Ecobee Switch+ Smart Light Switch, Amazon Alexa Built-in

These switches are actually pretty sweet. I got em on sale for over half off which really helped. The main gripes I have are Alexa’s uses are a smidge limited as it doesn’t allow drop in on these gen switches, it has a hard time hearing the wake word more often then I’d like, and the quality of the speaker is meh at best. But honestly for all the other things it does right it’s an ace. Night light is great but is a cool white light and only has one brightness setting. The built in temp and motion sensors are great at what they are and reduce the need for remote/wireless ecobee temperature sensors. *It also has a smart on/off lighting based on motion or time of day. While there is no dimmer ability with these switches you can always just get a smart hue bulb and issue solved. Set up and pairing to the app was seamless. A few closing notes are the speaker can play music from select apps paired with your Alexa app, you can use the switch or the app or even your voice to control the light switch, and best part (for me) is the HomeKit functionality is seamless and just what I wanted. I was a nest user and while their build quality is a bit better with better materials EcoBee’s products and functionality made it worth the switch. Now if only they would make a CO2/Fire sensor my house would be Nest free lol. **Theres a high chance the switch is about to be hardware/software updated as this has been on the market for a while so don’t pay full retail and don’t be upset if it happens soon.

Update 4/18I wanted to note that Ecobee is already working on improvements and has now changed the preset time that the light is allowed to stay on from 15 minutes all the way down to 1 minute. I have updated my comment about this by removing from the "Things I don't like that I hope they improve on" section. This just shows that they are doing everything they can to improve the Switch.I will continue to monitor and update my post as I see more improvements happen.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++The Ecobee Switch+ is a great concept and I look forward to seeing future improvements on the device.Things I like:- Very easy installation process. If you download the Ecobee app, there are videos and step by step instructions that are very easy to follow. It took me about 20 minutes to install and I'm not the most savvy in this area of expertise.- Great look out of the box as well as on my wall. It looks as if it was always there and is nice an snug against the wall without any indications of not fitting in the place it was installed.- Nice way to have an Alexa installed device in your room without having to worry about placing on a shelf, plugging into an outlet etc.Also works as a motion sensor light and seems to be pretty sensitive to motion. Would come on as I walk into the room where the Switch+ is installed.- Also has a nice nightlight option that can be turned off if preferred.- Will be a great way to measure temperature and motion once connected to an Ecobee thermostat (when this option is enabled in the near future).- I like the improvements to the Ecobee app through my Android device. It's very easy to control the Switch+ through the app and I like how you can now see all temperature room sensors in 1 screen. So that you can see what the temperature is across the house without having to click on each sensor individually. Once the Switch+ is working to measure temperature, I can see this feature being really good.- Has a preset timer that you can program through the app to turn off after a specified time frame.Things I don't like that I hope they improve on:- Currently the Switch+ isn't designed to be installed on the same switch as a ceiling fan. Originally I had mine installed on the same switch as my Master bedroom ceiling fan. I noticed after installing IFTTT on my phone that the light was coming on during times when no one was around and no one had remotely requested it to. After doing further research with costumer support, we concluded that the issue was due to it being installed on the same switch as my ceiling fan. They advised that this could be creating additional heat that would make the sensor think someone was in the room and advised for me to move to a different location to avoid damaging the Switch+. After I moved it, this issue seem to be resolved.- The Switch+ can't be installed on a 2 way or 3 way switch. Between not being able to install on the same switch as a ceiling fan and not being able to install on a 2 way or 3 way switch, this really limited the options I had available to install it.- Doesn't work well with a Mesh Wi-Fi signal. I had a hard time trying to get the Switch+ to connect to my Wi-Fi and after much trouble shooting with Ecobee support, I was finally advised that it could be due to having more than 1 router connected to my Wi-Fi which was making it bounce back in forth between routers. After I disabled 1 router, I had no problem getting it to connect and so far this hasn't been an issue going forward after reconnecting the 2nd router. I believe this is just an issue for initial setup. Once you get the Switch+ connected to the router, it seems to be fine and so far I haven't had to try and reconnect it to my Wi-Fi.- Currently not Bluetooth ready and so you have to listen to music through the small speaker which isn't bad considering the size but could be a lot better with the option to connect to a separate speaker like the Dot allows.- Is currently setup with a setting that whenever the light is manually/remotely turned off and you come back into the room, the light won't go back on without turning back on manually/remotely for 15 minutes. In other words, if I request Alexa to turn off the light or I physically turn off the light and then go back into the room prior to 15 minutes going by, the light won't come on without asking Alexa or physically turning back on. I hope this setting is changed to allow you to disable as this can be a hassle if you have your hands full. Keep in mind, this setting doesn't happen when the light turns off by the timer (based on the time frame you preset). If the light has turned off automatically and then you walk into the room a second later, the light will come back on.- Would have hoped the temperature sensors would have been working before the launch. This was the main reason I was wanting to purchase the Switch+. I thought it would be a nice way to have the additional sensors in different rooms without having to be placed on a shelf or on the wall. Unfortunately this option isn't currently available but is supposed to be working in the near future. I was advised it should be working by the Summer time. So I guess we have to wait and see how well this feature works.My summary:This is my first Alexa ready device which has me looking into adding other items to my house that can be voice activated. I have very high expectations that Ecobee is going to take the right steps to improve on this concept and look forward to all the enhancements that will be coming in the near future. Although my list is long with things to be improved on, I feel that since this is the first design they have come out with that things are only going to get better as they began resolving some of these issues. So far customer support has been very helpful and have indicated that they are taking all of our concerns and suggestions into consideration and are trying to address them. As the issues of concern are addressed, I will try to do my best to update my post and will hopefully see my 4 star review turn into a 5 star review.

Awesome smart switch with all the bells and whistles. If you have an ecobee thermostat, it even amplifies it's awesomeness! To start, it works as you'd expect a standard light switch to work. You press button, light turns on instantly. You press button again, light turns off. Simple.Now, if you have an ecobee thermostat, this will also double as an extra temp, motion, and occupancy sensor to help balance out your house and let you know if any kind of motion is detected. It also has a built in nightlight that will illuminate when it gets dark so you have a small light to guide you in the dark. The motion sensors can also be used to automatically turn on and off the lights when you enter and leave the room so there is no forgetting to turn the lights off (kids) or even on if you want that feature. This feature (as well as the night light) can be turned off in the app if you don't want it.The next major feature of this switch is that it has a full blown Alexa inside of it. Once you register it to your account, it can do practically everything a Echo device can do. It has a light bar on it just like a typical Alexa device that provides feedback for what you ask it. The recognition works very well and it even has the ESP on it, so if you have multiple switches or other Echo devices, they won't all respond at once, only the device closest to you will. The speaker is not terrible, but obviously due to it's size, it's not the most amazing speaker to listen to music on. It's not bad by any means, but you won't be blown away by it's fidelity or anything. I'd say it's on par with a Dot. The one thing I REALLY hope ecobee (or Amazon) brings is to allow these devices to be used in audio groups so if you have multiple switches, you could have a makeshift whole home audio and have all your music playing through all the switches. That would be killer in my opinion.And finally for Google Home and Apple users, it is compatible with Google Assistant and Apple HomeKit. I absolutely love the HomeKit compatibility as it allows me to use Siri to turn the lights on/off and gives me notifications on motion and allows automation through the Home app. The HomeKit integration is a must have and I'm so glad that ecobee is supporting all the major smart home integrations.If you're in the market for a smart switch, it's real hard to beat this one by ecobee, it has just about everything you could want out of one and supports all the major players.