5 Costco Items Smart Homeowners Need For Their Winter Prep – BGR

Winter changes how we go about our lives, with shorter days and lower temperatures forcing us to spend more time indoors. This can lead us to recognize inefficiencies in our home, as well as boredom and even cabin fever. When you throw in the gauntlet of holiday festivities that close out one year and ring in the next, you’ve got plenty of good reason to ensure you have all of the right electronics on hand to survive the depths of winter.

Whether you’re hosting for the holidays or simply face stretches of difficult weather throughout the winter, Costco has a variety of electronics that can help you survive the season. The warehouse retailer stocks smart home products designed for winter challenges, including items like smart heaters and devices that can chip in during a power outage. Discounts are frequently available to Costco members, but you don’t have to be one to shop Costco’s online store, making it an accessible option for winter preparation.

We’ve gone through Costco’s inventory and selected some items we feel can be useful to have as the cold weather settles in. Our focus was on emergency preparedness, comfort around the house, and all-around convenience. At the end of this article, you can find more details on how we chose these products. For now, let’s dive into some Costco items that can make winter a little easier to get through.

Winter storms and strong winds bring a very real threat of power outages, especially if you live in neighborhoods with above-ground electrical wiring and plenty of large trees. One way to ensure your most important electronics remain up and running through the winter is with a portable power station. Unlike gas-powered generators, a portable power station is quiet and operable indoors. Having access to one will ensure important home electronics like refrigerators and space heaters remain in use during a power outage.

Costco has quite a few portable power stations to choose from. Larger options by top brands like Anker and EcoFlow can provide power for extended periods of time. A mid-level power station like the Anker Solix C1000X is worth considering if you’re looking for something a little more versatile. An option like the Solix C1000X provides enough power around the house, but also has enough portability to keep devices on while RVing or traveling for the holidays.

The downside is that portable power stations can be pretty expensive. The Solix C1000X goes for $750 at Costco, and larger, more powerful options will cost even more. But also among Costco’s inventory is the Jackery Explorer 300 Plus. We think it’s one Costco item that outshines other retailers in price since it’s just $230. It’s meant more for keeping smaller devices like laptops and phones charged up, but that can come in handy during a power outage.

In the depths of winter, central heating alone may not be enough to keep every nook and cranny of the house warm, which may be especially true if you live in an older home or apartment. A portable heater provides some targeted warmth and allows you to move some additional heat from one room to another. You could utilize a portable heater while working at your desk and easily move it to the bedroom when it’s time for bed.

Costco’s selection of heaters includes a Midea Dual-Flex heater and an Omniheat Digital Ceramic Personal Heater 2-pack. Both stand out as particularly good value and will be able to provide additional heat on particularly cold days. They also serve as emergency heating when paired with a portable power station, should a power outage happen to strike this winter.

Portable electric heaters use a lot of electricity, which can add to your electric bill if you keep one running pretty regularly throughout the winter. You should also be aware of their placement, keeping them away from curtains, blankets, and furniture to avoid accidental fires. Since portable heaters can’t be left unattended, they lack smart home integrations and should only be plugged into smart plugs that can handle their intense electrical current. These models we suggest, however, have a built-in timer and an eco mode that give them smart-like features. But remember, space heaters aren’t meant to be a replacement for your home’s heating system.

With the sun setting earlier than during the rest of the year, lighting around the house is important in the winter. Smart lighting gives you control of the brightness and ambience of your home, typically through a mobile app that will let you do so right from your recliner. Smart light bulbs can provide you with the ability to change the color temperature throughout the day, so you can set your lamps and other lighting to cooler tones in the morning and warmer tones for quiet, relaxing evenings.

But Costco’s smart lighting section features more than just smart bulbs. You can find items like recessed downlights, ceiling fans with integrated LED smart lights, string lighting, and even outlet covers with built-in lighting. Outdoor lighting is also in the inventory, with a 4-pack of Feit path lights standing out as a way to keep your sidewalks visible, even when it snows. Because many smart lights can change colors, many of these products can also help set a more festive palette for entertaining during the holidays.

Smart lighting can come with some complications, especially if you aren’t particularly tech-literate. You’ll need a stable Wi-Fi connection to control the lights with your smartphone, and setting everything up for the first time can take a little know-how. Additionally, smart light bulbs are more expensive than their traditional LED counterparts, with a 6-pack of 60-watt LEDs going for about $13, and a 4-pack of Feit Electric smart bulbs costing $25.

Winter air is notoriously dry, and running your heating system can add to the aridness in your home. A humidifier adds moisture back into the air, making the environment more comfortable during the coldest months of the year. Smart humidifiers add convenience to the process, letting you monitor and adjust humidity levels from your phone, set operating schedules that align with yours, and receive notifications when the water tank needs to be filled.

Costco has a lot of standard humidifiers available to shop, and they include brands like Dreo and Homedics. On the smart humidifier side of the aisle, the Vornado Energy Smart Evaporative 2G Humidifier is only available through Costco’s online store, and it’s priced at $80. The most premium option available is the Blueair DreamWell Humidifier. It’s priced at $140 and includes a BPA-free, dishwasher-safe tank that makes cleaning the humidifier more convenient.

Cleanliness is something you’ll want to stay on top of if you decide to purchase a humidifier. Refilling the tank from time to time doesn’t take much effort, but you will want to ensure you keep other components clean in order to prevent mold and bacteria from collecting. Smart humidifiers like the Blueair DreamWell, however, are designed for easy maintenance and to accommodate the cleaning process.

With winter pushing us indoors for longer stretches, we’re going to have plenty of time to put our electronics to use. This offers plenty of reason to stock up on batteries, as our streaming remotes, wireless keyboards and mice, and battery-powered holiday gifts are likely to be put through their paces. It’s also good to have a stockpile of batteries in the event of a power outage, as you may need to lean on flashlights and radios for short periods of time.

You can find just about every kind of alkaline battery in Costco’s inventory. For those who want to stock up at the best prices Costco has to offer, Kirkland Signature AA batteries and AAA batteries are available in 48-count packs that cost $16 apiece. Costco also carries Duracell batteries in AA, AAA, C, D, and 9-volt packs.

Alkaline batteries do have some limitations. They can’t recharge once they’ve been drained, and with so many devices now having rechargeable batteries built right in, there aren’t as many opportunities to put a good, old-fashioned set of AAAs to use. But there are still smoke detectors, TV remotes, and plenty of toys that run on replaceable batteries, and it can’t hurt to have some tucked away in a drawer for when such things inevitably run out of power.

Costco has a wide range of products that can help you get through the winter, including ice scrapers and warm winter clothes. Here, however, our focus was on tracking down electronics that can chip in to make your winter more manageable. Keeping owners comfortable and safe at home topped our list of criteria. Our more specific recommendations within each broader category were made based upon brand recognition and reputation, as well as pricing and the product’s availability to non-Costco members.