Nest Protect smoke alarm returns with a lower price following safety recall
Earlier this year, Nest recalled the Protect smoke detector after it realized the product's standout feature (the ability to silence it with a hand gesture) made it potentially unsafe to use. In response, Nest halted sales, and disabled "Wave" control on existing devices using the product's built-in WiFi connection. Now Protect is back: The company resumed sales tonight, with the Wave feature still disabled. And hey, the price is lower too -- $99, down from $129. For now, you'll have to silence the device the old-fashioned way -- by pushing a button. That said, a Nest spokesperson told us the company is working on an easier way to silence the alarm, even if hand gestures aren't the way to go (people might silence the device when they didn't mean to). If you wanna buy it now, be our guest; just remember that you're no longer paying for gesture control, but other features, like a built-in nightlight, sleek design, spoken warnings and the ability to control the device remotely using an app. Still a good feature set if you ask us, though it was probably wise of Nest to cut the price.
Update: For those of you who already own a Nest Protect, you might be eligible for a $33 refund -- if you purchased it before June 15th, have it paired to your Nest account and had the device connected to the internet after April 3rd. You can find more information about that here.
