can use the optional water tanks instead, if that's not an option. If you do decide to skip the water line installation, it's important to know that these tanks are smaller than most you see in modern robots. Therefore, using the tanks will require you to empty and fill the tanks quite frequently, thus eliminating a lot of the automated convenience that makes the S10 so nice.

Switchbot has done everything possible to make installation of the water line something the average person can do, but it’s still basic plumbing, and you might run into the same problem I did: too many items demanding the water line. To tie the S10 into my bathroom plumbing, I had to either choose between my bidet and the Switchbot or have a plumber add a connection. (As smart tech continues to proliferate, I suspect the problem of tech demanding access to our waterline will become increasingly common.)

Easy setup and quick mapping

Setup for the S10 was simple. First, the Switchbot app prompts you to map its two stations (water and vacuum debris). Next, you send the S10 out to map your floor, and like most other bots that use LiDAR (a laser method measuring light and distance), this was an accurate process that happened quickly.

Once mapped, you can begin to play with the various settings to customize it to your liking. The feature I use most on robot vacuums is the intensity setting, which allows you to control how much suction the vacuum uses, or how much water and vibration the mop uses. The S10 has limited customization here, so you can’t mop only, for instance. The mapping also felt limited: I couldn't add furniture to my rooms, which is helpful in setting up zones. These aren't huge misses, though, and could be dealt with in a future software update. Most of the features I love, including remote control, the ability to see the maintenance status of parts, and the ability to tie into most voice assistants were all there—and since the S10 has support for Matter, there's a lifeline for Apple HomeKit users.

The S10's mop is great, but its size can cause problems

One of my favorite robot vacuums ever was the Switchbot K10+, which was a spectacular vacuum both in terms of how well it sucked up debris, and also in its tiny size. Because it was so diminutive, the K10+ got into spaces no other bot could, making tight turns around chair legs, etc. Unfortunately, the mop on the K10+ sucked.

The S10 has the opposite problem: it’s huge. At 14 inches wide, the S10 can’t make those tight turns or get into corners the same way as the K10+, and without extending arms that some competitors have, it left corners throughout my house with debris in them. Still, the S10 was able to get most small- to medium-sized debris, although it flunked my dog toy floof test. (When trying a new robot vacuum, I like to leave a piece of floof from a dog toy to see if the bot will suck it up or read it as an obstacle and avoid it. The S10 surfed very near the floof, but avoided it.)

On the S10, the mop is really the headliner here. This model is part of a new class of robot vacuums that don’t just deploy new water on the floor—like the Eufy S1, the S10 cleans the mop while it’s out and about, ensuring there's only clean water on the floor and the dirty water is suctioned away. But unlike the S1, which didn’t mop very impressively in my home, the S10 cleaned up wet debris and dug into dried debris on the floor. I was impressed at how much less dingy my white tiles looked after a pass, and two passes got rid of most dried stains, too.

However, this all led to a minor issue with the S10—everything we're asking this robot to do drains the battery, and so the bot would frequently have to put itself in time out at the dock to recharge. This meant that big jobs rarely got done all at once. This would be a bigger problem if the robot needed intervention from me to clear debris or refill the water, but generally speaking, the robot and I have led separate lives, which is quite the point. 

Bottom line: good value, and a lot of promise

The S10 is the device I anticipated most this year and in many ways, it lived up to the hype. I had no issues at all with the refill and empty station, and I look forward to the additional devices that Switchbot will offer in the future to work with the S10 (the app already has humidifier settings available in it, but the hardware is not available yet).

As mops go, I was impressed, and while the vacuum wasn’t as good as some of my favorite Roborock models, it was still pretty good. You need to have some patience with the S10, both in dealing with the multiple docks, and how it will need to recharge often. But as a tradeoff, you’ll almost never need to intervene in the robot's life.

It’s only in the last few years that we’ve seen the entry of truly smart ceiling fans that allow you to do more than simply turn the device on and off, but affect every single aspect of the fan and light. While these smart ceiling fans have been expensive until now, I was excited to try the Dreo 44'' Smart Ceiling Fan (originally $149.99, but on sale at Amazon at the time of this writing), which was reasonably priced and from a company I think is doing interesting things with cooling and fans. 

Simple design with easy installation

The Dreo comes in two sizes: the 44-inch, four-blade version I was testing and a larger 52-inch version with five blades ($159.99, already sold out). Since my office ceiling fan desperately needed an update, it was the perfect time to test the Dreo. Simple in design, the fan features clean lines and smooth surfaces, and the light is one large low-profile LED. This fan would fit into virtually any decor, from modern to classic, without standing out. The only assembly required is choosing which side of the blades you’d prefer to face the room—one side will have a wood grain, and the other side will have a different color, depending on which size you buy.

Once attached, it’s time for installation. If you’re replacing a fan, you’ll simply need someone to assist in holding the fan while you wire it to the junction box that is already in your ceiling; then you bolt the fan body on and begin attach pieces in layers, starting with the cover for the junction box, the light base and, finally, the light cover. From there, you install the Dreo app and pair the fan. There is also an optional light switch and remote to be installed. 

Dreo 44" Smart Ceiling Fan

$116.90 at Amazon

$129.99 Save $13.09

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$116.90 at Amazon

$129.99 Save $13.09

Unique smart features

I’m already a fan of the Dreo app: It’s well-designed to have just enough functionality with a clean, clear design. From the app, you can use a slider to choose the speed of the fan; there are six speeds (the larger model has twelve), but the slider makes it feel like it has infinite speeds because you can be granular in choosing what feels right. To my delight, the ceiling fan shared the same feature as their standing fans where you can choose “normal” or “natural” mode. Just as it did on the ground in the standing fans, the “natural” setting produces what feels like more of a breeze, not by simply slowing the fan down but by pulsing through various speeds to simulate wind. It’s a charming feature I use all the time. A neat trick is that you can change the direction of the ceiling fan at the click of a button in the app, so the fan could be used in winter, too (when you want to more evenly distribute warm air around the room instead of sending cool air down). Most fans have this ability, but it's typically a manual toggle on the fan itself, and folks often don't take the extra step to reverse the fan and lose out on a nice way to move warm air through the room in the colder months.

While the light is plain in design, it does a good job of lighting the room. I immediately saw a difference in how bright the room felt from the old ceiling fan, which had four independent lightbulbs. The 2400 Lumen LED temperature can be adjusted from warm to cool (2700K-6500K), and the brightness can be dimmed using a slider. Once you adjust it, the light does not jump to the color or temperature you selected, but rather morphs gently into it. Though Dreo integrated seamlessly into Google Home and Alexa, including the associated assistants, it does not currently work with Apple HomeKit or IFTTT, and there’s no Matter or Threads integration. 

You can also set up schedules for the fan and light, independently or together, or set the fan to “sleep” mode which will gradually slow down the fan overnight or even turn it off, if you use the timer. 

Incredibly quiet

The most notable aspect of the Dreo ceiling fan is the volume: It is so quiet that you will forget it’s on. It was quiet enough that I asked Dreo how they were silencing the blades, and their support channel attributed it to a brushless DC motor and correct installation (when a fan is off balance, the rocking can make noise). Despite the missing sound, the fan works as you'd expect in moving air around the room. The smaller version promises 3170 cubic feet per minute (CFM) versus 5673 CFM in the larger unit. This is average for the size of fan, but when using the "natural" settings, and in absence of the typical white noise of a fan in the background, it just feels like you left a window open on a breezy day. 

It’s hard to take a passionate stand for a ceiling fan—they are unsexy, as far as appliances go. However, the Dreo is a really good pairing of technology and usability. For about $150, you get an easy-to-install fan (less than half the cost of competitors) that is simple to use but also feels different than other ceiling fans. It’s quieter, brighter, and cools without feeling like you're in a wind tunnel. While I might enjoy more high-end design, on the functionality, the Dreo Smart Ceiling Fan can’t be beat.

The most notable thing I’ve learned about robot lawn mowers: How the lawn mower maps, matters. Originally, these mowers all used buried wire to determine the boundaries that the robots couldn’t cross. Then RTK (which stands for "Real Time Kinematic positioning"—essentially, GPS with some additional localized data) made it possible for people to define the boundary without a wire by simply walking the robot around the perimeter of the yard during setup, as long as the robot was in sight of the RTK tower. Now, Ecovacs has attempted something new with the GOAT GX-600 ($999): The device simply uses LiDAR to figure out where to mow and not mow. (LiDAR is what robot vacuums use.)

The problem is, it doesn’t work. Despite trying the GOAT on multiple different lawn setups,I could never get it to complete even one run. It failed to see the entire lawn, often mowed the same area back and forth many times instead of moving to a new area, ignored boundaries like sidewalks, and refused to cross boundaries it should, like walkways. Additionally, it got stuck so often—even on flat, freshly mowed grass—that it was hard to imagine that you’d ever feel confident enough to let the GOAT work autonomously, which is the whole point of a robot.

At least it's light

This is actually the third iteration of the GOAT, and while the v1 and v2 versions of the GOAT seem to have had more success based on previous reviews, neither appear to be available anymore. To its credit, the GX-600 was the easiest robot lawn mower to put together of any I’ve tested. The entire charging base comes already assembled, as did the robot. There are no additional parts, wires, or RTK towers—you just plug it in and send the robot out to explore your lawn. The base, made of plastic, and the robot were both light enough to move around (which I did a lot of). 

Troublesome connections

It took a few tries to pair the GOAT with the app, but it was still easy enough to do in under 10 minutes by power cycling the robot. In the case of most lawn mower apps, you can access a lot of settings from the app interface, whether the mower is online or not. In the case of Ecovacs, you can only access these settings while the mower is online. Once it is, you can connect via Bluetooth or wifi, with some operations requiring the Bluetooth. Most operations you set on the robot itself, like setting the height of the lawn. From the app, you can set schedules, and decide to operate the robot in auto mode or manual mode. Manual mode is code for “remote control,” which is a feature easier to find on other apps. I routinely had trouble connecting via Bluetooth to the robot, even when only 10 feet away, and it’s a requirement for the manual mode. I had to use manual mode a lot on the GOAT to try and move it out of an area it was having trouble with, and I struggled to connect and maintain that connection. 

Too picky for its own good

Most robot lawn mowers claim to work on most lawns, inhibited only by square footage and incline. The GOAT, based on the way it maps, is different. Ecovacs has an entire pre-purchase quiz to help you decide if the GOAT is right for you, and there are several parameters that might rule your lawn out. First, your lawn needs to be enclosed, either by a physical boundary like a fence or a sidewalk. Second, it has to be mostly contiguous—it can only be broken up by one walkway less than 1m (three feet) across. Third, any interior “islands,” such as planting beds, raised beds or other obstacles like lawn furniture, must have a physical barrier around them that the robot can sense.

Promised features didn't work

The Ecovacs GOAT insisted on mowing this individual strip over and over, for twenty minutes but never got the rest of the lawn. Credit: Amanda Blum

On the first lawn I tried—which featured large expanse of grass with no islands or any kind, but with an incline, surrounded by fences and sidewalks, and divided by one 24-inch walkway—the GOAT never completed a single mowing cycle. The GOAT was able to find the boundary of the first half of the lawn and circled around a few times, and then began to mow. Instead of mowing across the lawn, it mowed the same strip, up and back, for almost 20 minutes, and then moved over only marginally, so it was still getting half of the same strip of lawn. After an hour it hadn’t gotten half the lawn done, and eventually, it stalled on a sidewalk. Since a sidewalk is supposed to be one of the boundaries the robot will respect, I was surprised it even ventured onto it, making it a tripping hazard and prime candidate for being stolen. At the same time, it refused to cross the 24-inch walkway, which was well under the three-foot threshold.

Over a slow and painful back-and-forth with support over a few days, they first reminded me that the robot would only cross a threshold that was narrower than three feet. When I pointed out it was, they then returned saying that the robot could not cross any threshold, and i could just pick the robot up and put it back down on the other side and send it out to mow. This also did not work—the mower issued an error message saying it was out of the mappable zone, and picking the mower up means re-entering the PIN on the robot. Even worse, the robot refused to return to the dock in most cases. Even when the dock was placed in precisely the spot support recommended, the robot returned to the dock about 60% of the time. Still, I tried to send the robot out every day for a week to see if things would improve before giving up. 

Even on a perfectly flat lawn, that had just been mowed, the GOAT got stuck. Credit: Amanda Blum

No better on a perfect lawn

I then tried out the GOAT on a medium-sized backyard lawn that is flat and well-maintained, has no islands, and most importantly, is completely surrounded by fencing. It had just been mowed when we showed up. I just wanted to see if the GOAT would make one complete run. Even on a completely flat ground, the robot got its blades stuck every few feet, stopping and reporting an error. From the app, you can “ignore” these errors, so after checking for a block the first few times, I started ignoring these errors and asking the mower to continue. It would only continue a few inches before having another error. I tried moving the robot to another location inside the lawn to see if that would help, but it didn’t. At least on this lawn, the robot returned to dock. 

On my last attempt—a small, completely enclosed lawn that measured 30x15 feet—we experienced more of the same. The GOAT got stopped while going along the boundary, and when it started mowing the inside, it missed giant swaths of lawn and frequently reported errors. 

For every other robot lawnmower, this docking position would work, but the GOAT wasn't able to find it. Credit: Amanda Blum

A complete failure

I have enjoyed Ecovac robot vacuums; I trust the brand to make reliable robots for inside the house. But I have never had an experience like this, where every single aspect of a product fails. The GOAT has yet to accurately map a boundary for me, or to mow the entire space inside a boundary it creates. It is unreliable in coming back to the dock, and went into spaces it shouldn’t (like sidewalks) more than once. It is hard to connect to via Bluetooth, rendering some features like manual mode unusable, and couldn’t move across a lawn that was completely flat (and already mowed!) without reporting constant errors. 

Missing key robot lawn mower features

It feels silly to mention the price at this point ($999) since there’s very little I’ve said to convince you to buy this particular robot. This is mid to lower range for most lawn robots, and I’d be game to try the next GOAT to see how it changes. However, putting the features of the GOAT that don’t work aside, this robot didn’t include a lot of features that are important in other models, like the ability to affect mowing pattern, multi-zone support, the ability to see where your robot is on a map, or what areas of the map have and haven’t been mowed.

There's a big difference between a robot vacuum and a robot lawn mower. A robot lost in your living room can’t do a lot of damage. A vacuum can be stuck under a couch for weeks without anyone stealing it, or someone tripping over it. Outside, we need a lot of faith that our robots really are autonomous, and will do what they’re meant to, so they don’t become a hazard or become vulnerable to stealing. Perhaps another mower will convince me this RTK-less method of mapping works, but for now, I’m sticking to mowers that let you set a boundary, and then stick to it. For large lawns or those with steep inclines or rough terrain,, the Mammotion Luba 2 is incredibly reliable. For smaller lawns or those with more smaller turns and delicate areas, I recommend the Segway Navimow.

I love my grill, a 30-year-old Weber model that I continually rehab. It has zero smart features, but it remains the barbecue I compare all others to, including the four smart barbecues I tested over the last six weeks. Through testing all of these fancy new grills, I wanted to understand if the addition of connectivity could make the grilling experience fundamentally better, rather than just adding cost and empty hype to already expensive equipment.

I have dabbled a bit in smart grilling features before—like when I tested smart wireless thermometers from Meater and Combustion—so I already had some idea of what to expect. At the very least, I expected these smart grills allow for lazier cooking by reporting temperatures from afar via an app, eliminating the need to stand over a grill for hours on end in the heat. While all the grills I tested did this admirably, I did not expect how much remote control these grills offer over temperature and smoke level, meaning even experienced grillers can take a more hands-off approach without losing the detailed control. Some of these grills produced results so great that only advantage my 30-year-old Weber has at this point is purely sentimental. If I was going to buy a grill tomorrow, it would be a smart grill.

Read on to learn about my thoughts on each of the four models I tested, which will hopefully narrow down your search for the perfect smart grill.

My favorite of the bunch: Brisk It Origin 580 Smart Grill with AI, $899

Credit: Amanda Blum

At a glance

Ideal for: Cooks of all experience levels, including inexperienced barbecue cooks who are intimidated by grilling and smoking.

How it works: Wood pellet grill fed by auger.

Does it smoke? Yes.

Does it flame grill? Yes.

Active grill space: 580 square inches.

Pros

• Completely hands-off cooking.

• Extensive recipe library.

• Works at lower temperature ranges, enabling cold smoking.

• Able to add power smoke or hold temp for keeping warm.

• AI is useful for finding recipes.

Cons 

• Some parts of the grill (handles and foam lining) aren’t well made, but this doesn't affect function or taste.

• Can’t easily change/mix wood in a cook.

Quick thoughts

The Brisk It grill gets the edge here for how useful the app is, which allows the user to converse with the app to find the perfect recipe. That recipe is then sent to the grill, and the grill executes the recipe. The auto ignite worked every time, and the smart connectivity never errored out, not even once.

The wood pellets provide a smokier environment than any other grill tested while still allowing for a nice flame grill at higher temperatures. But the wood pellet hopper and auger make it difficult to change the pellets mid-cook the way you would with a smaller hopper like the Masterbuilt (featured later in this post).

Read my full review.

Buy the Brisk It Origin 580 Smart Grill with AI ($899 on Amazon)

Brisk It Origin-580 Wood Pellet Grill Smoker Smart Grill

$899.99 at Amaon

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$899.99 at Amaon

Current Model G Dual Zone Smart Grill, $999

Credit: Amanda Blum

At a glance

Ideal for: Anyone prohibited from grills that use real fire.

How it works: Electric grill with the ability to create two temperature zones.

Does it smoke? No.

Does it flame grill? No.

Active grill space: 330 square inches.

Pros 

• Ability to only turn on as much grill space as you need.

• Able to create two different zones. 

• Can be used in spaces where fire isn’t allowed. 

• Modern looking, light build. 

Cons 

• Takes a long time to heat up. 

• Loses heat quickly when open. 

• Hard to clean, despite auto clean feature. 

• Flimsy build.

Quick thoughts

While I didn’t love this grill in comparison to the others, it serves a specific niche for those who need an electric grill specifically. I liked that you didn’t need to heat up the entire grill if you didn’t need the space, and it did provide the best searing environment than any of the others—even at very high temperatures (700 F), food didn’t stick to the grill much. The self-clean option should have made cleaning easy, but tended to leave the grill looking worse after. If you choose this grill, double check the electrical requirements; it’s a beast.

Read my full review.

Buy the Current Model G Dual Zone Smart Grill ($999 at Ace Hardware)

Current Model G Dual Zone Smart Grill

$899.00 at Ace Hardware

$999.00 Save $100.00

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$899.00 at Ace Hardware

$999.00 Save $100.00

Kamado Joe Konnected Joe Charcoal Grill and Smoker, $1,499

Credit: Amanda Blum

At a glance

Ideal for: Ceramic enthusiasts, barbecue nerds, and those who want all the options and control.

How it works: Ceramic grill using charcoal.

Does it smoke? Yes.

Does it flame grill? Yes

Active grill space: 250 square inches.

Pros 

• Obtain intense all-around heat quickly and easily. 

• Extensive accessory ecosystem. 

• Ability to flame grill, smoke, bake, and char. 

• Compact size. 

Cons

• Limited active grill space. 

• Expensive. 

• Very limited app utility. 

• Hard to add charcoal once the grill is in use.  

Quick thoughts

Ceramic grills like the Kamado have a cult following that I didn’t fully understand until I tried one myself. While the cooking surface is limited, the ceramic shell creates an all-around heat, like a pizza oven, that cooks food differently than traditional grills. Crispier exteriors on breads, meats, and vegetables also ensured moister interiors.

These grills can be intimidating, with many accessories, parts, and options to fiddle with based on what you’re cooking, but the smart app can mostly eliminate that learning curve and anxiety. If I was going to purchase a ceramic grill, I’d likely choose this one for that reason, though you can certainly use the grill without the smart aspects, if you choose.

It’s hard to say if I’d choose the Kamado over other grills like the Masterbuilt or Brisk It, but it is certainly more flexible. Using a vast array of purchasable accessories, you can flame grill, smoke, bake, roast, or even use the grill like a pizza oven. 

Buy the Kamado Joe Konnected Joe Charcoal Grill ($1,499 at Best Buy)

Kamado Joe Konnected Joe Charcoal Grill and Smoker

Kamado Joe Konnected Joe Charcoal Grill and Smoker

$1,499.99 at Best Buy

$1,699.99 Save $200.00

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$1,499.99 at Best Buy

$1,699.99 Save $200.00

Masterbuilt Auto Ignite 545 Digital Charcoal Grill, $499

Credit: Amanda Blum

At a glance

Ideal for: Grillers who want high levels of control and flexibility, with an assist from smart tech.

How it works: Charcoal gravity-fed grill.

Does it smoke? Yes.

Does it flame grill? No.

Active grill space: 545 square inches

Pros

• Great manual control over wood throughout the cooking process.

• Large cooking space. 

• Able to control the temperature via app. 

• Incredibly sturdy, well-built grill and parts. 

Cons

• Limited space for searing. 

• Hard to get flame under active grill space. 

• Tricky ignition doesn’t always work on the first try.

• Really hard to put together.

Quick thoughts

Gravity-fed grills—in which a charcoal-filled hopper burns from the bottom up, with a fan blowing the heat and smoke across the cooking space—have a learning curve. It is not the same as having a fire under the cooking grates, but with a little experience under your belt, the Masterbuilt provides a highly satisfying grilling experience with a lot of control.

You can add to the hopper throughout the cook, so you can augment your food with hardwood for smoking, and the hopper itself serves as a surface for searing. Of all the grills, the Masterbuilt felt the most solid, but you should expect a frustrating assembly process. Still, if you want a lot of control over a larger cooking space with a light assist from smart tech, this is the grill I’d get. 

Read my full review.

Buy the Masterbuilt Auto Ignite 545 Digital Charcoal Grill ($499 on Amazon)

Masterbuilt Auto Ignite 545 Digital Charcoal Grill

$499.00 at Amaon

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$499.00 at Amaon

Other smart grills to consider: 

• Traeger Grills Pro 575 Electric Wood Pellet Grill $599.95

• Weber Genesis SPX-435 Premium Smart Gas Grill $1,799

Tools to make your grilling smarter: 

• Weber Connect Smart Grilling Hub $83.90

• Combustion Smart Thermometer $199.99

• BBQ Guru's UltraQ Bluetooth/Wifi BBQ Temperature Controller Universal Kit for Grills and Smokers $412.99

Robot vacuums are expected to do a lot more than vacuum these days: They can map rooms, mop floors, respond to voice commands, empty themselves, detect pets and people, and avoid pet waste on the floor. Many of the features above are reserved for the highest priced flagship models, but they are starting to trickle down to mid-tier models, too. The Dreame L10s Plus has settled into a nice mid-range floorbot option by having some of my favorite high-end features, while not allowing the core function—vacuuming—to suffer. If you ignore the mop feature on the Dreame L10s Plus robot vacuum and simply use it as a competent vacuum with all the bells and whistles of many flagship models, you’re likely to be happy with the value at $549.

What to know about the Dreame brand

I was excited to test the L10s Plus because Dreame has an exceptional reputation in the robot vacuum space; the brand offers a large number of models each year, though, which can be confusing and hard to differentiate. For instance, in additional to this model, the L10s Plus, there is an L10 Pro, L10s Ultra, L10s Pro Gen, and the L20, with only marginal differences among them. By spending fractionally more money, you might get some additional vacuum power or battery longevity and perhaps one additional feature improvement, like AI obstacle recognition over traditional LiDAR. This model, the L10s Plus, offers a self-emptying tower for the vacuum (but not the mop), as well as two removable mop pads and a very small water reservoir on the robot itself. 

High-end features

This was my first time using the Dreame app, and I was pleased with how easy it was to pair the robot and get it connected to wifi. An advantage to Dreame products is that this model works with every smart assistant out there, and it integrated into my Google Home setup easily. This means you can create automations involving your robot. Schedule a run after dinner or in response to your dog going through a doggie door. The app is where I was really impressed by the L10s Plus: Mapping options were as extensive as on the most expensive robot vacuums I’ve tested. You can create rooms and zones, manipulating the map to merge and divide areas. The map generated by LiDAR was impressively accurate after just the first run. You can customize the run settings for vacuum suction and mop wetness, as well as the route the robot will take, whether quick or standard deep clean. The app gives you concise information about when to replace parts and a number of customizations for control, including kid locks and do-not-disturb schedules. In particular, I loved seeing the remote control option, as well as a beacon to find the robot. Remote control has proven to be incredibly useful for retrieving robots lost under couches without having to fish it out manually. 

Reliable performance on small to medium debris

As a vacuum, I really liked how the Dreame performed. While not as rugged as the Roborock high end models I’ve tested, I thought the L10s Plus did a good job of picking up small- to medium-sized debris without getting stuck. Dog toy fluff presented a problem, so you’ll need to clear your floor of it beforehand, but in at least one instance, it was clear the L10s Plus had picked up a coin or screw and continued cleaning. I didn’t understand the path the Dreame took across the floor; it wasn’t a back and forth or S shape, but that’s not unusual, as many floorbots have unique algorithms they follow. The L10s got to 95% of the floor, missing a few spots here and there that I couldn’t find a reason for. Placing the robot in that spot, and then manually pressing the clean button allowed the robot to find and add that spot to the map so it was caught on later runs. The L10s Plus was average in how close it was able to get to walls in my home, meaning you’d have to return with with a handheld or broom to get up to the molding, but that’s expected for all but the latest floorbots with extending arms. While this model worked well on tile and low pile rugs, it actually did a great job on high pile carpet and sailed over low thresholds. The L10s Plus has the advantage of self-emptying into the tower, and it did a good job evacuating the entire chamber over the time I tested it. So many robots are talked about in terms of the power the vacuum itself has on the floor, but the power of the tower to empty the debris container is just as important, in my opinion. 

The mop isn't worthwhile

Where things fall apart is the L10s Plus mop. There is a wide variation in how robot mops work: At the high end, towers have tanks for clean and dirty water, and the tower will fill a robot with clean water, then wash the mop and remove the dirty water. In some limited cases, mops work like a Swiffer, where you attach a mop pad and the robot will drag it across the floor. The Dreame L10s Plus exists in a middle ground. There’s a (very) small container for water on the robot itself, so you’ll need to fill it many times over one mopping. The robot has two rotating mop pads, similar to those I’ve seen on higher end models, and the water will saturate the mop pads as the robot moves. As a mop, the performance is really so-so, and I was annoyed by how often I had to stop the robot to refill the reservoir. Spinning brushes aren’t as effective, in my opinion, as mop pads at getting up stains on the floor, and the combination of low agitation and not enough saturation meant that only wet debris was removed during the moping process. It might be worthwhile the keep the mop tank filled in case you need a quick spot clean, but it’s impractical to consider using this mop on a regular basis. 

It's a good value if you think of it as just a vacuum

Some of my favorite floorbot recommendations are models where you should ignore some features because the other benefits outweigh them—like the Switchbot K10+, which is my favorite vacuum but a lousy mop. Overall, if you are looking to spend under $600, I think the L10s Plus is a great value to get a decent vacuum with some of those additional high-tier features, even if you only use the mop once in a while for spot cleaning.

I’m hardly a noob when it comes to smoking meat on the grill, but I’ve never owned a real smoker, and certainly not one that could have a conversation with me. But after a month of testing smart smokers on everything from meat, to cheese, to vegetables and fish, I’ve learned is that using a smart smoker can take all the uncertainty out of smoking your food. I’d go as far as to say that a smart app and a good smoker are the perfect marriage of technology and function, and the Brisk It Origin 580 Smart Grill with AI is the best, most functional smoker I've ever used.

This grill offers the most control, recipe options, temperature range and smokiness of any smart grill I've tested, and with the least amount of intervention necessary. It can make smoking a casual weeknight affair, and it does all this at a relatively reasonable price of $899 on Amazon.

Brisk It Origin-580 Wood Pellet Grill Smoker Smart Grill

$899.99 at Amazon

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$899.99 at Amazon

A solid grill body, but some flimsier details

Like every other grill I tested, the Origin requires assembly, which took me about an hour. The "brains" of the grill, as well as the pellet hopper, are located on one side, with a collapsible tray on the front. The grill itself offers 580 square inches between the active grill space and an additional grate above. Brisk It decided to forego the traditional cabinet under the grill, but I didn't miss it much.

The steel shell build feels solid and sturdy, though I found some of the accent pieces, like stainless steel handles, broke easily and jiggled no matter how much tension I applied to the screws, and got hot quickly. The grill also comes with an adhesive backed foam you use line the lid so it closes without a bang, but the heat dissolved the adhesive quickly, so the foam all peeled off during my the first cook, though this did not seem to affect the performance of the grill in any way. Lastly, the metal on the side trays seemed to stain easily. These issues aside, I am still happy with the sturdiness of the grill. 

Wood pellets, not charcoal

Instead of charcoal, this grill uses wood pellets, which you can purchase from Brisk It (mine were supplied alongside the grill for testing) or buy in a series of flavors from any other provider. After using the Masterbuilt, which relies on manual addition of charcoal and hardwood chunks, I spent a lot of time trying to decide if I prefer an all-wood pellet smoke. The pellets earn points for ease of use—they are supplied to the grill via an auger and require no intervention except an occasional refill. This is a relatively small grill by Brisk It's standards, yet it holds 22 pounds of pellets, and I never needed to add more while using it. Compared with charcoal, the pellets provide a far smokier cook, all the way through.

While I didn’t miss the charcoal on my hands or having to juggle items on the cooktop to top off the wood, if you are looking for a more hands on approach that allows you to play with different wood, charcoal grills offer more flexibility. If you prefer to take the easy route, this is it. 

In just two hours, this whole chicken (and chicken neck) got a crisp skin, excellent pink smoke on the interior and a great flavor. Credit: Amanda Blum

The smartest smart grill app I've used

It is undoubtedly the Origin’s smart functionality that puts it ahead of others I've tested. Brisk It offers the most functional, feature-rich app. The grill paired quickly and easily with the app, and then updated itself, all from the full color screen located on the grill (though note it is not touch screen). Using the screen, it’s easy to set a temperature, ignite the grill, and walk away, but you’ll likely want to use when you're actually cooking.

This is the first grill to integrate Brisk It’s Innogrill technology and Vera AI. Vera is an AI assistant you can talk to via the app about anything grilling related, including what you can make with ingredients you have on hand, what level of cook you are, how much time you have to grill. Vera can make suggestions—which I generally found usable and insightful—and send them to the grill so it can handle the cooking for you.

In my testing, I asked Vera for a simple smoked ribs recipe, and it supplied one that takes about four hours, with three steps and few ingredients. The smoking portion had three phases, all at different temperatures and smoke points. Normally, I’d need to monitor the grill, constantly checking the temperature and adding smoke at the right time. Instead, the grill preheated to the right temperature, I put the ribs in when it told me to, stuck a temperature probe into them, closed the lid and walked away. The app notified me as it moved from phase to phase, and I was able to make small adjustments as it went (at one point, I tried a "power smoke" button; more on that in a bit). You have the option to push through a phase faster if you’d like, or skip it altogether.

Four hours later, I removed a rack of perfectly smoked ribs with an impressive bark, fantastic smoke rings, and great color all around. It’s not just the AI making this happen—the app has a deep library of useful recipes you can surf through, a feature promised but not fulfilled by any other smart grill app I've tried. Any of those recipes can be sent via Innogrill to the barbecue.  

It wasn't just meat, the Origin gave these roasted eggplants and garlic a perfect sweet smokiness, and the salt at the top was imparted enough smoke to taste it on foods it garnished. Credit: Amanda Blum

An exceptional marriage of technology and function

The Brisk It app offers a much deeper data dashboard than other apps I've tested, with the ability to affect even minor changes from your smartphone. You can adjust the temperature and time, see the historical data of the cook, and access the temperature probes (there are inputs for two probes that are included with the grill). You can tag your favorite cooks to easily repeat them, use the power smoke function to inject additional smoke into your cook, and activate a “keep warm” feature. One of my favorite features is stall detection. If you’re new to barbecuing, you might not know that meat can sometimes remain at a given temperature for a while, “stalling” out while cooking. With this feature, the Brisk It will notify when this happens and suggest how to remedy it.

I can confidently say that using the app can quickly help you become a more confident barbecue master, and eliminate your anxiety about ruining an expensive cut of meat or wondering if you’re “doing it right.” Brisk It handles the cooking for you (and tells you how it’s handling it) at every step. 

These ribs were a recipe recommendation from Vera, the AI engine in Brisk It that can communicate with you in casual language and then send recipes to the grill, where it handles the whole cook for you. Credit: Amanda Blum

Easy to use (and clean)

Fancy new technology aside, the grill is well designed and easy to use. While not huge, it is a reasonably sized home grill, and can accommodate 2-3 racks of ribs or plenty of burgers and brats for a party. The auto-ignite function worked without fail. The grill is designed to achieve temperatures ranging from 165°F to 500°F, and while the Masterbuilt and Current I tested could achieve higher temperatures, they could not handle lower ones, which are essential for cold smoking. That's something I was able to do on the Brisk It, preparing some trout over an ice bath.

You can move food farther away from the heat by using the upper grate, or closer to the heat by pushing it towards the back of the grill. It delivered more smokiness than any other grill I've tried, whether or not I engaged power smoke. (While you do need to enjoy a smoky flavor, it was not overwhelming in anything I made.) At higher temperatures, there was a chargrilled effect that the Masterbuilt lacked, thanks to an actual fire under the active grill area (the design includes a shield under the grill to prevent flareups from dripping grease.)

I like that the Brisk It has disposable foil shields and trays to make the grill easier to maintain. Of all the grills I tried, the Origin's stainless steel grates were the easiest to clean using barbecue cleaning spray and a wire brush. Closing the grill down is as simple as pressing a button; the app notified me when it was finished with the shut down and cooling process. 

A spectacular value for inexperienced cooks or barbecue masters

I went into this review skeptical of the smart tech capabilities promised by the Brisk It Origin. It is certainly the most ambitious model I tried when it comes to integrating AI, but that's something every company is throwing at its products lately, often with bad implementation. But Brisk It’s usability far exceeds any other smart grill on the market. The app and grill are easy enough to use that I felt comfortable and confident on my first use. I like that it is flexible enough to accommodate inexperienced barbecuers and grill masters alike; even seasoned grillers can use the app to fine-tune their cooks.

Also key: Considering the price point of similarly featured barbecues, including the others I’ve reviewed, you can’t beat the value offered by the Origin 580. If I were going to buy a barbecue tomorrow, particularly with the goal of smoking something, it’d be this one—whether I was shopping for a smart grill or not.