Customer Reviews
Some time ago I received the beta version of the AC1100 WittSwitch Smart Plug for testing and reviewing.
The packaging for the at least the beta version was simple but very well designed considering the use of material, no extra packaging but enough to protect the product, not any extra plastic or massive amounts of any other bulky material to inflate the packaging size so extra points for this from me, not sure how the final packaging will look though.
I also liked the design of the actual smart plug as it was not this usual square bulky box but actually had some round edges to it, not the smallest smart plug so it will take up some extra space if you use it in a multi-socket extension cord but most of these do and in my experience those smaller ones have less of a range for the WIFI and have quite a high failure rate. Of course this one does not operate directly on WIFI but needs an Ecowitt gateway to function and is only limited communication wise to the distance to the Ecowitt gateway.
So far I have not tested the distance limitations of the smart plug, for now this has not been an issue for me since the smart plug is only about 5 meters away from the gateway with no obstacles in between.
I was pleasantly surprised how easily the smart plug was to insert into the power socket (EU) as well as to remove it as sometimes other brands can be difficult to insert or remove so extra points for this.
Once inserted it was really easy to add the smart plug to my Ecowitt app and the gateway had no problem whatsoever to find the new device, in fact it was much easier than trying to get any WIFI only device to register as these need to know the WIFI network and the password and they usually (always still) rely on the 2.4 GHz network whereas most smartphones connects to the 5 GHz WIFI and doesn't find devices on the other frequency, at least not easily.
I have now been using the smart plug to turn on and off my 3D printer in my garage and have had no problems so far and it has been easy to monitor the power consumption of my printer which also gives me the advantage to calculate the cost of my printings more accurately than before.
So far I have been really satisfied with the smartplug and will consider getting more of them.
This plug is is quite unique. When uses with other Ecowitt products you can set up numerous triggers be it temperature, soil moister etc. a very useful smart plug
Works as designed and fun to play with
I have been using it for a short time, I use it to operate a 2kW electric radiator depending on the temperature of the room that I measure with a WN31. It is easy to program and also reports the consumption that has occurred, important to know how much is spent and compare different programming options depending on the desired temperature. You can control everything remotely without having to be close to the device.
Sometime the information you provide may be a little confusing, nothing important and that will be fixed in the future.
The product is as described. It works perfectly.
I really like this smart plug. The ability to control devices remotely, and set criteria based on my Ecowitt weather stats is a plus. Wattage and power usage tracking is great to monitor how much power my devices use as well. The only downside is it's fairly large. I have other smart power cords that are much smaller with energy monitoring. This device blocks all 4 of the 6 outlets in a 6 outlet power strip I have. I have to use it along with a 6" power extension to be able to use it without blocking ports.