SwitchBot Smart Plug Mini 15A, Energy Monitor, Smart Home WiFi(2.4GHz) & Bluetooth Outlet Compatible with Alexa & Google Home, APP Remote Control & Timer Function for Home Automation, No Hub Required

A better smart plug, simply put
I’ve owned 49 of these SwitchBot plugs since they were released just over a month ago. I also own dozens of plugs from various manufacturers, like TP-Link, Sonoff, BN-Link, Emporia, etc. These plugs are, by far, my favorite. I have one plugged into just about every outlet in my house, where reasonable.Here’s some of my key highlights that differentiate these plugs from all the junk online:- The build quality is outstanding. There are no seams or otherwise weird manufacturing quirks on any of my plugs. While aesthetics of a smart plug aren’t particularly important, I wouldn’t be comfortable trusting a no-name brand plug with a poor exterior to have safe internals. SwitchBot really surprised me with the quality as soon as I picked up my first plug, and I was happy to find no defects on any of my 50.- They work cloud-free, if necessary. Many of the plugs on Amazon rely on their proprietary app and proprietary online API, rendering the plugs entirely useless if their company no longer supports them. After setting up these plugs, they continue to work without internet directly over Bluetooth, with few functional compromises. Although most smart plugs on the market are currently ESP based (which is an IoT Bluetooth/WiFi module), many of them only utilize the WiFi features after setup. SwitchBot ensured the longevity of their product by allowing it to work in-app over Bluetooth.- They’re accurate out of the box. In my lab, I was able to measure each plug’s reported metrics with a calibrated test load and against a calibrated power meter. I found the device itself to consume 0.6-0.9 W on average, and measure the calibrated load accurately down to a tenth of a Watt. Extremely good quality, considering some plugs off Amazon measure 5-10 watts off, out of the box.Some stuff for the advanced users: these work great with Tasmota, allowing you to utilize Home Assistant / whatever setup your smart home already uses, finetune the calibration, disable the toggle button, disable the bluetooth, etc.All in all, SwitchBot took the existing smart plug market and designed a plug that outperforms the competitors at a price point that blows them out of the water. They work amazingly out of the box and can also be better tweaked with third party software like Tasmota.

Dual purpose
This works great behind furniture. It also helps keep my house safe when I’m not home because I can turn it on and off at random times to make it look like I’m home.

Useful power monitor
I wanted to know my home office power use. I plugged it into the wall and then into a power strip.The setup was pretty easy: your phone is the interface and the app is pretty decent.It gives you the (I think) instantaneous power draw (maybe 1-minute resolution), in “kilowatts”. I somehow believed that you could have the app collect a time series of readings; it didn’t for me, though the description implied it. At one point I had to power cycle something, the device announced a circuit fault and stopped working. Unplugging and replugging didn’t reset it. Right now I left it sitting around to see if it maybe drains and wakes up.So I like the gadget, but I’m not yet sure it’s a good product.

I really like these smart plugs. I use them to control items that are hard to reach like my RV fridge to read the usage and cycle the power if the fridge has an issue. They are also great for reading usage data for a device or setting up smart automation to control a light to turn on and off at certain times for home security. I will definitely be buying more in the future.

UPDATE: The product died after several months and Switchbot attempted to replace it under warranty after I submitted a video. Unfortunately they did not mark the package as a warranty replacement when they shipped it from HK and FedEx charged import duties on it into Canada. I’ve tried to work with SwitchBot support FOR MONTHS to resolve their error. The bill has now been sent to collections and “Henry” from SwitchBot has not replied to me for over a month. This has been a nightmare and I’m terribly disappointed in the company and all the empty promises their support has given me.Connectivity and power metering improved after a firmware update, but metering is still a little slow and imprecise. With some appliances it was reporting mismatched amperage and wattage draws. (Wattage is always amps x volts.)I bought this as a budget alternative to a Kill-a-Watt type device. This will give you an idea if the appliance is a major vampire, but isn’t sensitive enough to give precise reading on efficient appliances in standby. It did confirm the my induction burner had a steady draw of almost a watt but couldn’t really detect two other smart appliances. The app tracks total power usage by the day, so again pretty low resolution. Also this thing uses wifi (totally unnecessary, would prefer Bluetooth only) so it will be drawing a bit of power by itself.App is fine, but this thing is missing a feature. A double-click should be programmable as a timer for a default time set in the app. I’m using it now with a fan in the bathroom. I don’t want to open the app every time to do this. Currently the button only does On/off or reset.