Best Home Automation Modules
Plug in a Wemo Mini Smart Plug, download the free app, and control your lights and appliances from your phone and your voice through Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. Pair with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant built-in devices like Google Home and control your lights and appliances with your voice. Nest can sync with Wemo for automatic home/away control.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"After receiving two defective units from Amazon, and before returning the second, I decided to play around with it more and do some more research online. I spent over an hour with WeMo tech support, who offered no solutions, and made me jump through a bunch of hoops in the process. The issue with these early units lies in the fact that they seem to get "confused" if you have other WeMo devices in your home. So long story short, if you have other WeMo devices in your household, and have trouble getting this WeMo mini to connect, try unplugging as many of the other devices as you can (they will automatically reconnect online after you plug them back in), factory reset the mini, and go through the setup process again."
"The Bridge wasn't a need but it is nice to be able to control all the outlets with Siri or just in the Apple Homekit app, especially at night when I want to turn a lamp off remotely and quietly (i.e. not using my voice to wake up my wife)."
"Relevant background to my skill levels: I bought a couple of the plugs so that I could experiment with how to automate my home. I have an advanced router with repeater, fully LAN & WAN connected house, with network switches, POE devices etc. The WEMO devices were not recognized by the app on my phone, until I switched it to the same wifi network as they were running on. I cannot set up a smart house with devices that require a full factory reboot and me to delete the app, reset all rules from scratch, every time the power fails or blips. Sorry Belkin, but you also have a lot of people on your own Community pages with many similar problems & your own support is not the one finding solutions, it is other users who have more time to do this than most of the rest of us have. So, folks, if you read this far, don't waste your time & money, these devices are great in concept, but are far from Implementation Ready for mainstream use. Updated 3/17 to add rules screenshot showing the app issue with no days selectable. I still struggle with the concept that I am the only person with this issue & that it is identical on 2 unrelated Apple devices that are on different accounts. Just a side note - when Customers are on the phone with your reps, when discussing the product, it really makes a better impression of your company when they are aware of who your major competitor(s) are. So I was really very angry about how much time & energy I had spent on this whole exercise & I was absentmindedly tapping my phone screen repeatedly, when I suddenly noticed that it was highlighting days of the week. I have still lost significant confidence in the product & am very unsure if I want to invest in any more of them to automate other parts of my home at this time."
"I have 2 out of 5 switches that constantly crash - one won't work at all anymore. I have 3 switches that seem to be okay however they show up greyed out on Cellular - however they work through the Alexa App."
Wemo Light Switch seamlessly replaces your old wall light switch. Control you lights from Wemo Light Switch on the wall, the Wemo app, and even your voice with both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. Pair Wemo Light Switch with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant built-in devices like Google Home to turn your lights on or off with just the power of your voice.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This light switch and the other outlet style plug has worked reliably for over 3 years. However, you are at the mercy of your internet connection and if you happen to be away while the network crashes, you won't be able to communicate with the switches. They do support security password keys, but if you want an extra layer of protection, turn on your router/basestation's MAC address control to enable only recognized and authorized devices access to your wireless network. IFTTT will integrate all the functionality of your smart devices with WEMO and ALEXA (NEST and others too). The GPS in a smart phone can be used to create an invisible fence that can turn WEMO switches on/off as you pass in/out of its perimeter."
"In my experience, most switches don't require the extra "white" constant power line. It's rare enough, it has never caused any trouble for me, but assuming it is the fault of the switch, it could be a problem for some."
"Connecting to the WiFi was also not difficult for me. The initial firmware update took quite a long time and the initial iPhone app version that I downloaded was *very* slow to detect the switches each time I loaded the app, but they seem to have fixed the latter issue. In between each question, she would tell me to "hold on a second" and mute her line, before often (at least 10 times, no exaggeration) returning and asking me a question I had already answered. For now, I have two switches that cannot connect to WiFi and one that cannot even turn the lights on. To make it worse: they only provide (poor) customer service for free for 90 days! I really wanted to like the product, and I would have if there was some quality control or better customer support, but unfortunately for me it didn't work out."
Voice Control with Amazon Alexa & Google Home. GMYLE Mini Smart Plug is compatible with Amazon Alexa and Google Home. All you need to do is setting up your Smart Plug with wifi network, plug in and register the appliances. Countdown function allows you to turn on or off appliance automatically, preventing power waste and over-charging.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Literally... no joke... 15 minutes to set up the first one and about 2 minutes for the rest. Download the app, get the "skill" for Amazon Alexa and total voice control will be yours. Or have some fun... instead of using "living room" name it "holodeck" and you're trekkie friends will LOVE you!"
"The app however needs some UI tweaking and I hope they can implement a count down timer routine to switch "ON" an appliance and have it on for a specified amount of time and for it to automatically turn "OFF"."
"UPDATE 1/12/15: I was shocked to see many small scratches on the screen of my HTC M8 after a few months."
"It's a steal at this price, but be aware of the potential camera issue which blocks the DuoCamera effects from working."
"Some reviewers have mentioned that the case causes a "duo lens blocked" message to appear when launching the camera. Pros: Replaced my wallet. Excellent phone protection. Looks amazing. built-in stand. Durable build quality. Cons: Occasional "duo lens blocked" message when launching camera. The case makes one-handed operation slightly more difficult. It doesn't fit my car-mount cell phone bracket as well as traditional phone cases."
"after a month and a half one of the units failed."
"I also have a duel band router, so there is no reason why these shouldn’t work...but they don’t!"
Best Dimmer Switches
Wemo Light Switch seamlessly replaces your old wall light switch. Control you lights from Wemo Light Switch on the wall, the Wemo app, and even your voice with both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. Pair Wemo Light Switch with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant built-in devices like Google Home to turn your lights on or off with just the power of your voice.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This light switch and the other outlet style plug has worked reliably for over 3 years. However, you are at the mercy of your internet connection and if you happen to be away while the network crashes, you won't be able to communicate with the switches. They do support security password keys, but if you want an extra layer of protection, turn on your router/basestation's MAC address control to enable only recognized and authorized devices access to your wireless network. IFTTT will integrate all the functionality of your smart devices with WEMO and ALEXA (NEST and others too). The GPS in a smart phone can be used to create an invisible fence that can turn WEMO switches on/off as you pass in/out of its perimeter."
"In my experience, most switches don't require the extra "white" constant power line. It's rare enough, it has never caused any trouble for me, but assuming it is the fault of the switch, it could be a problem for some."
"Connecting to the WiFi was also not difficult for me. The initial firmware update took quite a long time and the initial iPhone app version that I downloaded was *very* slow to detect the switches each time I loaded the app, but they seem to have fixed the latter issue. In between each question, she would tell me to "hold on a second" and mute her line, before often (at least 10 times, no exaggeration) returning and asking me a question I had already answered. For now, I have two switches that cannot connect to WiFi and one that cannot even turn the lights on. To make it worse: they only provide (poor) customer service for free for 90 days! I really wanted to like the product, and I would have if there was some quality control or better customer support, but unfortunately for me it didn't work out."
Best Plug-In Switches
Plug in a Wemo Mini Smart Plug, download the free app, and control your lights and appliances from your phone and your voice through Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. Pair with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant built-in devices like Google Home and control your lights and appliances with your voice. Nest can sync with Wemo for automatic home/away control.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"After receiving two defective units from Amazon, and before returning the second, I decided to play around with it more and do some more research online. I spent over an hour with WeMo tech support, who offered no solutions, and made me jump through a bunch of hoops in the process. The issue with these early units lies in the fact that they seem to get "confused" if you have other WeMo devices in your home. So long story short, if you have other WeMo devices in your household, and have trouble getting this WeMo mini to connect, try unplugging as many of the other devices as you can (they will automatically reconnect online after you plug them back in), factory reset the mini, and go through the setup process again."
"Relevant background to my skill levels: I bought a couple of the plugs so that I could experiment with how to automate my home. I have an advanced router with repeater, fully LAN & WAN connected house, with network switches, POE devices etc. The WEMO devices were not recognized by the app on my phone, until I switched it to the same wifi network as they were running on. I cannot set up a smart house with devices that require a full factory reboot and me to delete the app, reset all rules from scratch, every time the power fails or blips. Sorry Belkin, but you also have a lot of people on your own Community pages with many similar problems & your own support is not the one finding solutions, it is other users who have more time to do this than most of the rest of us have. So, folks, if you read this far, don't waste your time & money, these devices are great in concept, but are far from Implementation Ready for mainstream use. Updated 3/17 to add rules screenshot showing the app issue with no days selectable. I still struggle with the concept that I am the only person with this issue & that it is identical on 2 unrelated Apple devices that are on different accounts. Just a side note - when Customers are on the phone with your reps, when discussing the product, it really makes a better impression of your company when they are aware of who your major competitor(s) are. So I was really very angry about how much time & energy I had spent on this whole exercise & I was absentmindedly tapping my phone screen repeatedly, when I suddenly noticed that it was highlighting days of the week. I have still lost significant confidence in the product & am very unsure if I want to invest in any more of them to automate other parts of my home at this time."
"I have 2 out of 5 switches that constantly crash - one won't work at all anymore. I have 3 switches that seem to be okay however they show up greyed out on Cellular - however they work through the Alexa App."
Best Home Automation Hubs & Controllers
Designed to work with the wires you already have, Sensi thermostat does not require a common wire (c-wire) in many cases, so it is compatible with most heating and cooling systems* (U.S. and Canada only). Set your Sensi thermostat to automatically adjust your homes temperature for location-based temperature control with geofencing, or quickly create a 7-day schedule to reduce wasteful heating and cooling when no one is home. Integrates with Amazon Alexa for voice control and Wink smart home platforms, and works with Google Assistant and Google Home using the free Wink app.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"In my research I learned that my primary complaint the Nest - that the temperature swing was too wide - was addressed by Sensi's "cycle rate" setting. Nest's no-button design is cool, but using a thermostat is not a lecture in UX minimalism, and black-and-chrome doesn't really disappear into the background of my home (white trim and all). Granted, we didn't also install a second Nest to have more temperature sensors, and we didn't buy their $200 talking smoke detectors which also report environmental statistics back to the thermostat. Most people won't care about this but being a network security engineer, I'm impressed that the thermostat has exactly 0 open TCP ports, outbound communication is with one IP, and total traffic is very modest."
"--. I had been wanting to get a WiFi Thermostat for a long time now, but I held off because I was worried that I would buy one that wouldn't be compatible with my home or that I wouldn't be able to figure out how to install it. You select the wires that your current thermostat has, and then the app tells you what to label them and where they will go in the new thermostat. I had never replaced a thermostat before, and it took me under 30 minutes (which includes unboxing, looking for screwdriver, looking for AC unit shut off switch, watching how-to videos included with the app, etc). The app is handy because it also tells you your local Hi and Low temps from the forecast as well as the humidity in your home, upcoming schedule, set temp, actual temp, and the background is either blue, red, or grey depending on if your system is on Cool, Heat, or off at the moment. The only thing this is missing is a few more advanced options for the app, such as specific alerts (like if the temperature is changed manually, I would like to be able to get an instant alert on my phone) and an air filter change reminder that can be set for a certain amount of time (like 1, 2, or 3 months)."