The Harbor Freight Smart Home Find That Can Help Out With Your Christmas Lights

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Decorating your home whenever the holidays roll in is a joyful time. While some people want to invest in smart Christmas Lights with a ton of features right away, others may have working lights that they've inherited from family members which they simply want to be a little smarter. If the latter sounds like you, you can invest in smart remote systems that can give old holiday lights new life, such as Harbor Freight's Indoor Wireless Remote System.

Priced at just under $20, Harbor Freight's remote system can be a great addition to your holiday decoration tool kit, as it can help manage your electricity bills, and it'll make it easy to turn things on and off. Sold in a set of three, it can be used to control up to three different wall outlets in your home, it has up to 80 feet of range, and Harbor Freight notes that the Lithium battery-powered, indoor remote system also has ETL certification for some added piece of mind. 

Compared to similar smart devices, this remote control system has a few advantages. For example, like other smart switches, it doesn't need Wi-Fi to work. Because of this, it can work even for more remote or more difficult to reach locations. Not to mention, its straightforward design makes it ideal for the elderly, those who struggle with mobility, or those who don't have smartphones. What do people say? How does it actually stack up?

On Harbor Freight, more than 1,400 people have rated the Indoor Remote Wireless Remote System around 4.8 stars. 98% of users say they would recommend it, while 85% of people who bought it thought it was worth giving a perfect five-star rating. Apart from Christmas lights, a few users have mentioned using it for other holidays too, such as their Halloween light shows. 

Additionally, people have shared that they've used it year-round for places like their barn, or other lights inside their house. For example, one person mentioned that it was handy for everything from turning on their computer to the various power tools in their workshop.

In terms of what people thought it could do better, there were concerns about things like heat retention, durability, and reliability. Among the one-star reviews, one person lamented that it struggled to do its job if it wasn't close enough and didn't need to pass through walls. 

Additionally, another user cautioned to not use it with heat generating devices like electric heaters, which are prone to catching fire, due to an incident of it not turning off. Not to mention, they wish it could do more than turn things on and off, especially for devices that need to be programmed. If this sounds like an issue you think you're going to encounter, you may want to consider other smart remote control systems that give you more options.

With so many clever ways to use smart switches, the Harbor Freight remote control system is only the tip of the iceberg. Even then, you can get all the same advantages from other highly-rated devices on Amazon for a bit less money. For example, the BN-LINK Mini Wireless Remote Control offers a set with a remote and three outlets for just $16.99. 

It shares a lot of the same features as the one from Harbor Freight for a significantly lower price. If you don't need the three outlets anyway, it's also sold in a set of one remote + one outlet for $15.59. If you need more, you can pay $26.99 for a set of two remotes and five outlets. An Amazon Choice product, these devices collectively boast an impressive 4.6-star average rating from more than 18,000 mostly satisfied users.

If your household is more comfortable with technology, there are also plugs that have smart assistant and app integrations. On Amazon, the Linkind Matter Smart Plug with Remote has both a remote and can be controlled via smartphone and smart assistants, like Google Home or Amazon's Alexa, for more elaborate settings, such as timers and automations. Apart from the 4 Pack and Remote set ($39.99), there's also a 1 Pack ($13.99), 2 Pack ($24.99), and 4 Pack ($32.99). So far, more than 1,200 people have rated these smart plugs around 4.5 stars on average.