Smart home

Smart home

Cameras, robots, WiFi, assistants

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28 Septemberlast updated

Analysis

Smart home

Cameras, robots, WiFi, assistants

Vacuuming the upholstery of a car's back seat with a narrow nozzleBest car hoover 2026: eight car vacuums compared, 12 V or cordless, and what the 30,000 Pa on the box really measuresEight car vacuums with what each maker really publishes next to them. Black+Decker gives air watts for its two corded models; apart from the gadget advertising 30,000 pascals, no maker passes 4,000 Pa, and that gadget publishes no airflow at all. A UK forecourt vacuum sells four minutes from £1.Updated 28 September 2026Kitchen worktop lit by LED bars under the wall cabinets, with a ceiling panel aboveUnder cabinet lighting in the UK: which kitchen light to fit, plug-in, rechargeable or wired, and what Part P allowsUnder cabinet lighting for a UK kitchen, sorted by what you can change: plug-in bars, rechargeable magnetic lights or a wired strip, with what Part P lets you fit yourself in England, what the lights cost to run at the October 2026 price cap, and the CRI most kitchen lights leave out.Updated 28 September 2026Electric bathroom heaters compared for UK bathroomsElectric heater for bathroom in the UK: which heaters the bathroom zones allow, the IP each needs and who wires itAn electric heater for a UK bathroom is chosen by where it goes before what it heats: the bathroom zones of BS 7671, the IP rating each one asks for, the 2.5 m socket rule that rules out most portables, and who wires a fixed heater. With a bathroom zones checker, the zones table and the cost per shower at the October 2026 price cap.Updated 28 September 2026Best handheld vacuum UK 2026: which to buy for crumbs, pet hair or the car, and how many minutes it lasts at full powerHandheld vacuums are sold on suction, published in two units that look incomparable, and on minutes that are rarely at full power. The three figures on each maker's spec sheet settle it: four handhelds, one for each job, and the UK rules for the battery when it dies.Updated 28 September 2026Bedroom lit by a coloured LED strip behind the headboardLED strip lights for bedroom ceilings, headboards and desks: how many metres each takes, which to buy, renting safelyLED strip lights for a bedroom start with a sum: the metres the ceiling, the headboard or the desk really take. With the LEDs per metre that separate a line from a row of dots, what leaving a strip on all night means in the UK, what Part P says about wiring one in, and how to keep your deposit if you rent.Updated 28 September 2026Air fryer with a see-through glass bowl and the food visible inside, on a kitchen worktopGlass air fryer UK: which ones really cook in glass, what the plate inside is coated with, and where a halogen oven fitsFive glass air fryers with a UK listing, read part by part: which ones cook inside the glass, what the plate under the food is made of according to each maker, what the UK's 2026 PFAS Plan does and does not restrict, and why the 17-litre glass bowl in UK searches is a halogen oven.Updated 28 September 2026Home reverse osmosis system fitted in the cupboard under a kitchen sink, with its tap on the worktop aboveBest reverse osmosis system UK 2026: which to buy by the water it wastes, the pressure it needs and your water billSix reverse osmosis systems compared by the figure that decides the running cost and that almost no listing prints: the water that goes down the drain. With the EPA's 30% bar, the pressure each one needs against the UK minimum of about 1 bar, the notice the Water Fittings Regulations require before you fit one, what the WHO says about demineralised water, and a calculator of waste water and cost per litre on a UK bill.Updated 23 September 2026Electric adjustable bed with the back and leg sections raised in a bedroomBest adjustable beds UK 2026: what size to order, whether your mattress will bend, NHS loans and the VAT-free rulesFour adjustable beds compared by what each listing declares: the size in UK terms, the weight the base takes, the battery that brings it back to flat in a power cut and which mattress bends. With the UK bed size checker, the NHS and council loan route, and what HMRC actually requires before an adjustable bed can be sold VAT-free.Updated 23 September 2026Steel microwave on the worktop of a white kitchen, with the clock and touch controls litBest microwave 2026: which one fits your worktop with the space its maker asks for, from small to combinationWe counted 62 microwave listings: 55 say how many litres fit inside and one says how much room the appliance takes outside. Here are the measurements that decide whether it fits, the dish checker and what the heating category letter means.Updated 22 September 2026Black robot vacuum with its laser turret and a mop pad trailing behind, at the edge of a rug on a wooden floor in a living roomBest robot vacuum and mop 2026: seven compared on what the mop does, whether it lifts on rugs and who washes itA robot vacuum and mop can be five different machines under the same name. We read 44 robot listings on Amazon Spain on 3 September 2026: 39 promise to mop and 34 put pascals in the headline, while three say what moves the mop and two say what temperature washes it. Here are the five mopping levels, the checker that tells you which one a listing is selling, what Which? found about robot mopping, and what a UK buyer should check before ordering.Updated 22 September 2026WiFi extender plugged into a hallway wall socket, with its lights onBest WiFi extender 2026: which booster your home needs by floors, walls and broadband, or when it is powerline or meshThree routes depending on where the WiFi fails, a calculator that crosses your floors, your walls and your broadband tier to tell you which one you need, and what BT, Sky and Virgin Media already offer before you buy.Updated 22 September 2026White cylindrical air purifier with the air intake grille at its base and its indicator ring litBest air purifiers UK 2026: the CADR your room needs for allergies, mould and sleep, not the m² printed on the boxWe counted 36 air purifier listings on Amazon Spain on 8 September 2026: ten give a floor area, two give the clean air delivery rate and none says what air-change rate the area assumes. The makers' own pages do, and Levoit's UK page gives one machine 100 m², 50 m² and 258 m³/h in the same breath. Here is that sum done for UK rooms and ceilings, with the calculator, what the government's damp and mould guidance says to fix first, and what the filter and the electricity cost over three years.Updated 22 September 2026Cordless vacuum resting on its charging stand next to the skirting board in a living roomBest cordless vacuum UK 2026: what pascals and air watts really compare, and how long it lasts on the floorWe counted 35 cordless vacuum listings on Amazon Spain on 8 September 2026: twenty-two declare pascals, ten declare air watts and only four give both. Of those four, the one advertising 60,000 pascals declares 120 air watts and the one with half the pascals declares 300, so the two figures don't rank the same way. Here is the translator for the three units, each maker's runtime by mode, and why no UK rule makes a battery vacuum declare either.Updated 22 September 2026Bean-to-cup coffee machine pouring two shots of espresso into a glass cup on the drip trayBest coffee machine 2026: which type to buy for home, from pod to moka pot, by what a year of coffee costs in the UKFive types of coffee machine, nine models and the two figures nobody publishes: what a year of coffee costs with each type at UK shelf prices, and how many millilitres the cups on the box really are.Updated 22 September 2026Cabinet water softener plumbed into the incoming main of a houseBest water softeners in the UK 2026: salt, water and sodium a year at your hardness, and the 100 mg/l floor to work toEight water softeners compared by what each one gets through in a year, with the count of the 51 on sale, the hardness bands the Drinking Water Inspectorate publishes, the 100 mg/l floor below which it warns about corrosion, and a calculator for the salt, water and sodium at your own hardness.Updated 18 September 2026Wall mounted electric fireplace with the flame effect lit in a living roomBest electric fireplaces in the UK 2026: which ones heat, which only decorate and the 2 kW ceiling of a British plugEvery plug in electric fire in Britain stops at 2 kW because of the 13 A plug, which caps the whole category at about 20 square metres. Eight compared by what their spec sheets declare, with the cost per hour at the current price cap and a calculator for the room you have.Updated 18 September 2026Air cooler or portable air conditioner in the UK: how many degrees each drops, what they cost to run and which to buyAn air cooler chills air by evaporating water into it, so what it can achieve depends on how dry the air arrives. With the July afternoon humidity recorded at eleven British stations, the calculator says whether one is worth it where you live, or whether the answer is a fan or a portable air conditioner.Updated 18 September 2026Bean-to-cup coffee machine pouring an espresso into a glass on a kitchen worktop, with two bags of coffee beans beside itBest bean to cup coffee machines in 2026: what a cup really costs, the dose nobody publishes and your water hardnessA bean-to-cup machine is paid for once and used a thousand times, so the figure that decides is not the price: it is the grams it puts in each cup, because the same kilo of beans makes between 83 and 142 coffees depending on the dose. Nine machines compared by what each maker declares, a free cost per cup calculator, and the British variable nobody else puts in a review: the water hardness your supplier publishes, and what it does to descaling.Updated 18 September 2026Best portable power stations of 2026 compared: hours of runtime, continuous watts and what they keep running in a UK power cutBest portable power station UK 2026: the hours you really get, and what has to stay on in a power cutA portable power station is bought with two numbers that the advert mixes up: watts, which say what you can plug in, and watt hours, which say how long it lasts. This guide does the arithmetic with the appliances a British house has to keep alive in a power cut, starting with the one nobody counts: the gas boiler, whose own data sheet declares under 50 watts.Updated 17 September 2026Portable petrol generator running outdoors during a power cut, with its control panel and sockets visibleBest portable generators 2026: what size a house needs in a power cut, and how long 30 litres of petrol really lastsA portable generator is not sized by adding up the labels. The running watts and the one motor that starts are two different numbers, and almost no listing says which of the two it is printing. On top of that sit three British constraints that decide the purchase before any model does: your network operator has 12 hours to restore supply in normal weather, you may keep only 30 litres of petrol at home without telling anyone, and the sound power level on the label is a ceiling the law sets rather than a warning. Here is the calculator, the census of what listings actually declare, and the eight models read against all of it.Updated 17 September 2026Black air fryer on a kitchen worktop with steam rising from the topBest air fryers UK 2026: what up to 75% less than an oven measures, and why the watts decide and litres do notThe first and the fourth results for this search both promise an energy saving against an oven, one of them up to 75% and the other up to 65%, and neither publishes the one figure that would let you check it: the wattage. Litres are the space and watts are the heat, so here are both, the division between them, and what the official advice on browning has to do with the window in the drawer.Updated 17 September 2026Pellet stove seen from the front, with the glass door of the burn pot and the programming controlsPellet stove or log burner in 2026: what each kilowatt hour of heat costs in Britain, and what the rules ask of eachIn Britain the pellet stove question is really a comparison. The rules set a 79 % seasonal efficiency floor for a pellet appliance and 65 % for a closed wood one, a fourteen point gap written into law. Bagged pellets and kiln dried logs come out within a fraction of a penny of each other per kilowatt hour of delivered heat, and blown bulk pellets undercut both. And a pellet stove still needs a flue, a sign off and an electricity supply. Here is the whole comparison with its sources, the calculator that turns a spec sheet into kilos a day, and seven stoves read against all of it.Updated 17 September 2026Cast iron log burner with the door open, a log on the grate and the ash pan underneathBest log burners 2026: what size in kilowatts, what you are allowed to burn, and how much firewood a winter costsIn Britain the log burner decision is made by three numbers that no listing puts together. The room volume rule points to 3 or 4 kilowatts for a normal living room. Approved Document J makes anything above 5 kW carry a permanent air vent of 550 mm² for every kilowatt over that line. And a winter of evenings burns stacked cubic metres of wood that have to go somewhere. Here is the smoke control question that comes before all of it, the calculator for the firewood, and the checker for the six figures a listing should print.Updated 16 September 2026Video doorbell screen on the wall of a British hallway, showing the caller at the front doorBest video doorbells UK 2026: what fits your existing wiring, what you may fit if you rent, and the audio settingA compatibility checker for your own front door, the voltage a wired doorbell needs from a British bell transformer, what a tenant and a leaseholder have to ask for first, and the one British court ruling on a doorbell camera, which went against the microphone and not the camera.Updated 16 September 2026Baby monitor with a camera and its own screen next to a cotBest baby monitors with a camera in the UK: which ones work without Wi-Fi and where your baby's video actually goesNine baby monitors with a camera, separated by the one question that decides the purchase: does the picture stay in the house or go through a company's servers. With the advice that changes what you need in the first six months, the security update period a UK maker is legally required to publish, and the cable distance no buying guide gives you.Updated 16 September 2026Condensation running down the inside of a window pane, with a plant on the sillBest dehumidifiers 2026 UK: whether you need 12L or 20L, what each one costs to run, and the tank test that settles itNo domestic dehumidifier comes with a tank that can hold what its own box promises. If it really extracted those litres you would be emptying it three to six times a day, and that contradiction is printed on the same spec sheet as the headline figure. Here is what to read instead, what each machine costs at the October 2026 price cap, and what your landlord has to do if you rent.Updated 16 September 2026White electric panel radiator mounted on a stone wall beside an armchairBest electric radiators UK 2026: what a 2000W one costs an hour, what energy efficient really means, and when not to buyEighteen of the eighteen pages competing for this search are shops selling radiators, and not one of them puts a figure next to the watts it lists. The label says energy efficient on machines from 450 to 2,500 watts, and since the bill is fixed by the wattage and the hours, that label does not rank anything. Here is what each wattage costs an hour at the October 2026 price cap, and the two cases where the honest answer is not to buy one.Updated 16 September 2026Steam generator iron on an ironing board next to a pile of laundryBest steam generator irons in the UK: how your water hardness, the descaling job and the cupboard gap decide which oneA steam generator is not chosen by bars. It is chosen by the maintenance you will actually do, and in the UK that is set by the hardness of the water coming out of your tap. Three machines, what each maker publishes about its descaling routine, and a selector that checks your cupboard gap before you pay.Updated 16 September 2026Wooden pergola in a garden at dusk with a lit festoon string overheadOutdoor and garden lighting in the UK: which light each zone needs and when the rules say you need an electricianA British garden lights up in zones, not in products: a warm string over the table, low markers down the path, a motion light at the back door. With the two questions no shop answers, whether the fitting needs an electrician and what solar really does between October and March, and a planner that turns your zones into a shopping list.Updated 16 September 2026Home CCTV cameras compared for a UK home, indoor and outdoor, recording without a subscriptionBest 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 5 September 2026Best dash cams for the car in 2026, front and rearBest 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 2026A dog looking at an indoor security camera in a living roomBest 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 2026Burglar alarm kits with no monthly fee compared for a UK home, self-fitted and self-monitoredBest 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 20264G security cameras with a SIM card that work with no WiFi, compared for UK sites with no broadbandBest 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 2026The best WiFi peephole cameras of 2026 compared on fit, recording and the lawBest 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 2026Outdoor security cameras compared for a UK home: solar, battery and local recording without a subscriptionBest 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 2026Smart locks compared for UK front doors: retrofit models that keep the euro cylinder and models that replace itBest 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