Home Automation (Alexa)

[SimonMac]

Have a few Sonos devices around the house, got a new Amazon Firestick recently and it comes with Alexa so been playing around with what it can do, and it's OK I guess, but I assume that could be because I am not utilising the best of it.

For example it's good for starting radio stations on the Sonos, but doesn't work with local libraries or playlists (yet I hope), if there is a cheap Echo Dot as part of the Black Friday deals from Amazon I might make the jump rather than having to use the Firestick remote, but what else can it do, who has something set up that they can show off?

I think next steps are lighting (although most of the house uses stupid halogen spot lights rather than real bulbs) and a smart thermostat for the central heating.

Is Alexa the best to build a system round (Apple fan boy at heart) how does it stand up against the HomeKit?

[northernladuk]

I was pretty disappointed with Alexa and it's options for controlling stuff around the house. I've probably under estimated what is required for home automation but everything needed me to buy extra stuff like hubs, sockets and bulbs that are compatible with Alexa but was struggling to see a single centralised solution. All the extra kit I had to buy (which isn't cheap) put me right off so gave up with it. Even worse when you've actually got to dig out the remote to speak to it. At least with the Dot you don't need to so that.

If you are going to go down that route I'd say you need to do a lot of planning to make sure you get the most out of whatever you are going to buy.

[filthy1980]

Have a few Sonos devices around the house, got a new Amazon Firestick recently and it comes with Alexa so been playing around with what it can do, and it's OK I guess, but I assume that could be because I am not utilising the best of it.

For example it's good for starting radio stations on the Sonos, but doesn't work with local libraries or playlists (yet I hope), if there is a cheap Echo Dot as part of the Black Friday deals from Amazon I might make the jump rather than having to use the Firestick remote, but what else can it do, who has something set up that they can show off?

I think next steps are lighting (although most of the house uses stupid halogen spot lights rather than real bulbs) and a smart thermostat for the central heating.

Is Alexa the best to build a system round (Apple fan boy at heart) how does it stand up against the HomeKit?

I've got a gen 1 echo in an open plan kitchen dining area.

I'm the opposite of an apple fan boi so can't offer you a comparison

but I'm building my "smarthome" bits around the echo & Alexa, I've got a Sonos Amp with some ceiling speakers connected to it. the software integration between Sonos & the echo has been promised since the start of the year, it only got released in Beta form in Oct I think

it offers limited features at the moment but can only imagine this will increase with future releases,

I also have a shed load of Philips Hue lights integrated with Echo, this is more about showing off rather than practically calling Alexa to turn the lights on or off, it's quicker to do from my phone which is always to hand

I'm also in the process of installing a Nest thermostat which also integrates

I like our echo, it's really good for adding items to a grocery list, and the kids love it as it'll play music they like or answer homework questions (although it does use Bing search so don't always get the greatest results)

[TheFaQQer]

if there is a cheap Echo Dot as part of the Black Friday deals from Amazon I might make the jump

£34.99 rather than £49.99

[northernladuk]

I also have a shed load of Philips Hue lights integrated with Echo, this is more about showing off rather than practically calling Alexa to turn the lights on or off, it's quicker to do from my phone which is always to hand

Which I am sure is faster than hitting the light switch on the way past

[woohoo]

Which I am sure is faster than hitting the light switch on the way past

It's quite good for lamps etc. When I'm locking up before bed it's quite convenient to switch all the lights off downstairs without going round.

[filthy1980]

It's quite good for lamps etc. When I'm locking up before bed it's quite convenient to switch all the lights off downstairs without going round.

well I can call out to turn the kids bedroom lights off without interrupting the contours of my backside on the sofa

[woohoo]

well I can call out to turn the kids bedroom lights off without interrupting the contours of my backside on the sofa

Well, it does seem a rather expensive alternative to have a child, raise it, feed it etc just to turn the lights off. But seems to be working for you.

[d000hg]

Do any of these systems work solely over your home WiFi without having to round-trip through the internet? That's the one annoyance with the otherwise-seemingly-great Honeywell Evohome system.

[filthy1980]

Well, it does seem a rather expensive alternative to have a child, raise it, feed it etc just to turn the lights off. But seems to be working for you.

I'm saving calories