Amazon Smart Plug, for home automation, Works with Alexa - A Certified for Humans Device

I have Amazons Flex and like it very much. I decided to add a couple of smart plugs because I am disabled and sometimes getting up to turn lights on or off can be difficult. The first plug I got I used for the lights by my bed. Sometimes when Im tired and ready to sleep the activity involved in getting up to turn off a light wakes me up enough I *cant* sleep, which is really annoying. This has solved that problem. I just tell Alexa, Lights off, and theyre off. I love it. But. Setup was not intuitive at all. It took me about a half hour to wade thru the hassle of persuading Alexa that there actually was such a plug and getting her to name it. Part of the problem was that Alexa doesnt recognize the term Smart Plug, which is what I was ignorantly calling the smart plug. I finally figured out that I should be calling it Plug 1. Once that was going, I thought I would add an extra plug for a lamp I sometimes use. Plugging it in and turning it on wasnt sufficient for Alexa to find it, even tho I remembered to call it Plug 2. After searching thru the Alexa app on my Fire tablet I finally found a way to get Bluetooth to add it. Then Alexa was willing to rename it for me and it now works. All this took me over a half hour, but Im almost happy with it. Almost happy? Its theoretically possible to pair the two up so I can turn both on or off at once, but Bluetooth doesnt seem to know what the devices are so Alexa doesnt know, so its going to take another half hour, or more, to get that feature turned on. I recently read an article by a smart-home tech expert who says hes going with another brand (Google?) because Alexa can be too finicky. I dont want the stuff he was having problems with, like a curtain opener, but the hassle with setting up these two plugs makes me feel hes got a point. Still, things are easier for me than they were and I AM largely pleased with the results. It just seems like it should be simpler to get it going. If their e-readers and Fire tablets were this hard to setup, no one would buy them.

I was hesitant to ever use Alexa but after using remote control power outlets for years, finally bit the bullet and bought these and love them! The installed & configured much easier than I expected, after reading other reviews. Ive got 4 of them in use and I’ve only had to reset 2 of them once each in the 4 months I’ve been using them daily.

This is super handy especially when you think you might’ve left your hair iron on. You can always connect to Alexa and have her turn off the switch.

I love it. I use it to control my fan so I don’t have to get up to turn it on when it gets to hot.

Makes turning stuff on and off so easy. I figured it was going to make me a little lazy and it might have, but I can walk into the room with my hands full and just say turn on the light. And can turn the light on or off from the app. Love it!

Basically it works like a dream. Its easy to use. The only thing that youre not going to get with this particular product is being able to use it with Google. If you want to use anything with Google you want to get get something that uses Google or can be synced with Google because you can sync Google with Alexa. Just not Alexa with Google so its a one-way street with that. Otherwise its great. Really good product. I use it and if you have any issues where its not really connecting or its not responding sometimes reassuring a voice command can be good to do. You need to also double check your Wi-Fi signal strength. A little bit of issue with that myself fixed it and it works real well.

I got this smart plug for 5$ off an Amazon deal and was very suprised by how good the results were. It quickly turns on when I tell my Alexa to do so.

I had a few WeMo smart plugs before ordering these. First of all, I HATED the app because adding a plug was so cumbersome. Plus, one of the plugs never did show up on the app so I couldnt really control it. It was in a room upstairs and I thought it must have been out of range of my WiFi router. I do not have a WiFi extender and almost bought one due to this issue. Had to send those plugs back. I was excited to see Amazon was coming out with their own smart plugs and pre-ordered them right away. Controlling everything through one app is way preferable. As a huge bonus, my upstairs plug that I previously could not control with the WeMo plug and app now works flawlessly with the Amazon plug and Alexa app. I guess it wasnt out of range after all. Pros: 1. if youre already tied into the Amazon Alexa ecosystem this just makes sense, and you keep things under control with a single app. And easily controlled with your Echo device if you wish. 2. Really easy to add a plug via the Alexa app. Alexa will recognize it right away and you just scan the back of the plug to add it. 3. Shorter and less bulky than the WeMo plug. 4. Smart plugs that may have been non-responsive on my network before are working flawlessly now with the Amazon plug in use instead. Cons: 1. A bit pricey. I wish they offered multi-packs for a lower price per unit. This will probably happen later. 2. Adding a plug to operate on an on/off schedule was NOT as easy as with WeMo. It took too many steps, was not straightforward, and should be more streamlined. Basically, youre creating what they call a routine. You have to add a start time. Then go back and do it all over again to add an end time. So I had to create two routines to get my coffee maker to start on weekdays at 6:45am and turn off on weekdays at 7:45am. That was silly. I did eventually figure it out, but they should really work on making it involve less steps and be more intuitive. I will buy more but will wait until the price comes down or theyre on sale.

Honestly it’s great. I work a lot and fell into a habit of falling into bed and realizing I’d forgotten to turn on my standing fan. Not a huge issue but it started happening so many times and I’ve become so use to my fan that I’d wake up middle of the night if it’s not on. App and plug work flawlessly AS LONG AS you have Wi-Fi. Was having Wi-Fi issues for a solid week or so and the plug became a paperweight. 100% do not get this if you have no Wi-Fi, it does not work off Bluetooth.

I was able to get this with an Amazon code for a very reasonable price and bought it just to try it out. It was easy to install and worked perfectly. It wound up being great. I have a TV that will not come on if left plugged in overnight (an old Panasonic Plasma, a known problem as they age). I was unplugging the TV every night and plugging it in the next day. I plugged the TV into the smart plug and now I just tell Alexa to turn it on or off. I rated it four stars because the price is so high. If the plugs were in the $10 range I would probably have them all over the house.