The 'Seamless' $13 Smart Home Gadget Amazon Customers Swear By

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If you have been thinking about turning your home into a smart home, there are a number of things you have to worry about, including swapping your existing outlets and switches to their smarter counterparts. But if you don't want to go all in and spend hours changing the wall outlets or hiring someone to do so for you, the Amazon Smart Plug offers a smart middle ground.

This nifty little gadget plugs right into your existing wall outlets and converts them into smart sockets that you can control with your voice or your phone. The ease of setup and use has made it incredibly popular among Amazon shoppers, who are overwhelmingly positive about it and appreciate its "seamless" Alexa integration. 

What's even better is that the Amazon Smart Plug, which has a list price of $25, can be purchased for only $13 right now, as part of Amazon's early Black Friday deals. This is the lowest price it has ever seen, so you are unlikely to find it cheaper anytime soon.

As mentioned, the Amazon offering is essentially a wall adapter that you plug into your existing outlets. You then plug your appliances, such as desk lamps, fans, and coffee makers, into the smart plug, which allows you to control them using the Alexa voice assistant (on your Echo devices) or remotely with the Alexa app, the same as you would with a smart appliance or a gadget connected to a smart outlet.

One of the big positives of the Amazon Smart Plug is that it can connect directly to your home Wi-Fi and doesn't need a smart home hub. You can simply set it up using the Alexa app and start using it. However, as is unfortunately the case with many budget smart home accessories, it needs a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi band to operate and won't work with 5GHz or 6GHz bands and ad-hoc networks, such as your phone's wireless hotspot. It also has a compact design to avoid blocking the nearby outlets and is compatible with electronics that draw up to 15 amps of power.

The Amazon Smart Plug has an excellent average rating of 4.7 out of 5, with over 570,000 reviews. One of the prevalent themes in most buyer reviews is that it's convenient and user-friendly. Folks also appreciate how reliably and seamlessly it works with Alexa voice commands.

However, the experience of using it hasn't been all that smooth for a small selection of buyers on Amazon. Some complain about it getting disconnected frequently, whereas others mention their support troubles. There are also some disappointments regarding its exclusive support for Alexa and no other platforms, such as Apple HomeKit.

That said, these quotes make it clear why it's such a popular product. "The integration with Alexa is seamless, allowing me to control lights and other appliances effortlessly," one buyer wrote on Amazon. "My goodness, this was a seamless set up for even a technologically challenged person like me," another shopper noted. Many buyers also claim that the Amazon gadget has made their lives easier.