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

I use it with my Echo and it works 95% of the time. When it doesnt work it could be the Wemo or the Echo, probably alternating based on behavior. It generally only fails when I activate it out of the blue. Multiple tries followed by many successful uses are the norm. The app had issues but they eventually worked out. At one point the WeMo thought it was several years ago. That made timers not work. Eventually, an update may have fixed that. My kids still dont know how I turn the lights off and on. They think the Echo does it by itself. They like to turn it off and on. I am planning on getting several WeMo products based on how it has been working lately.

These arent the most reliable or stable things in the world but they get the job done. The cool thing about wemo switches is being able to set up all sorts of cool rules and have them interoperate with other online services and stuff. I use a wemo insight to give me a push notification when my electric bike is done charging which is super useful. I use a wemo insight and IFTTT to turn on and off my dehumidifier according to the humidity measured by my netatmo internet connected weather station, then it tracks usage and sends me monthly reports and even send me an alert if the daily cost of dehumidification rises over a certain level. These things are great but you have to think about creative ways to use them to really get the full value out of them. I would recommend always spending the extra money to get the insight because its not that much more expensive but its way more useful to set up interesting behaviors.

It works good, just a couple things I dont like. 1) Setup was easy, I had the switch working in about two minutes with iPhone. 2) Does not give feedback. In other words, if iPhone A turns on the switch, no indication is shown on iPhone B. The same is true if the switch is manually operated. ( Feedback is given on another iPhone IF you tap on a circular arrow, then it will update the status. However, the status is not pushed to you as it is with SmartThings. ) 3) No instructions provided if you want to control your switches with more than one iPhone. Digging through the Internet, I found the simple answer. After installing the WeMo app on the second iPhone, simply put that iPhone on the same HOME network that you used when you originally set up WeMo with the first iPhone. Following the installation instructions that you did originally doesnt work. The second iPhone will not find the WeMo WiFi. Had they included this bit of information with their instructions it would have saved me about an hour of online digging. Their competitors, TP-LINK, has you create an account. By utilizing an account system it is not necessary to bring each iPhone onto the same home network for set up purposes. You simply download the app, enter your login credentials, and youre done. This could be a distinct advantage if you are 1000 miles away from home and find that you have to buy a new iPhone. ( Overall, I like the WeMo better than TP-LINK. ) Normally, when I set up home control systems I prefer to use SmartThings for controlling purposes, utilizing Z-Wave switches. Because Z-Wave uses an entirely different frequency, this can avoid interference, and, clogging up Wi-Fi networks. Another advantage of Z-Wave is that each device acts as a repeater, so if you have several Z-Wave devices, they can be located far from the hub. If your needs are simple, WeMo is a good choice.

The good: Works exactly as advertised. I have my printer plugged into it and can start the printer with my Amazon echo by saying Alexa turn on printer without getting up from my desk. I had hoped to use it with my coffee maker but it turns out that the coffee machine must have the button pressed after power is applied. Not the Wemos fault. The manual for my Mr. Coffee says this is a safety feature The bad: A couple of setup issues: I had a 63 character complex password on my home network but the Insight could not handle that. I had to shorten it to 39 characters to get it to work. I also use MAC filtering. The label on the Insight had the incorrect MAC address. After temporarily disabling MAC filtering, connecting to my wifi and discovering the correct MAC address I was able to update the MAC address list and everything works fine. I have to say that the folks at Belkin were very responsive and I was able to fix these issues quickly. Might be a bit much for a non-technical person though. On balance I like the Insight now that it is working and am considering a Wemo light switch for my den. Recommended for those with enough technical knowledge to work through any glitches or at least access to someone who can help.

The Belkin Insight is just sloppy. It feels and acts cheap, and I’m sure that isn’t what Belkin is going for in terms of home automation. 1. Daylight Savings isn’t exactly a new concept. There is no excuse for the WeMo failing to account for it. 2. The WeMo insight last on for measurement doesn’t really make sense. It reads “last on for” as the time my espresso machine’s heating element cycled. Last on for should come from the rules/how long the WeMo is switched on. 3. Support requests require device serial numbers and model numbers, which should be reported in the app. Why do I need to unplug the device to get these numbers? 4. Setup requires multiple attempts before it “sticks.” Pretty much every review I’ve read after purchasing my WeMo complains about this. iPhone app shows all kinds of random graphical glitches. 5. Editing rules doesn’t always seem to register either, sometimes requiring multiple edit attempts. Home automation is a relatively new concept. In order to see wide adoption, it needs to work well. This probably isnt the platform thats going to make it work.

I bought this from Amazon Warehouse Deals - packaging damaged, otherwise like new. It arrived on time. I downloaded and installed the WeMo app on iPhone 6. Then I plugged the WeMo Insight Switch into 120VAC, and the WiFi light blinked green for 30 seconds, then blinked yellow. I never saw the device listed under the Settings:WiFi tab for iPhone 6 or iPad Mini Retina 2. The WeMo app never saw it either. Using Net Analyzer on the iPhone 6, it never appeared on my network. I tried entering the WeMo ID in Settings:WiFi to find the device manually, but that didnt work either. After waiting on hold for 27 minutes, a Belkin service tech answered and told me to reset the device by holding in the small button on top for 5 seconds with the device unplugged, then for another five seconds with the device newly plugged in. This caused the device ID to appear in the Settings:WiFi menu on the iPhone 6 (and iPad Mini Retina 2). After acquisition, I was able to get the WeMo app to recognize the device. It now works properly. Some caveats - If the device doesnt appear in your WiFi, use the reset button/procedure outlined above. Have your WiFi network password available - the WeMo app will need it to connect to the device. It will be easier to do your first network connection with the device plugged in near your router. There is NO WeMo app available for iPad. Youll need to control WeMo devices with your iPhone or Android phone. ********** UPDATE 4/24/2015 After a power outage, the insight and switches gave us a bonus - they now come on at midnight every night, in addition to following their previously programmed rules. Ill try the reset procedure again and see if it cures the problem.

I purchased a WeMo switch on its own some time ago and six months ago Costco had a deal on a Belkin Netcam HD+ with WeMo switch. Ive actually went the route of plugging the Netcams into the WeMo switch so I could time when the cameras were functional during the day. (ie: out of the house then house cameras turn on. Garage camera shuts off for a minute daily to reset) In addition to this I did install a WeMo light switch to control some porch lights. Belkin definitely has issues with their firmware updates. At times the device will seem like its completely blown away. When this has happened Ive just left it sit out of frustration and have come back to it an hour later, it was fine at that point. Other times Ive had to reset at which point sometimes it signs back onto my network and wants to do the firmware update again like nothing happened and other times (though less and less frequently now) Ive had to completely reconfigure the switch. I have not messed with motion detection on the cameras ... But Im thinking about doing that soon for the garage. Motion in the garage == lights on in garage :) IFTTT integration can be a little iffy .... Ill explain below The additional Wemo switch I have I wasnt sure what to do with so I plugged it into our washer/dryer combo to see when it turns off and send a notification. That seems to work well .... If youre having the notification done through the WeMo app. If you link that through IFTTT youll get that notification about an hour later. Since our washing machine drains into a washing tub there are times where that will overflow. I plan to get a moisture sensor at some point set to cut off power to the washing machine wemo switch if it detects an overflow. Looks like Belkin isnt planning on offering one that I can see so it would need to be something else tied to IFTTT. Something like that I would trust the IFTTT integration to handle even with a 10-60 second delay. The switch that controls porch lights controls an outlet and works perfectly for that. Theres also a light fixture that I stuck a Philips Hue bulb in. I set it up so when the switch is tapped it would tell IFTTT to turn the bulb on to a specific brightness and color and when the switch is tapped off it would turn that light off. That works well with about a 10-20 second delay which I find reasonable considering the trip the command has to take. All in all Im mostly happy and will be adding more WeMo devices to our home for various purposes.

This is the buggiest piece of tech I have encountered since CD-Rs were first introduced. I am an electrical engineer who specializes in embedded software and really, there is no excuse for how poorly the software operates - wether it be in the device, or the app required to use the device. I would love to get a look inside the software for this, as I can only imagine how awful it must be. When the solution to every problem is to reset the Wemo, forcibly stop the application on your phone, uninstall said application from your phone, and reinstall, YOUR CODE HAS A PROBLEM. Its like reasoning with a petulant child. EVERYTHING seems to derail it. Change the name of your wemo from the app? FAIL. Add a second rule to the device? FAIL. Connect the device to IFTTT? FAIL. Seemingly connect the device FROM the IFTTT website? FAIL I fought with this thing to enable remote access. It looked like it wasnt going to work. After repeated messages that it was not working, hours later I open the app and remote access is enabled. I vacillated between giving this review from one to three stars. It does have a great form factor. And in its most fundamental terms, it works. I can actually remotely turn on and off the thing. And the rule I created to turn it on works (after much fighting with the device). The subsequent rule to turn the thing off? Not so much. And there is no easy way to change the network settings. And the settings I can change, any attempt to change them often results in an eternal spinning wheel. The worst part is, I dont feel I can rely on this device. The one I have I wanted to use as part of my irrigation system. But, as of writing this, it only operates as a remote control.

Had a few problems getting it to set up. Had to go in my iPhone settings and forget all the wifi connections i already had cause it kept choosing the wrong one during setup for some reason. After that there was a problem with the firmware update. Had to do it over and over again till it final took. Then everything worked fine. I like how it shows me how much money the appliance or whatever you have plugged into it is using. I am using it for a ac window unit. The unit i have remembers the settings when there is a power outage so it turns right back on to the same temp as it shut off at. Works perfect for that.

I use this to remotely turn on and off a mining rig. For the first few weeks, the android app and the wemo would have frequent problems connecting, often to the point where I would spend at least 10 minutes pressing the power button on the app to get it to turn back on. Additionally, a power outage caused the wemo to refuse connection to my wifi and I ended up resetting the entire device. On to the good part of the story. I updated the wemo and the android app, and now it has performed exactly as I expected. The connection between the app and the insight switch is perfect, connects on the first time, every time now. I no longer have to fight the app to make the switch turn on, it does it on the first button press.