Nest Halts Sales of Smart Fire Alarm After Discovering Dangerous Flaw 128
fructose writes: "The Nest Protect has a flaw in its software that, under the right circumstances, could disable the alarm and not notify the owners of a fire. To remedy this flaw, they are disabling the Nest Wave feature through automatic updates. Owners who don't have their Nest Protects connected to their WiFi net or don't have a Nest account are suggested to either update the device manually or return it to Nest for a full refund. While they work out the problem, all sales are being halted to prevent unsafe units from being sold. There have been no reported incidents resulting from this flaw, but they aren't taking any chances."
Re:Flaw? (Score:2, Informative)
That's because it doesn't have both an ionizing and a photoelectric sensor. One is better with smoldering fires (photoelectric), the other one with a hot fire producing small particles (ionizing).* The interlinked Kiddie units I have do both.
Heat detection really isn't a great option compared to ionizing or photoelectric, but does work better in "dirtier" environments say located near an old furnace in a basement or other dusty/dirty areas.
* https://www.nfpa.org/safety-information/for-consumers/fire-and-safety-equipment/smoke-alarms/ionization-vs-photoelectric