Good Stuff. Perfect for a Rental or If You Need an Easy Programming Switch
I can now use my Iphone 4 and control a light manually or set a program schedule. The Iphone app is also very simple but does what i need. A very nice thing is that the unit has a small blue LED so I know if it is getting power. This is nice for me because my socket is connected to a light switch. I wish Belkin would come out with an outdoor model for my Landscape lights and a in socket for a ligh switch. Also, one to control my thermostate. Hopefully they will soon. I’ll be all over it to purchase.
They seem best suited for a lamp. I can’t think of much I would want to plug into them other than a lamp, except maybe a coffee maker that didn’t have a timer …. but just about all basic models now have timers and the cost of this switch would facilitate a better coffee maker …. anyway …
The setup is super simple. You do need to have a wireless network in your home for these to really work.
I have my house wired up with motion sensing lights through out the house and the one lamp I don’t have on the motion sensing is on a good part of the day anyway – so my situation didn’t lend itself to the switch as well as it would have with out the motion sensing.
However, if you are in a rental unit or in a house that isn’t wired up yet, these switches would be great.
Imagine yourself coming home to a dark house, all you need to do is pull out your iPhone and quickly tap on all the lights in your house. Poof. Done. Super cool. The app is easy to use and easy to program.
If you go away on trips, you can turn on your lights and shut them off from the app a 1,000 miles away. Cool beans.
I had no problems setting it up on my Airport home network. The iPhone app is so easy and intuitive to use and I imagine that even those that aren’t so techie would feel the same way! As a single gal, it brings so much peace of mind to know that I can set lights and my sonos system in my house on and off so that my home looks lived in while I’m out of town. The motion sensor and the alerts I can see on my phone are great too. While its functionality is somewhat limited in my home right now, I am excited to find ways to integrate it further.
I actually didn’t buy my switches on Amazon, I got them at Costco in a double pack. I put off attempting to install them due to the complications some reviewers experienced. Totally unnecessary. I had both units up and running in less than an hour. And that includes the time it took to move some furniture to get to outlets, find one of those grounded plug adapters and upgrade firmware. The whole process.
How could it be any simpler than: download the app, plug in the switch, change the wifi on the iphone to connect to the switch, launch the app and connect to your home wifi network, edit the name of the switch in the app (completely optional), accept prompt to upgrade firmware and wait until complete. That’s it!
I suspect some people may be interrupting the firmware upgrade because the only way you can tell anything is happening is the blinking light on the switch. The app doesn’t show anything going on. If you cut power to the switch while it is downloading that could probably screw things up. All you have to do is just wait until the switch shows up on your app. If you need to press buttons, just hit the refresh button.
So easy to setup and they are working great after testing. Will use them in a real-world environment this weekend, but so far very happy.