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

An update to my previous rating and review. After many updates this has become a much more stable device. While I havent been brave enough to factory reset and configure from scratch, day to day usage has much improved for both the Android app and the device itself. I do wish the USB port were useable to configure the device. Currently it only provides power to the device, which is more convenient than having it plugged into an actual outlet while you set the WEMO up. You still have to use the iOS or Android app to configure. Previously, maintaining a connection to the WEMO long enough to complete the configuration was a problem. ------------------------------------------------- Previous review: Attempting to set up a WEMO is more painful then rabies shots or puberty. Setting up from an Android device as far as I can tell is not possible and from an iOS device is an exercise in patients and self loathing. If you successfully configure the device it works quite well, up until it mysteriously loses its configuration. From that point on, good luck ever getting the thing to work again. 20 years of configuring all kinds of networking equipment and wireless devices and never have I disliked a device as much as this.

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).

BEST $50 I EVER SPENT...!!! We have two sons, ages 12 & 13 who are utterly addicted to their computers. They want to play Minecraft and watch YouTube 7x24. It is a constant fight to get them off the computer at bedtime, and another fight when they come home from school to do their homework before getting on the computer. We have passwords on the computers, but once you enter the password and theyre on the computer, its still a fight to get them to get off. (I know, be a tougher parent and this wouldnt be so much of a fight…). The WeMo is the best $50 I ever spent. I paired it with a $10 clear plastic air conditioner thermostat cover (also sold on Amazon), plugged the computer monitor into the WeMo, and locked them both inside the cover, and screwed to the wall. No more fights... I can turn each of their computer monitors on or off using my iPhone, I can make them earn computer time and set a timer so they only get a certain number of minutes or hours of time before the WeMo automatically shuts the computer monitor back off. I can do this while at home, or anywhere around the world where I have my iPhone and Wi-Fi or wireless access. This is completely change the dynamic of power for computers in our household, and we love it… BTW, DO NOT use the WeMo to control power to the PC itself - just the monitor. Cutting off our unexpected way to the computer, without first powering it down properly, will damage the hard drive. Its fun to cut the power off to the monitor, but dont have power off to the PC itself.

It took me 3 hours total to set it up. The initial setup was somewhat easy. Connecting to IFTTT was painful and took several complete factory resets. BTW, how to perform a factory reset is impossible to find on their web site which kept giving me page not found errors. I had to guess many different combinations and after a while one worked. They have many cute videos that obviously cost much more than a simple owners manual, but they dont actually tell you the simple workings of the device. The app is nice to use, but had to be deleted and re-downloaded to make the setup work. Maybe they could hire some good programmers instead of a huge marketing department. I actually like the device, but I think I could make a bundle explaining to people how to use one.

I purchased 3 in Nov 2015, installed them in Jan 2016 and loved them! But then in March one of my three died...nothing out of ordinary use, bedroom lamp, low wattage, no electrical spikes, just died one day. I tried it in other outlets, over several days but I guess it is just dead. That is 33% defect rate and I manufacture products for a living so I just think this is not acceptable. I downloaded the pdf (3 pages) on filing a claim and to be honest I am going to file the claim, and I will update my review and let you now how it goes. Personally, I rarely file a claim, I just stop buying from the manufacturer but since I have two other wemos I am just pissed off enough to go through the process and pain of filing a claim. Follow up #1: I called 1-866-515-2054, after two minutes of punching in #s got a live person and Rachael listened to my 2 min summery, put me on hold for 4 minutes to talk to technicican who approved my exchange, and then she emailed me RA # and talked me through the process while I filled it out on line. Finished the call after 14 minutes. They require that I pay for shipping (to return the product), but they will ship me out a free replacement. So all in all not too painful, but it still will cost me both time and shipping back to them to get a replacment I DID NOT BREAK, they had defective parts that did not last the expected life cycle of the product. I am hoping they will at least include a 50% off coupon as compensation for my frustration, time and shipping costs...

This review is for the WeMo Insight Switch, Wi-Fi Enabled, Control your Electronics from anywhere + Monitor Energy Usage, Works with Alexa. I cant begin to explain how much I hate these things. They are a complete nightmare to set up, are totally unreliable, and this is coming from an IT engineer who builds and supports servers, networks, and other IT infrastructure. When you first plug the units in, you have to download the WeMo app to a mobile device and then connect your mobile device to the adhoc WiFi network the WeMo initiates. Then youre supposed to run through the setup wizard, part of which is to locate your own wireless network, connect to it, and then download the firmware update for your WeMo device. The problem is every time you try to connect to your WiFi network, it tells you that its unable to connect and you have to start the process all over; unplugging / re-plugging the device, performing a reset on it, etc... It took me hours to set each one up. Once I got them online, I noticed that I kept having communication issues with one of the units, it keeps dropping offline. Every time I open the app, it asks me if I want to remove it from my list of device. Its only 80 feet away from my router, theres no reason for it to have connectivity issues. Whats even worse is this: I bought these because there have been times where I needed to physically reboot my server at home or my security camera since it has stopped responding, so I figure Ill use these WiFi enabled outlet plugs in case of emergency. Normally Id never want to just power off and on a server, but when the need arises and you cant do it.. its extremely frustrating. Well, I was looking at the WeMo for my security camera which popped up a firmware update available window and asked if I wanted to install it. It mentioned power would temporarily be shut off while the firmware update installs, so since I was in the security camera WeMo device I figured why not. Well instead of just installing the firmware update to that one device, it did ALL of them at the same time. This means it did a hard power-off of my server which not only resulted in the loss of data and corruption of several VMs; somehow the thing blew the power supply in my server. I had to replace it to get the server to power back up. If I could return these things I would. Theyre useless, unreliable, and they cant even be configured with a static DNS entry. Awful.

The switch functions well manually or from the smartphone app. My problems started when I started to rely on the power consumption calculations. I suspected something was incorrect so I measured the power with two different power meters (scientific quality) to confirm the WeMo was wrong. For example at my machines idle (100 W) WeMo was reading 25 watts too high or 125 W. At full power my machine was reading 704 W and WeMo said 849 W. I also confirmed that my other two WeMo has very similar power calculation inaccuracies. So buyer be warned the the power calculations are consumer friendly but not accurate enough to be of any real value. This product was designed for the average Joe/Jane and not some one who needs accurate power consumption measurements. If you only want a switch that is operated by your smart phone then this is your product, otherwise keep looking.....

Ive had the original switches for about a year and now the insights. The app software is getting better and that is the real issue. When they connect I have no problems using them. The smaller size and usage info of the insight is a real plus. As the software improves, I expect connectivity to the app to get better. I can see all of my wemo (5) on my network all the time, its just whether the app will. Sometimes my phone sees them all, sometimes my tablet, its still a guessing game. Belkin is making the app better, so Ill keep using them. I only wish there was a way to control through my PC. My using Wi-Fi, they are easy to setup and configure.

one thing I really like... is something that simply works without a lot of fiddling. This thing worked right out of the box like a champ with zero effort on my part. I was concerned because the instructions consisted of plug it in and activate the app. And sure enough, that was all it took. Ok, this is the follow up. First, I was speaking about the plug in the wall switch but they both worked great. Easy to set up on my all my hand held devices. For my IPAD I had to buy a 3rd party app but it worked fine for $1.99. Alexa and the Echo found the devices in the advertised 20 seconds and it just worked perfectly. I only have two problems. 1. The light switches are pretty large, They just barely fit into the metal wall (gang) box. With the wire nuts there was absolutely no room to spare and I do not like to cram the wiring as that can put tension on connections. (but I had to) 2. I need an outside switch. I can keep it dry but these switches are only usable (according to the directions) about freezing. So no out door porch or other outside (like the garage) stuff light switches. Other wise, easy and quick to install. Up and running in no time. Pretty neat.

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.