In June, Google updated the Nest Protect smoke detector, releasing a second generation model with a raft of improvements to the hardware and software. The new Nest Protect includes a split spectrum smoke sensor, which uses two wavelengths of light in order to spot different kinds of spoke. This is designed to improve the Protect’s sensitivity to different kinds of fires, encompassing both slow burning and fast burning conflagrations. The smoke chamber has also been redesigned and now consists of a stainless steel screen with tiny hexagonal holes, which should reduce the number of false positives as it will keep the smoke sensors free of foreign debris. However, should the alarm go off, the application has a new silence feature, meaning that you no longer will need to wave your arms or a towel under the sensor in order to silence it, but instead you can do it from the application by first checking that it is a false alarm and then holding down on the notification. The second generation Nest Protect also allows customers to run a safety test of the device straight from their smartphone.
Perhaps of more significance, starting this month Liberty Mutual and American Family are joining the Nest Safety Rewards program, which provides customers with home insurance discounts providing he or she is willing to share information from the Nest Protect with their insurance company. The Nest Safety Rewards program could be a very positive step for customers, providing we trust our insurance companies of course. The Nest Protect will also test the speaker and horn once a month, but will also test the battery four hundred times a day. Nest have also improved the longevity of the Protect and say it is built to last ten years thanks to a newer kind of longer lasting carbon monoxide sensor.
However, at the time of the announcement the Nest Protect was only available for customers in the United States of America and Canada. Google have today announced that the second generation Nest Protect will be available in five other countries from today, these being Belgium, France, Ireland, Netherlands and the United Kingdom. It’s priced at $99 in the United States, €119 in Belgium, France, Ireland and The Netherlands, or £89 in the United Kingdom, available today.