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Smart-home tech for agents: The top products we saw at CES 2020

In this weekly column, hosts Brandon Doyle, Doyle Real Estate Team with RE/MAX Results, and Colton Pratt, project manager, walk through smart-home products and showcase their capabilities while reviewing pros and cons. 

This was our first time out at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), and we took full advantage. We attended all of the keynote presentations, all of media only events and spent time connecting with as many smart-home tech companies on the expo floor as possible to uncover the best, most exciting products coming down the pike.

Highlights included new retractable TVs from LG, as well as bigger and higher resolution 8K TVs from all of the manufacturers. We checked out plenty of advancements in bathroom technology including smart mirrors, digitally controlled showers and speakers built into showerheads.

In the realm of lighting, Nanoleaf showed their new light panels and gave a glimpse into the future of lighting control. C by GE rolled out smart switches that are compatible with their bulbs and will work in older homes without requiring a neutral wire. Brilliant now has an add-on dimmer switch that connects to your main Brilliant Control Panel and can control a variety of different devices

There are also some new water sensors on the market: Flo by Moen helps monitor water usage and can alert you to potential water leaks; its new smart faucet U by Moen is very similar to Kohler’s smart faucet. Both can be controlled by voice, pre-heat water to the exact temperature and can do precise measurements. Plus, Alarm.com has expanded their product offering to monitor your water usage.

In the home security sector, Ring announced the new X-Line of cameras along with additional battery and solar powered exterior lights. Arlo released its new Arlo 3 camera, Floodlight Camera and video doorbell. There were plenty of smart locks available including locks that use biometrics in addition to keypads, standard locks and remote control via smart-home app.

Other news included Panasonic announcing a partnership with the Michael Phelps Foundation, sponsorship with the Olympics and unveiling a few of the electric fleet vehicles it built in partnership with Tropos Motors. Delta CEO Ed Bastian described the future of travel including a concept called parallel reality

And there’s still more: Wayzn has an automatic sliding glass door solution for your pets. Airthings is the first indoor air quality monitor with radon detection. Basically every appliance we saw is now connected, and many, such as LG’s ThinQ line, feature artificial intelligence.

It’s too much to cover in one episode, so stay tuned for additional booth footage and hands-on reviews of some of the top products we saw at CES 2020.

Brandon Doyle is a Realtor at Doyle Real Estate Team — Re/Max Results in Minneapolis and co-author of  Mindset, Methods & Metrics – Winning as a Modern Real Estate Agent. You can follow him on Twitter.

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