chellie
Tour Winner
Help me decide please. Just for music at the moment. Could be a nest or hive later. Thanks
Google Home or Amazon Echo
- Thread starter chellie
- Start date
Amazon are having black Friday today. The Echo is pretty damn cheap today, £69. Way less than the £139 it was early this year, although they've got a bew version out its no better than the old one.
gmhubble
Head Pro
I am hoping Amazon seeing as I bought an echo for my wife and two echo dots for the kids for xmas yesterday!!!
chellie
Tour Winner
The google home is on offer as well.
Woke up at 2.30am and couldn't get back to sleep so got up and ended up ordering the Google Home from JL.
Woke up at 2.30am and couldn't get back to sleep so got up and ended up ordering the Google Home from JL.
palindromicbob
Tour Winner
How are you finding it. I recently ordered a Home and a Home mini along with some TP link bulbs and a TP link socket. Already have a Chrome cast. Was a bit of a coin toss for me between Alexa and Google and decided based on ecosystem I'm using.
Have plug and some lights set up and they work well but the bulbs are only available in E27 with an adapter that adds an extra inch to the bulb making it a bit bulky for smaller shades. Just couldn't commit myself to Philips Hue and the thoughts of another box needing connect to my Router.
ridonver
Newbie
I like the exciting features of Google Home. I'm planning to buy one this month.
D
Deleted member 16999
Guest
Bought the Amazon Echo this week for the m-in-law, being bed bound it was difficult for her to change her music or listen to an audible book, she’s a technophobe and even struggles with the Sky Remote.
The Echo is a god send she’s took to it like a duck to water, she can listen to her music, change the artist, choose an audible book, the volume etc all by voice command, it’s given her a real boost.
If anyone has someone who shy’s away from technology of any age, but enjoys music, books etc then this is a must, 2 minutes to set up and their away.
It will do a lot more things, but were keeping easy for her at the moment.
Also Amazon are doing the unlimited music and books as a special offer for 79p and 99p per month for the first 3 months.
The Echo is a god send she’s took to it like a duck to water, she can listen to her music, change the artist, choose an audible book, the volume etc all by voice command, it’s given her a real boost.
If anyone has someone who shy’s away from technology of any age, but enjoys music, books etc then this is a must, 2 minutes to set up and their away.
It will do a lot more things, but were keeping easy for her at the moment.
Also Amazon are doing the unlimited music and books as a special offer for 79p and 99p per month for the first 3 months.
chellie
Tour Winner
Sorry, only just seen this. Am still waiting for my Hive (bought cheap) to be installed so haven't used it for that or the free bulbs as yet. Liking it for the music in the kitchen and links to my calendar. Hope to add more bulbs and get some plugs as prices fall.
We got an Echo on black Friday. Stands up as a very decent speaker in its own right, never mind the rest. Certainly fills our living room sound wise.
User2021
Challenge Tour Pro
Anyone with British Gas?
currently with rewards you can get a few Hive set up, Hive hub and two free light bulbs.
currently with rewards you can get a few Hive set up, Hive hub and two free light bulbs.
chellie
Tour Winner
Yep, I got the free hub and bulbs from them. Also got the Hive very cheap.
palindromicbob
Tour Winner
Few weeks in and ironing out some issues. One of the things I found was my TP-Link stuff randomly disconnecting and causing issues usually all around the same time. Turned out to be due to the DHCP settings on my router as they renewed every 24 hours and of course I set everything up within a few minutes of each other. Going to assign fixed IP addresses to devices when I can be bothered but set the lease renewal to 21 days for now and the problem has gone away (until 21 days come round and remind me I have to set fixed IPs). I'm using a BT Homehub with TP-Link 2.4Ghz extender.
Have a Home in the living room and a Mini in the bedroom. Found out about Broadcast and it's fantastic!!!. Hey Google Broadcast "your message here". If I'm upstairs it'll play a little trumpet and followed by the message acting like an intercom. Best thing it also works from google assistant on the phone so if I'm out I can relay message back by either talking or typing them into assistant and it will play on both the Home and Mini. It great for trolling the wife. I really hope the introduce an option to define the trigger word soon. Amazon have it right with a range of single word triggers like Echo or Alexa or Apples Siri. Hey/OK Google is a bit meh and with the power of google voice recognition and machine learning having a user defined keyword shouldn't be difficult.
Integration with Chromecast is solid and even allow me to turn the TV on and off. Hey Google play **** on Netflix is a nice feature and will hopefully expand further to include other on demand services like iplayer etc. Already able to stream radio to the speaker which is handy.
TP Link bulbs are good nice warm white from the simple LB110 bulbs. The white on the LB130 (colour) is very cold and the warm white setting is a bit yellow but the colours are nice for a bit of ambient light. Getting the wife used to it and not switching them off at the wall is another issue.
Ordered a cheap coloured bulb from ebay as it didn't need a hub and has a B22 connector. Similar style to philips hue bulbs as well. Unfortunately it is faulty and won't pair. Still works as a cool white dumb bulb so hoping the supplier will simply send me a replacement or refund me. Have found Chinese suppliers on ebay tend to be quiet good for that and rarely ask for returns so will soon find out.
The TP link plug can be scheduled and so far has found it's use for the christmas lights. Link up with IFTTT to expand the functionality allowing me to say things likes Hey Google "It's Christmas" and then toggle the plug on and off. As well as loads of other options. Just scratching the surface.
In my exploration for cheaper Smart Home solutions I did discover Sonoff and reviews are very positive for them. Company is Itead and seem to have a big following amount hardware hacking types. They do plugs (S20) that can be picked up for around £10 online and are good to 10A. Of more interest to me though is a little inline type switch which can be used for unearthed stuff like lamps. I've order 4 for around £20 and plan to replace the inline switches for my fish tank light and tortoise heat lamp along with planning to add them to a couple of lamps. They also have manual switch options so not going to be stuck.
They do some very nice looking light switches but I'm in a rental house not planning to invest just yet but starting from about £10 for a single gang switch they are appealing and i'll probably get some to try. They are nice touch sensitive "dumb" switches with added wifi connectivity allowing you to make lights smart without needing to get individual bulb. Certainly a good option for anyone with a cluster of GU10 ceiling lights wanting them who has just been to A&E with heart palpitations after pricing up a Hue solution.
Have a Home in the living room and a Mini in the bedroom. Found out about Broadcast and it's fantastic!!!. Hey Google Broadcast "your message here". If I'm upstairs it'll play a little trumpet and followed by the message acting like an intercom. Best thing it also works from google assistant on the phone so if I'm out I can relay message back by either talking or typing them into assistant and it will play on both the Home and Mini. It great for trolling the wife. I really hope the introduce an option to define the trigger word soon. Amazon have it right with a range of single word triggers like Echo or Alexa or Apples Siri. Hey/OK Google is a bit meh and with the power of google voice recognition and machine learning having a user defined keyword shouldn't be difficult.
Integration with Chromecast is solid and even allow me to turn the TV on and off. Hey Google play **** on Netflix is a nice feature and will hopefully expand further to include other on demand services like iplayer etc. Already able to stream radio to the speaker which is handy.
TP Link bulbs are good nice warm white from the simple LB110 bulbs. The white on the LB130 (colour) is very cold and the warm white setting is a bit yellow but the colours are nice for a bit of ambient light. Getting the wife used to it and not switching them off at the wall is another issue.
Ordered a cheap coloured bulb from ebay as it didn't need a hub and has a B22 connector. Similar style to philips hue bulbs as well. Unfortunately it is faulty and won't pair. Still works as a cool white dumb bulb so hoping the supplier will simply send me a replacement or refund me. Have found Chinese suppliers on ebay tend to be quiet good for that and rarely ask for returns so will soon find out.
The TP link plug can be scheduled and so far has found it's use for the christmas lights. Link up with IFTTT to expand the functionality allowing me to say things likes Hey Google "It's Christmas" and then toggle the plug on and off. As well as loads of other options. Just scratching the surface.
In my exploration for cheaper Smart Home solutions I did discover Sonoff and reviews are very positive for them. Company is Itead and seem to have a big following amount hardware hacking types. They do plugs (S20) that can be picked up for around £10 online and are good to 10A. Of more interest to me though is a little inline type switch which can be used for unearthed stuff like lamps. I've order 4 for around £20 and plan to replace the inline switches for my fish tank light and tortoise heat lamp along with planning to add them to a couple of lamps. They also have manual switch options so not going to be stuck.
They do some very nice looking light switches but I'm in a rental house not planning to invest just yet but starting from about £10 for a single gang switch they are appealing and i'll probably get some to try. They are nice touch sensitive "dumb" switches with added wifi connectivity allowing you to make lights smart without needing to get individual bulb. Certainly a good option for anyone with a cluster of GU10 ceiling lights wanting them who has just been to A&E with heart palpitations after pricing up a Hue solution.
Last edited:
D
Deleted member 16999
Guest
Amazon Echo 2nd Gen currently on offer for £69.99 on Amazon, £20.00 off.
