Wemo Insight WiFi Enabled Smart Plug, with Energy Monitoring, Works with Alexa (Discontinued by Manufacturer - Newer Version Available)

I tried to use this on multiple objects in my room, and I ended up having it sit on my side dresser for awhile after being disappointed. Kind of thick, so if you have an outlet behind something against the wall, be prepared not to use it there or to have it sticking out a good amount. For some reason, some of things I tried to use this on was hard to plug into. Bad planning on my part and even stupidity, but for some reason didnt expect this to be 3 prongs. After having to do some cleaning and moving around, I was able to set this up to my main bedroom light. Setup was a little wonky at first, but it was pretty easy and painless in the long run. Thought I read somewhere that you could walk into room with this, and it would pick up your phone and turn the light on for you. Didnt see this option in setting unfortunately. Man am I satisfied though! There was some disappointed with the setup of things, expectations, and settings.. but overall I would recommend this. So far one of the cheapest routes for this type of thing for lights, and one of the few at this time that work with Amazon Echo. Love it with my Alexa!

After a few false starts (firmware updates and resets) I got the switch finally running, When it works, it works well. I have been trying it out around the house with various devices to monitor energy usage. Some times on re-plugging it in it will not see my WiFi network and must be reset from scratch, frustrating. The unit also will NOT work with IFTTT or show up in the WeMo application (iOS) outside my home network. Period. So I cant control it remotely, while my light switches work just fine. I have tried contacting Belkin support several times, to be blunt. Its just a waste of time and an exercise in frustration. They seem to only be available by email (I tried calling only to end up in voice menu/hold/voice mail hell) and respond with useless canned scripts that dont even address the questions Ive asked. If youre a technical person and dont mind diagnosing your own issues, get one or two of these devices and decide if they are for you. If you are not technical, stick with a more traditional time type switch, Belkin support is absolutely useless. *** 01/20/14 Update *** I left my response comment to Belkin here, and did reply to the ticket email again. I have yet to receive any response from them. So much for their being eager to help. I have dropped my review down to one star because of this. Again, if youre the tinkering type and dont mind spending the money, these devices are neat, but if you require any assistance from Belkin for their use Id save my money. They do NOT stand by their products.

It works good, just a couple things I dont like. 1) Setup was easy, I had the switch working in about two minutes with iPhone. 2) Does not give feedback. In other words, if iPhone A turns on the switch, no indication is shown on iPhone B. The same is true if the switch is manually operated. ( Feedback is given on another iPhone IF you tap on a circular arrow, then it will update the status. However, the status is not pushed to you as it is with SmartThings. ) 3) No instructions provided if you want to control your switches with more than one iPhone. Digging through the Internet, I found the simple answer. After installing the WeMo app on the second iPhone, simply put that iPhone on the same HOME network that you used when you originally set up WeMo with the first iPhone. Following the installation instructions that you did originally doesnt work. The second iPhone will not find the WeMo WiFi. Had they included this bit of information with their instructions it would have saved me about an hour of online digging. Their competitors, TP-LINK, has you create an account. By utilizing an account system it is not necessary to bring each iPhone onto the same home network for set up purposes. You simply download the app, enter your login credentials, and youre done. This could be a distinct advantage if you are 1000 miles away from home and find that you have to buy a new iPhone. ( Overall, I like the WeMo better than TP-LINK. ) Normally, when I set up home control systems I prefer to use SmartThings for controlling purposes, utilizing Z-Wave switches. Because Z-Wave uses an entirely different frequency, this can avoid interference, and, clogging up Wi-Fi networks. Another advantage of Z-Wave is that each device acts as a repeater, so if you have several Z-Wave devices, they can be located far from the hub. If your needs are simple, WeMo is a good choice.

I must have good luck or maybe my **NEW** router with the 5G (which i dont think this connects to anyway)has great range and so far I have not had any problems! Review: Its a simple device you plug in , download the Wemo app, connect to your router (there are instructions on screen to help guide you through) The connection IS NOT IMMEDIATE so be patient till it all gets set up. YOU WILL HAVE TO DOWNLOAD AN UPDATE of the FIRMWARE which enables the Wemo plug to work (it will not work straight out of the box) After you enter your password for your router and it connects to your network youre ready to go! The rules (AKA TIMERS) in which you set can have a learning curve because the timers for on and off arent clear cut the way it is for the sun rise sunset timer. If you play with it for a couple of minutes you will get it soon enough. I do not know how many rules/timers you can have, but at this time I have three (3) rules and I have my Wemo plug ***hooked up to a Quirky power pivot*** to give me six (6) plugs instead of JUST the one outlet! SO I can control the ON/OFF times of multiple tablets or phones(or what ever is plugged in at the time) from that one plug! The down side to that is they are all connected together so you CANT control each plug/outlet from your power strip individually BUT so what!!!! You dont have to use it like this you can JUST use the ONE outlet for ONE light or what ever you want plugged into it but I FELT this(plugging a power strip into the Wemo) is better for me and what I am using it for! I have the app downloaded on to 3 separate phones and 1 tablet! All of the rules/timers can be seen and edited from each of your connected phones/tablets and you can add more rules (timers) if you want at any time! You can also use the insight switch manually to turn off and on by lightly pressing the touch on off switch on the plug it self! I have not had any problems with it so far and am pleased with my purchase and what this plug does! I will be looking to buy another down the road.

BEST $50 I EVER SPENT...!!! We have two sons, ages 12 & 13 who are utterly addicted to their computers. They want to play Minecraft and watch YouTube 7x24. It is a constant fight to get them off the computer at bedtime, and another fight when they come home from school to do their homework before getting on the computer. We have passwords on the computers, but once you enter the password and theyre on the computer, its still a fight to get them to get off. (I know, be a tougher parent and this wouldnt be so much of a fight…). The WeMo is the best $50 I ever spent. I paired it with a $10 clear plastic air conditioner thermostat cover (also sold on Amazon), plugged the computer monitor into the WeMo, and locked them both inside the cover, and screwed to the wall. No more fights... I can turn each of their computer monitors on or off using my iPhone, I can make them earn computer time and set a timer so they only get a certain number of minutes or hours of time before the WeMo automatically shuts the computer monitor back off. I can do this while at home, or anywhere around the world where I have my iPhone and Wi-Fi or wireless access. This is completely change the dynamic of power for computers in our household, and we love it… BTW, DO NOT use the WeMo to control power to the PC itself - just the monitor. Cutting off our unexpected way to the computer, without first powering it down properly, will damage the hard drive. Its fun to cut the power off to the monitor, but dont have power off to the PC itself.

The Insight Switch is another great WeMo product made by Belkin. Having several of the light switches and plug switches, I decided to try the Insight after the price dropped in line with the other two. Prior to the price reduction, the ability to meter the electricity the connected device(s) use(s) wasnt worth the extra $10. Setup of the Insight Switch was as easy. I had come to expect easy setup from setup other WeMo products. Device setup requires a working wifi (Wi-Fi: 2.4 GHz 802.11n), a mobile device with the WeMo app installed, and a 120V AC plug. Prior to purchase and setup, I would recommend checking that your wireless router is setup for 2.4 GHz 802.11n. If youve purchased your router in the last 2 years, my guess is that it probably supports 802.11n. After plugging the switch into the plug, the Insight switch will create its own wireless network. Joining the network and connecting the device to your own wifi is simple and easy. My favorite part of owning these devices is connecting them to IFTTT (if this, then that). Its a free automation service that allows you to connect a myriad of channels which allow you to operate your WeMo devices remotely (or automatically). I have connected this switch to my dehumidifier. When my Ecobee thermostat detects that the humidity in my home is above a certain threshold, it turns on the switch (and consequently the dehumidifier). When the humidity falls below a separate threshold, it turns the switch off. This lowers my electric bill by only running the dehumidifier when its necessary, and it keeps the humidity in my home at a comfortable level. The Insight (metering) functionality is a neat add-on. Im able to see just how much electricity the dehumidifier uses (all within the WeMo app). While I think that the usage information is nifty, I dont think it adds a lot of value (unless you lay awake at night wondering how much electricity your appliances are using). While I think WeMo is a pioneer of home automation and I would strongly recommend their products to anyone, I dont know of many situations where I would recommend this particular model over WeMos less expensive Switch.

To give you an idea of my technical expertise... I was a young Network Admin during the dark ages of Novell 3.11. For those of you confused this would be around 1994 - 1999 give or take a year or two... If you could configure Novell you could configure the Space Shuttle... and I could. Fast forward 20 years, I have a home-based Internet company - I personally built 10 gaming computers not for gaming but for business... I do things like port forward into my home network to view my security cameras and connect to an internal web-server... In other words, I know what Im doing... Now about this Belkin WeMo INSIGHT SWITCH... When I plugged it in the first thing IT DID was lock down my router without me touching ANY thing! - I was more than offended when all my PCs were instantly kicked off the web... all I could think about was losing my Router configuration, because I havent backed up the Router config file in a long time .. After rebooting everything, I resigned myself to give this setup 30 minutes of my time, because I really didnt feel like returning and reordering something else... 1hour and 30 minutes later of trouble shooting, which included multiple reboots of my router to get my PCs back online (yes you read that correctly) Android was still searching for this device... For the record my router has been rock solid for 3 years under my command... Note: no direct PC config allowed - must be done on your phone - extremely lame - but not before holding my entire network hostage yet again... the thought of throwing this thing as far back to China as possible seems tempting and worth losing the $99 refund value/hassle... Ive always had a professional hatred for all things Belkin - the company slogan should be were the Jacks of all things- and the master of NOTHING... (I think they make bicycle helmets too) but this last experience has made my love personal... In addition they expect you to connect this device that sits 2 feet away through a third party, third world web server a million cable wires miles away. Oh and the WeMo App couldnt blow worse chunks either - what I saw of it - I really didnt get that far into the configuration I do not think this plastic paper weight shipped to me broken - I think it is working exactly the way Belkin designed it to... the only thing wrong with it is the logo on the side that reads B e l k i n P.S. - Ah yes – my window to return this plastic headache ended yesterday… I guess thats part of the Belkin business strategy... If I could throw it, or launch it back to China now I would...

I bought my Insight switch used but it was practically brand new. Accurately charts your electricity usage from ONE port. Im guessing you could connect an extension cord to it but I just use it with my main lamp that illuminates my whole room. Im currently using a Cree LED bulb and its gauging my electricity bills for the bulb at $0.16 for a whole year. Not only that, I can turn on/off my lamp with my phone and by pressing the black button on the actual switch. The WeMo app is decent, a lot of people complain that there should be additional widgets. For example, there should just be an app button that looks like a lamp on my home screen, instead of me having to open up the WeMo app, connect to internet, wait for it to load and find devices, then I need to click the power icon next to the device. Its all very time consuming and should be remedied. Comparing this to the standard WeMo switch, I prefer the Insight, but its loads more expensive. If you dont need to track the electricity usage, just get the standard switch. Its a nice feature to have, but I rarely check it. I mainly bought this so I could turn off my lights when Im in bed, and turn on the lights before I walk in the door. Performs as advertised.

I put my christmas lights on the switch and loved knowing they would turn on and off without having to contort my body and squeeze behind the tree hoping I didnt break anything to get to the outlet twice a night. I set up a program on the app to turn them on at dark and off at midnight. Since then, Ive put a lamp on a wemo switch and have it said to away mode- the lamp randomly turns on and off from dark until midnight for random amounts of time. Im not home a lot and this does a great job making it look like someone is at my house. Only reason for 4 stars instead of 5 is they do go offline from time to time.

I have only had for a couple weeks, but so far it works flawlessly. I have this inside a shed controlling my pool pump. Its fantastic, because when I am doing work on the pool I can turn on/off pump from phone instead of running back and forth from shed/pool; timing counts, so I literally would run. In addition to that it has built in timer that has excellent program features. The first timer I had was a digital timer that worked fine for years, when it died the replacement lasted only one season, and now I have this that is well... smart! Hopefully it will last. I have not had any issues with connecting to the device, but if others plan to use like I am youll need to ensure you have wifi signal wherever you plan to use. I wasnt sure if it would work as unit is probably 70-100 feet from the wireless router that is inside the house (2 exterior walls separating them). I use with Android phone- Samsung S7. I would like to purchase a bunch of these, but so far cant justify the price for other applications. For the benefits I get with the pool pump this is totally worth it, and every time I use it Im glad I made the purchase.