Roost goes beyond the smart battery, taking the wraps off two smart smoke alarms that can notify the owner via their phone when they detect danger.
Straight off the bat, the RSA-200 can sense smoke and fire, while the relatively superior RSA-400 can detect those two substances plus carbon monoxide and natural gas to boot.
The pair is fitted with the Wi-Fi-enabled 9-volt Roost Smart Battery, a nifty concoction that turns any "dumb" smoke detector into a smart cookie, giving it the function to alert the user through their handset.
Even though that setup might be enough for some already, each of the two new devices not only detects more types of hazards all in one package, but they also catch wind of them faster. That's all thanks to the Universal Smoke Sensing Technology, a system that takes advantage of a microprocessor to sense "fast flaming" and "slow smoldering" fires. According to Roost, it's up to 87 percent faster compared to the current brood of alarms.
What's more, low-battery chirps are also out of the picture, as they can send out a push notification weeks ahead before they completely run out of juice, just like the case with the Roost Smart Battery. It's also worth mentioning that the battery can keep the lights on for five years, and a replacement only costs a paltry $15.
Meanwhile, Nest Protect has been rocking the competition for quite some time now, but it's not exactly the most affordable smart smoke alarm out in the market, holding customers back by $99.
With that said, the Roost RSA-200 comes with a $59.99 price tag, and the RSA-400 is available at $79.99. They're still more expensive than the standard detectors that go between $10 and $30, but at any rate, they're slightly below the Nest Protect price point.
The Roost Smart Smoke Alarms are up for preorder now, and they're expected to be shipped out sometime in June.
