TP-Link Tapo Smart Plug Outlet Extender, Surge Protector, 18W Fast Charging, 3 Individual Smart Outlets, 1x USB-C & 2X USB-A, Smart Night Light, Works w/Apple HomeKit, Alexa & Google Home, Tapo P306

I got started with home automation last year after went shopping for a conventional lamp timer and found that when purchased in multi-packs, TP-Link Kasa smart plugs actually cost less apiece. I came to appreciate the relative ease of use, versatility and accuracy of the smart plugs, so when the need arose for another timer of some sort, I went shopping for more smart plugs, either Kasa or Tapo, since both work with the Tapo app on my phone. That's when Amazon's AI offered what turned out to be a brilliant suggestion - this smart six-outlet extender, with 3 smart plugs, smart USB charge ports and even a night light. It cost more than I had originally planned to spend, but the moment I saw it, I started thinking about the crowded outlet next to my bed, where I had a couple of outlet splitters to accommodate a window fan, an air conditioner, a cell phone charger and more. I thought of how nice it would be to lose the flimsy outlet splitters, tame all those plugs, free up the smartphone wall wart, provide a little nighttime safety when it gets dark outside before I have a chance to run upstairs and turn the lights on, and save some money by having some of those items on timers. I already had one smart plug in that outlet, and that smart plug would go where I originally thought to put the new timer. This turned out to be a terrific plan. Some of the published specifications are a bit vague, though, so part of what I hope to accomplish in this review is to answer some of the questions that I could only get answered by buying my outlet extender.Let's start with how this extender fastens to the outlet. I do recommend that you fasten it to the outlet, if at all possible, because the extender is large and relatively heavy, and with up to six typical electrical appliances plus USB cables plugged in, there will be a fair amount of force trying to pull this extender out of the wall outlet. If you have a standard wall outlet, the most secure way to install the extender is to use the provided replacement for the center screw that holds the outlet cover on. If you have a Decora style outlet, you will have to rely on the provided ground stud, which is removable and adjustable so you can make it reach the second outlet's ground hole.Each smart plug/device on this outlet extender can be controlled and scheduled separately in the Tapo app, so you can automate up to 7 devices. Three standard electrical outlets on one side of the extender are smart, all three USB ports (two USB type A, one USB type C) are smart, and the night light is smart. Note that the USB ports are controlled together; you can schedule them separately from the smart plugs and the night light, but all three USB ports go on and off together; you can't program them separately. The remaining three standard outlets, on the opposite side of the extender, are always-on. Everything on this extender is protected against surges. The smart outlets have manual switch buttons that let you turn them on or off at unscheduled times.The smart plugs in this extender are even smarter than the individual Kasa smart plugs that I bought last year. For example, my Kasa smart plugs can be set to go on or off up to 59 minutes before or after sunrise or sunset. The smart plugs, USB ports and night light on this extender can be scheduled to go on or off up to 5 hours and 59 minutes before or after sunrise or sunset. That can be very convenient for fine-tuning control of appliances that you want to go on or off based on when it gets light in the morning or dark in the evening. The extender gets the time of day, as well as the time of sunrise and sunset, from TP-Link's Tapo cloud on the Internet, which presumably determines this based on the location of your cell phone at the time you set your Kasa and Tapo devices up.The USB ports support fast charging at up to 18W for devices that support it. That should be compatible with most cell phones, tablets and other small USB-powered items, but it will not charge your USB-C charged laptop.The night light is the most interesting, as well as the trickiest, to program. As the specifications say, you can set the night light to switch on at dusk and off at dawn, based on the ambient light level in the room, and you can specify what that ambient light level is, anywhere from 0 lux (completely dark) to 160 lux. You can also schedule when the night light will go on and off, and you can base that schedule on specific times or base it on sunrise and sunset (the exact time of sunrise and sunset, or up to 5 hours and 59 minutes before or after). You can also set the brightness level of the night light for each block of time that it's on. However, you cannot mix the dawn/dusk sensor control of the night light with scheduling. If you want to mix those functionalities, use the scheduling feature instead of the Smart Control feature (setting a schedule will automatically disable the Smart Control feature), and schedule on and off times based on sunrise and sunset, along with any other times you want your night light to be on or off. I made use of all this as follows: I set my night light to go on at sunset at 100% brightness, off when my wife usually goes to sleep, on at 25% brightness a little later, when I usually start getting ready for bed, I turn it off manually (with with the app) when I get into bed, on at 100% when my alarm sounds in the morning, and off about an hour later.The outlet extender is rated at up to 1850W, which is the maximum draw of a 15A wall outlet. It should be able to control an air conditioner or a space heater, but those are high-draw devices, so be judicious. A 500 BTU room air conditioner can draw 720W all by itself, and might spike a little higher when the compressor kicks in, so I wouldn't recommend trying to control more than one such high-draw appliance with this outlet extender.Finally, a few shortcomings:- As mentioned above, there are manual override buttons for the three smart outlets, but none for the USB ports and the night light. I really wish there was one for the night light, as it's a bit inconvenient to turn the night light off with the app.- There are white LEDs next to each programmable item on the extender - the three smart outlets and the USB ports - although not next to the night light, because that IS a light. It would be nice if those could be set to shut off when the room is dark, as these LEDs are rather bright and may make it difficult for some people to sleep. The extender already has an ambient light sensor for the night light, so it shouldn't be that hard to add this feature.- The outlets are spaced 1.57" apart, 3 on one side and 3 on the other, in perfect symmetry, and that is a potential problem. Power bricks are insidious, but they're part of everybody's life in 2024. Alas, there is no standard for their size, shape and plug orientation, so even with the relatively wide spacing, a long, thin or bulky power brick may still block an outlet adjacent to the one it's plugged into. It might help if the outlet orientation and placement could be varied or staggered a bit.However, these are very minor shortcomings, at least for me. I'm very happy with my outlet extender, and I'm eyeing another one for a living room outlet that could use some taming.

I would have loved to use this, as it was easy to set up in the Tapo app, and feels pretty solid. The problem I had was that I could not link the Tapo app to Alexa because my phone is running Android 11. I checked with TP-Link's tech support and was told that all of their devices require 12 or higher to link to Alexa, and there is no workaround. I'm sending this back to Amazon and seeking a different solution.Update 05/11/25 - I've upgraded this item from three to five stars, and cancelled the return. It turns out that the problem is not with the device, but with Amazon's Alexa system. I bought a different brand of plug and received the exact same message. A little research showed that the message came from pitangui.amazon.com, not from the Tapo app. I used my lovely bride's phone with Android 14 on it, and was able to connect both brand devices to Alexa just fine, and am now able to access the features from my Android 11 phone as well as hers. I worked with Amazon tech support for quite a while, and they were unable to provide a solution to my problem.

Overall, this Tapo unit does what it needs to:Provides 3 switchable outlets that can be integrated into Apple's Homekit. The night light is a nice add, but with a constant reminder in-app of : "You have turned on/off the device, Smart Control will turn on in next terminal." Not sure exactly what that means, but if you lose power, it appears that "smart" nightlight controls stop working.Mounting: if you have Decora-style outlets, the center mounting screw won't help, and you'll be using the bottom wall plug grounding hole. Initially tricky to screw in and adjust the Tapo grounding screw, but when careful, and using some add'l force, you can screw it in fully... it does help stabilize this large wall unit.Another slightly confusing thing for existing Kasa device owners:It would appear that the Kasa app is no longer preferred, and the new Tapo app will be supported moving forward. Good news: the Tapo app was able to use my existing Kasa login, and migrate my Kasa devices into Tapo. (All this b/c TP-Link bought Kasa...)One MAJOR product feature that I assumed would be included, because it is with my Kasa outlets:This unit DOES NOT have Energy Usage data, so you cannot see how much power your connected devices are pulling. This can be important if you have higher-power items (like powered speakers) connected.

As someone whose already purchased several Kasa and Tapo products from TP-Link, I am once again very pleased with the quality of both the hardware and software offered. The Tapo app immediately picked up outlet and it was added to my Google Home within 60 seconds. The automations work great within the Tapo app itself or within Home Assistant.