Echo Dot

The days of kids having a digital clock radio in their bedroom to use as an alarm clock and listen to their favorite radio station are long gone.  They now apparently have Echo Dots.  As a high school teacher I know than many high school students no longer know how to read an analog clock.  Soon I think the digital clock will be gone as well.   We will just ask our devices what time it is.   Amazon is making it really easy to fill up your house with these Echo devices.  Lowering the price on the 3rd generation Echo dot to $30 for the holidays was a smart move.  I am sure they converted a lot more customers into their ecosystem as well as got many more existing customers to purchase more devices.

Interestingly, this is the first Echo Dot device that I have purchased, I have a 1st generation Echo Show that I am pretty happy with.  The Echo dot had been reviewed ad-nauseum so there is probably not much I can add here.  It looks a lot nicer than the previous generation and the sound output seems pretty good for a device its size.  Won't come close to teh sound of Sonos speakers obviously.  The external speaker jack is interesting and something I may experiment with although I am invested in Sonos speakers so I probably won't go too far down that path.

My only complaint has to do with the echo device integration with Sonos speakers.  Every time you say the wake word to any Echo device all Sonos speakers in my house are muted.   So my daughter was playing a game on her Echo and all of our Sonos speakers that were playing music muted while the was talking to her Echo.  I think it does that so that the Echo devices can hear more clearly but it really causes an seemingly unnecessary interruption.  Something I may have to look into a workaround for.

WIFI Smart Plug

 

I think every smart home enthusiast has dreams of a home where every light, appliance or fixture is somehow connected to the internet and can be turned on or off with the swipe of a finger on a smart phone or a wake word on a digital assistant.  The reality is, for most of us, it is still way too expensive to retrofit our homes with all of the tech.  The other issue is this technology is in its infancy so 5 years from now there will be new and better products so too big of an investment early may not be too smart.

There are ways to accomplish this dream.  We have smart bulbs, but at $10 a bulb minimum it can still get pretty pricey to outfit a whole house.  I have at least 120 light bulbs in my home not including outside lights and can lights.  By replacing all of them I would not gain any cost savings and the convenience gain is not worth the money for me.   The next logical step would be smart plug.  These smart outlets plug into your wall outlet and can be controlled by an app, a timer or a digital assistant.  You could also plug a power strip into the smart plug and control a group of appliances.  But again, to outfit a whole house with these to me is not cost effective given the price of around $20 per plug.

I have always been intrigued by these smart plugs but never had an obvious use case for just one of them so I held off on purchasing any.  Then my electric utility had one of their promotions where I could purchase 10 60 watt equivalent LED bulbs and get a free Linksio Smart Plug.  So I pulled the trigger.  I have never heard of the company Linksio and they don't even sell their products on Amazon but the product seems to be identical to many of the smart plugs from WEMO, Amazon and other manufacturers, and the price was right.  Most of these smart plugs work with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and IFTTT.

After setting up my smart plug I was able to synch it with Alexa so I can ask her to turn on/off the plug which was pretty cool but I was still at a loss of where to use the plug.  I plugged my home entertainment center power strip into it thinking I would use the smart switch to turn off all of my electronics components and save some money on the phantom power usage but soon realized that my cable box has a five minute power on boot so that wouldn't work for my family.   So my smart plug stayed on until the holidays when I finally had a use case.  My Christmas tree, in order to turn off the lights I need to bend down and crawl under the tree to unplug it.  Now all I have to say is Alexa, turn on/off the Christmas tree.   Is that worth $20?  Maybe, for the cool factor and impressing friends.

The one other useful feature that many of these smart plugs offer is energy monitoring.   So whatever is plugged into the smart outlet can be monitored and you can see how many watts it is using in real time and by month and year. So I can see my Christmas tree lights are using 19.8 watts and my home entertainment components were using over 100 watts.  I probably won't be purchasing any more smart plugs anytime soon but it will be useful around the holidays and if I ever need to determine how much electricity an appliance is using I am set.

FEIT Smart WIFI Color bulb

I have been wanting to add some color smart lights to my home for the past couple years but I just can't justify the cost that some of the major manufacturers are charging for their bulbs.  Both Philips Hue and LIFX are upwards of $40 per bulb and with Philips Hue you also need to buy a hub.  I have well over 100 bulbs in my house which I recently upgraded to LED so the cost to replace them all would be astronomical.  So I decided to wait until the price comes down or until I find a real use case for the bulbs.  Then last month my electric utility, National Grid has a promotion where if I bought 8 led bulbs from them for $10, I would also get a FEIT Electric Smart WIFI color bulb.  This was a no brainer for me, I bought 2 of the promotional packages and got 16 regular LEDs and 2 color smart bulbs for $20!!  You can purchase one FEIT Smart WIFI color bulb on Amazon for under $20 which is half the price of the other color smart bulb manufacturers.

      

For basically free color smart lights I did not expect these light to have the functionality of Hue or LIFX but I have to say I am pretty impressed with these lights.   The lights are very bright and the colors are pretty close to what I would expect of reds greens and blues.  On the non color settings you change the temperature from warn to cool and they are dimmable as well.

The FEIT Electric app is just ok.  Again, I wasn't expecting much for the price of the bulbs but the basic functionality is there.  You can group the lights, change colors, temperature or dim the lights.  There is a basic on/off timer but unfortunately no dusk/dawn timer so if you plan to use them as outdoor lighting you will have to change the timer every few months to keep up with the changing sunset/sunrise.  I couldn't find any information from the manufacturer about using these bulbs outside but their Amazon page says they are damp rated and can be used in enclosed fixtures.

 I have both of my bulbs installed in outdoor covered fixtures.  I decided to use them as Christmas lights so one is red and one is green.  I truly expected them to die in a couple days outside in our cold New England climate but they have been faithfully been turning on and off using the timer for a couple weeks now.  I will probably switch them back to regular white lights after the holiday.

Setup was fairly straightforward.  Install the app, register and then discover the lights.  I had to go through discovery process twice with each light but eventually it worked for me.  I do consider myself to be pretty technically savvy and I don't mind tinkering with tech As I mentioned earlier the app has very basic functionality.  No synching with music or scenes like the other expensive manufacturers.  Also it does not work with IFTTT so no getting the bulbs to work with other smart devices, kind of a disappointment as this would add to the functionality, maybe sometime in the future.  My only other hope would be that they will add a dusk/dawn timer as that seems like it would be a pretty simple software update.

They also work with Amazon Alexa and Google assistant.  I have only tried using Alexa but it seems to work just fine.  Just tell Alexa to turn the lights on or off or to change the color and she does it.  My eleven year old daughter has already asked for one of these bulbs for her room and for under $20 I just may purchase a couple for her and my son's rooms.   Overall great smart color WIFI lights for the price.

Dyson V8 Absolute Cordless Vacuum

Not sure if this really qualifies as a smart product but it is definitely high tech and the time it saves me makes it smart for me.   I have owned a Dyson DC14 corded vacuum for the past 10 years and I love it.  Cleans great and is easy to maintain.  But with a large, almost 5,000 square foot house the cord is really a hassle not to mention lugging the heavy DC14 up and down the stairs.  So we decided to treat ourselves this past holiday to a new Dyson cordless vacuum.

Dyson has been making the cordless vacuum for quite a few years now and really seem to have figured the technology out.   They recently announced that they will no longer be making the corded vacuums as the cordless models produce the same suction power.  Models offered range from the original V6 to the latest model, the V10.   Each progressive model offers better suction and battery life but obviously get more expensive.  At this time the V6 can be purchased for around $160 and the top of the line V10 will set you back about $550 on sale. Within each model line they over sub lines with different attachments.  The basic sub line is the motorhead the has just one motorized cleaning head.   The next line up is the Animal which has a more powerful torque drive cleaning head for removing pet hair from carpets and furniture.   The top of the line Absolute model line includes a motorized cleaning head for carpets as well as a fluffy head for cleaning hard wood floors.  It also includes a mini cleaning head and various other attachments for crevices, curtains and pretty much anything you need to clean.

Having a home that is all hardwood and a few area rugs I knew I needed the Absolute model so my only decision was V6, V7, V8 or V10.  With a larger house longer battery life is important so I know I needed a later model so my decision was ultimately between the V8 and V10.  A read lots of reviews and both models were reviewed well so ultimately it came down to price and functionality.  One thing I didn't like about the V10 is you have to remove the extension tube in order to empty the dust bin and the V8 was about $150 cheaper so V8 it was.  I have been using the product for over a month now and and am pretty satisfied with my V8 Absolute.

Battery Life

One thing I was a bit concerned about was battery life and would I be able to clean the whole house on a charge.   I am happy to report that I can clean the whole house with charge to spare.  I use the low power mode which seems plenty powerful.  The full power mode is only needed when there is a really dirty spot.  It has been really useful getting the Christmas tree needles out of the carpet.

Usability

The cordless vacuum has made cleaning so much easier, I am finding myself cleaning more often as it is so easy to just grab the V8, pop on the proper head and clean the mess.  Vacuuming stairs is so much easier than my old DC14, I don't have to worry about the extension tube damaging walls.  The fluffy floor motorized cleaner is great for my hardwoods.  Every once in a while a small rock would get stuck under the wheels of my old Dyson and would cause scratches in my floor.   This has not happened with my V8.  Anther great benefit of my V8 is the ease of vacuuming under furniture and beds.  I don't think I had cleaned under my bed since I moved into my house three years ago.

Cleaning

It goes without saying that the fluffy head does a great job on hardwood floors which I have throughout my home.  The few area rugs I have seem to get at least as clean as my old corded Dyson and that is on the low setting.  I have not used all of the attachments yet but cleaning stairs is so much easier and I am saving a lot of time.  The V8  really makes vacuuming fun.

Setup

Once concern I had about a cordless vacuum was where to store it.   My wife wanted it somewhere out of the way where it could not be seen.  So the dining room and family room were out,  Our closets don't have any outlets so I was left with the mudroom.   Perfect place for a vacuum.  We have it out of the way in a corner near the washer and dryer.   Installing it was simple.  Dyson  provides all the hardware, just install the drywall anchors, screw it in, let it charge for a couple hours and you are off to the races.

My complaints

I don't have a whole lot to complain about the V8.  The dustbin is way smaller than my corded Dyson so that means emptying the bin a lot more frequently.  Usually a couple times if I am cleaning the whole house.  My only other complaint is the V8 does not seem as solid as my old corded Dyson.  Not that it seems cheap but there just seems to be a bit of play after connecting the parts together,  I think it is by design but was not something I was expecting.

Overall

Overall I am very happy with my Dyson V8 Absolute.   It is saving me lots of time and getting my house cleaner than it ever was.  No more worrying about the cord not reaching places or having to carry a heavy vacuum up and down the stairs.   Can't really beat the Dyson V8 Absolute for the price and functionality.