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

Plan to order more of these. I checked off the box when ordering that our other devices were connected to Wi-Fi. The plug recognized the Wi-Fi right after plugging it in and it was ready to use! Very easy to use just the Alexa app and not have to use another app for other brands of plugs. Highly recommended!

Edit: Ive bought the device a second time and it connected much better with the most recent Echo Dot. I plugged the device into a power strip and use it for my computer charger so it doesnt overcharge my laptop. I dont know if theyve made improvements, but connection worked out great so Ive upgraded my review from 3 stars to 5 stars. Thoughts: 1. I wanted to try using this as a plug for a power strip, but it doesnt work because there must be some safety feature. 2. If the Echo/Alexa has trouble finding your plug, dont panic. There is a button on the side of the device that you can press for the light to flash and for the plug to be discoverable. 3. The plugs are named in chronological order (ie. First plug, second plug, etc.) and you cant edit the names though you can group devices on your Alexa app. So keep track of which plug is which. 4. Again, I dont believe that this device should be used for life saving equipment as it is dependent on your wifi connection and Echo/Alexa adds an additional command step to the sequence of using a machine. I would recommend this product! Previous Review: I waited to review this plug because I wanted to try it out with different devices and at different distances from both Echo/-Dot and my modem. Devices: I tried the plug with a space heater and with a laptop (to avoid overcharging). I plugged it into a power strip with no problem, but do note if youre using a space heater with an automatic shut off, the plug is going to be shut off just like the rest and you have to turn on the strip and then tell Echo to turn on the plug separately. Ive decided that the automatic shut off is enough of a safety feature and the Smart Plug is best used for devices that are capable of utilizing a continuous stream of electricity without emergently overloading and need the plug to monitor the usage (e.g. a laptop). ***Please take note of my exception at the bottom of the review! Now for the big item issue: Connectivity. I believe the key is that your Wifi connection needs to be optimized to get the most out of this plug. If you have slightly unreliable wifi (e.g. I live out in the country with plenty of winter storms), plug the smart plug closer to your modem and minimize the distance from your Alexa. I dont know if this is a must, but it worked for me. If your internet shorts out in, you dont have to re-setup the plug, but the plug lights might get thrown off for a bit (it will stay red even when its on and flash blue at random points). Ignore that. If your Echo/-dot is flashing red as well, the plug is going to be down.Just give the Wifi a second to settle down and you should be set to go. The irritating part is that the Echo resyncs with the Wifi much faster than the plug. I tried to reset it up/give it time and it took hours for it to sync up again, but maybe that was because it was further away from the Echo/modem. Either way, just know that once your wifi has been signed in, as long as you havent changed the password, your sign in is set. Other reviewers are correct: the set up instructions are easy to overlook. Either have the instructions next to you so you have the set up password or be near an outlet. 1. You go into your Alexa app 2. The top left corner has the three lines 3. Click on add a device 4. Choose plug 5. Brand is Amazon, 6. Click Next to agree to the conditions of use and terms 7. Scan the barcode on the back of the plug or from the instructions (You have to get the little box with squiggly lines to be lined up in the sights of the screen) and then follow the instructions. Its okay if you have to unplug the smart plug for a second to scan the 2D barcode, just plug it back in quickly. 8. It will tell you to press the button on the side till the lights flash red and blue (keep pressing till that happens) and then make sure to follow the instructions for signing into your Wifi. ***IMPORTANT and MY OPINION: I really wouldnt recommend that you use this plug for life-saving/emergency equipment even if you think that you have the best Wifi in the world. A plug with a timer or any regular plug is reliant on electricity, but, as aforementioned, this plug requires an extra step of being turned on by Echo/-Dot. If your electricity goes out momentarily, you lose the time waiting for the lights to turn back on, but with the plug you have to additionally ask for Echo to turn the plug back on and/or resync with your wifi.

Easy to pair, have used both inside and outside. No complaints at all. Would buy again, especially on discount day. Got it for $5 instead of $25. Yay!

Ultimate lazy man’s tool! Works great and very simple to set up

Never have a problem with the Amazon Smart Plug.

This plug can be a pain to setup. I have purchased two of these plugs and here is my experience with each of them. First Plug This plug is used to control a lamp that has an on/off switch that semi-broke when a labrador retriever tipped the lamp over. The switch still works, but you have to turn it just right or the knob comes off completely. So we left it in the on position permanently and we used to manually plug/unplug the lamp when we needed extra light. Amazon often runs promotions for these plugs so I think we picked this up on Prime Day or Black Friday. This plug for some reason I couldnt scan the QR code and had to manually setup. Once setup, it worked fine with Alexa controlling it as a light. We renamed it to light from first light so we could just say Alexa, turn on the light or Alexa, turn off the light. It was setup so long ago I have no idea how it got grouped into lights. Our lamp doesnt have a smart bulb. Second Plug This plug is also used to control an on/off switch. This plug was a major pain to setup. I tried both the QR code and manual setup. Sometimes it would connect to my wifi and sometimes it would not. If it setup, I couldnt turn it off or on using Alexa app for android for a quick test (my Alexa speaker isnt nearby). If the setup timed out, I would get various errors on not being able to see the plug or not being able to connect to wifi. Finally, I figured out the plug was flaky because of the distance from my wifi router. I happened to have a Netgear EX2700 (2.4Ghz only) laying around because my wife used to need it for an old Lenovo Yoga when she was in college. I setup the wifi extender again (after a factory reset as it was setup for an old password) about half way between my router and the Amazon plug. This time the QR code scanning worked. I used the same password for my network name plus _EXT on the end. I think the Amazon smart plug must have tried this network with the strongest signal and the saved password because I didnt have to pick the network and retype my password after I previously chose to save it. Finally, I could control the lamp from my phone which this time was grouped among my smart plugs. I renamed Second Plug to Piano Light and it was good to go. One thing the Alexa app cant tell you is the signal strength and reliability of your WiFi network. It might show it briefly when choosing the network (signal strength), but it would be nice to see it constantly displayed within the app when showing the network your plug is on. This way if youre going into your device list settings to see whats wrong with the device it might show a flaky signal which would explain why you cant control the plug with your voice or the Alexa app. It doesnt have to constantly show this signal, only when you open device settings. I can understand the limitation of the wifi radio they can put into these plugs and thus the need for extenders if you get far enough from your router. I am using a NETGEAR R6700 Nighthawk AC1750 Dual Band Smart WiFi Router, Gigabit Ethernet (R6700) also bought from Amazon.

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.

works great with Alexa, no problem joining in my home network

Love the way it work to turn off the light and can be set for every day use

Through no fault of the product, I use it less than expected. I have it set on a light which I use every few days, thats it, nothing special. At the sale price its worth the convivence of not needing to move to and manually turn on the light.