If I had to build a complete smart home from scratch in 2026, this is every product I’d buy – from the Apple TV 4K hub to Aqara locks, UniFi networking, and Lutron Caséta lighting. I break down the Aqara U400, W200 thermostat, and G400 doorbell trio, why the UniFi Cloud Gateway Fiber beats Eero for scalable Wi-Fi, and a lesser-known Lutron dimmable lamp plug worth adding to any room. Whether you’re moving into a new house or upgrading piece by piece, this HomeKit-focused setup – with HomePods, Sonos, and UniFi Protect cameras – shows why systems that scale beat chasing universal Matter compatibility.
🎞️ *Watch More*
Aqara W200
Aqara G400
Nuki Keypad
My dream Ubiquiti rack setup
🛍️ *Go Shopping*
My Ubiquiti picks
My favorite smart home tech at Best Buy
💌 *Sunday Scene Newsletter*
It’s just 3 Apple or smart home things worth your attention.
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🧵 *Threads*
*Chapters*
00:00 Intro
00:44 Systems That Scale
01:30 Aqara Trio: U400, W200 & G400
02:20 For Renters: Nuki Deadbolt
02:52 Wi-Fi & Networking: Eero
03:30 UniFi Cloud Gateway Fiber
04:21 Casual Cameras: Aqara G100
05:00 Advanced Cameras: UniFi Protect
05:38 Smart Lighting: Lutron Caséta
06:22 Lutron Lamp Dimmer Plug
06:48 The Hub: Apple TV 4K
07:58 Audio: HomePod & Sonos
💼 *Details*
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– This video and all of Eric Welander’s channel is a production of E. Welander, LLC
This video makes me feel good that I made the right choice in our new home. Lutron, Sonos, Aqara, Apple TV, Eero and Reolink.
Would take Reolink over Aqara ten times out of ten.
Great video as always! We just bought a new house and I’m rethinking my smart home setup. Couple of questions for you…. If you were starting all over, would you put all your devices in Home Assistant and then into Apple Home? I’ve heard lots of people say they do this and love it.
We also have Sonos and HomePods in every room. Would love a video on how you manage this and use them. Do you have your Sonos speakers in Apple Home? So when you ask Siri to play music it plays on both the homepod and sonos? Curious on your setup with these! We love music and want it to play everywhere just by a voice command.
1:05 “…thanks to the Matter standard… all the things in your home will talk to each other and that’s all nice, but it’s just not realistic most off the time” Proceeds to show a bunch of product boxes with Matter and Matter over Thread logos.
Can we have an honest conversation about the quality and usability of a lot of these smart home brands? I’ve followed most YouTubers recommendations to get stuff from Tapo, Eufy, and Aqara, particularly their most recommended products they sell. They have never worked as well as shown in YouTube videos (I’ve had 2 apartments and 1 house worth of testing environments). It’s never been one massive failure, it’s always been little failures and malfunctions here and there that cause death by 1000 cuts. After several months of use, I have also discovered why they’re so much cheaper: they very much fulfill the “cheap Chinese/Temu crap” stereotype that defines all the enshitified products on the market.
It’s incredibly frustrating that everything that doesn’t require a subscription is barely functional over long term use.