WeMo - Mini WiFi Smart Plug

I am an early adopter & have used various home automation devices over decades. I ditched X10, X10 Pro & Z-Wave, searching for reliable equipment that could offer easy control from a smart-phone with Amazon Echo & Google Home Control. Apple Siri Control would be a bonus. The first Homekit approved devices were extremely disappointing & were unreliable. They had to be unplugged & rebooted about 1ce / week. Meanwhile, WEMO has become a strong supplier of Home Automation gear. WEMO has built a reputation for dependability, so I tried 1 WEMO Mini WiFi Smart Plug. It was very easy to set-up & 3 months later, I added 15 more. WEMO wireless switches work 100% of the time. They respond to Amazon Echo & to Google Home. With the upcoming Apple (Siri) adaptor that WEMO is releasing, WEMO will respond to Siri, as well. When you command On or Off state, you get instant notification on your phone App. The timers in the WEMO App work just as consistently as the switch. Next, I need 4) weather resistant switches for landscape lighting, subject to rain / snow / freezing / 110 degree weather. And Wi-Fi is naturally weaker through the concrete / brick house exterior, where they will be located. At this time, WEMO does not offer such a switch. I wish they did! So I have 2) choices: 1- Buy a plastic enclosure, insert a WEMO switch, and pull inlet and exit wiring through weatherproof connectors. Basically, make it weather resistant. Or: 2- Buy an unproven brand that offers a weather resistant product. I am still weighing options for a weather resistant smart switch with WEMO reliability. Conclusion: WEMO Mini WiFi Smart Plug is a 100% reliable product & has earned my HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION! I hope they add an outdoor version, but for now, WEMO is the BEST of the BEST indoor smart switch!

The Good: Let’s start off with the good stuff first. Physically, this smart plug is a good size. It’s not overly big. The manual button on the front is large and easy to press. I’ve never had a failure using the physical button. It has worked every time and is an instantaneous power on. There is a white LED light that turns on when the outlet is on, so there is a visual indicator that you can see from across the room. It is pretty plain though. The outlet is a very standard rectangular shape with rounded edges. Nothing wrong with the design, but knowing that it could be out in the open in your home, it just doesn’t scream smart outlet. If you are going for a minimalist approach this outlet will be more up your alley. This plug does work with pretty much every smart home hub that you may come across. It will work with Google Home, which is what I use it with, Apple Home Kit, Alexa, and will even pair with your Nest home system. It isn’t made for very heavy voltage pull from appliances like refrigerators or heaters, but will work with just about any small appliance or lamp that you have. It’s very versatile. If you only use the Wemo app, there are schedules you can set for each device to turn on and off at certain times. You can even have it on a timer so once it turns on it will turn itself off. There is also an away mode that will randomly turn your lights on and off to mimic you being home. Using the plug once it is set up is very easy and I haven’t had any issues using it via the Google Home app or through the Samsung Smartthings app. The stock app is laid out OK. You don’t have to create an account to get the plug connected to the WIFI either and that is actually nice. Most smart home devices make you create an account. Now for the bad. I’ll start with the app, since if you plan to move this plug around you will be using it a lot. Every time that you unplug it or if you happen to lose power, it loses its settings and you have to pair it to the app and connect it to the WIFI again. Unless you go into the app and have the plug save the settings for your WIFI. It doesn't save it by default! The main background is pretty plain and the icons are fairly small. It does make using them a little harder if you have larger hands since you have to be more precise with your touch. You can check the screen shots above to see what I mean. Other than that it is fairly straight forward to use. I didn’t have a whole lot of difficulty setting up the plug. The other issue is the width of the plug itself. If you are using it on a normal two plug outlet, it really won’t be too much of an issue. If you are planning on using it in a 4 plug outlet, you will block one outlet with this plug. It is also somewhat thick. It will come out about 1 ½” from the wall not counting the plug and cable that you are plugging into it. When finding a place for this plug, have it in an open area or make sure you have at least 6” from the wall. If I was grading this smart outlet, I would give it overall a B. Getting it set up was OK, but it was a bit of a hassle. The fact that it loses the settings by default is kind of a nagging factor, but if change the setting in the app, it will help a lot. I would have liked the app or the outlet itself to save the settings automatically once it was set up and not have to go into the app settings to save it. It almost feels like that was an afterthought and this was just a quick fix. Design wise, I would have liked to see a little more. Possibly a led light showing the WIFI being connected would be a nice touch. The light blinks during setup and then goes off when it connects, so you have to trust the app. It is not a bad smart plug by any means. Once its set up it works well and I haven’t had any issues other than when I moved it around and had to connect it again. If you are just getting into the smart home stuff, or just want a quick addition to what you already have, this is a good option. The price is pretty much in the mid-range of what most of the smart plugs are. Overall, I would say this outlet is worth giving it a try.

I currently have 4 of this version & eight of the older Wemo Smart Plugs. I really like the ease of turning on lights, fans & other devices with the Wemo app, Amazon Echo & use the rules (timer) in the Wemo App to schedule devices to come on & off.

Set up was a snap. I did the set up 2 feet away from the router. Set up on the first attempt. The wemo app that I use to control the wemo plug works great. I even turned the plug on/off while only on cell data, no wifi. Now I can control the on/off of my Morvelli security camera from my phone. just in case I forget to turn it on

I have a lot of Hue lights. ALOT. However there are a few spots where a normal lamp needs to be the move. But a light I can’t talk at? Heck no! Thus the Wemo. I have 3, and they’re all great. Works flawlessly with Alexa and Siri. You can use these super affordable little guys to turn anything in your house into a “smart” anything in your house. Get 12, it’s cheaper than 2-3 colored Hue bulbs.

I have one for my espresso machine (1600 Watts) and one for ambience lighting (indoor Christmas lights) and one for a space heater in the master bath. Espresso machine turns on in the morning to warm up then shuts off at 8 when I leave for work, twinkle lights come on at sunset and turn off at 10:30, bathroom heater turns on for an hour in morning and night. Needless to say, I love these things. Mine are all scheduled but I sometimes use the button on front. Extremely easy set up with my iphone

Had my smart plug for a couple of days, have one that's running a dehumidifier in my crawl space and another one to work a lamp in my living room pretty easy to set up works with Amazon Alexa and have had very few issues.

Great for home automation. To me, these work better with Apple’s HomeKit. Homekit’s response time from command to action is close to mimicking a manually switch flip by hand. One problem, I reset my WiFi and had a problem getting it to reconnect through its automated process after I factory reset it.