Hearth Display vs Skylight Calendar

Smart Home Hub Showdown

Staying on top of busy family schedules, tasks, and coordination only seems to get harder in today’s hectic world. It’s no wonder smart home displays that aim to simply household management have become so popular.

Two options – Hearth Display and Skylight Calendar – lead the field for family-focused digital organization hubs. But with different strengths and approaches, deciding between them can be tough.

Below we comprehensively compare the Hearth Display and Skylight Calendar to reveal how each smart display solution benefits busy households.

Comparing the Contenders

Now let’s break down how Hearth and Skylight stack up feature-by-feature to see which simplifies family life best.

Design & Hardware

With displays meant to blend into family spaces, aesthetics and quality matter.

Styling

Hearth Display – Handsome rounded rectangles with woodgrain finish bezels suit traditional decor. Speaker grille cloth accents add warmth. Only available in black.

Skylight Calendar – Slim profiles and edge-to-edge glass embed elegantly into modern homes. Neutral metal finishes like Bronze, Silver, and Rose Gold match diverse styles.

Display Quality

Hearth Display – Pleasing IPS screens render visuals accurately. Pack adequate pixel density for the size, but max out at 1080p resolution even on Hearth 15.

Skylight Calendar – Stunning Quad HD Quantum Dot touchscreens create exceptionally vivid, true-to-life visuals viewable off-angle. Crisp WQHD resolution up to 2,560 x 1,440 pixels.

Responsiveness

Hearth Display – Touches register accurately thanks to smooth capacitive touch sensors. Interface navigates smoothly for core functions.

Skylight Calendar – Lightning-fast processors precisely tuned for calendar use mean seamless lag-free response when paging through endless events and data.

Size Options

Hearth Display – 7”, 10” , and 15” choices fit different spaces. But 15” screen is maximum size available.

Skylight Calendar – 10” entry model met by mainstream 15” and huge 27” displays. Wide range accommodates needs.

Hardware Winner: Skylight Calendar

With stunning displays packed with pixels, barely-there profiles, expansive 27” option, and sizes to suit any space – Skylight Calendar’s innovative hardware outpaces Hearth’s more conventional tech styling and display specs.

Smart Features

Hardware is only as good as the software it runs. How do their features compare?

Calendar Integration

Hearth Display – Sync Google or Outlook calendars and integrate Alexa calendar by voice. Individual account views rather than consolidated.

Skylight Calendar – Automatically aggregates unlimited connected calendars into unified view. Single dashboard shows all events from all sources.

List Organization

Hearth Display – Create Alexa shopping/to-do lists. View individually only. No advanced utility beyond basic lists.

Skylight Calendar – Build extensive interactive lists with photos, colors, and categories. Share lists across family. Robust management.

Chore Management

Hearth Display – No native chore features apart from basic Alexa reminders. Lacks administrative capabilities.

Skylight Calendar – Customizable chore charts assign tasks to family members with due dates and repeating schedules. Checkoff tracking.

Meal Planning

Hearth Display – No specialized meal prep features. Can view any synced calendars with meals listed. Little meal utility.

Skylight Calendar – Dedicated meal planning calendar. Auto-generate grocery lists. Learning assistant suggests recipes and plans.

Customizable Profiles

Hearth Display – Very limited profile support restricts customization for different household members.

Skylight Calendar – Robust personalized profiles represent each family member. Controls access and visibility. Seamless account switching.

Features Winner: Skylight Calendar

With fused calendar views, interactive lists, advanced chores, meal prep, and multi-user profiles – Skylight Calendar offers far greater depth tailored for family coordination needs compared to Hearth Display’s more basic software capabilities.

Smart Home Ecosystem

Integrating other devices expands functionality. How do they compare?

Platform Compatibility

Hearth Display – Built on Alexa, it integrates wonderfully with Fire TV, Echo devices, smart bulbs, outlets, and thousands more.

Skylight Calendar – Primarily syncs with Google/Nest ecosystem. Works with select partner smart home brands. Alexa support coming soon.

Third-Party Connections

Hearth Display – Link Netflix, YouTube, music services. Display Doorbell feeds. Alexa Skills expand capabilities greatly.

Skylight Calendar – Google Photos screensaver. Airplay music and TV mirroring. Aggregates video doorbells. Access coming to Alexa and more.

Appliance Control

Hearth Display – Alexa enables extensive voice control of appliances like lights, thermostats, robot vacuums, and more. Deep integration.

Skylight Calendar – Offers basic appliance controls via voice. Lacks Hearth’s robust direct device integrations. Google Home integration coming soon.

Ecosystem Winner: Hearth Display

With native Alexa built-in, Hearth Display delivers vastly broader smart home ecosystem compatibility out of the box for easy device expansion and whole home voice control.

Setup and Ongoing Use

Both aim for simplified install and maintenance. How easy are they?

Initial Setup

Hearth Display – Alexa app walks through swift setup activating WiFi, Amazon account linking, basic settings configuration. 3 minutes max.

Skylight Calendar – Similar guided app flow connects WiFi, builds profiles, links calendars, configures preferences. Equally quick and painless.

Ongoing Maintenance

Hearth Display – Regular automatic updates maintain performance. Alexa notifications alert to occasional service relinks needed. Low maintenance.

Skylight Calendar – Constant over-the-air updates add features and refinements invisibly. Rarely needs attention apart from adding new profiles.

Troubleshooting Assistance

Hearth Display – Alexa app provides basic documentation. Contact Hearth support by email, phone, chat if issues arise. Helpful.

Skylight Calendar – Extensive self-help content addresses most questions. Skylight support reachable via email, phone, chat for personalized assistance.

User Experience Winner: Tie

Both Hearth and Skylight make initial setup a breeze with apps guiding users through key preferences and account connections across devices. Automated ongoing updates reduce maintenance needs. And customer service teams back up the products for helpful problem resolution as needed. It’s too close to call a winner here.

Built-In Voice Assistants

With built-in mics, voice interaction powers hands-free control.

Native Voice Assistant

Hearth Display – Includes full Alexa voice assistant out of the box. Controls Hearth functions and smart home ecosystem.

Skylight Calendar – Optional voice assistant handles core calendar commands. More limited than Alexa but focused on home organization.

Voice Command Accuracy

Hearth Display – Alexa’s excellent speech recognition and machine learning precisely understand requests to interpret user intents.

Skylight Calendar – Highly accurate for household scheduling domains. Large vocabulary tuned for family life improves comprehension. But can’t match Alexa’s near-human grasp.

Languages Supported

Hearth Display – Alexa supports English plus Spanish, German, Japanese, and some other languages. Multilingual edge.

Skylight Calendar – Currently English-only voice assistant. Additional languages on the roadmap as it expands internationally.

Voice Assistant Winner: Hearth Display

With Alexa’s exceptionally natural language processing, vast skill knowledge, and multi-language support – Hearth Display provides the superior voice experience over Skylight’s still-capable but more focused verbal assistant.

Privacy and Security

Protecting sensitive household data is crucial when choosing a family smart hub.

Data Privacy

Hearth Display – Amazon/Alexa collects usage analytics to personalize experience and per privacy policy. Controls allow limiting data saved.

Skylight Calendar – Also collects some usage data securely to improve products but provides more options to limit collection and request deletion.

Personal Data Security

Hearth Display – Amazon secures data through encryption, access controls, and other protections detailed in their Security Overview materials.

Skylight Calendar – Describes robust security measures including encryption, network security, access limitations, and audits. Avoids AWS hosting for data.

Audio/Video Security

Hearth Display – Always-listening mics continuously stream audio to Amazon servers awaiting Alexa wake word. Video calls route through servers.

Skylight Calendar – No continuous audio streaming to offsite servers. Wake word detection is local. Video calls connect directly device-to-device for enhanced security.

Privacy Winner: Skylight Calendar

With local speech processing, direct video routing, stringent AWS avoidance, and enhanced user data controls – Skylight edges out Hearth Display for their extra precautions safeguarding personal household data on their platform.

Costs and Value Comparison

Pricing plays a key role in determining the right smart hub for each family.

Hardware Cost

Hearth Display – $99 starting for Hearth 7, $129 for Hearth 10, and $199 for Hearth 15. Overall represents an affordable range.

Skylight Calendar – From $199 for 10” model up to $699 for the Max 27” calendar. More premium-tier pricing.

Ongoing Costs

Hearth Display – No mandatory fees beyond potential Amazon Prime membership for full access. Everything included with display.

Skylight Calendar – Optional but popular Premium subscription offers extras like unlimited cloud photo storage for $39/year. Core features are free.

Overall Value

Hearth Display – The budget price tags mean high utility for the money invested. Packs helpful family features even at entry 7” level.

Skylight Calendar – Bigger upfront cost but pays off for households needing heavy-duty scheduling coordination. Specialized solution worth the premium for those requiring serious family organization.

Cost/Value Winner: Tie

These smart displays can both represent good value depending on a family’s circumstances. For general shared access, Hearth brings affordable utility. But busy families gain benefits from Skylight Calendar justifying its higher price point.

The Verdict

Best Flexible Shared Family Display: Hearth Display 10

Hearth 10″ hits the sweet spot blending screen size, price, and Alexa capabilities into a flexible family smart hub. Great for general household use.

Best Dedicated Family Organization: Skylight Calendar 15” Display

Skylight’s polished 15″ display balances screen real estate and premium scheduling horsepower for busy families finally seeking order.

Best Massive Family Command Center: Skylight Calendar Max 27” Display

If wrangling a huge household, Skylight’s expansive 27″ Calendar Max delivers the huge scheduling oversight needed. A particular must-have for sizeable families juggling endless coordinating demands.

Both Hearth Display and Skylight Calendar aim to simplify home life through smart technology but have different strengths. For a budget Alexa hub, Hearth Display brings versatile utility. But families craving serious scheduling flow will revel in the order unleashed by Skylight Calendars purpose-built for household harmony.

Hopefully this head-to-head comparison provides helpful guidance to choose which display fits your family’s needs! Give us a call with any other questions.