Really Surprised with This Product
This one is by far working the best and has the nicest remote. Even though the remote looks and feels cheap, trust me – all the other manufacturers of these type of outlets make even worse remotes. This one has one button for each outlet On/Off which is great (rather than one button for On and one button for Off – which is a nuisance in the dark trying to feel around for which one is off and on).
This brand also has been the most consistent of the three when you press the button. The first set I bought barely worked when I pressed the buttons (I’d say less than 10% response rate). The 2nd set was a little better but you had to press the button more than once sometimes (maybe 50% response rate). The 2nd set also died after 5 months of use. This set is very responsive and I have yet to wait or press more than once to get the desired effect.
The deduction of one star is due to the size of the outlets. They are very large, almost twice as large as some other brands. They also have the buttons and light on the top which effectively make the top outlet on a standard 2-outlet wall plate inaccessible for anything other than a 2-prong standard plug!!! I had a cordless phone plugged into an outlet that I had to move to another area of my bedroom to make room for the wireless outlet.
I am hoping this set stands the test of time.
There are a few things you should know before buying, though.
1. The batteries are not hard to put in. I have no idea what planet these other people are living on. Even if it were hard, you rarely have to do it. I’ve been operating these regularly for 6 months without the need to change the batteries.
2. The buttons are responsive. You don’t need to press hard or keep pressing them to get something to happen. There’s a barely-perceptible delay before the light switches off, but it’s hardly different from flicking a regular lightswitch.
3. The sockets are bulky and stick out at least 2 inches from the face plate of the socket. If you need this behind a piece of furniture, keep that in mind.
I was happy to see the package came with a battery, yet the battery cover was nearly impossible to take off (I had to use a screwdriver to wedge it off). I am not looking forward to when I need to replace the battery because it does not use any common battery type, like AA or AAA. It uses a smaller AAA style battery. I thought it would cover both outlets when I plugged it in, so I tried to find some single outlet short extension cords at home and could not find any. I was about to give up and order some pricey ones on Amazon when I just decided to try it. I was so happy to find that these do not cover both outlets and you can still plug in something else below it as long as the plug is not too fatty. The installation is dead simple. You just plug the switch into an outlet, plug in your device you want to control into the switch and that’s it. Nothing to program, nothing to worry about. I was hoping I could program my universal remote to operate my lights, but because these do not us IR technology, my remote cannot be programmed for these switches. However, because it does not use IR technology you can use the remote without having to point it at the device.