Nest Protect

The nest protect is a smart, connected smoke and carbon monoxide (CO) alarm.

Whats in the Box

• Nest protect
• Backplate
• Four screws
• Three terminal blocks
• 230v cable connector (Wired version)
• 3 Energizer Lithium Batteries (Battery version)
• Manual

Nest Protect (Wired) UK Manual

Nest Protect (Battery) UK Manual

What you need

Wi-Fi

The Nest Protect requires a WiFi connection as this is a connected device.

iOS or Android smartphone or tablet

This is a connected device and controlled / reports back to your phone or tablet via an app.

Apple Nest App

Google Play Nest App

Nest Account

A free Nest Account is required for setting up.

Installation

The physical installation is very straight forward for the battery version of the Nest protect. You just have to find a suitable place to mount the unit, this is covered in great detail in the manual as its location and mounting position is critical to the Protects optimum operation. Once found, screw the backplate into the roof or wall and the protect unit just twists into place onto the backplate.

The powered version is a little more tricky, even if you’re replacing an already mains wired smoke detector.

The backplate has a large opening in the middle it was only after attempting to twist the Nest Protect unit into place that I realised it’s that large for a reason. The connector on the back of the Protect is off centre and sticks up into the ceiling, so the hole in your ceiling needs to be enlarged to the size of the hole in the backplate allowing the connector to freely rotate and the nest protect snap into place on the backplate.

Wiring the mains powered unit is straight forward enough and again detailed very well in the manual, the provided terminal blocks are a nice addition to the kit.

This is a main powered product, if in any doubt always get a professional in to do this installation.

Set-up

Before you actually mount the Nest Protect to the wall or ceiling you have to set it up, this is done with the Nest app on your smartphone or tablet.

This app takes you through setting up a Nest account and installing the Protect onto your WiFi network. If you have more than one Nest product they all talk to each other and utilise data from each other.

For example the Nest Thermostat can sense when your home when you walk past, the Nest Protects also have this feature and they share the information.

Nest Protect – Features

Self Test

This can be triggered from the App or by the button in the middle of the Protect. Once triggered the unit verbally warns you that a test is about to be performed and then does a countdown. The unit then tests the smoke and CO alarma separately before confirming the tests result at the end.

If you have more than one unit, after the first unit is tested, the others then automatically perform a test on themselves and you can hear them throughout the house performing their tests and a final confirmation beep before the results given back to you on the initiating unit.

A confirmation of the units status is also given at night when you walk past them, a ring around the centre button dimly illuminates green to provide a visual indication all is well.

There’s another level of test that’s performed automatically every month and the results reported back to you on the app. You just set when these test take place, we have them performed whilst we are at work.

All these alerts and self tests are reported back on the apps and on my apple watch as well.

Pathlight

This provides a dim light as you walk past at night and it provides just enough light to see where your going at night.

I really like this feature and it can be disabled or the level adjusted.

However I don’t have this feature enabled on the one battery powered unit we have as I don’t want the batteries running out all the time.

Heads-Up

Another really nice feature is the heads up, this warns you that the device has started to sense a problem and informs you verbally and on the app that smoke is being detected. This allows you to prevent the alarm sounding should you want to, due to the toast having burnt in the toaster. This is done by pressing the units button or on the app.

Even when away from home if I have started to create a bit too much smoke in the kitchen my wife gets the alert on her phone. Nice if you have a teenager at home alone!

Emergency

If the detection moves from the heads up to an emergency alarm, all the Nest Protects in the system and all the devices with the app installed will alarm and they will also inform you which room the emergency is in. Really useful for identifying where to find the problem or where not to go on your exit path from the house.

We had seen reports on TV that children don’t wake up to smoke alarms but do to voices, this hasn’t been proven by us but is a nice bonus that that aspect is covered with these alarms.

Nest Protect – Overview

These products have blended seamlessly into our household, the items I really like are:-

• Combined Smoke and carbon monoxide detection.
• The pathlight is a really nice feature
• Reporting back to your phone on issues
• The automatic testing and reporting of battery health.

The only downside is they are expensive but we liked the first so much that we now have five installed in the house so clearly to us the price is outweighed by the security and convenience. I’m also thinking of getting one for the garage!

You also have to be aware that the carbon monoxide detection is only valid for 10 years.