Gadgets and devices are now more integrated into our lives than ever before. This helps us make our daily life easier and convenient. As a result, we now have more time to do important things and become productive. With that in mind, the advances of technology got people to widely welcome wireless connectivity at home. The best example of this claim is how smartphones become a huge part of our daily life, and it doesn’t stop there. We have routers for wireless internet connectivity at home, Wi-Fi connected CCTV Cameras, Smart televisions for wireless entertainment, and many more. Now, people can control their appliances at home without being physically there. However, there are still some limitations to this such as old appliances or appliances that don’t have smart features. Because of this, companies and manufacturers saw a market for that and offered a cheap solution called “Smart Plug.”
The Best Smart Wi-Fi Plugs
What is a Smart Plug?
Smart plugs are devices that let you control your appliance or whatever it is plugged in them remotely anytime and anywhere. I remember back in the day, we used to have this device called “Timer Plug.” As the name suggests, timer plugs are devices you manually configure to turn off or on any appliance or device plugged into them. Today, these kinds of products are slowly being phased out and are being replaced by smart plugs. Basically, smart plugs are more advanced than timer plugs. They can be connected to your Wi-Fi at home and can be controlled remotely via smartphone. The main function of a smart plug is to let you control a device or appliance via your smartphone through the local area network connection or via the Internet.
Choosing the Best Smart Plug
Choosing the best smart plug may sound complicated or too complex but, it isn’t. You just must know and understand how smart plug works. Then from there, decide the features that you want from it. Once you’ve decided, you can then now look and choose the best smart plug for your needs. For this article, we listed down must-haves feature of a smart plug. So that you have a guide in case that you don’t know what to look for and how to decide the best one for you. The Basic Features Bonus Features
Power monitoring features.Support for 5GHz Wi-Fi.Overpower protection. (Automatically shuts itself down when power output exceed the limit)
With this guide, we hope that it helped you choose the best smart plug for you. Below is our recommended and for us, the best smart plug on the market.
1. Belkin WeMo Mini Wi-Fi Smart Plug
Features:
The WeMo Mini Wi-Fi Smart Plug features a 2.4GHz 801.11 N Wi-Fi connectivity as well as support for Android 4.1 or higher. It boasts a space-saving design that prevents the plug from blocking the whole wall outlet. However, this is true if the sockets of the wall outlet are adjacently on the top or bottom of one another. If the socket of the wall outlet is positioned next to one another, the plug will then block the whole wall outlet.
Pros
Space Saving DesignPower SchedulingFree Android App over Wi-Fi Control.
Cons
Blocks the whole wall outlet if the female wall sockets are next to each other.No Energy MonitoringSlightly Expensive
2. TP-Link HS100 Kasa Wi-Fi Smart Plug
Features:
The TP-Link HS100 Kasa Smart Wi-Fi Plug is an affordable basic smart plug. It features a 2.4GHz IEEE 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi connectivity and is compatible with Android 4.1 or higher. It also has a power on/off scheduling as most smart plugs do. You can control this smart plug via an app called KASA Smart. If you like this product but you want the one that has an energy monitoring feature, then purchase the TP-Link HS110 Smart Plug model for an additional $8 instead of the H100.
Pros
Free Android App over Wi-Fi Control
Cons
Bulky in size.Can potentially block the second adjacent wall outlet.No Energy Monitoring
Features:
Pros
Perfect for homes with Alexa home system network.
Cons
This Smart Wi-Fi plugs are expensive
Choosing the Best Smart Wi-Fi Plugs
Smart Wi-Fi plugs is a new market with plenty of competition, and competition is always good for us, the consumers. We find that the smart plug WeMo by Belkin is the easiest one for us to recommend. With its simple setup and a very user-friendly app, it definitely is the one ideal for general purposes. So proclaiming a certain model is the best will always never be absolute. Most of the times, it always comes down to individual preference. Sometimes, a newer model comes out. No matter what you choose, smart Wi-fi plugs are there to give us a more convenient life at home. Do you own any of the Smart Wifi Plugs that we mentioned above? Or do you have one that we did not mention but you believe should be included our list? Let us know in the comment section below. Image Credits
