GE Lighting CYNC Indoor Smart Plug, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Smart Outlet Socket, Works with Alexa and Google Home, Voice Control Outlet

The plug is fine once its installed and connected to wi fi. The connection process is easy but it does not work. You have to repeat the process dozens of times I even had to take a break and go back to it.

The installation was a bit tricky. I tried the instructions which came with the plug which involved downloading an app. I could not figure it out. Then I blundered around the Alexa app for a while, and finally figured out how to rename it to tree. Then I plugged my Christmas tree lights into it and I could say, Alexa, turn on tree or Alexa, turn off tree. I didnt have to crawl behind the tree anymore to plug in the lights. It served its purpose.

I wasted so much money on Wemo..which are a pain in the ass to connect. These automatically connect. No extra buttons. No finding paper clips...who has paper clips....Anyway worth the price.

So far these are great plugs! The app seems to be updated pretty regularly and the Alexa integration has been seamless so far. I find that there is a lot of possibility for customization if you take the time to learn how the app works. I have a few Cync plugs, sensors, and bulbs mixed into my smart home setup and the most tech maintenance I’ve ever had to do is a power cycle when my internet was spotty.

plug it in tell alexa to find it and you are done.

The App & the plug was easy to install. It works great.

Struggled to find a wireless router that works with ATT now that theyve gone to 5G in my area. I went to the online ATT store and purchased the smart plug they recommended for 5G, this one. I installed it to make sure it works with my system without having to reset my router then found this on Amazon for $2 cheaper each and purchased more for my other outlets.

These work okay. Sometimes they go offline. They seemed fine with initial set up but then when I rearranged them for a different room and different purpose, I started having connectivity and set up issues.

These work well with the Cync app, easy to set up, but do not work with Alexa well. Mine work about half the time with Alexa. Returning them.

I bought these plugs to help manage interior lights (put them on a schedule) and also to charge devices during overnight hours when electricity rates drop but Im typically asleep. They work for all those purposes, but I have to downgrade the product on overall usability. To manage the schedule you have to use the Cync app on your smart phone, and this is where the problems start. The app is beautiful looking but not easy to use, and in general seems over-designed and under-thought. Its arrangement might make sense for a complicated home setup with multiple smart lights and other similar devices, maybe integrate them with an Alexa, but all I want is to put plugs on a timer. To do this, I had to choose names and for some reason images for each plug and each room the plugs were in. More than half of the setup seems completely unnecessary. Only when all this was completed was I allowed to program a schedule (alternatively you can program a scene, though it isnt ever explained what scenes are for or why youd want to use one). Once youve done that, the plug name and the room name each have an unlabeled slider button - one of them (I think) arms the schedule - or perhaps the scene - and one of them (I think) turns the plug on/off manually. After 3 days of using them Im still uncertain of their function. Probably if I was using this every day Id eventually figure it out and retain that information, but Id prefer to set it up once and then not think about it. Labeling the slider buttons (e.g. Manual On/Off, Arm/Disarm Schedule) would have solved that problem, but perhaps wouldnt be as aesthetically pleasing? I cant explain why they dont label their controls, its baffling. Each plug comes with a small set of instructions which is not detailed enough to answer questions; theres a toll-free support number, but I feel I shouldnt have to talk to customer support just to put an outlet on a timer - the analog timers I can get at any hardware store are intuitive and easy to use. I almost always have things Id rather do than spend 20 minutes talking to tech support. Bottom line, the app looks great but is hard to figure out; its frustrating to see overly clever user interface design get in the way of using a product for a simple purpose. The app prompts me to turn on Bluetooth and WiFi on my phone whenever I open the app, but once the plugs are programmed, there appears to be no reason to need either one (Bluetooth or WiFi). Maybe Im misunderstanding the point of enabling Bluetooth and WiFi, but here again those features arent explained in the instructions and Im not going to call tech support to find out. Since initially programming the plugs and entering the WiFi network info into the app, I can now use the app to turn plugs on & off manually, or adjust their schedules, all without having either Bluetooth or WiFi on. Thats handy, but it tells me that the app uses cellular data to communicate with an external host of some kind that then communicates with the plugs via the Internet and my home WiFi. This seems more complicated and prone to privacy/security problems than it needs to be. Id prefer to have to use Bluetooth or WiFi to communicate with the plugs directly from my phone, and cut out the middleman and any security risk that entails, but my guess is these devices are intended to gather data about their users so there is no ability to use them without connecting them to the Internet. Something I liked about the app was its ability to reference a program schedule to sunrise and/or sunset. This allows you to turn lights off based on sunrise, or turn them on based on sunset. My analog timers wont do that. On/off times can be adjusted from sunrise/sunset by minutes or hours, which is nice.