6 Smart Gadgets To Help Upgrade Your Garage Or Workshop

For some people, our garages and workshops are often where we give life to some of our most ambitious projects. Whether it is working on our latest vintage car or building furniture with reclaimed wood, it's a place where ideas become plans that we work on until they're real. In a home where every room seems to be accounted for, garages and workshops can be the only place where you can make your creativity run wild. 

If you spend a lot of time in your garage, you might be looking for ways to make your workshop more enjoyable. Apart from keeping your garage organized, there are tons of smart gadgets that you can invest in to make your space more comfortable to work in or stay in for longer periods. 

To help you get more out of it, we've rounded up some pretty neat smart products that can fit the needs of different garage owners, whether it's for strictly parking cars or doing other fun activities, like watching games or building tables with your friends. You can learn more details about how we've chosen them at the end of the article below, but you can also keep reading if you're already itching to make that much-needed upgrade.

While a few minutes of bad air quality won't immediately kill you, hours of staying in a poorly ventilated garage or workshop with a cocktail of chemicals in the air might. In the past, we've discussed the dangers of carbon monoxide. It is odorless, tasteless, and challenging to detect without the right sensors. However, some carbon monoxide is expected if you use generators or run your car. For this reason, you might want to add the Amazon Smart Air Quality Monitor to your workspace, which can sense everything from temperature, humidity, particulate matter (PM), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and, of course, carbon monoxide (CO2).

Out of 4,800 reviewers on Amazon, most people have given it an average rating of 4.2 stars. With its $69.99 price tag, the Amazon Smart Air Quality Monitor sets itself apart from other monitors due to easy integration with Amazon's smart home ecosystem. To check on the air quality in different parts of your home, you can check the integrated app or just ask Alexa. 

You can even set it to make both preventive notifications and announcements via linked Echo devices. Apart from the Amazon Air Quality Monitor, other top smart indoor sensors we've mentioned before include the SAF Aranet4 Home, Airthings 2930 Wave Plus, and Airthings 2960 View Plus.

When it comes to securing a garage gadget that can truly move the needle, the Chamberlain Smart Garage Control System can do the job for just under $30. On Amazon, this smart garage control system has received an average rating of 4.3 stars from over a hundred thousand satisfied garage owners. With the accompanying myQ app, you can control access to your garage door in several ways: Opening and closing, automating close schedules, giving staff access, or checking the status remotely. If you're a regular impulse buyer on Amazon and have an active Prime membership, this smart garage control system has a neat little feature to keep porch pirates away from your deliveries: A Key In-Garage Delivery option.

For this smart device to work, you'll need to make sure that your internet router is within 50 feet, which might be a problem for people with detached garages that are a walk away from their main home. In addition, Chamberlain has cautioned users that it doesn't fully work with all garage door openers, so you might need to do some additional checks. Although Chamberlain does mention that it applies to most garage doors manufactured by 1993, you may want to contact their customer support for help to determine whether it is a good fit for your current garage door setup. While it needs to be used with a sectional garage door, you can purchase an additional Smart Garage Sensor for $22.99 to work with more doors.

When you're working on something that requires the garage door to be open, it's possible that you accidentally forget to close it after a long day. In some cases, some bad people might take this as an invitation to enter your space without your consent and maybe even steal something. To mitigate any threats before they become real problems, it's not enough to just have surveillance cameras that simply record. You'll want to opt for smart cameras with motion sensors so you'll be notified about any unexpected movement. Apart from keeping your garage safe from trespassers, other ways that you can use motion detectors in your home, such as automating routines or even triggering relaxing music to start playing.

On Amazon, one of the most popular indoor motion sensor cameras that can work for your garage or workshop is the Blink Mini. Retailing for $29.99, over 297,000 buyers have given it an average of 4.4 stars. Apart from motion detection, it has 1080p HD video, night vision, and easy integration with Amazon's smart assistant, Alexa. But if you have an extra $10, the Blink Mini 2 is an updated model that can also be used outdoors and has an average rating of 4.4 stars from more than 6,000 people. However, you should be prepared to budget for the Blink Subscription plan to use the camera's smart notification features. For $39.99, the Blink Mini 2 also comes with a weather-resistant power adapter and LED spotlight.

In some cases, our garages can be filled to the brim with everything from boxes of our past lives to power tools and half-finished woodworking projects. However, for those of us who have limited garage spaces, parking actual cars can be troublesome. Not only do we run the risk of bumping into things, but we also gamble that we don't damage our vehicle when the garage door goes down. Unfortunately, with car manufacturers like Ford taking away their parking assist feature, we'll have to wait a little longer for true self-parking cars. In the meantime, you can get something a little more affordable and easy to install, like the Maxsa Parking Guide.

With two adjustable laser heads, this parking assistant can essentially give you a visual cue on your dashboard when you're supposed to stop moving. Depending on your garage layout, you can choose between an AC or battery-powered version or a purely battery-powered one, which is useful if you're planning to mount it where there is no plug within reach. While there are plenty of similar options, over 4,800 buyers from Amazon think that this parking guide is worth it and have given it an average rating of 4.3 stars. Prices start at $29.95, and it's available in two colors (silver and white). That said, it is only designed to help you park up to two cars, so you'll need to get multiple units if you have a larger garage.

Endoscope cameras are incredibly useful for several types of household repairs and inspections, including car maintenance. Designed to help give you a better view of otherwise tight or difficult-to-reach places, the Daxiongmao endoscope comes with a live camera, LED light, and a 16.5-foot snake-like cord. Retailing for $42.99, the Daxiongmao Endoscope Camera is a popular option on Amazon, for which more than 2,000 people have given 4.3 stars on average. 

While other products in the same category will require a smartphone, the Daxiongmao endoscope has its own 4.3-inch LCD screen. However, the caveat is that it won't let you take any photos or videos, so it's not ideal if you need to send your view to anyone else. It also comes with three accessories (hook, magnet, and side view mirror).

Holding an IP67 waterproof certification, you don't have to worry about exposing it to the elements or places like the inside of your HVAC system. Plus, the adjustable LED lights also provide additional brightness for when you need it. Because it measures 8mm in diameter, Daxiongmao's endoscope can fit through the spark plug hole for those moments wherein you need to have a closer look at your engine. Plus, the 2.7 cm short lens makes it quite flexible in narrow areas. Its 2,000 mAH battery, it can last up to 3.5 hours on a single charge, which takes about three hours to do.

With smart locks, there are endless ways you can customize access to your garage or workshop, whether it is through websites, mobile apps, or even key codes. In some cases, you can even give access to certain people for set periods. For people who have multiple guests coming in and out of their workspaces, smart locks can help manage the influx of people, especially if you want to limit access to private spaces.

If you're already convinced it will change your life, you can check out our smart lock buying guide to help you choose the best one for your needs. And if you want to enjoy the benefits of owning one for your temporary home, there are even smart locks that are designed with renters in mind. Typically, this means not having to replace things like deadbolts, so you don't get in trouble with your landlord at the end of your lease. One of our top picks is the Switchbot Lock Pro, which our team has given a thumbs up for its affordability and ease of use.

But take note, while there are a ton of advantages to using smart locks, there are some important things that you should know about smart locks. For example, while many people are scared that smart locks are less safe than normal locks, we've mentioned before that this isn't entirely true, especially if they utilize deadbolts. However, other threats like hacking, are still very much valid and can still happen.

When we were picking products for this list, we were guided by one key question: How can one define "upgrade" when it comes to our spaces? In some cases, an upgrade for garages or workshops can mean improved security, which means cameras and locks. In others, we think about improvements in terms of usability, like parking assistants and centralized control features. And, of course, there's improvement in the form of how comfortable our experience is when we're spending time in it, which is impacted by air quality.

Once we isolated these particular points, we considered different types of gadgets that can address them. Afterward, we looked into some of the most recommended options on Amazon. To be considered for this list, we made sure to include only smart gadgets that have an average rating of at least four stars from over a thousand verified reviewers. In addition, we avoided any products that Amazon has tagged as frequently returned, which can indicate poor build quality.

Afterward, we also considered possible integration with other smart devices already in your home, whether through an app or with smart assistants. But take note, there have been reports of smart home devices being hacked before, even from popular manufacturers. So, even if the items on this list have no known security issues right now, the next step after installing any smart device is always to make sure your smart home is secure.