A house with children has more ways to set off an alarm and more reason to trust the one that matters. The criteria: room-by-room coverage, spoken warnings a child understands, mounting simple enough to test often, and sensible handling of false trips. Products here qualify by meeting at least one criterion.

Household hazards do not arrive one at a time. A slow carbon monoxide leak, a smoldering outlet, and a burst washer hose each need catching. The rubric: combined coverage, an alarm loud enough to carry through doors, linked units, and long sensor life. The picks below each deliver on one or more fronts.

The value of a connected detector shows up when the house is empty and a furnace starts acting up while you are at work. Judge on push alerts that reach a phone, dependable reporting from far corners, low-battery notices, and event history. Each pick below earns its place on at least one count.

Inside a connected home, a detector should not sit on its own island. It should share a platform with the lights, name the room that triggered, hand off to a phone for testing and hushing, and set off devices that help you get out. Every option below covers at least one of these needs.