For whatever reason I got a $10 discount off the second Dot .
I have 3 Echoes and 3 Fire TV with Alexa and there is NO issue. If anything it helps make sure at least 1 of them hears the proper command. Only issue we have had is having milk on the shopping list 3 times if they all hear the add to shopping list command.
I currently have multiple echoes and it is not an issue. The command to the echo is sent through the web to smartthings and then to your hub. Currently, the big issue is that you cannot use different echoes and the command distinguish by room. For instance, when I say “turn on the lights”, my bedroom lights come on, regardless of which echo i say it to. There is currently no way to have the alexa app distinguish which echo the command is coming from and adjust accordingly. With that said, two (or more, i just ordered a dot, so three i guess) echoes are a great thing to have.
Can’t say for sure if there will be a problem, obviously, since it’s still in pre-release, but there’s no problem having two or three full-size echoes both operating the same SmartThings devices when both are using the same Amazon account. We have that at our house now.
I don’t know what happens if you want to have different Amazon accounts associated with the same SmartThings account, I haven’t tried that.
As far as differences between the dot and the echo, the main difference is just the quality of the speakers. Amazon says the dot is the equivalent of a cell phone speaker. So they suggest pairing a different Bluetooth speaker if you want better quality sound for music playback. Otherwise it’s just like the echo: hands-free, always listening, Full Alexa features. And requiring a wallplug, which is what powers the always listening feature.
The Tap is sort of the opposite. It has the good speaker, but it’s not always listening and it’s not hands-free. It has a rechargeable battery (no word on battery life yet). You have to hold down the microphone button on it to talk to it, just like you do with the original echo remote. But it does have full Alexa features provided you’re holding down the microphone button. (And, yes, it appears you do have to hold it down, not just “tap” The button. You can see this in the marketing pictures if you look closely.)
At this point we don’t have any reason to get either for our house. If I get to the point of needing a live in attendant then I would probably put a dot in their room for Home automation voice control on the assumption that they’ll have their own music system anyway. But I can see a lot of people who have installed sound systems like Bose or Samsung or Sonos adding the dot.
I’m a little unclear on who would buy a tap – it’s basically a mini boombox with an echo remote built in. But it just seems like the process of grabbing the boombox to press and hold a button on it to get the Alexa features is kind of awkward. It’s the hands-free aspect that makes the original echo so amazing, especially for home automation. We’ll just have to see what the Amazon reviews end up looking like for the tap.
It’s perfect for when you don’t want to reach for your phone. I ordered one for my office where it will be in arms reach (currently using the full version there) It will also have the added benefit of being portable, so it won’t be stuck at the office.
Also from the name, I had hoped i only have to tap the button not hold it, but either way it will work for me.
When I saw this I was hoping for the Tap to be always listening but maybe the speaker could be used like DLNA speakers for sound notifications. Might need to glue one of the dot’s to a sonos play. 
Ha. I should’ve known you guys would figure out a way to conveniently order the Echo Dot through a normal link.
I’m traveling and in an airport, so I opened the SmartCam app and spoke through the Smartcam mic to order from my Echo, which sits next to it. Took a few tries to get it right, but it worked! 
Pretty sure the people sitting next to me thought I was insane overhearing that.
Very Clever! (20 chars)
Haha this is genius! 
So how do you order more than two Dots? I’ve tried to order more than two on my account and it won’t let me.
Have more than one Amazon account. Or have a friend that wouldnt use them, to order them for you. Its not clear if youll be able to add more than 2 to YOUR amazon account yet, but…
See my previous post.
The Tap appears to require holding down the button while you speak, not just pressing it once. You can see this in the marketing photos/videos if you look carefully. The people have their thumb on the button while they are talking.
The tap has a rechargeable battery. The dot, like the original echo, plugs in. So it’s probably the battery life issue which is requiring the button to be held. They want to shut down the listener as soon as possible, since it takes a lot of power.
Our 3 current echoes are registered to 2 different Amazon accounts and linked as in same family. So each room has to have its own distinct name. Our side of the house has a cellar, the daughter’s house has a basement. We have a living room, she has a front room etc.
If you have the same room name it will get confused. I screwed up the naming when I put the new Hue bulbs in daughter’s stairway and watched our stair lights go off/on as she was trying to turn hers on/off. I figured out my mistake the next morning when she came over saying the new lights didn’t work and she had to get up and use the switch.
I’m thinking it is the answer to people wanting a battery powered more portable Echo. Perfect to bring outside onto the patio, pool, deck what have you , bring it back in when the party is over.
The same way some of us were able to get 2-3 Echoes at the $99 invite only price. Have his hers and ours Amazon accounts 
Didn’t you then need prime on all three accounts? Or are you allowed to share that as well? I know you can share prime shipping benefits, but you’d think they’d limit the accounts sharing stuff to one per billing address or something.
I will be ordering 2 DOTS and 1 TAP! The DOTS have a small built in speaker, perfect for next to the bed when the Fire TV Voice Remote is too far Away. No more yelling down the hallway in hopes the Family Room Echo will hear me like it sometimes does. I hope it has a mounting hole on the bottom so it could be attached to the side of a kitchen cabinet too. The best part about TAP is not really Home Control. At first I thought, I have cheap bluetooth speakers, do I really need another? And then I had a flashback of hosting friends over for a summer bbq and bumbling around with phones and passcodes, trying to manage playlists and play music. With the TAP, just walk up, hold the button, and play some Amazon Prime Music, and then get back to the party. Perfect.
Dumb question (I’m full of these today): Could you use multiple ST hubs to setup separate room recognition?
The Tap video at second 7 shows just a tap, not a hold of the button.
Cool, maybe they’ve changed it. I know they got a lot of feedback during reviews of the echo remote that it was a pain to hold down the button. 
Yeah I use the remote in my bedroom, until March 31st at least, and I use it less just because of that.