Phyn - Smart Water Assistant - Matte Black

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The vast majority of our reviews come from verified purchases. Reviews from customers may include My Best Buy members, employees, and Tech Insider Network members (as tagged). Select reviewers may receive discounted products, promotional considerations or entries into drawings for honest, helpful reviews.

• Rated 1 out of 5 stars

  Doesn't work

  • Incentivized
  • Verified Purchaser
  • My Best Buy® Member
  • Owned for 3 weeks

  First, and foremost, I purchased this device to protect my home. Water leaks are costly and damaging, and I thought that a device like this would notify me of any leaks. Second, I live in California, where water is scarce and expensive. I was hoping that a device like this would allow me to understand my water usage better. I especially wanted to understand where I was wasting water so that I could conserve (and lower my bill). I have had this product for a month now, and here is what I have experienced so far: 1) It's a well-designed product and the packaging was very nice. 2) Installation was fairly straight-forward. It took about 1.5 hours. I had to use some plumbers tape to keep the connections from leaking. 3) The device regularly (i.e. twice a day) alerts me to "unusual low flows." At first, I was concerned about these, but now I just ignore them. Every leak alert has been a false positive thus far. 4) The device is supposed to determine which plumbing fixtures are using water (and how much). So far, it hasn't been able to properly classify any of this usage. Phyn says that this will get better over time as the system "learns." However, I haven't noticed any improvement in this feature yet. 5) The device is supposed to tell you how much water you are using on a daily basis. Based on my water meter reads, I used about 6000 gallons of water between Jan 10 and Jan 31. My Phyn says that I used ~2430 gallons. Once I turn my irrigation back on in the Spring, it will be interesting to see if Phyn can see any of my outdoor usage. So, in summary, Phyn has not been an effective leak detector or a water usage monitor. I just ignore all of its leak alerts and I can't trust its water usage measurements. I wouldn't recommend purchasing this product right now. Perhaps it will improve in the future.

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  Posted 5 years ago by WaterSaver

• Rated 2 out of 5 stars

  Great concept, just not there yet

  • Tech Insider Network Member
  • Top 25 Contributor

  The Phyn Smart Water Assistant is great in concept. The ability to monitor your water usage from within the house, seeing what devices are using the most water and possibly detecting leaks before they get too far out of hand. However, like many other new internet connected smart devices, it isn’t the most reliable at the start. Like when the voice assistants on your phone used to require you to say several sentences to learn your accent and still not get it right. Over time, with many more users and more usage, the smart voice assistants can now understand things that I can’t even make sense of. The problem is that we now expect smart products to just do what they are expected to do and not have to constantly check on it to train it. This is what the Phyn Smart Water Assistant may require you to do for a full year. Yes, it may be up to a year of confirming your water usage before this smart water assistant can accurately tell you your household water usage, especially if you don’t have a pressure release valve (PRV) installed on your waterline. The PRV is explained by them as “It’s like closing the door to a noisy street so you can hear the conversation inside” and this allows the Phyn to keep the noise of external water activity from being sensed in your lines. But, it doesn’t even accurately tell how much water has flowed through the very sink it is installed on. As far as installing, you have to download the app and follow the step by step directions. It requires it to first be plugged in, scan the QR code with the app and then connected to your 2.4 Ghz wireless network before installing. You need a sink with typical ⅜” angle pipes and a plug nearby. Out of the four sinks in my house, only one has a plug within 3ft of it, as the cord has to reach the plug, the hub and water sensors. The steps are fairly clear, but in one part it required some common sense to not follow the step literally as it missed out on connecting the hoses back to the sensors before turning the water on (See collage). Then you mount the main device in a specific direction with two screws or the included 3M sticky tab. It then asks if you have a PRV or if you don’t know will run a test, that it never completed no matter how many times I flushed a toilet. So, I just said I don’t have one and it proceeds to run the toilet flush test anyway, in which it passes and determined I don’t have one. As mentioned above, they highly recommend one and there is an orange bar that remains at the top of the app reminding you that you don’t have one installed. You can then run a plumbing check in which you have to turn off the main shutoff valve and you can see the psi drop instantly. This was a nice sign that the sensor does notice drastic changes in the line. It gives you a message like you are having a text message with the device and says it will give a notification when finished. Little did I realize when it said that, that I had to confirm it said that by selecting “Okay” and I waited 45 minutes for a notification that should have been 13 minutes. Now that it is installed, every time something is used, it is shown as an event through the activity monitor. However, I had to close out the app and open it again every time I wanted to see what the events were as the number increased, but not the actual detailed list. While looking at the list you get what it guesses the item used might be and an estimated galleon usage. This is where you have to help “teach” the assistant what was actually used. However, unless you are watching each water usage event, and pausing between uses, it is hard to determine. Especially when it has a usage range that can vary from a few tenths of a gallon to 15 gallons. Even more so if you go from flushing the toilet, straight to washing your hands before the toilet has stopped and the pressure fully returns to the lines. Overall, I do believe this has potential. It does need more users to help it “learn” what typical use and pressure changes cause. However, for the cost and expectation, this is not a product that you just hook up and it gives you useful information. This is not as smart as it needs to be for consumers at this price point.

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  Posted 5 years ago by DavidJr

• Rated 3 out of 5 stars

  Clever, useful gadget, but a bit expensive

  • Tech Insider Network Member

  I was very curious about what this product is all about and after getting it, while it’s great, I don’t see the purpose for the expensive price tag. From what I’ve seen on all the DIY videos, the purpose is to monitor your water supply, and apparently if you get the Plus version, it will automatically turn off in the event of a leaky water pipe or if water is left running —— but I have never once left water running so I don’t really see the huge relief it is providing. It is cool that it is compatible with Alexa and Google, but still, I haven’t once used it yet. You will need to download the Phyn app and connect it to your wifi (same as all the other house monitoring options out here) and of course this is where you get all your notifications that you're using more water than normal, or if there is a leaky pipe somewhere in your home. Here are some quick pros and cons for me: PROS easy installation; someone really broke down every step compatible with Alexa and Google Doesn’t take up much space at all CONS The cheaper version won’t auto shutoff your water in the event of an emergency a few connectivity issues at first as it utilizes transmitters All in all, if you are a high techie nerd like I am sometimes, this will be really cool, but I would not say it is an essential, life changer that everyone should have.

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  Posted 5 years ago by Njmomof3