The Sunday Scene - 3

My Ubiquiti U7 Outdoor wireless access point

In this edition of the Sunday Scene, I’m going to give you a sneak peak into some of the latest products I’m playing with and my initial impressions on them.

First

Ubiquiti U7 Outdoor - I’ve been annoyed at the lack of quality Wi-Fi signal I was getting in my backyard. Summer mornings working on my laptop on the back porch is amazing, but it requires reliable internet. This access point solved the problem for me, and was pretty easy to setup. If you find yourself in a similar situation this summer, and you use Ubiquiti Unifi, you might consider this access point. If you’re an Eero user, Eero Outdoor 7 looks like a good option for this same issue, but I haven’t tested it myself. Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 are drastically improved when they don’t have to go through as many walls.

Second

Hisense C2 Ultra - Hisense sent me this projector along with the U8 television I’ve talked about on my channel. It’s hands down the most impressive projector I’ve used and blows the Valerion StreamMaster Plus 2 out of the water, although it’s arguably in a price point above the Valerion. In general that extra $1000 gets you more brightness and optical zoom, which ultimately creates a better image. The picture on this projector is very impressive. More coming in a review at some point on my channel.

Last week I mentioned that if you categorically ignore projectors it’s “at your own loss”. While I don’t think that was the best choice of words and I’m sorry for that, I still stand by the idea I was trying to convey. Projectors are an expensive, but important technology changing when and how we can watch content on a big screen. It might not fit your budget or space anytime soon, but I think it’s wise to stay up-to-date on where the industry is, so you know what the potential is for down the road. Prices are coming down, and smart features like automatic picture correction make projectors easier to setup and use in temporary and permanent setups.

Third

Homey Pro mini - I’ve been struggling to find the right way to talk about this product on my channel, but I hopefully will soon. While I was sent both a Homey Pro and later a Homey Pro mini by the creators at Athom, I always thought the Homey Pro was too expensive for most people. Homey Pro mini brings Homey Pro to a palatable price point of $199 and gives you lots of powerful automation options. Combine it with things like Zigbee devices from ThirdReality and you have a lot of options. One notable downside is Homey’s lack of support for streaming video options. There’s more nuance to comparing it to things like Home Assistant, but if you’re itching to get into more advanced home automation, Homey Pro mini is worth a shot, and going to give you a more polished experience than Home Assistant ever will.

The schedule

As always I have more videos in progress coming your way soon. This week we also have another livestream scheduled for Thursday night.

Have a great rest of your Sunday,

Eric