merossSmart Plug with Energy Monitoring, Mini Smart WiFi Plug Work with Alexa, Google Home, SmartThings, Smart Socket Remote Control Timer Plug, No Hub Required, 13A, 2 Packs

We control these plugs using Alexa through a series of Echo Dots that are, um, dotted around the house.They connected with wifi just fine and with a lot less faffing about than other things such as smart bulbs. We made sure to connect them to the 2.4Ghz band that most smart devices currently prefer - it makes little difference in most cases because the data being sent back and forth is trivial, simple commands and responses. It doesn't need a superfast band in order to work just fine. We use the 2.4Ghz guest network option on our main router, leaving the faster 5G band on the guest network for, well, guest devices. Using the guest networks limits the clutter on the main wifi channels of our router used for everything else online.We made our lives more complicated by having MAC address filtering on all network devices by default, which might keep intruders away, but also makes every smart gadget need to be registered with the MAC filter. The plugs (and bulbs) then revealed that our house was in fact a bit too large for the wifi to reach the extremities, and we needed to buy a wifi extender to improve coverage. These scramble the MAC addresses meaning that we had to register every smart gadget twice! Some connect to the extender by default, others to the main router, and a few will connect to either of them, so a lot of security entries needed setting up twice. But that's not a problem of these plugs. It might be needed should a far-flung smartplug simply not cooperate with the app or with Alexa. It's just something to bear in mind if you run a secure network with wifi extenders.Everyting now works like a charm. Devices reliably come on when asked, and with something like Alexa to help, they can run on timers for as long as you require. We have a gym that we can pre-heat with a fan heater in winter (it is unheated) or keep warm using an oil filled radiator on another Meross plug. We can now be anywhere in the house and ask Alexa to preheat the gym for 10 minutes (fan heaters being a nightmare on running costs), and these Meross smartplugs do the job very well. The Amazon plugs are more expensive, larger, and don't have energy monitoring capabilities so far as I can tell from the two we also have. The Meross plugs also have a side switch that enables you to simply lean over and switch the plug off without disconnecting it from wifi.These are great for sockets hidden away inconveniently behind furniture, you can flip that inaccessible power switch with a voice command instead. It means the Meross plugs are always on, but the energy overhead from using one is miniscule (it measures its own usage as well, as part of the overall scheme of things).I'd wondered when we were setting up this very basic automation in the house, that we were going to become too dependent on gadgets to do things we used to do manually, but if using them becomes effortless, it's easier to accept! We're now quite used to switching things on remotely, basically because these plugs seem reliable and also "accountable" in that we can see what power is being drawn through the devices by whatever's connected to them. We have a tortoise that needs its basking lamp on for a given amount of time in order to stay healthy, and we can now be in the kitchen and "switch him on" at the other side of the house for a given number of hours.We have about 10 of these in the house, a lot of stuff is still done the old fashioned way, but these are all reliable, none have shown a single problem, and while we could live without them, I'm actually becoming fond of what they make easier for us to do.While this might seem more of an ad for Alexa, I'm hoping that it indicates that these smart plugs are actually very good. For less outlay than for the majority of smart plugs, you get a decent array of features in a device that just quietly gets on with life. The cash we've saved by being able to limit on-times of things around the house more than covers the trickle of power used to keep the smart plugs listening to the network.I would personally hate becoming dependent upon automation in my own home, and the limits of automation sometimes mean we end up having to adapt how we operate in orrder to fit in around things the automation can't or won't do, but if we add a little light automation to things that are inconvenient in our everyday life at home, we would want it to be dependable. These plugs are just that.

These smart plugs are incredibly easy to set up and us,! Within minutes, I had it connected and running smoothly with my lamps and projector. I use it daily to control various devices around my home, and it’s been reliable and convenient. The app interface is good, scheduling is easy to set up but I mostly use voice commands with Alexa . Definitely recommend for anyone looking to make their home smarter with minimal hassle.

It’s a great product, stable connection, easy to use, very compact as it fits behind my washing machine. It’s very versatile especially while integrated with Home Assistant using Merros LAN integration using HACS. I was able to create an automation that throws a notification when washing cycle starts and finishes, it can also send notification how much a washing cycle costed! Bear in mind that’s not out of the box functionality and you have to be able to use Home Assistant and script in yaml. But if you know what I’m talking about then this is one of the best plugs with an electricity calculation. It even exposes Voltage of the grid to Home Assistant. Basic app is helpful as well, reacts fast, it’s stable, and is able to show you units in £ if you provide your energy price per KWH in settings.

Aesthetics:This accessory is really well cared for, starting from the packaging up to the materials.It is immediately perceived that plastic is not a cheap one. The live color is much better than in the photo, the white is pearly.Dimensions (W x D x H): ~ 33.5×6.4×3.0 cm:From the point of view of the size it is a bit too long to have just 4 outputs. I would have preferred a version without USBs and 1 more socket (But this is a personal opinion). I would have also preferred an extra ~0.5 cm between the sockets.Convenient holes on the back to hang it on the wall (Personally I have not used them)Application:Nothing tragic but the proprietary application should be improved.I would have liked that by renaming one of the sockets from the application, the change would also happen in HomeKit (or vice versa)The proprietary application is not necessary in daily use but it is essential for the software update and for a pleasant surprise, the possibility of switch off the status LEDs, very useful if you place it in a bedroom!In Apple's HomeKit, you can show it as a single component or as 5 different accessories (4 sockets + 1 USB).Connection:The connection is stable enough and I rarely I had to wait for the reconnection when opening HomeKit (reconnection however very fast, about 1 second).The commands instead are taken instantly.On the power strip, we also find a physical button (which appears to be very solid). This will be useful to turn on / off all the sockets or to put the accessory in connection modePrice:The price is slightly high (41.99 £) when compared to other products without Apple HomeKit support but for now, this is the only alternative available with a UK plug and HomeKit Support.However, it should be emphasized that the product is really well built.Conclusion:The product is beautiful and functional. It works perfectly with Apple HomeKit and has solved many of my power management problems.If you are an Apple user and use UK plugs, you currently have no choice.I haven't tested it with Alexa and Google Home yet. I will update the review after the tests.

Works well and the app is surprisingly not too bad. HomeKit integration also works although you need an Apple TV or HomePod for most of the HomeKit features (not Meross fault of course) but something to keep in mind for Apple users.

Works as it should be

Easy setup. The connection with home kit is not perfect but works 90% of the times.

very good, now I can just put my iPhone on the MagSafe charging holder and forget about overcharging or too low power, never need to worry about manually on/off charger to keep the phone battery between 35% and 80%, and with a home shortcut to turn on the charger at 6am to make sure the phone with enough power at every morning, I feel myself quite released after start using this smart plug. Good and compact and easy to add in homekit, what more I can ask

You have to download the brand's own app to be able to use it. Upon powering off all switches, it will auto off the main switch/no standby option. It syncs with google assistant/Alexxa but the Main switch has to be on/one power outlet left on for routines to work