Flic Buttons 4/$71 bundle

Devices & Integrations Deals
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4 pack of Flic buttons for $71.

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Good price!

For those not familiar with these, they are Bluetooth buttons and must be paired to a phone or tablet nearby that has Internet access in order to work.

They are not directly compatible with smartthings, but they do have their own IFTTT channel so they can be used that way. There is also a direct harmony integration.

Each button does tap, double tap, and long press, so you get three functions from each one.

I have several and really like them, but I have them paired to tablets that we use as home automation dashboards, one on each side of the house, so we don’t have the problem that if the phone is gone the flic doesn’t work. :sunglasses:

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Hey, @JDRoberts
do you have any idea (I assume you’ve explained this somewhere already) why the Flic has such poor ratings on Amazon (i.e. I almost NEVER buy anything on Amazon with lower than 4 stars; though there are exceptions, and this may be one of them)?

Also sure you’ve stated this as well, but…
Since there is no direct ST integration, do you use IFTTT or Harmony?

Then, with whichever one you most regularly use, how is the response time, generally; and what % of the time is it reliable at that timing?

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The flic button is already in its fourth hardware generation since it was released in August to backers. ( hardware is hard.)

The first generation had a major flaw which resulted in a high percentage of them not being able to pair at all. I actually got one of these and returned it to Amazon after several days of trying to get it to work, as did many other people judging by the reviews. So there were a lot of one star reviews initially.

They did fix that in the second generation, and I did get one of those as a replacement for the one I had had, and it worked fine for me.

It is a Bluetooth device, and it’s a very low power Bluetooth device, which means it has limited range. I think if you pair it to a tablet which is plugged in, you’re much more likely to have success with it staying connected then if you pair it to a phone which comes and goes and has variable battery life itself.

I also think a lot of people don’t really understand what they’re buying, and think they will be able to use it with any app on their phone, which isn’t true. It only works with specific predefined integrations.

I wouldn’t give mine five stars, but I would give them four, and I now have six of them. My housemate likes them also.

So I think it depends very much on how you’re going to use them. And that shows in the ratings, which are all over the place. 30% five-star ratings, 30% one star ratings (again, a disproportionate number of those are from the first generation, though.)

I use mine with both IFTTT and harmony. I haven’t noticed any particular advantage of one over the other except the harmony integration is a little faster.

Mine have been very reliable when paired to the tablet.

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Misleading click-bait-title. It is $20 only if you buy 4, how hard would it be for you to say that in the title!
BTW, flic is a good concept but over priced product IMO. If it does drop to $20 each (with no silly catch) then it will be a popular product but at $34 it is not worth it.

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[quote=“JDRoberts, post:4, topic:61020, full:true”]
The flic button is already in its fourth hardware generation since it was released in August to backers. ( hardware is hard.)…[/quote]

Ya, for the purpose of my questions above, I’m assuming, at least in testing, I’d be using them in exactly the same way as you have described already (so that everything is same/similar when asking questions).
So, thanks, once again, JD. :slight_smile:

@Scott_Barton

Thanks for fixing the title.
Also, if that is an affiliate/referral link in the OP, could you add that fact in parentheses immediately after the link, please?

I tend to agree. Way too expensive for something that’s going to be a light switch (or whatever), AND which is so difficult (relatively speaking) to integrate. If it were either half of the regular price, or easily integrated, I think they’d most likely sell a lot more of them, and make more money (because I would probably buy a lot of them right away, instead of just waiting it out to see how long it takes for the price to drop).

Oh…just to clarify…I’m not comparing this with any other product. So, it’s not like I think there’s a better, cheaper deal out there. They’re all way too expensive for me right now.

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The Flics just have a really nice form factor. It’s a quality feel, rubbery and moderately heavy for the size. You can change out the battery, which is often not true of devices of this type. And it has a built-in adhesive, which means you can stick it right on a table lamp or some other intuitive place. Most of the other devices a hard plastic, which is fine, I also like the smartenIT 3 toggle, but this is the one that makes sense on a lapel or a bicycle handle or in my case something that can be pushed with a knee from a wheelchair.

Nothing is perfect, and I agree I’d like these a lot better at half the price, but I do like them now for some specific uses.

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Incredible.
You’re just freakin ‘handy’, dude! :slight_smile:

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Here’s One of ours which is knee-high for me, nose high for my service dog.

This one just shuts off the television. I can’t work the buttons on the regular remote.

Normally I would do this with the voice command to the echo, but sometimes you want to do it quietly.

IMG_1370.JPG2149×1693 888 KB

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[quote=“JDRoberts, post:9, topic:61020, full:true”]
Here’s One of ours which is knee-high for me, nose high for my service dog.

This one just shuts off the television. I can’t work the buttons on the regular remote.

Normally I would do this with the voice command to the echo, but sometimes you want to do it quietly. [/quote]

Wow…so even your dog is smarter than I am? Geez! lol

I know this is probably for another thread, but I just can’t help it. If you want to take it elsewhere, let me know…

So, when it’s ‘quiet time’, and you don’t want to disturb anyone, how do you change channels, etc (I assume you normally do it with your voice via Echo or something)?

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Probably just more educated–at least on pushing buttons… he’s had literally hundreds of hours of training. :sunglasses::dog:

So, when it’s ‘quiet time’, and you don’t want to disturb anyone, how do you change channels, etc (I assume you normally do it with your voice via Echo or something)?

Yes, i usually use echo. Before that, or now if it’s not appropriate to use echo, I just don’t change channels or I ask someone else to do it.

Described in my project report:

You can ask other questions that would be off topic here in that thread.

I like the flic because it’s easy to work with a knee or an elbow, and my dog can do it. We do set all three functions (click, double-click, and long hold) to the same action, because neither of us are very good at physically distinguishing those. :sunglasses:

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Ok, so completely off topic…what breed is your dog

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Lab mix. :sunglasses: These days, most service dogs from programs in the US for people who use wheelchairs are labs, Golden retrievers, or mixes of those. The size is good, the temperament is good, and they are typically “mouthy” in a good way, meaning they like to pick up things and carry them around, which can be easily shaped to tasks like my dog does: helping me get dressed, opening doors, lots of retrieves.

This isn’t my dog, but this kind of retrieve, hold, and wait behavior is very easy to train in typical labs and hard to train in a lot of other dogs. :sunglasses:

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Updated, now only $71 for 4!

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I’ve used ST endpoint apps and IFTTT for flics - endpoint apps are faster, but IFTTT is sufficient. Overall I’m pleased with my flics. and I’m impressed with their customer service.

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Now it’s $73.68 (still a good deal) and they’re ‘Temporarily out of stock’.

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Down to $69.85

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New Flic Hub coming soon allowing you to rid the need for a phone. Pretty cool!

There are already Already multiple threads about this. I understand that people have their own special links because they are getting a referral credit when others buy through their link, but that doesn’t mean the forum needs individual posts from every person who wants referral credits if you don’t have other new information to add to the conversation. Just sayin’… :wink:

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