I've been using the mega-sized, room-shaking Google Home Max speaker for 6 months. Here's why I think it's worth the $400 price tag (GOOG, GOOGL)

One of the things that's surprised me most is how easily Google Assistant has become integrated into my life.

Before getting the Google Home Max, I didn't think I needed or wanted a digital assistant inside my home. My main experiences up until that point had been with Siri on the iPhone and Amazon's Alexa on an Echo Dot speaker, and in both cases, they never really became a part of my daily routine.

But Google Assistant has been different, and I find myself using it several times a day. I most often use it to set cooking to timers, or for asking about the weather, travel times, what song is playing, or random facts. The next feature I plan to try now that I have two Google Home Minis is using Chromecast to play music in every room of my apartment.

If you're thinking, "This thing costs $400 and that's all she uses it for?", that's a fair critique. The fact is, that's all I've needed it for — so far. The Google Home Max has tons of other features, but I don't have a smart home so it can't control my lights or thermostat, and I prefer a physical planner over a digital calendar, so I don't review or create appointments using the device. Everyone uses smart assistants differently and places different valued on convenience, and so far, these features are the most important to me.

If I have one complaint about the internal smarts, it's that Google Assistant is easily triggered by my TV. Its lights will illuminate almost every time I have my TV on, and for words that sound nothing like "Hey Google." It's not a deal-breaker, but it can be annoying.