Wemo Insight WiFi Enabled Smart Plug, with Energy Monitoring, Works with Alexa (Discontinued by Manufacturer - Newer Version Available)

Had a few problems getting it to set up. Had to go in my iPhone settings and forget all the wifi connections i already had cause it kept choosing the wrong one during setup for some reason. After that there was a problem with the firmware update. Had to do it over and over again till it final took. Then everything worked fine. I like how it shows me how much money the appliance or whatever you have plugged into it is using. I am using it for a ac window unit. The unit i have remembers the settings when there is a power outage so it turns right back on to the same temp as it shut off at. Works perfect for that.

These arent the most reliable or stable things in the world but they get the job done. The cool thing about wemo switches is being able to set up all sorts of cool rules and have them interoperate with other online services and stuff. I use a wemo insight to give me a push notification when my electric bike is done charging which is super useful. I use a wemo insight and IFTTT to turn on and off my dehumidifier according to the humidity measured by my netatmo internet connected weather station, then it tracks usage and sends me monthly reports and even send me an alert if the daily cost of dehumidification rises over a certain level. These things are great but you have to think about creative ways to use them to really get the full value out of them. I would recommend always spending the extra money to get the insight because its not that much more expensive but its way more useful to set up interesting behaviors.

I am posting this comparison between the Wemo Insight and the Edimax Smart Plug under both products as I own both and thought it would be helpful to have a comparison (when I was looking for smart plugs I would have appreciated it). I have been a Belkin Wemo Insight owner from when the Insight Switch first came out several years ago as I have places that are hard to get to (specifically my landscape lights) that are controlled from a switch in the crawlspace (for the front) and a detached shed (for the back)—until the Wemos I had manual timers installed which required periodically crawling under the house to reset. I also historically used the Wemos to turn off TVs at certain times so my kids couldn’t watch them too late (yes the plugs are where the kids can’t get them easily without major gymnastics). Over the years I have had issues with the Wemo switches as they periodically lose contact and I have to reset them (I would say this happens on average every other month) or that they temporarily lose contact with my wifi and don’t show up on the Wemo app (this usually happens for the ones in the crawlspace and the detached shed, so I assume it is a wifi range issue). When the Wemos temporarily lose contact they usually fix themselves in several hours, but sometimes this causes the Wemos to not turn on/off in time. They other issue I have had with the Wemos is that they aren’t password protected and so my kids could put the Wemo app on their phone and turn the TVs back on (luckily they hadn’t figured that out yet). I have also experienced (periodically) where the Wemo schedule seems to “detach” and I have to delete the schedules and put them back in to get them to work again. On the positive side the Wemos do have a “sunset” and “sunrise” time feature that ties into our local sunrise/sunset which makes programming the landscape lights a breeze. I would add that I am an “advanced user” for wifi and I have 2 access points and a range extender in our house. Therefore when I saw the Edimax Smart Plugs I thought I would give them a try. I have been running 4 Edimax plugs for about a month now (in place of our 4 Wemos) and have observed the following in comparison to the Wemos: (1) they seem to get better reception and don’t drop like the Wemos do, (2) they are password protected which is very easy to set up from the app, (3) the Edimax’s firmware is updated by logging into the same wifi network that the Edimax plug is on and using Edimax’s firmware update tool. Originally it was hard for me to find this tool on Edimax’s website and I had to do a google search to be able to find it and download it (hopefully by the time you are reading this Edimax has fixed this). Once I found the firmware update software it was very easy to use. In comparison to the Edimax, the Wemo will tell you periodically if it needs its firmware updated. Although this is a good feature on the Wemo, I have found to be buggy over the years and sometimes the update wouldn’t take/work easily (requiring resets of the Wemo), (4) they take 2 different approaches to programming. The first level for the Edimax are the days and you have to program each day. The first level for the Wemo is the rule and then you can decide which days to apply it to. If you want to have the same rule run the same on each day, the Wemo is easier/better, but if you want to run different rules on different days the Edimax is easier/better. In summary the comparisons between the Wemo Insights and the Edimax Smart plugs are: - Ease of app use—a tie - Rule programming—a tie, but if the Edimax had a sunrise/sunset feature I would personally give it the advantage - Sunrise / sunset feature—only on the Wemo, advantage Wemo - Password protection—only on the Edimax, advantage Edimax - Stability (e.g. not having to reset the plugs periodically)—so far (1 month), advantage Edimax (as I have had 2 years of buggy Wemo experience) - Size (the Wemo Insight plugs are a bit smaller)—advantage Wemo - Wifi range / connectivity—so far, advantage Edimax - Firmware update—a tie; as the Wemo does it from within the app (e.g. notifies you that it needs to be updated automatically), but is buggy and unstable in my experience; the Edimax update software was hard to find and doesn’t automatically tell you if it needs to be updated - County of manufacture (Wemo: China; Edimax: Taiwan)—advantage Edimax as I have found stuff manufactured in Taiwan to be more predictable on quality - Time synch—advantage Wemo (it is automatic on the Wemo, and on the Edimax it asks you if it should synch with your phone time. This is a small feature difference in my opinion, but if you travel and open the Edimax app you have to make sure not to select synching with your phone time if you are in another time zone) In summary, the Wemo has been around for a while and still seems to not have been able to produce a stable (not buggy) platform. The Edimax plug has been around for a shorter time and seems to be more stable. I give the Wemo a 3 rating due to its buggy nature with the need for periodic reboots and re-install and lack of password protection (if it would be more stable and have password protection it would get a 5). I give the Edimax a 4 as it lacks a sunrise/sunset feature and is slightly less user friendly to update the firmware (if it had a sunrise/sunset feature I would be torn to give it a 5 and if it at least had a feature to tell you if its firmware needed to be updated I would definitely give it a 5).

This is a horrible product. Clearly it has not been tested for everyday use. Save yourself lots of trouble in setting it up, using it or burning up your living space and DO NOT BUY IT. The device itself is well packaged and is a good sized plug point. To use it, you put the device on a plug point, see it turn on and show green on WIFI. Then you change the wifi on your phone to the Belkin Insight Wifi and download the app. The app acts as a relay and it asks for your home wifi password. All this was okay. However within a few minutes I got really annoyed using it. After you provide your wifi connection settings, the device is activated. But the response is not instantaneous. Once I press the switch it takes ~1-5s to act on the device making it a horrible experience. After a few times hitting it on and off thinking it wasnt working, my lamp then suddenly started switching on and off as late responses! Annoying! The insight plug also gives misleading information about usage. For a single lamp it estimated after ~5mins that Id be spending $150/month for it. The usage in Watts was also incorrect for the lamp. Third, I put the plug between my stereo, lamp and PS3 and it it simply started switching green and yellow on wifi. Then after a few attempts the device started getting quite hot and would reboot continuously. I think the plug cannot be used for large voltage or units drawing high current. Now the icing on the cake: all the time the device was rebooting or trying to connect to wifi (or burning up internally!), it does not allow activity on the plug or manually controlling the relay inside it, rendering the entire plug point unusable. This is really bad design and execution. Finally, the plug itself occupies a good amount of space on a twin plug wall unit and hence if you put it on the top plug, the bottom one cannot be used. This is annoying because often the top switch can be controlled by wall switches and I would like to use it on the top plug, but it makes the bottom unusable. The app on iphone and android takes a while to update (and annoys you if you do not update firmware) and after updating gets stuck multiple times on various pages. It has minimal functionality and often takes a long time to connect to the plug when opened. The only good thing in this whole ordeal is that the shipping was pretty quick (1business day) by Amazon and returning it was equally convenient.

Despite having some issues during setup, ultimately I love this product and what it can do for me, so going to stick with the definition of 5 stars as I love it. This review is for the WeMo Insight Switch, although I also have the light switch as well (which I may review later). I got the light switch first, and while its far more complicated an installation (you have to disconnect a light switch and work with wires to install the light switch), it went without a hitch. The insight is far simply in terms of hardware. You just plug it into an outlet, and then whatever device you want to control you plug into the insight. The issue I had was that after I plugged the insight into the outlet, and went through the steps to connect it to my WiFi network, it just never was able to connect. I tried in different locations, and several times. I had already been through this steps with the light switch, and it worked, so I finally decided that the insight was bad, and sent it back to Amazon for a replacement (bravo to Amazons A+ service, as always). Unfortunately, with the replacement, I had the same exact problem. I was just about to send it back and give up on the insight, but decided to give Belkin support a chance first. I went to their website, chose the Chat option, and was immediately chatting with a support person. Im going to include the entire chat at the end of this review, but in summary, they had me reset the device and it worked just fine after that. It also had me upgrade the firmware, and although the app said the FW upgrade failed, the support person told me, basically, that its a bug in the app, and just restart the app and it should work with the new firmware. And it did. The reason I wanted the insight, and the reason why I decided not to give up on it, is because I have an attic fan that is plugged into a non-switched outlet. I like to turn the fan on to push out the attics hot air (really helps with keeping the house cool and lowering the AC electricity costs). However, its such a pain to go into the attic and plug/unplug the fan. The insight was the perfect answer to this problem. Not only can I remotely control the switch now, but I can even schedule the fan to run when were not home (its a loud fan). So the utility of this device coupled with the fact that it does work makes it a must-have device for us. I highly recommend it! If you already have a device in your app, you may need to do as we did, and reset the device before it works properly. Or maybe there was just a batch that went out that needs the reset. In any case, the reset is simple and effective. For those interested in the nitty gritty details of Belkin support, heres the exact chat log from my contact with support: Pavithra v: Thank you for choosing Belkin chat support, Is this your first time contacting Belkin or do you have a case number with you? You: First time Pavithra v: How may I help you today ? You: I bought a WeMo Insight awhile back, and it couldnt see my WiFi network, so I sent it back for a replacement. You: The replacement is having the same problem, no matter what I try, it cant connect to my WiFi network. You: I have the WeMo light switch and that connects no problem. You: Im getting ready to send this 2nd one back, and thought Id connect support to see if theres something that can be done to fix the issue. Pavithra v: Could you please give me few minutes, so that I can check with my resources and let you know? You: ok Pavithra v: Thanks for your time , I appreciate your patience Pavithra v: So If I got you right,you are unable to connect the wemo to the WiFi network? You: yes Pavithra v: Not to worry ,I understand your concern. Ill do my best to assist you with the issue. Pavithra v: Before we can proceed further,we need to create a case for you in the system.Please confirm if the following information are correct: <private info snipped> You: yes Pavithra v: Thanks for verifying the information. Pavithra v: May I have your Telephone number, so that I can call you back in case if the chat gets disconnected ? You: <private info snipped> Pavithra v: Thanks for the information. Pavithra v: In order to check the entitlement status,could you please help me with the model number of the product? You: i entered that at the start of chat, but i can look it up again Pavithra v: Thank you. You: f7c029v2 Pavithra v: Thanks for the information. Pavithra v: Let me confirm the serial number is <private info snipped>. You: yes Pavithra v: Thanks for verifying the information. Pavithra v: Could you please let me know the date of purchase of the Belkin device? You: 7/16/15 through Amazon.com Pavithra v: Thanks for the information.I would like to inform you about the products warranty status. You would be provided with lifetime of complimentary support and one year of hardware warranty. Pavithra v: We need to reset and reconfigure the device.I will give you the steps.Please follow it. You: ok Pavithra v: Unplug your WeMo.Hold down the Restore button (labeled on top).While holding the Restore button down, plug the WeMo into a power outlet and continue to hold the button down for at least 15 seconds.Release the Restore button. It should take about 45 seconds for the WeMo to restore and reboot. It will blink blue and amber or green and amber when finished. You: ok, blinking green & amber Pavithra v: On your mobile device, download and install the latest wemo App from the Apple® App StoreSM by searching for Belkin or WeMo. You: already have it Pavithra v: Once installed, tap Settings > Wi-Fi. Make sure that the Wi-Fi is enabled. You: done Pavithra v: Locate and connect to the WeMo Insight that you want to install. The WeMo device is not secured. Thus, it will not ask for a password when you try to connect to it upon installation. You: done Pavithra v: Launch the wemo App on your mobile device. Make sure that the WeMo device is plugged in to a power outlet. You: done Pavithra v: When prompted, enter your router’s wireless network password in the given field. Then, tap Join. You: looks like resetting the device fixed whatever issue it was having Pavithra v: Is that working now? You: i didnt have to enter the WiFi password since i already had a WeMo device You: it seems to work, its now asking me to update the firmware You: should i update? Pavithra v: Yes. Pavithra v: Please let me know once you have done. You: it says it could take up to 10 minutes, ill let you know when its done Pavithra v: Sure.I will stay online. You: done You: now it says that the WeMo insight is not detected Pavithra v: Please let me know the color of the light on the device. You: it was a solid green, but now its off, no light You: it just came back on You: and now the WeMo app says FW upgrade fail! You: and now its off again Pavithra v: Ok.Please force shut down the app and restart your phone and check. You: seems to be working now, i can turn it on and off from the app now Pavithra v: That is great! Pavithra v: I appreciate your patience. You: thanks for your help Pavithra v: You contacted regarding unable to connect the wemo device to your WiFi network.We reset and reconfigure the device.Now the device is working. Pavithra v: Welcome.Is there anything else that I could help you with Belkin today? You: thats all for now. thanks Pavithra v: Welcome.

Theres a lot to like about the updated Belkin WeMo Insight Switch. It is compact, and the process of installing, handshaking, and setting preferences is designed to be streamlined. Unfortunately, however, as of the early-February app and firmware updates, Belkin is still leaving a lot of functionality and dependability issues on the table. Thus, the brief version of my recommendation is to start with one or two units for which you have specific uses. Watch for and download any future updates that address stability and functionality, and when the product is performing to your standards, buy any additional units that youd like. And note that after you put your initial units through their paces, you may well be satisfied as-is. Following is the longer version of my experience with the WeMo Insight outlet switch. I will add to it over time, and if you have questions, please add them to the comments and I will respond as quickly as possible. I have posted a few images showing app messages on the product page. SETUP. Belkin focused on making setup smooth and intuitive, and your switched outlet comes with a quick-start card that takes you through the process. These instructions are mirrored in the app, once you download and launch it. I suggest that when you start, you plug your new Insight into an electrical outlet thats as near as conveniently possible to your router, because youll probably be provided with the option of downloading a firmware update (say yes). Ive provided two customer images of what my phone displayed during the update process. SIZE, PORTABILITY. The Insight is a grounded, pass-through plug. If you put it in the top outlet of a vertical two-outlet receptacle, you will still have clear access to the outlet beneath it. Once I got my Insight up and running, I moved it to other outlets that are neither near nor line-of-sight, and they did communicate acceptably with my wireless network. MONITORING. Part of the reason I addressed the units portability is that I have used it to spot-check electricity consumption of everything from a chest freezer to a recumbent bike. I also checked its accuracy and calibration by testing it with a number of lamps. The WeMo was correct about every device for which I had wattage information, even when I swapped bulb strengths in the same device. CONVENIENCE. One of this units best attributes is its convenience. I appreciate not walking into a dark house, especially during rainy season. I like the ability to modify the programming on the fly, as well as to set a weekly schedule. However, I think Belkin needs to up its game with this aspect of the WeMo family, and I address that in the Concerns section below. CONCERNS. - Consistent first-attempt error where the app doesnt find the WeMo Insight unit. My solution thus far has been to refresh the screen, but this ongoing problem should have been addressed in the firmware update earlier this month. - Programming gives you one choice per day. Contrast this with the old-fashioned physical switches, which let you set two to four on/off cycles per 24-hour period. - Security/privacy issues surrounding having the unit logged on to my password-protected wireless network. One workaround I will be testing is to log on to my guest network and whether the restrictions weve set up in our guest permissions hamper the unit from working when I communicate with it remotely.

Bought this to use for my space heater in my apartment with my Amazon Echo. it works flawlessly. The wemo app is a little clunky but thats expected with Belkin. I give this four stars because there is no way to show your usage as a trend chart. It only shows your daily usage and monthly est. cost. Wish it had more features. Update (12/04/15) There is a setting inside the wemo app which allows you to have wemo email you daily weekly or monthly with a .csv file (Exel document) showing you all of your usage details (up to the last 30 days). Still leaving it at four stars since it will not show trends on the app, even though i can find the trends myself i shouldnt have to build it into the app).

Easy setup, schedule is great, works as advertised with iOS. Setup: It was four steps. I dont think the first two should even count. 1: Plug it in. 2: Down and install app on your device 3: On your phone, select the wifi created by Wemo 4: Launch the app and follow instructions. The only issues I could imagine would be caused by poor wifi, or failing to select the wifi created by WeMo for setup. I kept my phone close to it for setup since I figured it wouldnt make a powerful wifi. Then I moved them where I needed including one outside in my shed. Now I use two of them to run my landscape lights and a lamp. I love that the schedule includes a sunrise/sunset that takes into account your location. It can also be set to turn on/off some period of time before or after sunrise/sunset. Ive used them for a few weeks and havent needed to touch them since the setup.

To give you an idea of my technical expertise... I was a young Network Admin during the dark ages of Novell 3.11. For those of you confused this would be around 1994 - 1999 give or take a year or two... If you could configure Novell you could configure the Space Shuttle... and I could. Fast forward 20 years, I have a home-based Internet company - I personally built 10 gaming computers not for gaming but for business... I do things like port forward into my home network to view my security cameras and connect to an internal web-server... In other words, I know what Im doing... Now about this Belkin WeMo INSIGHT SWITCH... When I plugged it in the first thing IT DID was lock down my router without me touching ANY thing! - I was more than offended when all my PCs were instantly kicked off the web... all I could think about was losing my Router configuration, because I havent backed up the Router config file in a long time .. After rebooting everything, I resigned myself to give this setup 30 minutes of my time, because I really didnt feel like returning and reordering something else... 1hour and 30 minutes later of trouble shooting, which included multiple reboots of my router to get my PCs back online (yes you read that correctly) Android was still searching for this device... For the record my router has been rock solid for 3 years under my command... Note: no direct PC config allowed - must be done on your phone - extremely lame - but not before holding my entire network hostage yet again... the thought of throwing this thing as far back to China as possible seems tempting and worth losing the $99 refund value/hassle... Ive always had a professional hatred for all things Belkin - the company slogan should be were the Jacks of all things- and the master of NOTHING... (I think they make bicycle helmets too) but this last experience has made my love personal... In addition they expect you to connect this device that sits 2 feet away through a third party, third world web server a million cable wires miles away. Oh and the WeMo App couldnt blow worse chunks either - what I saw of it - I really didnt get that far into the configuration I do not think this plastic paper weight shipped to me broken - I think it is working exactly the way Belkin designed it to... the only thing wrong with it is the logo on the side that reads B e l k i n P.S. - Ah yes – my window to return this plastic headache ended yesterday… I guess thats part of the Belkin business strategy... If I could throw it, or launch it back to China now I would...

Be aware that the MAC address printed on the WeMo Insight Switch is one less than the MAC address the device uses to connect to your Wifi network. This caused me a few minutes of head scratching, wondering why the device couldnt join my network. If you have MAC address access list security enabled on your wifi network, to only permit configured/expected MAC addresses to join, and enter the MAC address printed on the back of the device... it will not be able to connect. I temporarily disabled MAC address filtering on my wifi network, and the device was then able to connect without issue. Once it had connected, I checked my wifi routers list of connected devices and discovered that the MAC address used by the unit was the printed MAC address, +1. e.g. Printed MAC Address: 94:10:3E:CF:3A:22 MAC address used by the device when connecting to my wifi network: 94:10:3E:CF:3A:23 So, if you add one to the MAC address and use this value for the access list on your wifi network, it will be able to join an access list secured network. This may be why some reviewers have had issues getting the device to work on their networks. I edited the Access List entry Id added originally for the WeMo Insight Switch, added one to the last octet, saved the updated entry, re-enabled MAC Address Access List Security, and it was able to join my network with no issues at all. The MAC address printed on the unit is only used by the device when its running its own wifi network for initial device/app configuration (you have to configure your iPhone/mobile device to connect to this temporary wifi network during setup, but once the WeMo Insight Switch is configured in the app to connect to your own home wifi network, the MAC address its uses is one higher than this. Confusing, but easily solved if youre aware of it. Once connected, its been working well. Id purchased the device because Im trying to pinpoint the main reason my monthly electricity bills are so much higher than the average for my home. Thought my garage fridge might be to blame. With the Insight Switch Im now able to exclude that (only draws an average of 75 Watts)... so the hunt continues. I think this will be very useful, and also gives me an additional smart switch for home automation once Ive located the energy hogs.