Belkin's WeMo switch review

I have been slowly collecting smart home devices for about the last year and half with the hope that I will be able to control just about everything in my home with a simple voice command.  One of the first items that I picked up was a Belkin Wemo switch.  I found the Wemo switch was a very easy way to moving to home automatiom, so let's take a look.

Setting up the devices

There are several different variations of switches that are available from Belkin and I am guessing the set up would be about the same for all of them.  The Belkin line of switches appear to price out from $34.99 to $49.00.  Overall I think the set up of the switch took less than two minutes.  So lets take a quick look at the process.  Go ahead an download the Wemo app from the Google Play Store or iTunes.  

Plug the device into a standard wall socket.  The lights on the device will blink a blue and red to let you know it has not been set up.

Open the device settings

Navigate to the Wifi settings 

Open the Wemo App

Using the Wemo app is simple.  There are two tabs Device and Rules.  If you just want to turn things on and off you do that quickly from the devices tab.  If you would like to set up some rules to turn something on or off at certain times then check out the Rules tab to create a rule.  

There is also more information that can be accessed by clicking the gear icon to open up the more page within the application.  It's worth checking out if you are looking to link to other products like IFTTT, Nest, or Alexa.  

Set up for use with Google Home

Once you set up the device through the Wemo app now you can link to Wemo within the Google Home app by doing the following.  Open the Google Home app.

Click the hamburger in the upper left hand corner to open the menu options and select Home control

Click the add button to see the available devices

Find and select Wemo in the list of devices, this will start the process of linking the devices to Google Home.  It will redirect out of the Home app to finish the linking process.

Conclusion

While there are some cheaper option on the market for smart switches these Wemo switches are so easy to set up that they might be worth spending a little bit more to pick them up.  You can also take a look at IFTTT to make some cool recipes to mix and match to get even more functionality out of the device.

Pros:

• Simple setup
• Android and iPhone apps are well written and easy to use
• Firmware updates are easy to install with a single push of a button
• Switches can be used from anywhere as long as you have a data connection
• IFTTT integration increases the possibilities
• Google Home and Alexa integration

Cons:

• These devices are a bit on the pricey side, but not so expensive that they would stop someone from buying them

These devices are for anyone that might want to jump into the home automation arena.  You don't have to be overly tech savy to use these devices.