Smart home
Smart home
Cameras, robots, WiFi, assistants
9guides
40+sources behind every guide
10 minaverage read
0paid by manufacturers
1 Septemberlast updated
Analysis
Smart home
Cameras, robots, WiFi, assistants
Best dash cam in the UK for 2026: the plate the police portal has to be able to read, and why the parking mode you paid for needs a cable you did not buySeven dash cams compared, starting from the two things that actually decide the purchase in Britain and that no buying guide mentions. First, the national portal the police take footage through wants the original file unedited and uncompressed, with the plate legible in that original, because it cannot be enhanced afterwards. Second, the parking mode half the listings advertise only works hardwired to the fuse box, and a hardwired camera is a modification your insurer has to be told about. Plus the catalogue counted: of 45 listings, 25 sell themselves as 4K and two say which sensor produces it.Updated 1 September 2026›
Best pet camera in 2026: when a dog camera earns the premium, and when an ordinary indoor camera does exactly the same jobSeven cameras for watching a dog, opening with the question no product guide asks: why you are pointing a camera at your dog at all. The RSPCA says 8 in 10 dogs find it hard to cope when left alone and half of those show no obvious signs, and it recommends a camera as the way to check. From there: which of the seven need a paid plan to switch on, what a pet-branded camera genuinely adds over an ordinary indoor one, and the duty the Animal Welfare Act already puts on you.Updated 1 September 2026›
Best robot vacuum 2026: eight compared on navigation and mopping, and why no suction figure is comparableEight robot vacuums compared on the things that can be checked rather than measured: how they navigate, what the mop actually does, what the base does when the robot goes home, and how many families of consumable each one keeps asking for. It also explains why the pascal figure on every listing is not comparable with any other, which is a matter of law rather than opinion.Updated 1 September 2026›
Best 4G security cameras with no WiFi in 2026: eight with a SIM card, and the British SIM trap nobody warns you aboutEight security cameras that work where there is no broadband, using a 4G SIM instead of a router: an allotment, a paddock, a caravan, a site. With the data question worked out from a camera maker's own published figures, and the three British specifics that decide whether the thing is still working next winter: a pay as you go SIM disconnects itself for inactivity, UK 3G has been switched off, and a panning camera on a plot needs a privacy zone over the lane.Updated 31 August 2026›
Best WiFi peephole cameras 2026: six compared, the 14 mm door check and what UK law says about a shared hallwaySix WiFi peephole cameras compared on the two measurements that decide whether one will physically fit a British front door, on recording to a card instead of a subscription, and on the question no other list answers: what changes, legally, the moment the camera can see the communal hallway outside a flat.Updated 31 August 2026›
Best home CCTV with no subscription in 2026: ten cameras compared, and what UK law makes you responsible forTen home CCTV cameras compared on the things a British household actually decides between: which of them record with nothing to pay monthly, which let you black out a neighbour's window rather than merely ignore it, and where the footage physically ends up. Plus the section no other list has: the moment a camera sees past your boundary, the published guidance says UK data protection law applies to you, and it sets out exactly three duties.Updated 31 August 2026›
Best burglar alarms with no monthly fee in 2026: seven kits compared, and who actually turns up when one goes offSeven burglar alarm kits you fit yourself and pay nothing monthly for, compared piece by piece with a sizer that works out how many sensors your home needs. Plus the section no British list carries: a self-monitored alarm cannot get police attendance, because that runs on a Unique Reference Number issued only to approved installations, and even those lose it after three false alarms in a rolling year. Also the rules on audible sounders, keyholders and the SIM that quietly disconnects itself.Updated 31 August 2026›
Best outdoor security cameras with no subscription in 2026: eight compared, and whether solar survives a British winterEight outdoor security cameras that record to a card or a base in your house rather than to a subscription, compared for a British home. The section that decides more than the specification does: whether a solar panel can keep a camera charged through a UK winter, using the Met Office's own December sunshine figures. Plus where an outdoor camera is allowed to look, quoted from the published guidance rather than paraphrased.Updated 31 August 2026›
Best smart locks for a UK front door in 2026: what fits a uPVC euro cylinder, and what your insurer asks forSeven smart locks judged the way a British front door is judged: by whether they keep the euro cylinder your home insurance minimum security clause is written about, or replace it. Includes the sentence the category avoids, which is that a retrofit smart lock turns your cylinder and does not upgrade it, so a cylinder that was not TS007 three-star before is not three-star afterwards. Plus what BS 3621 does and does not cover, and a fitting checker for uPVC, composite, timber and empty properties.Updated 31 August 2026›