Alexa Smart Plug Socket, Maxcio WiFi Plug Compatible with Alexa Echo Compatible, SmartLife APP Remote Control Timer Plug for Electrical Appliances, No Hub Required (4Pack)

First thing to note with these, they work of the 2.4GHZ band of your wifi to make sure this is enabled on your router or you will not have any joy setting these up... also you will probably need to change your network SSID to not have any special characters on it, as according to the instructions this will cause the device to not work.So these arrived on time, and with minimal packaging...but they were ok so i can forgive this. set up was relatively straight forward... once i found out about the 2.4ghz.... other wise this was set up in a few minutes, app downloaded plugs renamed so they can be used with Alexa... you will need to enable smart life on the alexa app..... now i have them on my PC and my Partners dressing table so I can control the pc turning off and on and monitor how much electric is uses.... and the missus can turn the lamps on and off without having to use her hands ( while doing her makeup etc...)Cannot they can be used for the ultimate in laziness if you don't want to get up they can work of voice.... Alexa.. google home etc... or they can be used to be out in awkward places that you don't want to climb in and out off. The power monitoring feature is my favourite.... can see how much electric has been used by this plus in a specific time frame.... absolutely brilliant well worth the money

Wanted to add to my smart home but without the cost of expensive bulbs.It would have been an expensive exercise to update the lounge lights (12 bulbs to main lights & 10 more to floor lights).Went down the Philips Hue route for the bedroom and am well pleased with the result. The dimmable option is a must.Have got 2 floor lamps in the lounge with their own dimming switches in-line so decided that WiFi plugs were the cheaper option. After researching many options (many requiring yet another expensive hub) decided to try the Maxcio plugs due to their rating on Amazon.Received the plugs quickly, downloaded the app and immediately had issues with the dual band broadband my end.Contacted Plusnet who were most helpful & separated the bandwidths their end.Quickly & easily paired the plugs with the app this time.Really is a case of plug & play.App is easy to use & bonus upon bonus is soooo easy to link with Google home. Set up the first plug & once linked Google recognises another plug is added the next time.Plugs are stylish and definitely worth the price. Have already purchased a second batch and am scouring the house for more uses.Lounge: 2 x floor lamps & 1 x display lighting.Bedroom 1 x pedestal fan (lighting by others)Future plans....anything with a plug.Highly recommended.

I've been wanting to extend the smart capabilities of my home for a while - after initially getting some Google Home devices the next stage was to look at lighting. For the longest time I looked longingly at the Philips Hue system as well as it's competitors but found the price of entry too high - Ikea also is an option but again it's a lot of stuff to invest in. So the next step was to look at Smart Plugs to control the lamps.I picked up a pack of 4 of the Maxcio on an Amazon Lightning deal and have been very impressed with the build quality and ease of setup. Here's a summary of using the products for the last 24 hours:Setup - very straight forward - download the smart life app and register an account, for each plug put it into sync mode, add it in and give it a name, and immediately it's available for control from your mobile device.Configuration - taking it to the next step was adding this with the Google platform - this too was very straight-forward - link your account - ask Google to "Sync My Device" with each new plug and assign it to each room from this point on I have full voice control of each lamp as well as groups.Functionality - There's a power button on each plug - so if you wanted to turn the plug on without using Google or the app you can then push the button. There is an audible "click" when the switch is activated but beyond that the plug is silent.The plugs also record power usage however if you wanted to get an overal view of this you would have to group them together.extensibility - one area that is worth mentioning too is that the Smart Life ap and the devices are compatible with a number of different services including the popular IFTTT (If This Then That). Again it was straight forward adding "Applets" to IFTTT that work with Smart Life so that the lights automatically come on at Dusk. Additionally you can group them in the app and create "smarts" so actions can be grouped together.I would recommend this product and would certainly look to buy some more to automate home entertainment systems as well as other lamps and devices.