The Kentucky-based Big Ass Fans is probably best known for its eponymous industrial fans (they certainly are big). But the manufacturer made a play at the smart home in 2014 with an app-enabled residential ceiling fan called with Haiku. Now, for 2016, it's rolling out an entire lineup of new products for the smart home. Click through for a closer look.
Published:Caption:Ry CristPhoto:Colin West McDonald/CNET
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Haiku L Series Ceiling Fan
First up, a new smart ceiling fan called the Haiku L Series. It looks just as classy as the original, but at $450, it doesn't cost nearly as much.
The rub is that you won't find the same "SenseMe" smarts built into it. Instead, Big Ass Solutions (of which both Big Ass Fans and the new Haiku Home lineup are divisions) has moved that tech to the new Haiku Wall Control unit, which costs another $125.
That smarts-sold-separately approach means you'll need to pay more than $450 to enjoy the full benefits of a connected ceiling fan, but the overall cost is still much lower than with the original model.
The L Series fan doesn't come in as many finishes as the original, and you can't get it in that natural-looking bamboo finish. Instead, your options are limited to white or black, seen here.
If you want to bring the smarts back into the picture, you'll need to purchase the Haiku Wall Control unit for $125. Aside from providing a physical control point for multiple Haiku devices, it's got all of the brand's SenseMe tech packed inside. That allows it to monitor environmental conditions in the home or tell when you've entered or left the room. Like the L Series fan, it'll start selling on the Haiku Home website this month.
Later this year, in April, Haiku Home plans to release the Haike Designer Series Light. It's a smart, recessed lighting fixture that can automatically dim and change color temperatures based on your needs and preferences. Built in SenseMe technology will allow it to track motion and environmental conditions for your Haiku system. It'll sell for $149.
If you want those same SenseMe-powered lighting smarts and home-monitoring capabilities in your fan, you'll need to upgrade to the original app-enabled Haiku model, which costs over a thousand dollars.
Published:Caption:Ry CristPhoto:Colin West McDonald/CNET
Finally, there's the Haiku HVAC system. Big Ass Solutions doesn't have pricing or availability locked down for this beast just yet, but tells us that it'll work with everything in the Haiku family to respond to the exact environmental conditions in your home and help save energy.
Like the original Haiku with SenseMe, the new L Series ceiling fans will work in tandem with the Nest Learning Thermostat to help cool your home more intelligently. You'll just need to have a Haiku Wall Control installed.
Big Ass Solutions is also demonstrating compatibility with the Amazon Echo smart speaker at CES. That brings voice control into play by way of Alexa, the speaker's cloud-connected, voice-activated AI. The company plans on releasing the integration a little later this year.
