Amazon Black Friday starts now with Alexa
-
Personally I’m tempted to get the Echo plus for $120. Or maybe pick up a few fire tv sticks and put Kodi on them.
-
I bought a second generation Amazon Echo (black charcoal fabric) for $79.99 when I ordered through Alexa (regular price $99.99). So now I will have two (one first generation and one second generation). One for my living room and one for my bedroom. I tried to use my $30 off a $60 Am Ex Membership Rewards promotion, but Amazon customer service said I could not specify the number of Membership Rewards points to pay when using Alexa. It just takes the credit card you have on one click and bills that card or takes from your Amazon gift card balance if you have one. I also had a $20 Amazon promotional credit on my account (how I got it I know not). I called Alexa customer service and the agent told me to place the order through Alexa to get the Black Friday $20 discount and then when the order ships he will manually adjust the amount due and give me a $20 credit plus tax in lieu of the $20 Amazon promotional credit I was not able to use when ordering via Alexa. So as it looks maybe Amazon’s strategy is to push sales of their Alexa-enabled devices by giving the best deals when ordering through Alexa. Makes sense. I believe my first generation Echo that I already have and bought at Target a few months ago for $85 can be used for a smart home should I choose to have a smart home, which right now I don’t. It will be interesting now that I will own both generations to see if there is really an appreciable difference in sound quality in the newer one or not.
-
@mrvietnam I want the echo plus because it has a smarthub built in. Then I can start adding devices to it.
I have a couple of devices that work with alexa, including my thermostat, but I barely use the integration.
-
By the way, for this early access event it is limited to Prime members only.
Alexa Deals Terms and Conditions
Offers only apply to products purchased from Amazon.com using Alexa voice shopping on an Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, Echo Show, Amazon Tap, Amazon Dash Wand with Alexa, Amazon Fire TV, or compatible Fire tablet device.
Offers good while supplies last.
Shipping charges and taxes may apply to discounted and free promotional items.
Each product discount is limited to one per customer and one per device.
Offers only apply to selected items displayed on this promotional page.
Offers available to Prime members only.
Amazon reserves the right to modify or cancel the offers at any time.
Offers are non-transferable and may not be resold.
If any of the products related to these offers are returned, your refund will equal the amount you paid for the product(s), subject to applicable refund policies.
If you violate any of these terms, the offers will be invalid.
-
@dangeruss said in Amazon Black Friday starts now with Alexa:
@mrvietnam I want the echo plus because it has a smarthub built in. Then I can start adding devices to it.
I have a couple of devices that work with alexa, including my thermostat, but I barely use the integration.
Does the first generation Amazon Echo (regular price $180) have a smarthub built in? It does, doesn’t it? I wonder if the smarthub is improved on the second generation or just the same?
-
@mrvietnam said in Amazon Black Friday starts now with Alexa:
@dangeruss said in Amazon Black Friday starts now with Alexa:
@mrvietnam I want the echo plus because it has a smarthub built in. Then I can start adding devices to it.
I have a couple of devices that work with alexa, including my thermostat, but I barely use the integration.
Does the first generation Amazon Echo (regular price $180) have a smarthub built in? It does, doesn’t it? I wonder if the smarthub is improved on the second generation or just the same?
Nope, no smarthub. It only communicates with other devices over wifi.
-
@dangeruss said in Amazon Black Friday starts now with Alexa:
@mrvietnam said in Amazon Black Friday starts now with Alexa:
@dangeruss said in Amazon Black Friday starts now with Alexa:
@mrvietnam I want the echo plus because it has a smarthub built in. Then I can start adding devices to it.
I have a couple of devices that work with alexa, including my thermostat, but I barely use the integration.
Does the first generation Amazon Echo (regular price $180) have a smarthub built in? It does, doesn’t it? I wonder if the smarthub is improved on the second generation or just the same?
Nope, no smarthub. It only communicates with other devices over wifi.
For what it is worth, here is a question and answer on the Amazon site:
Question: The Echo can control devices, with the Echo Plus, what does it mean to work as a hub?
Answer: The Echo hub functionality appears to be extremely limited and I’m debating returning mine.
For most hubs, it means you can connect all sorts of devices and then program to to interesting things, like when I turn on this light, turn that light on too. Or when no motion is sensed in this room for X minutes, turn off the lights and change thermostat settings to save power (because nobody’s there). There’s all sorts of cool things you can do.
The Echo Plus’s hub supports “turn this light on” and “turn that light off”. That’s basically it. No programmability. No support for sensors, can’t do anything interesting with switches. It also doesn’t support as many types of devices as most hubs.
Super disappointing.
FYI, to answer what a hub is. No, you won’t need a hub for your echo dot to operate devices which do not require a hub (such as nest thermostats which can contain their own hub for other devices too). Those are devices with built in wifi which can attach to your home wifi signal, so no hub is needed. A hub is required when devices use other signals besides wifi, like zigbee, or zwave. These are home automation signals which can extend the range of communication just by adding more devices too. They mesh or bridge the signal over one another automatically. Wifi devices can be limited by the distance from the router.
-
@mrvietnam said in Amazon Black Friday starts now with Alexa:
@dangeruss said in Amazon Black Friday starts now with Alexa:
@mrvietnam said in Amazon Black Friday starts now with Alexa:
@dangeruss said in Amazon Black Friday starts now with Alexa:
@mrvietnam I want the echo plus because it has a smarthub built in. Then I can start adding devices to it.
I have a couple of devices that work with alexa, including my thermostat, but I barely use the integration.
Does the first generation Amazon Echo (regular price $180) have a smarthub built in? It does, doesn’t it? I wonder if the smarthub is improved on the second generation or just the same?
Nope, no smarthub. It only communicates with other devices over wifi.
For what it is worth, here is a question and answer on the Amazon site:
The Echo hub functionality appears to be extremely limited and I’m debating returning mine.
Question: The Echo can control devices, with the Echo Plus, what does it mean to work as a hub?
Answer: For most hubs, it means you can connect all sorts of devices and then program to to interesting things, like when I turn on this light, turn that light on too. Or when no motion is sensed in this room for X minutes, turn off the lights and change thermostat settings to save power (because nobody’s there). There’s all sorts of cool things you can do.
The Echo Plus’s hub supports “turn this light on” and “turn that light off”. That’s basically it. No programmability. No support for sensors, can’t do anything interesting with switches. It also doesn’t support as many types of devices as most hubs.
Super disappointing.
I thought you bought the regular version, not the plus? In that case it wouldn’t have a hub anyway.
The Echo itself is great, but it sad to hear that the hub is not fully featured.
-
@dangeruss said in Amazon Black Friday starts now with Alexa:
@mrvietnam said in Amazon Black Friday starts now with Alexa:
@dangeruss said in Amazon Black Friday starts now with Alexa:
@mrvietnam said in Amazon Black Friday starts now with Alexa:
@dangeruss said in Amazon Black Friday starts now with Alexa:
@mrvietnam I want the echo plus because it has a smarthub built in. Then I can start adding devices to it.
I have a couple of devices that work with alexa, including my thermostat, but I barely use the integration.
Does the first generation Amazon Echo (regular price $180) have a smarthub built in? It does, doesn’t it? I wonder if the smarthub is improved on the second generation or just the same?
Nope, no smarthub. It only communicates with other devices over wifi.
For what it is worth, here is a question and answer on the Amazon site:
The Echo hub functionality appears to be extremely limited and I’m debating returning mine.
Question: The Echo can control devices, with the Echo Plus, what does it mean to work as a hub?
Answer: For most hubs, it means you can connect all sorts of devices and then program to to interesting things, like when I turn on this light, turn that light on too. Or when no motion is sensed in this room for X minutes, turn off the lights and change thermostat settings to save power (because nobody’s there). There’s all sorts of cool things you can do.
The Echo Plus’s hub supports “turn this light on” and “turn that light off”. That’s basically it. No programmability. No support for sensors, can’t do anything interesting with switches. It also doesn’t support as many types of devices as most hubs.
Super disappointing.
I thought you bought the regular version, not the plus? In that case it wouldn’t have a hub anyway.
The Echo itself is great, but it sad to hear that the hub is not fully featured.
Yes, I did buy the regular version and I know it did not come with a smarthub. I was just posting that for your benefit and others who might be interested in the Plus.
-
@mrvietnam said in Amazon Black Friday starts now with Alexa:
Yes, I did buy the regular version and I know it did not come with a smarthub. I was just posting that for your benefit and others who might be interested in the Plus.
Well you said you were debating returning yours based on the fact that it doesn’t have a full featured hub, so I thought that maybe you thought yours came with a hub.
It’s a great device for what it is, although I’m not sure if a full size one is necessary, the dot is probably fine for most people.
-
@dangeruss said in Amazon Black Friday starts now with Alexa:
@mrvietnam said in Amazon Black Friday starts now with Alexa:
Yes, I did buy the regular version and I know it did not come with a smarthub. I was just posting that for your benefit and others who might be interested in the Plus.
Well you said you were debating returning yours based on the fact that it doesn’t have a full featured hub, so I thought that maybe you thought yours came with a hub.
It’s a great device for what it is, although I’m not sure if a full size one is necessary, the dot is probably fine for most people.
Actually I was posting a question and answer that I saw on the Amazon site. I thought it might be helpful to you and others who were debating between the Echo or Echo Plus. No big deal though. Thanks for posting.
-
Note that the other option " Echo Plus + Philips Hue bulb included" is the same price. So the “Philips 455295 Hue White A19 Single LED Bulb, Works with Amazon Alexa” is free (4.2 out of 5 stars by 155 reviewers)… a $12 to $15 value.
