Wemo Insight WiFi Enabled Smart Plug, with Energy Monitoring, Works with Alexa (Discontinued by Manufacturer - Newer Version Available)

Be aware that the MAC address printed on the WeMo Insight Switch is one less than the MAC address the device uses to connect to your Wifi network. This caused me a few minutes of head scratching, wondering why the device couldnt join my network. If you have MAC address access list security enabled on your wifi network, to only permit configured/expected MAC addresses to join, and enter the MAC address printed on the back of the device... it will not be able to connect. I temporarily disabled MAC address filtering on my wifi network, and the device was then able to connect without issue. Once it had connected, I checked my wifi routers list of connected devices and discovered that the MAC address used by the unit was the printed MAC address, +1. e.g. Printed MAC Address: 94:10:3E:CF:3A:22 MAC address used by the device when connecting to my wifi network: 94:10:3E:CF:3A:23 So, if you add one to the MAC address and use this value for the access list on your wifi network, it will be able to join an access list secured network. This may be why some reviewers have had issues getting the device to work on their networks. I edited the Access List entry Id added originally for the WeMo Insight Switch, added one to the last octet, saved the updated entry, re-enabled MAC Address Access List Security, and it was able to join my network with no issues at all. The MAC address printed on the unit is only used by the device when its running its own wifi network for initial device/app configuration (you have to configure your iPhone/mobile device to connect to this temporary wifi network during setup, but once the WeMo Insight Switch is configured in the app to connect to your own home wifi network, the MAC address its uses is one higher than this. Confusing, but easily solved if youre aware of it. Once connected, its been working well. Id purchased the device because Im trying to pinpoint the main reason my monthly electricity bills are so much higher than the average for my home. Thought my garage fridge might be to blame. With the Insight Switch Im now able to exclude that (only draws an average of 75 Watts)... so the hunt continues. I think this will be very useful, and also gives me an additional smart switch for home automation once Ive located the energy hogs.

Been looking at this product for a while, but read some reviews where people were having problems with it, so I held off. May of 2014, I decided to press ahead and make the purchase. Instructions have a mere 4 simple steps, so how hard could it be? 1) Plugged in the Switch; 2) Downloaded the app; 3) In Settings, I selected WiFi, then Connect to WeMo network; 4) Launched the WeMo App to complete the process. Sorry, no go. Backed out and re-tried the Launch several times, but I kept getting booted out. Re-started my phone and tried again - no go. Deleted the App and downloaded it a second time; Launched the App and was informed it needed a system upgrade, but I was finally in. To test the system, I plugged an incandescent light fixture into the WeMo Switch and was able to turn it on and off using my iPhone (pretty cool) from about 6 away. OK, not all that impressive. After downloading a second system upgrade that popped up, I then enabled Remote Access, walked to the far end of our property (about 300 ft.) and turned the same light on with my iPhone - at least the indicator light on the App said I did. Walked back into the house to see the light ON! This is as far as Ive progressed with the WeMo, so until I use it further, nothing more to add - other than JUST KEEP PLUGGING AWAY WHEN INSTALLING AND SETTING IT UP... YOULL GET THERE SOONER OR LATER!

I bought the WeMo Insight Switch on a whim when it was on sale, then a Motion Sensor + Switch bundle later, so these are the products Im writing about (the Amazon page appears to mix reviews for all WeMo products). PROS * Works entirely with WiFi; does not require a special hub like some home-automation systems do * Aesthetically pleasing hardware design * Easy to integreate with other WeMo products (e.g., make Motion Sensor control a Switch) * App can be configured for remote access to control of devices when you are away from your home network * Does not rely on Internet connection CONS * Somewhat high (~1.5W) power usage per WeMo device when idle, presumably to keep WiFi radio powered * No API (except via Android and iOS SDKs) * Sometimes difficult to integreate with other products I ended up returning the Switch+Motion combo, followed closely by the Insight Switch. My biggest reason for returning the Switch+Motion bundle is that I couldnt make the Motion product do much besides control the Switch. This is fine if your house is entirely WeMo, but I was hoping to integrate it with my Philips Hue bulbs and couldnt. (I could, actually, with some third-party help: plug in a Switch for nothing, just to be there, then tell Motion to turn on or off the Switch with motion or after a certain period of inactivity, then use IFTTT with a trigger that fires when the Switch is turned off and an action that turns off Hue. This could be simplified a bit if IFTTT had a trigger for lack of motion like the WeMo app does, but it doesnt, and the whole setup is still a bit convoluted.) For developers or others who may want to tinker, this product lacks an easily accessible API (Hue, by contrast, is exposed via HTTP and controllable via REST commands). They offer SDKs for Android and iOS, so it appears the only option for customization is writing your own app. There is also not a Web interface, so the app (theirs or a third-party one made with the SDK) is really the only way to control these. This wont matter much to most people, but I like to customize some things have depended on this with other products before. As previously stated, all WeMo products use WiFi to communicate, which is an advantage in that you do not need a special hub like you do with, for example, Hue (execpt Belkins recently announced light bulbs need a hub, too); you can just use your existing WiFi network. However, it has a couple disadvantages: first, all devices need to be within range of your WiFi signal to be controllable, which was never a problem for me but may be for other people. Second, WiFi is more power-hungry than other wireless technologies typically used for home automation (e.g., ZigBee or Z-Wave). I suspect well never have battery-powered WeMo devices for this reason. My Switch, Insight Switch, and Motion Detector each ate up about 1.5 W just sitting there idle, which is 3-5 times higher than similar ZigBee and Z-Wave devices Ive tried (and ZigBee and Z-Wave devices that take batteries usually use even less power in that case beacuse they dont extend the network theyre on, which is something they usually do and exposes another one of their advantages: a possibly greater range). My suggestions: * If you only want a couple WeMo devices, WeMo may work well. Id be hesitant to fill a house with them because they use significantly more power than comparable alternatives, but with only a couple its (a) probably not a big difference, and (b) probably cheaper in that all you need is the WeMo device and a WiFi network (and the Android or iOS app), so you wont have to buy or configure a special hub. * If you dont already have a lot of WeMo products but think you might want a lot, Id suggest another solution that may lend itself to less power consumption and better integration with other systems. Personally, Ive returned all my WeMo products and switched over to SmartThings, which offers compatiblity with many ZigBee and Z-Wave controllable switches and sensors. (It does require a hub, but I think the tradeoff is worth it. Unfortunately, SmartThings is also heavily relaint on the Internet at the moment, but they claim to be working on that.) SmartThings can integrate with WeMo, but I swapped my devices (switch and motion sensor, at least) anyway because I wanted the ZigBee advantages Ive mentioned. * If you only want the Insight Switch and you only want it to know the power consumption of your devices, consider a Kill-A-Watt instead (thats how I determined the surprising amount of power WeMo devices consume even when idle). My luck with the products Ive used hasnt been as bad as others, and everything seemed to work well when I tried. My biggest problem was the lack of customization options, but there are other minor issues as well as I mentioned that also fueled my desire to seek alternatives. Still, for the average user who only wants maybe one or a few WeMo devices, I think it may work well.

The idea behind these WeMo plugs is great. If Belkin could have made an app that was solid I would give this a better review. Set-up was a pain in the rear. I am pretty good with this kind of stuff and was baffled at how confusing the initial set-up was to configure this device. It took me a solid 10 minutes to realize that this device was actually emitting a wifi signal and that I needed to connect to it in order to set it up. I kept wondering why it wasnt connecting with my phone or why the app wasnt connecting to my router. Anyhow, once I got it set up and working properly (so I thought), I plugged my whole house fan into it. Great, now I can control my whole house fan and (which is in my attic) and then have the time set to turn it off. Well... the app is clunky. It wasnt easy and straight forward to set up the timer. It wasnt easy to distinguish if the timer was even enabled or not. Belkin calls it setting a rule. This doesnt seem very consumer friendly to me. Why not just have an option to set a timer and then see a count down? After playing around with it for a bit (turning the whole house fan off and on) I settled into the first evening having this device and a few hours after letting it do its thing I opened up the app to turn off the whole house fan. To my dismay I had discovered that the WeMo was no longer listed as an active device. I spent the better part of half an hour trying to fix the issue with the app before getting the ladder out, climbing in the attic and disconnecting the whole house fan from it. The next day I boxed it up and sent it back.... I hard wired the whole house fan :)

This is a horrible product. Clearly it has not been tested for everyday use. Save yourself lots of trouble in setting it up, using it or burning up your living space and DO NOT BUY IT. The device itself is well packaged and is a good sized plug point. To use it, you put the device on a plug point, see it turn on and show green on WIFI. Then you change the wifi on your phone to the Belkin Insight Wifi and download the app. The app acts as a relay and it asks for your home wifi password. All this was okay. However within a few minutes I got really annoyed using it. After you provide your wifi connection settings, the device is activated. But the response is not instantaneous. Once I press the switch it takes ~1-5s to act on the device making it a horrible experience. After a few times hitting it on and off thinking it wasnt working, my lamp then suddenly started switching on and off as late responses! Annoying! The insight plug also gives misleading information about usage. For a single lamp it estimated after ~5mins that Id be spending $150/month for it. The usage in Watts was also incorrect for the lamp. Third, I put the plug between my stereo, lamp and PS3 and it it simply started switching green and yellow on wifi. Then after a few attempts the device started getting quite hot and would reboot continuously. I think the plug cannot be used for large voltage or units drawing high current. Now the icing on the cake: all the time the device was rebooting or trying to connect to wifi (or burning up internally!), it does not allow activity on the plug or manually controlling the relay inside it, rendering the entire plug point unusable. This is really bad design and execution. Finally, the plug itself occupies a good amount of space on a twin plug wall unit and hence if you put it on the top plug, the bottom one cannot be used. This is annoying because often the top switch can be controlled by wall switches and I would like to use it on the top plug, but it makes the bottom unusable. The app on iphone and android takes a while to update (and annoys you if you do not update firmware) and after updating gets stuck multiple times on various pages. It has minimal functionality and often takes a long time to connect to the plug when opened. The only good thing in this whole ordeal is that the shipping was pretty quick (1business day) by Amazon and returning it was equally convenient.

These WeMo switches could use some work but overall, they do their job (most of the time). I purchased three of these switches for lamps around my apartment. Setting them up was difficult on Android yet easy on iOS. The same holds true for the WeMo app - the Android app is very buggy and doesnt work half the time while the iOS app works all the time with little to no bugs. I currently have them controlled by the WeMo app and my Amazon Echo. These two were made for each other. I can say: Alexa, turn on home and it will turn on all of my lamps. I can also say: Alexa, turn on desk and it will turn on my desk lamp. Very simple and easy to use once connected. In order to connect the Echo with the WeMo switches, just go into the Echo app and find the Connected Home setting. In conclusion, if you want to control a device remotely or from another device such as the Amazon Echo or a mobile app on your phone, this is the product for you! Pros: - Turn on devices via mobile app or button on unit - Will work with the Amazon Echo with little configuration needed - Can track how long the switch has been on for and how much power the device is using Cons: - Android application is buggy (Id recommend using the iOS app if possible) - Their WiFi range seems to be quite short. I have B/G/N/AC coverage for the majority of my apartment and even in good areas, the WeMos may lose their connection at times.

In spite of great difficulty in getting it to work, I rate this product 5 stars because it DOES work and it solves a problem. I got it because the Amazon Echo now offers voice control over switches like this one which show up as devices connected to your homes wifi. With the device I hoped to be able to turn a light in our living room on or off, making it easier for an elderly person to control it. First problem: I need the WeMo app. Not available on the Belkin web site. I suppose more experienced users would have gone to Google Play for the android app first, but it didnt occur to me for a while. Second problem: The app on my Android phone said it was installed but it couldnt find the Belkin WeMo Insight Switch. Lots of plugging and unplugging, uninstalling and reinstalling, and finally it found the switch. The light that it controlled could be turned on and off by the manual button on the Insight Switch and by the app on my phone. Third problem: Alexa, the Amazon Echo device, could not find the device when I said, Alexa, discover my devices, as Amazons instructions specified. Again I tried unplugging, replugging, deleting the app, reinstalling the app, and finally, just when I was prepared to return the device, the Amazon Echo said it had found the device. Im not sure exactly what combination of bumbling finally worked, so I hope I wont have to do it again. The Belkin web site was not particularly helpful for this problem, and I couldnt find anything on Amazon that was helpful. But now it works. We can turn a light in our living room on or off by voice. I feel as if I have won a great victory.

I bought my Insight switch used but it was practically brand new. Accurately charts your electricity usage from ONE port. Im guessing you could connect an extension cord to it but I just use it with my main lamp that illuminates my whole room. Im currently using a Cree LED bulb and its gauging my electricity bills for the bulb at $0.16 for a whole year. Not only that, I can turn on/off my lamp with my phone and by pressing the black button on the actual switch. The WeMo app is decent, a lot of people complain that there should be additional widgets. For example, there should just be an app button that looks like a lamp on my home screen, instead of me having to open up the WeMo app, connect to internet, wait for it to load and find devices, then I need to click the power icon next to the device. Its all very time consuming and should be remedied. Comparing this to the standard WeMo switch, I prefer the Insight, but its loads more expensive. If you dont need to track the electricity usage, just get the standard switch. Its a nice feature to have, but I rarely check it. I mainly bought this so I could turn off my lights when Im in bed, and turn on the lights before I walk in the door. Performs as advertised.

DO NOT BUY THIS - There are better products available. Do not get sucked in to the Wemo ecosystem like I did - there are better, more reliable and - most importantly - flexible systems out there. Belkins support for this product is near zilch. The iPhone app crashes constantly at startup - very frustrating when I just want to turn on my bedroom lights in the morning. IFTTT support is now completely gone - whenever I try I receive This is not a valid IFTT code or similar. 10% of the time Wemo works, 90% of the time Wemo crashes (the app). More times than not, the app launches, crashes, and after many many times of relaunching/manually quitting on the iPhone, it finally connects to all devices. (Let me be clear here - the app CRASHES A LOT. A LOT. Ive given up on the damn app and just go to the switch and manually turn it on) Point is - way, way more frustrating than simply turning on a light. If the Insight feature is what youre after, save yourself from this junk and just get http://www.amazon.com/P3-P4400-Electricity-Usage-Monitor/dp/B00009MDBU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1418942439&sr=8-3&keywords=power+wattage+meter for $15 to measure your usage in spots. Instead, heres what you should look into - Ive had GREAT success with GEs Wink platform, mostly because its open to other Z-Wave (aka generalized/standard home automation protocol) products which makes it easy to add other random devices without worrying about the Belkin ecosystem. Luton, GE, etc products are all supported with this purchase. Dont buy in to Belkins home automation products. Theyre horribly buggy, completely unreliable and the lack of media/app updates makes me think Belkin is slowly backing off this entire thing. Home automation has been around for a while now and perfected by companies like Lutron, Z-Wave products, etc. Look to those first and take the time to research what you really want. The open protocol devices are far more future proof than Belkins very weak attempt in this market.

I bought this switch because the Wemo line was discounted for a day on Amazon. It works fairly well - sometimes the action is delayed. Setting it up was easy enough and pairing it with IFTTT has added some neat features. But the energy features of this switch (which make it cost $10 more than the regular switch) are worthless eye candy. Save yourself some money and by the Wemo Switch. Better still, buy the SmartThings Know & Control Your Home kit - better, quicker, more reliable. *** Also... *** This switch often doesnt have the same third party capabilities as the regular Wemo Switch. For example, if you use SmartThings, they support every product EXCEPT the Wemo Insight Switch with their app development environment (SmartThings Labs). Additionally, the recipes at IFTTT for the regular switch far outnumber the recipes for the Wemo Insight Switch.