Future solution for presence sensor? (Dot on Kickstarter)

[JDRoberts]

@fightingmajor

how much does a typical beacon cost and are they that hard to set up?

The Beacon itself is just a few minutes to set up. It’s getting it connected to SmartThings that takes more time. It’s still not bad, but it’s probably 4 steps instead of two like it would be with the SmartThings branded arrival sensor. You have to recognize the Beecon (receiving station app), create an action (receiving station app), create an event for that action (IFTTT or SmartThings custom code), set up a rule/smart app to process that event in SmartThings.

There are really cheap beacons for about four dollars, but I wouldn’t get those. They are really nice beacons for 3 for $99, and that’s what I have (estimote brand). Radius Networks makes a good-quality value Beacon for $10.

There are some other good brands too, these are just some examples.

More discussion about Ibeacons and SmartThings:

Beacons and Smarthings

I have search the community for a quick tutorial to figure out what am trying to do. I want to replace the iphone presence monitor that my wife and kids use with beacons. My goal is to make presence alerting a little more reliable. IS there a step by step tutorial on how do it this with multiple family members.