Kasa Smart HS100 WiFi Smart Plug, Classic 1-Pack, White

During the month of December I purchased three of these items. Two were hardware version 2.0. One of them was hardware version 1.0. Supposedly, according to TP-Link, the only difference between the two versions is the newer logo. I beg to differ. Both items that are hardware version 2.0 work perfectly with no issues. The one that is hardware version 1.0 works terribly. Its hard to connect to my network. It falls off my network all the time. And its nearly impossible to get it back on my network when it falls off. The plug is literally 10 feet away from my wireless router. The other two that work properly are farther away from the router. If I had purchased only one item and it was hardware version 1.0, I would have concluded these plugs suck in performance. If I had received only one plug that was hardware version 2.0 I would be offering nothing but praise. But, because I received two hardware version 2.0 plugs and one hardware version 1.0 plug, it was easy to conclude there was a tremendous difference between the two hardware versions. You can determine the hardware version in the app used to control the devices. If you have a hardware version 1.0 plug and are having problems with it, I highly encourage you to return it and get the hardware version 2.0. I can only hope the replacement in transit to me right now will be hardware version 2.0. If not its going right back to Amazon.

I never thought Id buy one of these. But I got one as a gift with an Amazon Echo (also not something I thought Id ever buy). It sat for months until I finally decided, what the heck, Ill set up a floor lamp using this. Set up was relatively simple. The app can be kind of glitchy though and sometimes it loses my preset schedule, but then it appears again, so Im not sure what that is. I moved in with my boyfriend so it migrated to his house. He enjoyed getting to give the lamp a ridiculous name. Its actually turned out to be very convenient because we no longer come home at night to a dark house due to the schedule the lamps are on. And when were watching tv/movies, we can turn off the lamp without getting up. It became so convenient we bought one for the lamp on the other side of the room, which my boyfriend also enjoyed giving a ridiculous name. Now I kind of want one for the floor lamp in the bedroom (its such a first world problem, but its a pain to get out of bed to turn off the lamp when you just got in it). However, wed need another Amazon smart device, and I havent decided if I want to buy one of those yet. Still a little iffy on Alexa listening to all that I do, and do I really want her in the bedroom listening?

This link was ultra easy to setup and pair to the wifi. I used the free iPhone app and was able to get setup in under 2 minutes (I already had the Kasa account setup) and best of all once it was setup I could unplug it from one wall outlet and move it to another without having to re-do anything. It also was able to be programmed to turn on and off at a specific time of day so my first major setup was the Christmas tree, and a trainset which wowed the family. If you are considering automating anything with the plug though it should be something that is a simple on/off, and that you will never want to turn off manually or you will have to have easy access to the plug. So if you have an outlet behind a couch and connect a floor lamp, youll need your phone or have to move the couch. Pairing with Alexa can fix this, but be careful if you or the family are in the habit of turning off the lamp directly, its a tough habit to break. The biggest complaint I have is on the size of the outlet itself. The unit is so large that it will cover both outlets on any standard two outlet panel. It also is very thick and sticks outs from the wall, again making it sub-optimal for plugging in behind any furniture. pushed up against the wall.

This review is for an item I just received. The setup is straightforward, TP-Link include a small card that takes you through the basics of setting up the switch on your home network. It took a lot longer to move the couch and physically install the switch than it did to do the network setup. To setup the device you do need a smart phone or tablet to instal the KASA app. Not sure why they call it KASA. The KASA app searches for devices and runs through the setup onto your WIFi. I checked for new Firmware using the KASA app but it the unit I received was up to date. Wemo devices need updating frequently, maybe TP-Link have simply got this right. Alexa integration worked first time without issues and has been solid since. TP-Link instructions on the web have you use the Alexa app on your phone to detect the devices, you can in fact do this by voice command by saying, Alexa, discover devices, wish the instructions had incuded the voice command. I attached two living room lamps to this one smart switch and it works fine. Using a smart switch without the need for a hub is a much simpler and cheaper way to control lamps than getting smart bulbs plus a hub. I was successful in controlling the switch away from home using my phone, but I found it doesnt work consistently like it does when at home. Id occasionally get a could not connect message. Waiting 10 seconds or so resolved the issue. It is possible to establish scheduled on/off events for each of your switches at different times of day and days of the week. It has an away Mode but this was kinda useless. You can say you will be away from 9am to 6pm for instance and schedules are modified, however much more useful would be an away mode over multiple days for when you are away on vacation. I was surprised that managing your switches cannot be done on the web. The Phone app works fine, but the limited screen size limits how much they can get on the scree at once. Id like the ability to manage the switch(s) from a web page. The Amazon Echo has both app and web page control, TP-Link need to do the same.

<Update 6.20.2016> I love these units & cannot wait (though Im going to have to anyway) for the HS200 TP Link Smart Switch (In-wall light switch) to come to the market per their latest software update note under the Whats New. Ive had my first TP Link Smart Plug (see the original post below) for about 6 weeks now, my second for about 4 weeks & they are working flawlessly. As mentioned in my OP, I wanted a unit for my entertainment center & have since received & installed it. Drove my college student (whos home for the summer) nuts as the power was not on in the mornings. For the 4 weeks since having the second unit (I called it the TV power), she could not figure out how to get power to the TV. She finally unplugged the power strip from the smart plug & plugged it directly into the wall below the HS100. So I finally showed the family how to work them (mainly just so they wouldnt keep unplugging & plugging in the power chords). On another note, I finally received my Amazon Echo (just in time for Fathers day, wahoo!) and so I now have the Smart Plugs hooked up to the World Wide Web, the Internet super highway, the Internet of Things, etc., etc. I understand the frustrations some people have posted regarding the connection to the Echo & I believe I have figured out why. Amazons Alexa App is in need of some serious TLC. TP Links Kasa App is doing what its suppose to do. In my original post, I had a small issue with connectivity of the software to the units which still exists but not near as rough since the latest software update. Still, when youre not connected to your LAN (because youve been away or simply have the WiFi / Data off) & want to adjust something in the schedules or simply turn the lamp on, connecting wirelessly sometimes has a hiccup. Each unit has to ping constantly (every 1.5 to 2 seconds as it was explained to me) to your LAN to let the router know the unit is there. When you connect your phone to the LAN, you may just connect in between those pings in which case the software on the phone may come back & say There are no connected devices. It does offer a pre-configured devices ribbon which you can select to initiate the units connectivity through the smart phone (see the uploaded pics). After selecting the ribbon, you have to select the little plus button on the right of each device until you have the no unsaved devices screen, then your units are active for you (5 stars now that I understand the software & realize that most of the frustrations are not the fault of TP Link). After I finally created an account with TP Link (all you need is an email address & a password, no personal information is required) I went back into the Kasa App & set the first unit to remote. In the Alexa App, I had to select the Skills in the menu & do a search for Kasa (there are over 123 PAGES of skills & no file management system in the Alexa App). After getting Kasa as a skill & initiating it, I then had to go to the Smart Home in the menu & select the Kasa skill to find the HS100 Smart Plug. This is where the frustrations started for me. The skill was not there. I know I had found it & selected the skill & initiated it but it was not listed. So I went back to the list & did another search for the Kasa (its on like page 71 & each time you go into the list, it starts on page 1). After the third time & about an hour plus, I discovered a search box where I could type the name Kasa & search & it would find about half a dozen skills to choose from, duh! What an idiot. Lucky we have the skills name otherwise its a page by page search until you find what your looking for. Anyway, I digress. The skill was not showing up in the Alexas Smart Home directory. I was about to put the phone down & walk away before something got seriously injured when I realized I had a couple updates to finish on my phone. One of these updates was a 34 megabyte update. Ive read that if you have a decent size (dont ask me what decent size means, I figured 20 meg or better) update, you should reboot your system after updating. So after my update I rebooted my phone & figured ok, Im cooled down a bit, Ill try the Alexa App one more time. Opening the App, I went straight to the Smart Home directory & whadyaknow, the Kasa skill was there. Finally, a step forward. Opening the skill, I can now (finally) have the Kasa skill find the HS100 Smart Plug. Picking the find devices gave me an immediate you have no internet connection message. Then I walked away! This is a long story but I promise it has a happy ending (well, sort of). A few hours of thinking about it I came back to try again. I figured perhaps because the HS100s connect via 2.4 GHz & the Echo connects to the more active 5 GHz, the two are not communicating. So I purposely connected my phone to the 2.4 GHz, opened the Kasa app & verified I could connect to each of my Smart Plugs. Then while leaving the Kasa app open, I went back into the Amazon Alexa app, into the Smart Home directory, & picked the find devices once again. The you have no internet connection message immediately popped up. So I figured the only way I could find the skill to begin with was to reboot the phone so I rebooted once again. I forgot to connect to the 2.4 GHz & open the Kasa app to verify my units were accessible, I just went straight to the Alexa app and after picking the find devices button it came back with a message, searching for devices. This can take up to 20 seconds. Wahoo! It worked, I found my HS100 named the Lamp. Now there are three ways of turning the Lamp on. I can say Alexa, turn on the lamp and Alexa says, ok and the lamp comes on. I can push the power button on the front of the unit and the lamp comes on. And I can wait for the scheduled time and the lamp comes on. These units are AWESOME!!! Of course I had set only the Lamp to remote in the Kasa app so I had to go back to the Kasa app & change the TV power to remote so I could find it in the Alexa app. I had to go through rebooting the phone a couple more times to get my second unit connected with the Echo but I am now connected & my college kid is happy to say Alexa, turn on the TV power so she can watch a movie instead of getting a summer job, ggrrr! ____Original Post____ This is a true product review & I paid full price for the TP Link Smart Plug (HS100, no Energy Monitoring) unit. So with that said, let me tell you my current thoughts on this product after playing with it a mere four days. I dont yet have an echo (its on order) but am preparing for its arrival. So in the mean time I figured Id try this on my local LAN before submitting my so called Smart house to the wiles of the internet. The unit itself is easy enough to work with. You can use it as a single outlet power switch & simply push the button to turn it on and off, much like a six outlet power strip with a switch, but this would be a single outlet. But I want a timer control switch that will automatically turn on at a certain time & off at a certain time & I want to (in the future) have that timer & simply override it with a phrase, Alexa, turn on the lamp. So I needed to connect it to the LAN for starters. After following the instructions for downloading the software (Kasa for Mobile) from Google play I began my assault. My phone automatically connects to my 5 GHz WiFi so I had to manually change it to the 2.4 GHz as this frequency is the only one this Smart plug will work with currently. Reasons are listed on the website (tp-link.us) Now there are two buttons on this unit; a small button on the very top with a light grey gear icon on it is for its configuration (visibility) when connecting to your phone via the local LAN and the other button in the front just above the outlet is a two tone LED light/power button. This is the button you push to simply turn the power strip on/off. This button flashes orange/green when you first plug it in which tells you its ready to begin the connection phase. The app found the plug pretty quickly & began asking me the questions needed to control this plug like what to call it (important to name it something unique to the situation). I called it the lamp. What, Its the only lamp in my family room & I dont intend on connecting any other lamps in the house to the Echo so ... Alexa, turn on the lamp will work very nicely. I can go back & change the name of the plug if I need to. The app then asked for the password to my LAN so my phone can connect to the plug. This is where I screwed everything up cause I couldnt remember what the password was. After resetting the plug a couple times (I now know the reset button works) I got the unit setup & the lamp was on. The software, while easy enough to understand is a bit too simplistic in its presentation which leads to a little frustration in finding what you are searching for. Lemme esplain. I wanted the plug as a timer so I needed to get a schedule setup. You need to tap on the lamp on the left side of the apps screen as the right side is the power switch for controlling the plug via phone. Then you have to pic the three little dots to open a menu so you can pic the schedule selection button. I suppose this is necessary cause if you have several plugs, you will need to determine which one you are working with and there are a few options in menu as well. So I set the schedule for an early morning on & mid morning off, Monday thru Friday. Then created a second schedule for Sunset on & late evening off, Monday thru Sunday. Now mind you this is connected to the local LAN which means if you want a current Sunset time, you have to have your phone connected to the unit to get it as the current Sunset changes daily & the unit needs a connection to the Internet to get that time. Duh! No wonder the lamp was coming on early, the Sunset time was current when I programmed it but is now later than when the lamp comes on as my phone is not connected to the LAN to feed the unit the current Sunset time. :-P A bit of a frustration is when you have a cloudy or stormy afternoon & it gets dark well before sunset. So I wanted to override the current setting & turn the lamp on. Well low & behold when I opened the app, it said there were no current devices configured, would you like to configure one now? Then a little popup display said You have had a previous unit configured which you can access after setting up a new device. After several minutes of getting out of the app, going back in, getting out, disconnecting the phone from the LAN, reconnecting, disconnecting, rebooting the phone, reconnecting, I was ready to unplug the unit & plug the lamp into the wall socket. I thought, All I want to do is turn on the lamp. How lazy am I that I cant reach up and turn the knob, I have to have a Smart Plug. BUT, I wanted the Smart Plug for the timer function. So I was going to Add Device for the fourth time. After picking the Smart Plug icon & giving it a name (the lamp, how original) the app found my previous device & the schedule I was able to turn on the lamp (losing 1 star for this). Havent had an issue with it since but its been a mere four days. On another note, I want to comment on others posts regarding this unit. There is a question/post about why it will not turn on a TV. Unless you have one of those old tube style TVs with a manual toggle switch that you can keep in the ON position, this will not turn on a TV. This Smart Plug is designed to simply deliver power to the TV. As I mentioned earlier, in its most basic form this unit is a one outlet power strip, that is all. The specifications of this unit are for a 100-120 Volt AC outlet with a 15amp load maximum. I have not overloaded this unit to see what would happen but my current wiring for my entertainment system (TV, DVD Player, Wii, etc) are all on one six outlet power strip on a 15amp breaker & they have not tripped the breaker yet. With that said, there is a lot of residual power being leaked by these devices while in a dormant state. I plan to order another TP-Link Smart Plug and schedule a time for these devices to receive power so they can be used. They will be off during the night & when Im away from the home, powered when I am home so I can use them. Another post or two or four mentions this unit is large & covers both wall outlets. While technically this is true, this is also technically not true. This unit has a lip on the back side where the prongs plug into the wall. A standard two prong plug can fit nicely under this unit & both seat perfectly (see the pics I loaded) while anything larger will not. You just have to plug the two prong plug into the bottom outlet first, then plug this unit into the top outlet. In the pics, I have my iClever 6 port charging station plugged into the bottom outlet (need constant power to a charging station) & the lamp via the Smart Plug in the top outlet.

I cant imagine life without this plug. It brings the future and the present together and I live in a world where Benjamin Franklin would be so jealous. I can start off by telling you why I purchase this. The main reasons are because it integrates with Alexa and its smart. Does it work well with Alexa? 95% of the time yes. Is it smart? If I take advantage of the mobile apps capability then yes. This device only works if you can manage to leave the the device you want to plug in always on. For example, leave the switch on for a lamp to be able to control its power with the smart plug. This is a pretty fat plug that is going to cover up two of your regular outlets. One way around this is to purchase a small surge protector and plug this smart plug into one of the surge protectors outlet. This way you can still have a couple of free outlets. Of course after you find an outlet for this smart plug, you also need the mobile application on iOS and Android to set up the plug. Set up is very easy and takes up to a minute. After you finish setting up, prepare for a new beginning to a better life. The plug has an easy to reach button thats fun to click to decide whether to provide power or not to the plug. Its easier to click this button rather than finding the switch on your lamp. Another feature is to be able to turn the power on or off using the mobile app. It only takes a few simple presses to find your smart plug in the app and then click the power button. Theres also a scheduler and a timer to have even more control over the plug using time. The plug can also periodically turn on and off to trick people into thinking youre home. I mean how else are you supposed to sneak away without fooling that crazy friend of yours? I cant talk about the smart plug without talking about its friends, the app and Alexa. The app is very easy to use and designed very nicely. It takes up to a minute to learn where everything is located in the app such as where are the features. And Alexa... She plays well with this plug. Theres a couple of need to know commands and those are turn on device name and turn off device name. Thats it! Easy to use. What do I use it for though? I mostly use it for light control. I have a lamp hooked up to the plug and I dont even bother using my ceiling lights anymore. Thats too much work to get up out of my cozy office chair, walk probably 6 feet, and smack the switch to turn on/off the ceiling lights. Nahhhh this is the 21st century and we need to enjoy it. I use my voice to command my servant if I need light. I use my app to command my servant if I need light. That lamp doesnt own me anymore. I dont go to the lamp and ask it for light. I tell that lamp I want light. I tell it to turn on. I tell it to turn off. This is my house and that lamp works for me! Thats how you use the plug!

I am fully satisfied with my Kasa HS100 smart plug. My first smart plugs were Belkin Wemo. I changed to these Kasa plugs because they reconnect to my WiFi *reliably* after a power outage. My Wemo plugs requires usually a unplug/plug cycle with the latest firmware before they connect - very annoying! I have an iPhone so I use the free IOS Kasa app from the iTunes store. Once installed on my phone setup is very easy and the app walks me through the process. I had my switch up and running in just a few minutes. You will need to create a Kasa account and being a bit paranoid I was sure to use a strong password. Happily the IOS app and Alexa skill remember the password so a long/complicated password is no hardship for the typing impaired like me! Getting it voice enabled with Alexa just required enabling the Kasa skill from the smart home settings in the Alexa app, connecting to me Kasa account and discovering devices again just a few minutes. Like my Wemo plugs the HS100 can be connected to IFTTT for more advanced control and can also be scheduled for convenience. I like having these options available, but in my use I pretty much and must telling Alexa to turn on or off the reading light plugged into this switch. Sometimes I turn it on/off from the app or just check if I think I may have left the light on when Ive left home. In conclusion Kasa is very much like the Wemo plugs I started with in terms of function and features. What makes Kasa much better for me is how well it handles recovering after a power outage. When I got mine I wasnt expecting to like it so much. It has exceeded my original expectations and thats a 5 star performance to me. Ive not had a single problem with mine.

UPDATE: back to five stars because these just wirk! i bought some ekticity ones to compare amd i couldnt get them to configure at all! order two more of these same day delivery and they went in like buttah. im happy npw. gave this 3stars because it WAS 5stars, until i had to deal with customer service, which was <1star, to say the least. i got a new router, got it all set up, it wouldnt find my smart plug. followed the instructions, which were just a futile loop, a dozen times, then came here, where it advertises customer support 24/7 with no link where to get it. googled their web page, held a reasonable anount of time, finally connected to a girl who had absolutely no idea what she was doing, and barely spoke english. spent a futile half hour during which i told her what i was doing step by step, instead of the other way around, and finally asked to speak to someone else. there was no one else. supervisor. hold. horrible music. i tried reconnecting a couple more times, nada. then i got the bright idea to set up another, brand new plug which i was planning on doing next, anyway, and voila! it picked up the new router fine. went back to reconfigure that old one and voila! it now picked up the new router fine. she came back on the line to tell me the supervisor was too busy, and i very slowly explained to her what i had done. i have very little confidence that she understood. takeaway: IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE THE ROUTER ON ONE OF THESE PLUGS, YOU FIRST HAVE TO SET UP A WHOLE BRAND NEW ONE. it will then pick up the new router settings and connect to it automaticaly when you go back and re-set up the old one. this has obvious advantages, to them, and very blatant disadvantages to the consumer. i have been buying these one at a time as i convert each room to smart and had planned to buy several more. now i will buy another brand.

Was looking for Echo Smart Home compatible smart plugs that didnt need some centralized management unit. The reviews on the HS100s by TP-Link mostly sounded favorable so I bought a couple to try out. The Echo integration works in two steps. First step is to configure the plugs with the TP-Link KASA app which requites setting up a free account and configuring each plug one at a time, naming the plug and joining it to your network. Once thats done, you can control them with your KASA app off your smart phone. The first one configured up fine but my second one had issues which were resolved by doing a rest on it twice and it finally assimilated. In the KASA app you can also setup schedules and calendars for your individual sockets as well, its actually a decent app. The next step is the Echo integration. This involves opening the Echo app and going to Smart Home and learning the KASA TP-Link skills. You will link Echo to your newly created KASA account and then discover devices. The devices will show up as whatever name you gave them in the KASA app. This is also the name you will use when you say Alexa turn <name> on (or off). So setup is fairly easy as long as your follow the correct order of operations and your plugs cooperate. So far Ive had them installed for a couple days and they have not dropped off the network yet. Theyre on my 2.5ghz wifi guest network. The plugs and the rest of your wifi devices dont necessarily need to be on the same wifi network. If youre into security and your router is capable, you could setup a new wifi network just for things and connect your HS100s to that new network. This would get around some of the issues people have with spaces not being support in wifi network names/passwords. As long as everything has open access to the Internet, Echo can control the HS100s just fine on the same network or a different network. From what I can tell, Echo does not directly talk to your plugs. Echo talks to KASA cloud services and KASA in turns talks to your HS100 smart plugs. So far very happy with the HS100s. Will update if anything significant happens positive or negative with them in the future. But I plan on buying more (when theyre on sale again). Update 9/8/16 : These HAD been working flawlessly but for some reason 24 hours ago, they suddenly stopped working. I dont believe that its Alexa, both my plugs still appear in the Alexa app as learned. However when I open the KASA app, it no longer shows the devices so pretty weird how all of a sudden theyve disappeared from the KASA app. I suppose to fix it ill need to start the configuration from scratch again . -1 star for sudden problems with no explanation. Update 12/15/17 : Ive added two more of these to my home thanks to holiday sale promotions with alexa devices. Im using two of them for christmas lights/decorations and have them grouped to come on or off when i ask for Christmas Lights to go on or off. Works great, took like 10 minutes or less to get setup and working, granted Im now pretty experienced with these as all my smart home devices are TP-Link with Alexa. I know what to do when to do it and how to configure it, and it all works great. Will prob be looking at adding some other TP-Link devices in the new year like their cameras. Been very happy with these products. TO follow up on my previous review, once in a while the Kasa servers have a hiccup and voice commands wont operate and the app goes wonkey. When this happens dont do anything just wait it out, use the manual on/off options included. The plugs have on/off buttons for manual override and the light bulbs will go on/off with a light switch. Just flip the light switch off, then on again and the light will come on. When kasa recovers just turn your light on again and wait 30 seconds or so for it to connect and then voice command it to go off.

In my opinion, critical thing here is these are UL certified which is important if you dont want to burn your house down if trying to use with high-current device. I have a space heater in my home office which is in a kinda remote place in my house and I wanted to control it from google home. The heater has 1500 watt capacity which at 120 volts is in the neighborhood of ~12 amps (more to that calculation than I know) so theres not a tremendous amount of wiggle room in order to stay a decent amount below capacity, which I prefer. The UL certification gives me a substantial amount of peace of mind over not being certified and that is why I chose to buy this socket over other ones. On top of all of that, TP-Link has been doing a tremendously good job at integrating all of their devices and improving their user interfaces in ways I havent seen their competitors do in my anecdotal experience. I just coincidentally have a TP-Link mesh wifi network for my house. If TP-Link didnt have a UL certified plug and a competitor did, I would have bought that. But it happened to be TP-Link too. If or when my TP-Link account becomes relevant, I already have it set up. 1 account, all devices, and they are for the (arguably) best consumer (vs prosumer) devices available for sale. Bought to go buy some stock...