Review Nest Protect smoke & CO alarm

[Mycroft]

Not sure where best to post this, so since us liveaboards are most likely to spend this much money on a smoke alarm, I thought I'd throw it in here.

Nest is a very interesting company founded by former Apple techs. Their innovative furnace thermostat was the first product and now they have the Protect smoke and carbon monoxide detector.

The retail price is an eyebrow raising $129! As a veteran, I was able to get a 10% discount at Home Depot. Why spend triple the cost of a normal detector? I'll tell you why we did.

We've all been frustrated by smoke detectors:
- The battery should be replaced every six months
- False alarms frequently occur
- We have to remove the battery to silence a false alarm (will we install it back in or just leave it out?)

The Protect cures all these issues. The battery version has six lithium AA batteries that should last a couple years and it calmly tells you via voice and the app if they need replacing. If a false alarm occurs, you get a heads-up via voice before the siren starts and you can prevent the siren with just a tap and get back to what you were cooking/burning in the galley.

A neat side benefit if it's connected to the Internet and you have an Android or Apple phone, you will receive a notification if the alarm goes off. A large Chris Craft recently burned up at our marina. The owner stopped in to turn on the heaters to pre-heat the boat and then headed over to the nearby pub. Something started a fire and his boat was destroyed while he was only a few hundred yards away.

Wi-fi and a smart phone isn't required to use the Protect, but it is handy to be able to program a couple of the features.

Here's a link to an information page: https://nest.com/smoke-co-alarm/life-with-nest-protect/
The Nest Protect manual

Negatives:
- Price obviously
- When/If the batteries do die, Li-Ion replacements will be more expensive
- Because it's a CO detector, it only lasts 7 years when it needs to be replaced. Federal law requires this.

I can't imagine needing more than one of these on a boat. I mounted ours on the saloon ceiling with heavy duty velcro. Let me know if you have questions.

[Mycroft]

I have to rescind my recommendation of the Nest Protect. It seems to be too sensitive. We installed it next to the head and close to the diesel heater and it seemed to be fine for a week or so. But then it began to set itself off with more frequency. I'm guessing that it was sensing some smoke from the heater and it would go off if the person showering forgot to close the door.

Last night I moved it to the side bulkhead near the companionway, but it absorbed too much cold from the bulkhead and the sensor must have condensed the little moisture from the air after cooking breakfast because it went off again even though there was no smoke in the cabin.

I'm going to give it one more shot in the only place left, just outside the main cabin, but I'm very disappointed in it. It does a great job of notifying you via smartphone when it goes off. So I had very high hopes for it.

To be fair to the company, it does say in the manual, (that I read yesterday), that it's not recommended for use aboard boats, due to the confined space and that it should be installed at least 20 feet away from any combustion appliance and bathroom. I'm sorry if my review caused anyone to buy the product.