eufy Genie Wi-Fi Smart Speaker with Amazon Alexa, Voice Control and Hands-Free Use, Stream Online Music (Amazon Music, Pandora, Sirius XM), Smart Home Control, AirPlay Compatible, AUX Output, Black

I already had an Echo Dot, and some TP-Link Smartplugs I use to control lights throughout the house. The Echo Dot is in the kitchen, and I found it irritating to have to walk back out to that part of the house and says, "Alexa, turn on bedroom light," just to turn the bedroom light on or off (or, failing that, open the app on my phone to do it). So, it became apparent I needed another Alexa device within earshot of the smartplugs that were outside the range of the microphone on my kitchen Dot. I saw this on sale for $25, and figured I'd give it a try. Here are the pros and cons: Pros: - despite that it "only" has two microphones, as opposed to the seven the Dot supposedly has, I found it "heard" me just as well as the Dot, and was possibly even more sensitive than the Dot (e.g., I didn't need to talk to it in a loud voice for it to hear me) - the unit is sleeker and a better design than the Dot. The top of the unit is flat without any holes, so it is easier to clean and less likely to get dust inside the unit than the Dot is. Additionally, it's more aesthetically pleasing, unlike the Dot, which looks like a hockey puck and almost requires that you buy a decorative case to dress it up. . . - the sound is better than the Dot. I actually thought the sound was great, for a speaker that size, and you can crank it up pretty loud Cons: - even though it would "hear" me say a command, because it acknowledged "Alright," sometimes it would not execute the command. For example, I'd ask it to turn a light on or off, and it would acknowledge it did, when really it hadn't. The Dot also has this problem. - music would inexplicably turn off about ten or fifteen minutes into listening (via the Amazon Music that is the default for Alexa). Other times, I'd have the music on and say, "Alexa, stop," and it would stop and listen to my command, then go right back to playing music until I said it again louder and more forcefully. - you have to install the Eufy Home app and create an account in order to set it up, then (and only then) you can add it to Alexa. Who needs more apps and accounts, in a world where our phones are already cluttered with apps we only use occasionally but still "need" to have? - it does not have bluetooth, so if you want to connect it to another speaker, you have to use a 3.5 mm cable to do so. - it does not have the phone call, intercom, and "drop in" features the Echo devices, including the Dot, have. This was not a big deal to me as I don't use those things, but could be a deal breaker for others. - it does not properly interact with other Alexa devices such as the Dot. For example, if both the Eufy and the Dot hear me, both respond. My understanding is that two Dots would know which one was closer to me and only that one would respond. I'd ask it to play music, and then the Eufy or Dot would recognize that the other device was already playing music and would ask me if I wanted to switch devices and, even though I said "yes," it would not switch over, and both would continue playing music All in all, I think the Eufy is a great entry device IF you catch a sale where it is only $20 or $25, and IF you don't need bluetooth, the calling features, integration between multiple devices, and IF you don't mind telling it to restart your music after it has inexplicably stopped playing it, etc. However, if you can wait for a sale on the Dot (like right now, how it is a Cyber Monday Week deal for only $30 instead of the regular $50), you are better off buying that. Updating my review from three stars to five stars to reflect the absolutely wonderful customer service I've received from the Eufy support team. They saw my review and reached out to advise me that a firmware update was coming, and would address most, if not all, of the issues I raised, and gave me advice on how to update the firmware to address the known sensitivity issue. I have bought Anker products before, and was going to continue buying them regardless of my experience with the Genie, but the level of customer service I received just affirms that even more.

Update 7 May 2019 Support confirmed to me that the Eufy Genies don't automatically reconnect when WiFi or the Internet is dropped and what I'm finding is the ONLY way to get it to reconnect is to put them in setup mode and start over. This is BEYOND unacceptable. Either Anker/Eufy needs to fix this or they need to refund $ to every customer who bought these units. I was going to buy an Eufy RoboVac but there's NO way I'm giving them any more $ until they show me they can actually fix problems. The old adage, “You get what you pay for” couldn’t be more applicable in this case. I bought multiple Eufy Genies and have found that their WiFi connectivity is unreliable at best requiring rebooting often, even if their power supply is connected to an uninterruptible power supply, and on multiple occasions the only way to get it to reconnect to my Cisco WAP581 access points has been to factory reset the Genie and set it up again. Next issue. If you have multiple devices near each other you never know which one will answer the command. Actual Echos use technology to determine which is the closest to you to answer you. They mention this in their app’s FAQ, but of course who looks at the app before buying the equipment? Next, for many people “Alexa” is going to cause problems since, well, Alexa is an actual real world name of many people. Who at Anker/Eufy thought it was a good idea not to implement the same ability to change the wake word that real Echos have? Finally, these devices are extremely sensitive to background noise. If you’re watching your TV on your Amazon Fire TV stick and want Alexa to do something, the audio better be pretty quiet AND your Genie better be pretty far away from the audio source or you’re going to have to yell at the Genie to get it to even wake up, let alone listen to you. So buyer beware. I recommend you spend a little extra $ and get real Echos. You avoid the need for the 3rd party app and you get equipment that works far better. BTW, tech support hasn’t been very helpful either. They’re polite and professional, they just don’t have any solutions. I’ve always been impressed with Anker’s products, but these don’t live up to my previous experiences.

Eufy is a well known company with a successful business in floor robotics. I won't complain about the looks and the sound of the genie both being impressive but eufy not having its own soul inside the genie is like borrowing alexa time to time from the echo and that is second grade stuff. Alexa simply refuses to understand you at will. I don't know if she is moody with the echo too but genie lacks in many things the echo has. Why Amazon should promote the genie which is a competitor to its own echo, beats me but they seem to be charting an early death for the intelligent speaker category market with a dysfunctional alexa. Customers do not like to throw out their money for such silly corporate experimentations. Robotics would die an unfortunate death if their OEMs do not come together to standardise things on a cooperative basis, as customers start forming opinion about the general category based on their experience with the half bodies like the genie. Having said that, I was skeptical about spending money for the echo. The genie is a cheaper option for those who want to test these troubled waters out of curiosity. Worst come worst, you stand to loose only 2000 and not 5000 like the overpriced echo dot

So this speaker is really good but it's more of a n Alexa enabled speaker than an echo device. Few things here: 1. Like the normal echo this works on power and doesn't have its own battery. 2. A big feature lacking here is, it doesn't have the communication function between different Alexa devices. 3. The sound quality is louder and clearer than the echo 4th gen. This is not an ideal purchase for buyerswho already have an echo but for the first purchase it's the way to go.

This Does respond to Alexa, but while playing any music it will seize to respond. I have been getting the standard response "I sorry, am having trouble understanding right now. Please try again later." This is annoying, cannot change the playlist or stop the music. Smart Home devices work normally. Calling feature is not enabled for this device. The low cost of the device justifies buying it, but not responding at it's will is an annoyance. Would never recommend this as a first device, else folks will get discouraged by Alexa devices.

This is definitely not a well known product or anything still I bought it because it kept showing up on my amazon home page right from the day I searched for the echo family smart speakers. So I decided to give it a try and I bought it. From my one month experience with this tiny speaker I kinda like it at the same I want to break into pieces sometimes due to some of it's annoying downsides. Amazon reviews work in the classic pros & cons segregation way and I'm gonna stick to it. Here's my list of pros and cons. PROS : * The speaker with the glossy bottom and the matte finish top looks clean and slick. In fact, if you're not a big fan of the echo dot's flat cylindrical design, then this one is a worthy alternative to look for. * It has a 2 watt mono speaker at the bottom and it sounds just fine. It is not fair to expect crystal clear audio quality and glass shattering bass from a budget smart speaker like this but the speaker can fill a whole house with it's sound and there are no noticeable distortions or anything * With just upward facing microphones what this little thing can do is an absolute wonder. I even tried triggering it with my voice approximately 8 meters away from the speaker and it did recognize my command nice and clear. * The addition of a 3.5mm jack at the back is a good addon as it makes the speaker double as a normal speaker by hooking it to an external source. CONS : * The top has a rubberized finish and underneath it lies the control buttons which are extremely hard to press and there are no software based way to control the speaker. * While starting up the speaker it takes like more than 50 seconds to load up which makes you wait even to listen to your favorite beat.\ * Being a smart speaker with good audio output, I use it most of the time for music streaming and that comes with a serious downside. After playing or while playing music if I try access the speaker, it fails to respond and throws a big red light on my face indicating that it is having trouble understanding me. I even tried updating the firmware but I had no luck even then. * The dual mic is all good and clear provided that there is no background noise. With increased background noise, the mic fails to recognize my command even when I am near to it. * The eufy home app doesn't have much options to access or control the speakers which makes the app useless beyond the point of setting up the speaker. Even though the amazon alexa app could do a few things happen, it'd have been better to have some software based accessibility options from the manufacturer them self. * Last but not the least, the downside which makes me avoid this speaker is alexa (irony...right??). Alexa is good, but it is not as good as it is to power a full fledged smart home appliance which is my opinion. It stutters to respond back with the appropriate response for some complex queries and it failed me a few times. That's all with my reasons to get this speaker and avoid this speaker. Initially I gave it just 3 stars as it was priced same as the old echo dot but now considering the Rs.1500 price tag, this one's with no doubt a great deal. It lacks a few features which are present in the echo dot but for 1500 this one's a worthy smart speaker. If you're interested to watch the full video review covering more tests like audio sample test and mic range test, then head over to my YT channel -- it assistors

The above mentioned product is not good. The software eufy clean is worst and is not easy to handle. The item is not shown in the app and also there is no product barcode in the manual to add it manually. Overall the software and the steps given for setting are all worst. At the same time Amazon's Alexa product is too good and is very easy to setup. I am writing this because I want to cancel the order and want refund. I don't want the replacement because the problem is with their software... So Amazon please try to make refund. Already I had a talk with Amazon Executive online and asked for refund. Monday 22nd the return pickup is scheduled and also the refund... Thanks