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

Some reviews do not give this product the justice it deserves. I was cautious about buying this switch based on the issues experienced by some, but I am happy to say I am satisfied with my purchase. In fact, I bought 4 of these switches for various lamps throughout my home and plan to buy 4 more. They were easy to setup and I have a few simple rules setup in the app for lamps to turn on and off at various times. The ability to turn the switch on and off when I am not home is a nice as well. Some advice: When you initially setup after opening the box, each individual switch will most likely want to update the firmware. I recommend that you dont do the update when the app prompts you to after the initial install until you have all switches plugged in and recognized by the app. When I setup my first switch I acknowledged the update immediately and it took forever. Thinking there may have been an issue, I turned the switch off and then back on. All seemed okay and the update was successful. After I setup my rules, I ran the update which seemed to work pretty quick, but it turned all my switches off and I had to go back into the app to turn back on. The rules feature is kind of confusing, but if you play around with the the features or consult the Belkin website for troubleshooting it becomes easy to setup rules when certain switches turn on or off. It seems like you cannot personalize each switch; rather you will need to apply a specific rule to one or more of your switches. In this case, you may have multiple rules. The ability to remove a switch from a rule seems confusing. Being unsure if a lamp was removed properly, I just deleted and re-created the rule with the lamp I wanted. I gave this a 4 star rating because overall, its a great product and does what I needed it to do, but I think Belkin can do better with the app and making it more user friendly.

I bought the WEMO Insight about a month ago, installed it (it took a few minutes for the device to be recognized by my router) , and made a few power measurements with it. This was fun and informative. The list of features is impressive, since you can use it as a timer, a rule-based controller, a device to alert you when something happens to the power system, for power measurements, and more. What is problematic with the device is its frequent lock ups and inability to be recognized by my wireless router (one of the latest Netgear products) when further away than 20 feet (on the same floor of the building), while my laptops work flawlessly off the Wifi network in the whole house. A few weeks ago I came home to see the devices powered by the WEMO switched off with no warning on my WEMO app. What if it had been my refrigerator or some other vital appliance? This, and the too frequent software updates that take minutes to complete make the WEMO almost useless, because I bet if you really need it, say in a remote location you want to control and/or monitor, it will freeze up and will need some sort of hardware reset. It is unfortunate that green energy enthusiasts who want to do something intelligent and useful with a device like this get frustrated by a device that needs endless troubleshooting and coaching just to work as expected. Nobody would buy a refrigerator that shuts down every two weeks and needs some procedure to get going again, but apparently in the high-tech world we are expected to spend our free time tinkering with all sorts of half baked pseudo solutions. In conclusion, I think the WEMO Insight is a nice idea that suffers from bad execution.

I bought this after reading the many mixed reviews. I have a modlet which is a similar device with a set up that is also challenging but I thought Id give the WEMO insight a chance. The modlet is pretty awful from a tech design perspective and this is actually better considering the challenges. The set up instructions are four steps on a short page but includes no troubleshooting. No support info. I tried to set it up and connect it to my wifi network and was unsuccessful about five times. I reset the unit twice trying to set it up. In the end I moved the device right next to my router and was only then able to connect only to my guest network with zero security. Wemo would not connect to any network requiring a password. I checked network settings and without getting into tech details I followed every direction for security on the WEMO web site and still could not connect. But Im only connecting an amplifier to the WEMO so I dont really care about it getting hacked but it was annoying. Once connected the device works great and while the app could be better it is still effective and relatively easy to use. It crashes occasionally but its itherwise ok. This is not the end of connected outlets. Long way to go before average people get this without the patience that buyers here needed to have to buy this. I almost sent it back during repeated failed setup. I cant find the WEMO on my Amazon echo. Not sure why but guessing that they are on different wifi networks since I had to put WEMO on my guest network. But for general controlling and saving energy this is ok. Could be better but with patience I could get the core functionality.

This is a great alternative to a remotely managed PSU for my home computer. I leave my computer running 24/7 as I remotely access it during the day. Sometimes my desktop will become frozen or blue screen and cannot be rebooted remotely, only by physically depressing the power button. This device will allow me to remotely reboot my computer with ease. Also, I can really see how much my 24/7 computer is costing for electricity per month. One issue that was finally resolved with the newest firmware, is that the device will have intermittent wireless connectivity issues. At first I thought it was my wireless router, until that was replaced and a support ticket was opened with the company. The most recent firmware appears to have resolved the issue!

The switch functions well manually or from the smartphone app. My problems started when I started to rely on the power consumption calculations. I suspected something was incorrect so I measured the power with two different power meters (scientific quality) to confirm the WeMo was wrong. For example at my machines idle (100 W) WeMo was reading 25 watts too high or 125 W. At full power my machine was reading 704 W and WeMo said 849 W. I also confirmed that my other two WeMo has very similar power calculation inaccuracies. So buyer be warned the the power calculations are consumer friendly but not accurate enough to be of any real value. This product was designed for the average Joe/Jane and not some one who needs accurate power consumption measurements. If you only want a switch that is operated by your smart phone then this is your product, otherwise keep looking.....

I already owned a WeMo Switch, so I was excited to try the new power monitoring feature of the Insight. The WeMo app is somewhat easy to use, but it has limited functionality. Itll get the job done, but I hope Belkin is working on updates from feedback on the WeMoThat community. You can set up some basic turn on/off instructions, but more options are available when using the IFTTT (If This Then That) website. A few specs on the Insight: max power connected = 1800W and it uses 1.5W when off/in standby. You can turn a device plugged into it using the button on top or with the app. The set-up was easy and exactly like the Switch. The package only came with install instructions and the Insight. The WeMo app for Android also has a set-up guide that walks you through the process. I did not have any issues. The hardest part is knowing how to view different WiFi networks on your phone. Id recommend the following for set-up: 1. Plug-in the WeMo (Insight) Switch so it can start the boot-up process (1-2 minutes) 2. Download the WeMo app & open it 3. On the upper right corner are three stacked dots. Touch them and choose Setup Instructions 4. Follow the pretty pictures. 5. Once the (Insight) Switch finishes booting, go to the WiFi networks on your phone & select the WiFi network that the device creates. WARNING ***This will disconnect your phone from your home network until the WiFi info is entered onto the device. Make sure its not doing anything else that needs the internet.*** 6. Choose to connect to the network that says WeMo, Insight, etc. 7. Exit out of the Setup Instructions or open the app. 8. Select your device and enter the information it asks for. It will prompt you for your WiFi password (not the router admin password) because the device connects directly to the router via WiFi. The app will store the WiFi settings unless you go into the settings and specifically choose not to Remember Wi-Fi Settings. I kept the settings after installing my WeMo Switch, and it made installing the Insight a lot quicker. 9. Once it has the Wi-Fi info, the device connects to your router (my phone also automatically connected to the router). 10. Installation is complete unless you want to change the name.

I purchased the Amazon Echo ( Alexa ) and these WeMo WIFI switches x 2 I just wanted to see how this home automation is coming along. I will say that getting these switches up and running for the first time user can be a bit daunting..... The app you download to your phone or tablet from Google play store for Android is a bit frustrating and needs some more fine tuning I am sure Belkin is aware of this and will have updates in the future. Also my WiFi was fighting to make a connection with the switch and until you find the WeMo switch in your WIFI settings and make the connection the app stays on the HOW TO page. Anyway a bit of a learning curve however once the connection is made its smooth sailing. Once the switches were up and running on my network all I had to do next was ask Alexa to search for new devices and she found them. I then reopened the WeMo app and gave my switches names Like for example ( Table Light ) Then you just simply tell or ask Alexa turn on table light and wallah!! the table light comes on. And the same thing in reveres Alexa turn off table light and again Wallah off goes the light. I really love the automation and they do work very well I will be purchasing more when I feel I have the need for more Automation. So you have two ways to control these switched outlets Number One app on your Phone or Tablet Android or IOS or my favorite Voice control with Alexa (Amazon Echo) I only gave this a 4 Star just because of the not so streamlined configuration. But once you get the hang off making the connection its not so bad.. Belkin WeMo Insight Switch, Control Your Electronics and Monitor Energy Usage From Anywhere with the Home Automation App for Smartphones and Tablets, Wi-Fi Enabled, Compatible with Amazon Echo]]

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.

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.

I have 2 switches and then bought this when it was on sale. I like it. Put a heater on it but I made sure the amp and watt draw is within the Belkin Limits. Easy to set up just like my two switches. One thing is that it blocks another plug hole on my power strip so now I have to move things around when I want to use it. I wanted to use it with a heater but the heater has a stay off function after power loss, which is good. Ill just have to use it with a dumb fan for the summer. Im moving to a place with better cold insulation anyways. This will be useful in the summer though when I can run the fan while I sleep so I dont bake overnight.