Customer Ratings & Reviews

Take this with a grain of salt because I'm pretty heavily invested in the Amazon Alexa system. I picked the Home Mini up when it was on sale over the Thanksgiving weekend so it was $30 and Best Buy tossed in a $10 gift card. Call it an extremely nerdy impulse buy :) The setup was easy as could be and as compared to when I set up my Alexas, the Home is much easier. It only took a minute or so and I didn't have to change the WiFi on my phone which is always nice. My first complaint is "Ok Google". Say it out loud. My tongue fumbles over it every time. I don't use it on my Samsung phone for that very reason. The Alexa has a few alert word options - Alexa, Echo, and Computer, all of which are much easier to say. My house is also overflowing with Philips Hue lights, all of which I can control through the various Alexas I've got. I tried setting up home automation with the Home and things sort of ground to a halt. To date I haven't had any luck with it but to be fair it's the pre-holidays so things have been hectic and I haven't really given it any additional time. I'd say that if you're already an Alexa user that the Home may be too late for you. If you're dipping your toes into smart speakers and home automation it's worth a look. Especially if they let you change it from "Ok Google" :)

The google home is far superior to the echo devices. More functionality, integrates well with google services (calendar, traffic, shopping lists, etc). I'd like to see more cellular services (text messaging, answer calls) and alarms and timers across all speakers, not just the one you start them on. Sound on the Google Home speakers is a bit better than the Mini, but we're using a combination of both to play music throughout every room in the house.

This one is simple: If you already invested in a few Amazon products like the Fire Stick and Echo and Echo Dot/Show/Spot, then keep using those products. If you use Google products like the Play Music subscription, Chromecast and the Google Assistant, then using the Google Home might be a better solution. I previously had 3 Echo dot around my house but found my self wanting to make the most use out of my Chromecast and Music subscription. Seeing as only Google supports their own music service, I replaced the Dots with some Home Minis. Setup was very easy. Use the Google Home app and it will find the Home Mini like a Chromecast. You can then set up additional features and link other accounts. If you do home automation, this is when you link your hub and create rooms and place your switches and sensors in each rooms. The Home is better than Echo dot at understanding what you want. It also can recognize your voice a lot better that the Echo. While Amazon, has had their products for a long time, Google clearly wins when it comes to being the best assistant. The speakers on the Home mini are much louder than an Echo Dot. And I mean much much louder. The difference is incredible. I used to run the Echo do on max volume and it was pretty disappointing. With the Home mini, even at half volume, it is kind of loud. It'll do much better at playing music. I do wish that the Home Mini would take a USB-C to power but since the power supply is included, it doesn't really bother me that much. Overall, this is a good device for use with home automation and playing music and being loud in general. I prefer it a lot more over the Echo Dot and I will probably get a 4th one for the guest room.

Great speaker to use for group listening. Easy to set up and use. Cheap for price and compatible with many devices. Can be used with older and newer models

This speaker is awesome!! I bought 2 of them for my house and I gotta say these are very helpful. Plus when you play music you can have them play at the same time which is nice since you can’t really add an outside audio source. Overall this speaker is nice to have in your home it takes a little getting use to but cool.

Super compact and decent sound. If you have membership to some of the music subscriptions that are built in, makes a great speaker. You can also cast music from your phone as well. Great value all around, especially if you are in the Google Nest/Aware ecosystem (allows you to lock your doors with a command). One great feature is that you can make calls through the Home Mini without needing a cell phone. I have one in just about all the rooms of my house. This allows me to broadcast messages to my family locally or remotely. Definitely a must-have!

I might be a little prejudice, but I would rather base a smart home on Google over Amazon. Great for asking questions or hooking up to smart lights and can ask to turn off lights etc. Haven't used voice control much to see ease of streaming videos on Chromecast, but that will be next. Works great with Philips Hue.

I picked up two Home Mini's on Black Friday when I had no intentions of buying one. But since they were at the very front when I walked by and saw them on sale for $30 plus w/$10 gift card, I said what the heck and bought two. I'm using one side-by-side my Echo Dot in the living room, and another one in my bedroom. I'd say that the Google units work equally as well if not better than the Amazon products. I do like that the Google Assistance on the Mini's will work in conjunction with my Pixel 2XL. So I can get more usage out of it because of that. I also use it with my Harmony Hub. It works and completes commands as good as my Echo Dot; however I do tend to have to be more specific on my commands for them to work. I have to include "Hey Google, tell Harmony..." before my command. With my Echo Dot, I only have to say "Alexa,....".

With google home speech recognition is excellent. you can speak very naturally, clear sound and good voice definition, picking commands from a distance. I strongly preferred the Google Home Mini than Echo Dot. I'm able to make calls for free through the Minis using just my voice. And I love broadcast feature.

This is the perfect addition to our kitchen. It is easy to use and is so helpful to have when my hands are busy working. It is convenient to get a quick answer to questions. I also love that it ties to all my Google accounts. I can ask for calendar reminders and play music. I like that the size isn't bulky.

I needed a couple of Google Home in the house to serve as another voice control for my Smart switches on different floors of the house, but did not want to spend the money. The Google mini was perfect. The sound is just as good as the large Google Home with the benefit of the compact size. I was impressed

We read reviews about Amazon Alexa and Google Home Mini before purchasing. We ended up getting the Google Home Mini since it recognizes multiple voices and can connect to that persons apps, calendars and routines where Alexa cannot. It's been so easy for both of us to use voice commands that we bought a second one for the bedroom. There is also a group functions where the music can play from both devices at the same time or not. It was difficult trying to set us both up for the first one we purchased since one has an Android phone and the other an Apple. We had to contact google to walk us through the correct order of steps to get us both set up with our voices and synced to our separate brand of phones, but they were available quickly to help and patient. Setting up the second Google Home Mini took less than a minute.

If you’re looking to up your smart home game but you’re on a budget, this is a great entry level device. Despite its size, the volume is plenty loud. It’s also has a very modern and stylish look the blends in to any room in your house. It was easy to set up and works very smoothly with my chromecast.

Didn't expect much, even after seeing all the commercials. However, the product was intuitive enough to play a great mix of smooth jazz with a slant toward the type of music I listen to in another venue. (I don't know how) Easy to place and almost forget it is present until someone says hey google.

Great item for short money. I have 3 of these in different rooms. I use this to play music, listen to the radio, set timers and alarms. I often ask it off the wall questions, like "How long before eggs go bad?" or "Teach me some French." or "What movies did So and So play in?" "What's the weather today?" I also speak to my google in English and Spanish and it will respond in either. (I had to set up for both languages prior.) I also have it connected to my smart plugs and bulbs so I only have it ask to turn something on or off.

I have, I think, all the Alexas. I wanted to use the dot in my bathroom while I showered but I couldn't hear it. This was a total impulse purchase based on the Best Buy associate telling me it was really loud and she was right. Now the mission is complete. Every room has a device! Thanks! Love it.

THE REASON WHY I SAY 'A LITTLE' IS BCUS GOOGLE HOME MINI SOMETIMES FINDS IT DIFFICULT TO HEAR MY VOICE - I HAVE TO SCREAM OUT LOUD SOMETIMES. ECHO DOT IS MORE EFFECTIVE WITH VOICES. BUT GOOGLE HOME MINI IS MORE EFFECTIVE ALL ROUND. THAT IS WHY I WOULD KEEP THE DEVICE. SOMETIMES I WILL CALL OUT A NUMBER OF TIMES, BUT MINI WOULD NOT ANSWER, THEN AFTER A FEW SECONDS - EVEN WITHOUT ME TALKING, SHE WOULD RESPOND "HI, HOW CAN I HELP YOU"... GIRL PLEASE!!! ANYWAY, I AM AN ANDRIOD PHONE USER, I SUPPORT ANDRIOD PRODUCTS AND GOOGLE BASICALLY CONTROLS THE WEB- SO WHY NOT GET A GOOGLE HOME MINI FOR A DECENT PRICE. THERE IS NO EXCUSE. ALSO, MINI OCCATIONALLY REASONS TO OTHER WORD OR PHRASES OTHER THAN 'OK OR HEY GOOGLE'. WHAATT!!! SHE'S CRAZY LIKE THAT. I FEEL LIKE I HAVE TO GET AN ANDRIOD TV TO GET THE FULL USE OF THE GOOGLE HOME MINI - CHROMECAST IS NOT THAT EFFECTIVE UNLESS TO HAVE THE HDMI CHANNEL ON. THAT SUCKS. ALSO, **** I NEED MORE ACCENTS/ LANGUAGES*** AND I EXPECT THEM TO BE A EFFECTIVE AS THE US VERSION.

This one works and the sound is decent. The Google Home is much bigger than this mini with better sound. However, given this one's size is so compact, I am pretty satisfied on how clear the sound is. I wish Google Assistant has the feature to answer a call but it does not know how to do it yet.

I find Google's products much more intuitive than Amazon's. I have it controlling my Hue lights, Nest thermostat, Harmony hub for my TV and entertainment system, smart plugs, etc. Once Sonos integration comes then I'll be all set.

If you have a smart home or just want a nice speaker for your room, or bathroom, this is the one. For the price, you just cant beat it. I have the larger Google Home in the main area, and then the Home Mini in every room. I have 4 and they are awesome. It's extremely helpful, from setting alarms to timers, to reminders or checking weather before getting ready. Or if you put it in your bathroom, like we do, you can have it play music while you shower or take a nice relaxing bath. Even make phone calls. And because we have it in every room, we can play one song simultaneously throughout the house all at once as a group. Buy it now, and buy many!