While Belkin’s WeMo is largely a closed smarthome ecosystem, with a questionable history in terms of performance and security, I found $40 for three “connected” bulbs and mini hub too good a deal to pass up. So, at the very least, the two lamps I have on old school mechanical timers will be getting an wireless upgrade (and CFL > LED). It’s probably all a little redundant with my existing Hue Lighting and Staples Connect, but … new gadgets!
If you too are similarly tempted by Wemo, visit this link and add the kit to your cart for $50 in savings plus a bonus bulb. At the checkout screen, enter SAVEWEMO (in all caps) to get another $10 off. Shipping is free, but state sales tax will be added.
By the by, Wemo isn’t entirely a silo … with links to IFFT and Echo if you have other Wemo components. But it’s not a completely open hub like Staples or Smartthings.
Awesome I just picked these up. Thanks for the heads up.
FBI new advisory to consumers: Many IoT devices don’t get security updates. Quarantine them on their own wifi network.
(And Dave, if you get that hackable baby monitor, I promise not to play creepy things like Every Breath You Take. Instead, I’ll play a combination of Finnish language lessons and specious promotional messages about the delights of the tropical paradise of Helsinki. No ill effects will results will occur, other than an utterly implacable desire to move to Finland beginning around the age of 13…)
I’m slowing removing WeMo from our setup. Would rather buy $10-$20 Zigbee bulbs (GE, Cree, Philips) for the Hue + Staples Connect setup. That said, while WeMo wasn’t always 100% reliable, it was simple to setup (for the most part) and control (for the most part).
But, as you said, new gadgets! This stuff drives my wife crazy. :-)
My experience with the WeMo remote power controls has been 100% problematic. Lots of trouble getting on the Wi-Fi, turns off the computer (which I’m trying to provide remote control to turn on when needed remotely) for no reason sometimes, loses Wi-Fi, stops responding to remote commands. Had three different ones at various times, about to try an iHome to see if that is any better.
Personally I plan to very much limit my IoT experience. What happens if your IoT vendor goes out of business, somebody buys them up and installs spyware on your devices? Etc etc. Happy to stay away for a bit. Too many of these things are proving to be security-cracking gateways into your home network, with poor security, rare updates, etc. No thanks.
You can most likely use the bulbs with another ZigBee capable gateway, as at least Belkin has followed the ZigBee standard and the bulbs can be manually reset, unlike Philips.
The bulbs are ok for the money you paid and I’ve successfully used them with several other gateways. The WeMo gateway on the other hand is a total waste of money and has terrible software.
Have you figured out how to upgrade firmware. It keeps saying I have a firmware update but it doesn’t seem to want to update itself. Also I setup one of my lights to turn on at sunset and off at sunrise. Worked fine the first 2 nights. But this morning it didn’t turn itself off. If this kind of frustration is the norm with this product, it will be going right in the trash.
Two of my three bulbs successfully upgraded. But I couldn’t get it done via iPhone. Had to flip to my Android. The third bulb on iOS now often says downloading or failed. The rules I set seem to be firing as expected. I have two (one with new firmware, one with old) turn on at like 830PM and off at 1130PM. I plan t get more tricky. But, yeah, a decent amount of frustration thus far.
I don’t have any android devices. So basically I’m SOL? Apple needs to hurry up and dominate this market with HomeKit. This sh!t shouldn’t be this hard and frustrating to setup and use.
Maybe the next iOS app update will improve? But, yes, it’s been frustrating early going. One of my Twitter followers mentioned removing the app from the phone and reinstalling to trigger a successful firmware update. And, as mentioned, the one that wasn’t updated does appear to be worked as scheduled. Fortunately, these are Zigbee bulbs and should be compatible with other stuff down the line… Although Belkin would be responsible still for any necessary firmware updates.