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.

Arlo Doorbell and Chime

Nest and Ring both have doorbells in their smart product lines so I have been anxiously waiting for Arlo to release a doorbell as well.  Arlo took a different path with their version of the smart doorbell releasing an audio doorbell rather than a video doorbell.  There was a bit of angst in some of the online communities regarding Arlo's decision to release an audio doorbell rather than a video doorbell, but I like the idea.   First, already have Arlo cameras at my doors so I don't really need a video doorbell, it would be redundant.  Second, by releasing a audio only product they are able to keep teh price down, although it is still a pretty pricey product.  Ultimately I think Arlo is aiming this product at existing Arlo customers like me.   I ended up purchasing two doorbells and the chime.

Features:

• Mobile notifications - When someone rings your doorbell, the doorbell calls your phone which activates the Arlo app and you can see who is there and speak to them.
• Messaging- If you are not available, the visitor can leave a message that is saved to the cloud
• The doorbell works with exiting chimes or you can purchase a smart chime from Arlo
• Cloud storage - you get 7 days of free cloud storage for messaging
• Long battery life - Arlo claims the included AA batteries will last a year
• Motion detection - The doorbell works with your existing cameras to detect motion
• Silent Mode - You can silence the chime at night when the kids are sleeping
• Alexa Integration - Alexa Devices will notify you when someone rings the doorbell.  Kind of defeats the purpose of the Arlo chime, wish I would have known this before I bought the Arlo Chime.

Installation:

Installation was pretty straight forward.  I did have an issue getting the app to recognize the doorbell initially but it worked on the third or so try.   Once the doorbell is recognized, you select which camera you would like to pair it with and then screw it into the wall.  I bought the Chime accessory so I cannot comment on how well it works with existing chimes but that part seems easy enough to set up if you need to.

First impressions:

I purchased my two Arlo doorbells and a chime to replace an existing dumb wireless doorbell system that I think I paid $20 for.  The two Arlo doorbells and the chime cost me over $200 so it is a pretty expensive product.  The functionality it gives me over the dumb doorbell probably isn't worth the price but I enjoy trying new smart products so I was willing to pay up.  The one nice piece of functionality is I can assign a different chime to my front and side doors so I know which door a visitor is at if I am home.  It also has a nice led ring that lights up when it detects motion so a visitor can see the doorbell at night.

Issues:

The doorbell button itself does not give the user any feedback, when you press the button there is no click or much movement at all so the visitor may not know whether they pressed the doorbell or not.  Of bigger concern is battery life.  Arlo claims a one year battery life but after having my two Arlo doorbells installed for just two weeks one is at 92% and the other 83%.  At this rate neither will last a year.  Definitely something to keep an eye on, if the batteries need to be replaced a few times a year this may become an expensive product and not at all what I was expecting.

Overall:

If you are an Arlo camera owner and are looking to enhance the functionality of an exiting doorbell you may want to look into the Arlo Doorbell.  It is pretty expensive for the functionality it provides but for a tech geek like me it is just another fun toy for my smart home.  It also looks much nicer than my existing $20 dumb wireless doorbell.  This is evidenced by the trick or treaters at my door on Halloween that I caught on camera commenting that it was the nicest doorbell that they have ever seen.

1/27/2018 - Update

So after having the doorbells and chime installed I wanted to give a couple of updates.  The issue with the doorbell not giving any tactile feedback has sort of been fixed.   The doorbell now plays a chime when pressed, there is a little delay but it is better than nothing.  I would still prefer some movement in the button.

My big issue with the doorbells is battery life.  I have two doorbells installed, side door and front door.  I get very little activity at my front door and much more activity at the side door.  The issue I think is that every time activity is detected the LED is activated which kills the battery over time.  These doorbells were installed in late October and I had to replace the batteries in both doorbells this month (January) so just about 3 months of battery life.   Well short of the 12 months that Arlo claims. I think part of the issue may be the cold weather we had the week before that batteries died.  Living in New England cold temperatures are pretty common so I think the sub zero temperatures may have killed the batteries.   Someone suggested Lithium Ion batteries as they do better with cold but of course are much more expensive.   Others on the Arlo community forums have posted similar issues with the batteries dying quickly.

First Alert Onelink Safe & Sound Smart Smoke + Carbon Monoxide Alarm

This is the killer smart home product that I have been hoping for Nest to release for the past couple years.  I love Nest products, I have a couple of their thermostats and have been lusting after their smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.  For $119 though they are just too pricey for just a smoke and carbon monoxide detector.  I have almost 20 smoke and/or carbon monoxide detectors in my home so replacing them all would not make economic sense.  I would have considered replacing a couple if they packed a couple for features into the product.

Now First Alert is releasing a smoke and carbon monoxide detector with a high quality speaker and Alexa built in.  The product is set to be released May 1, 2018, I can't wait to read the reviews and hear about the quality of the speaker.  Unfortunately it is pricey at $250.  To me, if the speaker has high quality sound it is worth it.  You are getting an Alexa device, a wireless speaker, a night light, a smoke detector and a carbon monoxide detector.

As good as it sounds I still have some questions and see some potential issues:

• If you have already bought into the Google or Apple smart speaker eco-system having an Alexa device may not work.  No word on whether they will release Apple home kit or Google versions of the product.  I am guessing Nest is probably working on something similar for their next version of Nest Protect.
•  My assumption is the product needs to be hard wired.  Which means you can't just swap out your battery powered  smoke detectors without some major electrical work.
• Will it interconnect with other smoke detectors n the home.  The fire code in my town requires smoke detectors to be interconnected, so if one goes off they al go off.  Does it support the interconnect wire or does it interconnect wirelessly like Nest Protect.
• It has a battery backup but I assume that only powers the smoke and carbon monoxide detector in a power outage
• Most smoke detectors have a 10 year expiration date.  Do I need to throw away my $250 smart speaker when the smoke detector expires.
• The App.  Sometimes non tech companies do not produce quality phone apps.  This is a wait and see, hopefully they put some resourced into developing a quality app.

I think this is a really cool product that I would consider purchasing.  Yes it is pricey, but could be worth it considering all of the functionality they are packing into the device.

Amazon Echo Spot

 

When Amazon released the Echo Spot a few months back I was intrigued.  As an Echo Show owner I love the functionality it provides and the Spot is almost $100 cheaper.  They seem to be marketing it as a product for the bedroom as an alarm clock alternative.  Initially I was sold.  Then I spoke to my wife about getting one to replace the alarm clock, she seemed intrigued at first until I mentioned the camera and then she changed her tune.  She did not want a product with a camera in the bedroom.  I told her we could turn the camera off but she did not want it, did not trust it, no way.  I guess I can't blame her.  You know someone is going to figure out how to hack them eventually.

So for now no Echo Spot for us.  I really would like to replace my 20 year old dumb alarm clock but there here are a couple factors that are kind of show stoppers for me:

• The camera - people are freaked out by the drop-in feature and especially don't want people dropping in on their bedroom.  I know you can put a piece of tape over the camera lens but why buy a $130 product if you aren't going to use one of the key features.  Would be great if they would release a sub $100 version without a camera.
• The Amazon/Google fight - When I first bought my Echo show I could watch YouTube videos. Now Google and Amazon are fighting and the customer loses.  They need to figure the issue out and stop hurting customers.
• Battery Backup - If they are marketing the Echo Spot as an alarm clock alternative it should have all of the features of an alarm clock, like a battery backup.  This way if the power goes out I still hear my alarm.   Power outages don't happen very often in my area but the past couple weeks we have had numerous power outages due to snow storms.  Obviously most functionality would be lost without power and network connectivity but a battery running the clock and alarm would make the Spot a viable alternative to my alarm clock. 

I love smart products and look for every opportunity to try the latest products.  But for now the Spot is a no for us.  Maybe the 2nd generation will knock off some of the items on my wish list and I will eventually be a buyer.

Sonos Play: 1

Over the holidays I picked up a Sonos Play: 1 speaker for my bathroom.  The speaker replaces an old. ugly 1990s boom box type radio we had sitting on our counter.  It was ugly, got bad reception and I really wanted to replace it with something smaller and unobtrusive.  The speakers went on sale for the holidays so I pilled the trigger.  My only debate was whether to get one of the new Alexa enabled Sonos One speakers or to stick with the Play: 1.   I decide that since the speaker would reside in our bathroom I didn't really need the Alexa functionality and the price was still $200 so I figured I would save the money.  If the speaker was going in another room I probably would have gone with the Alexa enabled One

When the One came out it was priced the same as the Play:1 which seemed odd to me but now with the $60 difference in the speakers it seems priced right.  Sound wise I think the speakers are the same.

So far I am pretty happy with the Play:1.  Setup was easy, I was up and running in about 15 minutes.  My bathroom is rather large with high ceilings and the speaker does fill the room even with the fan and shower running.  Bass output on the speaker is good.  The speaker is rated for damp environments so no worries about damage from moisture, but we will see I guess.

I do have one complaint, the app.  I loved the app when I had just one set of speakers, but the app seems a little clunky now that I have two rooms to control.  I find myself searching around for which room the music is playing in and how to start and stop it.  This could be just a training issue and my unfamiliarity with the app but it definitely isn't as intuitive as I would like.  Luckily we usually listen to the same station in the morning so we just press the button to start / stop the music.

I still need to get a speaker for my office, I would love a Play:5  but not the price.  I may experiment with my Play:1 in the office and compromise with the Play:3 if the Play: 1 does not suffice.  Probably will wait for an Alexa enabled Play:3 though as it would be nice to have Alexa functionality in my office.

Great speaker and sound overall.  Getting it for under $150 was a good value, not as overpriced as the Playbase and Sub.