I have a bunch of WeMo outlets that I am looking to replace. I am so tired of their awful performance and endless firmware updates that only make things worse.
I realize there is no “best” smart outlet. So here is what I am looking for:
High quality (plugging in expensive stuff)
Works with SmartThings, IFTTT, and Alexa out of the box. I want flexibility
Continuously keeps its on/off status properly updated with SmartThings. I use WebCore and if their status is never correct, it stinks. (WeMo is rarely even correct in its own app, and has basically become unusable in SmartThings without manually polling for the current status of the outlet)
I don’t mind if it is wifi, zwave, or zigbee. I prefer whatever works best, but since I often have like 5 of these outlets close to eachother, I have noticed that Wifi tends to not work amazingly in that situation, maybe it is just that WeMo is terrible at yet another thing?)
Ideally easy to plug into a surge protector (again, I am using 5 next to each other), so not a huge wall wart. But I realize this is becoming a pipe dream and I might need to figure out a better solution.
I don’t care about cost, if it actually is a good product and works…
I’ve had excellent luck with the Iris wall plugs, but I have no idea if those are available anymore, but the ST branded ones should perform just as well (you’d think).
I’ve moved most of my devices to Zigbee, and have been very pleased with GE’s zigbee outlet. I have 5 of them right now, with more on the way. I have them on my washer, dryer (gas), frigs (2), and testing how well they work with my microwave.
Your experiences may/can be different, especially how well your mesh is built and performing, and if you need repeating devices, and what other devices you have in your mesh. What I gave you are my experiences, and I’m sure you’ll get several others.
Nothing has really high-level reliability right now because of the platform issues. just search the forum for discussions of “device off-line” and you will see that every protocol, every model has the problem occasionally.
5 outlets Close together, especially if they’re all the same protocol, could be a problem. Just depends on the traffic. In a situation like that you might want to use a couple of zigbee devices and a couple of Z wave devices just to spread the traffic around a bit.
Another option instead of having five radio devices close together is to have one radio device with five controllable endpoints. Like the zooz power strip.
Reports of reliability on the newest version of the SmartThings plug have not been as good as prior versions, but I can’t tell if that’s because of the new model or just because of platform instability.
I have v1 and v2. I ended up removing both from my Kids’ Bedroom where the power strip was controlling several devices used for their bedtime routine. I installed the 2018 Samsung outlets on a large power strip and it has been flawless since then. I do not like having multiple outlets on that power strip but all the devices use minimal current and the power strip is tucked behind a dresser. In other words I believe it to be safe.
Performance is way more reliable as the Samsung outlets are “local devices”, and whatever Zwave related issues I was having that affected the power strip are therefore gone since these outlets are Zigbee. Everyone with toddlers knows that if you mess up a bedtime routine, it can spell disaster… and I was sick and tired of cloud / zwave issues affecting that setup.
ANYWAY, I really like v2 (not v1 as firmware cannot be updated even though it is a zwave plus device and I believe it is missing some nice new additions found in v2). I have not had a chance to spend some time w/ v2 to troubleshoot the issues I was having. I believe Zooz said that the DTH will be certified by ST making it a local device… can’t wait! It won’t fix my zwave issues, but it will address cloud unreliability.
