Recommended smart plug to buy today?

Devices & Integrations Connected Things
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Any suggestions on what smart plug I should buy today? I’m mostly asking because I bought a Enbrighten light switch last year and after posting on here learned it was an old model and without the most current security standards.

Couple things, I’d like it to work well with SmartThings and most of my other devices (yale lock and light switch) use z-wave. Although, it doesn’t really look like z-wave smart plugs are a thing?

Thanks

Edit: As a for instance, this homekit compatible Kasa Smart Plug Mini (EP25P4) 4 pack is $45…but the non-homekit version, Kasa Smart Plug (HS103P4), is only $25. Is the difference in price just an Homekit/Apple Tax? Or are the cheaper plugs an old model?

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That’s a very popular device class, and there are multiple manufacturers producing zwave smart plugs in different formats and with somewhat different features. You shouldn’t have any trouble finding one.

Most will do at least basic on/off straight out of the box without needing any special code. It’s a pretty simple device class.

If you want energy reporting, though, that’s an entirely separate issue, so let us know.

Since you mentioned enbrighten, I assume you are in North America, and have a SmartThings/Aeotec hub.

If that’s the case, any of the following brands should have several models that would work, and anything which is Series 700 would be among the newest Z wave technology.

In the order of which I think probably work best with smartthings at this moment, although that may change in the future, once the platform transition is complete, and there are more edge drivers available…

  1. Zooz. House brand for the specialty retailer The Smartest House. Several different models. Anything with S2 security is good and the series 700 are even better.

Budget priced with excellent engineering features and excellent tech-support, this is a very popular brand. The company has already released custom edge drivers for most of their models.

Search Results - The Smartest House

  1. Aeotec. More expensive than Zooz. Also has multiple models with some of the newer technology.

https://www.amazon.com/Aeotec-Switch-Wireless-Control-Automation/dp/B08PKLBKW4

  1. Minoston. A budget brand.

https://www.amazon.com/Minoston-Monitor-Required-SmartThings-MP31ZP/dp/B09SGXMJ2R/

There are many more brands, these are just a few examples of the more popular ones. So I’m not sure where you got the idea that this class doesn’t really exist. The official Z wave alliance has over 20 pages of certified devices in this device class, although not all of them are the newest technology, of course. :sunglasses:

You may have gotten confused because there’s no one standard term for this type of device. Some manufacturers say “smart plug,“ some say “smart switch,“ some say “plug in module.” And up until about 2021 We mostly called these “pocketsockets“ in this forum, in order to distinguish them from inwall outlets, but then we kind of moved back to “smart plug“ as the manufacturers did so.

https://products.z-wavealliance.org/Search/Index?regionId=2&searchText=Plug

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and there are Matter devices to consider:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BNWGZ545?tag=techhivecom-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1

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Thank you for the very informative posts and suggestions, Series 7 and S2 was all I was hoping for but there’s a lot more info here lol.

lol I tried searching for z-wave smart plugs on amazon but not recognizing the company names they all look like cheap chinese knockoffs instead of I guess decent quality chinese products lol.

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I use a bunch of Sengled Smart Plugs (these) around the house and they work great. They are sized so that two of them fit in a duplex outlet. They have a manual on/off button. And they include energy monitoring.

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Any thoughts of replacing outlets so you don’t have big plug in sockets everywhere?

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Their are a few places where I might do that at some point if I get ambitious. I’ve already replaced a bunch of switches. Do they have any that also have manual on/off…that would be a requirement.

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Here is a list of SmartThings compatible smart plugs on Amazon. My preference is for the SONOFF S31 Lite 15A Zigbee Smart Plug ETL Certified. The Amazon prime 2 pack is only $22.99. The plug installs with the standard “Zigbee Switch” edge driver.

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The only one I’ve gotten is a GE/Jasco ZigBee. It has one controlled outlet and one always-on. There’s a button to manually switch the controlled outlet.

These are much easier to install than smart switches/dimmers as there’s no concern about a separate neutral.

Only possible annoyance is that I think they usually require the rectangular opening Decora-style wall plate, not the usual US outlet plates.