Smart Plug with Energy Monitoring, 15A/3000W Smart Outlet Works with Alexa, Google Home, Smart Socket with APP Control Timer, 2.4G WiFi Only, RoHS, CE & FCC Certified (Without Type-C, 2 PCS)

Good smart plug, Smart Life is a good choice for control
These smart plugs pair easily, at least if you are familiar with pairing devices in general. They only work with WiFi at 2.4 GHz so I shut down the 5 GHz radio on my router temporarily. I’m not using Zigbee currently, I’ve got multiple access points and my WiFi is reliable. These smart plugs do not require a hub to operate, once paired with WiFi they can be controlled from anywhere in the world as long as my phone has an internet connection.The switches have some very useful features. There is the typical scheduling. There is a random mode that’s useful for lights when I’m away as well. The smart plug will monitor energy usage which is very useful for figuring out where my electricity costs are coming from. I’ve got one on my dehumidifier which eats a lot of power, its nice to know how much week by week. The “overcharge” switch will power off the switch when the power drops below 3 watts, useful on a laptop that’s plugged in all the time. I can just turn it on via a schedule, but let the switch power it off when it’s fully charged.The Smart Life app is easy to use. It does have occasional pop ups promoting devices and features, but they generally aren’t in the way. There are hundreds or even thousands of different devices from many manufacturers that can be controlled or monitored. For me its also important that I don’t need to pay for a subscription to use it.The most important thing when choosing devices like this is choosing how to control them. I don’t want to have to go to different apps for different devices. Control via Alexa, Google, SmartThings etc. is pretty much universal, but the devices themselves typically have an app that can be programmed, and more importantly is used to configure them to pair with my WiFi. Smart Life is a great choice. First there are a lot of different controllers, relays and sensors that use this system. While I can use Alexa for voice control, the vast majority of my automation requirements are schedule driven. This is where I find it important to minimize the number of different environments.I’ve got 20 or more smart switches and relays that use a competing control program, (not the Tuya/Smart Life app). The relays control outdoor lighting, pool pumps and other things, the smart switches are used for appliances, energy monitoring etc. I also already had the Smart Life app which I’ve used with just a couple of devices, temperature and humidity monitors and a wakeup light. I’ve noticed that most of the manufacturers that make devices for that system have either switched to Smart Life, or sell both. The other system doesn’t have nearly as many sensors or the wide variety of switches and relays that can be used with Smart Life. I’m not going to get rid of my existing equipment, but I see the need to switch portions of my system to a different system. I tried these switches for that reason. Alexa will work with either system transparently for voice control.

Easy to set up and use.
I have a lot of different smart home devices and have a few different brands to compare it to. As far as I can tell, this offers the same functionality as the higher end versions, at a much lower cost. I have not attempted to flash it with ESPHome firmware, but the app was easy to use and it connected to WiFi effortlessly with a strong signal. They do poll quite a bit when the app is open, so be aware if you have a heavily congested network or an older router.

Energy monitoring has a fee
I am reviewing: Smart Plug with Energy Monitoring, 15A/3000W Smart Outlet Works with Alexa, Google Home, Smart Socket with APP Control Timer, 2.4G WiFi Only, RoHS, CE & FCC Certified (without Type-C, 2 PCS)The attractive feature for me is that these return to power without having to reset if there is a power outage. We have a lot of power outages here in Puerto Rico and it is an inconvenience to have to reset the button before the device works again.These are very easy to set up in Smart Life and then I added them to our Google for voice control.I am not really interested in the power consumption option, but I did click on it until I got to the pay screen. I’m not paying for any such function. If there is a free version, I didn’t waste time finding it.

I love these type of products, so flexible … these work well with the Tuya smart app, and integrate perfectly with Home Assistant. The power monitor within HA had to be enabled for some off reason. The Tuya smart app does not do a good job of showing anything other than instantaneous power, (no min, max etc) and does not show a graph, but Home Assistant does. I bought two different batches of them, and in spite of ordering the exact same product, they were different, although similar switches.