30% Off : Echo Dot 5th Gen Smart Speaker | Charcoal

5.0 out of 5 stars

THE SMALLER ECHO THAT IS TRULY A HEAVY-WEIGHT IN PERFORMANCE!!!!

For more than nine years running, I have had Amazon Echo devices on every level of my home. An Amazon Echo lived in the kitchen, the family room, the office, and four bedrooms. All were Generation 1 devices, you know….the tall tower-like devices that if they fell would severely damage your foot!!!😫 Then one day, all of my Generation 1 devices went off-line and ceased to function!!😮 I contacted Amazon for help, and was told the Generation 1 devices were no longer supported by Amazon and could not receive any updates. I can’t comprehend how 7 separate devices just stopped working all at the same time. My entire family has come to depend on Alexa to play music, news, weather, podcasts, and many other apps we added to the mix. I ordered a new 5th-generation Echo Dot, and it was delivered overnight. Set-up was easy-peasy using my Alexa app on my phone. It was connected to my internet, and the settings were selected in just a few minutes. The sound from my old Echo was dynamic, but this new Echo Dot produces great-sounding music with the right blend of bass, mid-range tones, and highs brilliantly!!😃 This Echo Dot is small in its dimensions but VERY BIG IN PERFORMANCE!!!😄 The bass is deeper and more pronounced, and the mid-range vocals are more defined and clear!! This new Echo has exceeded my expectations regarding punching out some music!!! This first purchase of the Amazon Echo Dot was my test device, which, if great, would be purchased in greater quantity and set up in each room missing an Echo device.I believe I’ll be ordering more of these to satisfy the family!!! The design is very pleasant to look at, and the rounded shape looks more at home than my previous 1st generation units!! I set the Echo so that if I was talking to the unit and stopped, I didn’t have to say “Alexa” to wake the device. This unit waits for my next words seamlessly making commands flow much more smoothly!! You can also set whether the Echo, when woken, makes a sound or remains quiet. I like the awake notification especially if I’m not looking directly at the device. This Echo also has a temperature sensor which could make it more repsonsive if it were running a home thermostat!! I like the “+” and “-” bottons on the top of the device to control volume as opposed to turning the top of my old Echos to increase or decrease the volume. You can also, like the older models, use your voice to tell Alexa which level of volume you prefer. Whether you’re playing music, listening to news, or getting a weather report, this device can be muted just by touching the top of the Echo!!! NICE FEATURE!!!!😃 It will remain muted until you touch the top again which will pick up where you stopped the unit!!! CONVENIENT!!!!😉 I have also found that this newer generation Echo is much more responsive to voice commands and follows through with exactly you asked for in a flash!!! I discovered that if I didn’t know how to install an app or function, or wasn’t aware of what’s available to run on the unit, Alexa is on the job either describing apps or functions she can perform, or she can tell me how to set up an app or functions in easy to follow clear directions!!!!😉 I haven’t in the past set up lights or the house thermostat, but since this Echo seems better suited to the tasks than my previous generation devive, I think I’ll venture into the world of Alexa controlled convenience items!!! 🚩I rate this new 5th Generation Echo Dot a super-solid 10 out of 10, because of the units ease of set-up, the quick and crisp responses from Alexa, the improved sound whether playing music or even just news, the addition of volume controls on the topo of this device, and the affordable price of this amazingly handy device!!!! I highly recommend this new 5th Generation Echo Dot to anyone who has gone through the same situation as I with my older devices shutting down, or to new first time buyers that have yet to experience the convenience and helpfulness of owning an Amazon Echo device!!! I can guarantee you that you won’t be disappointed in the least with the function and performance of this newest generation Echo device!!!!😊

40 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

Multi-Music Player mystery solved, how to select more than one echo if you cannot

Alexa Echo SpeakersMulti-room Music issuesI found a solution to not being able to get more than one speaker to work at a time, paired, or set up a “Multi-Room Music” in the Alexa app. This solution also fixed my inability to get Apple enabled devices connected into HomeKit, or even Google Nest Hubs to set up, period.Quick answer: Deselect “Enable Wireless Isolation” when activating your 2.4 Wi-Fi broadcast on your router.I also took all speakers off guest wifi. But I’ll try to put them back to see if that is necessary now.Back story: Months of issues with HomeKit, (only weeks with Echo Multi-Room Music), I gave up trying and decided to try Alexa and Google to replace my Apple smart home efforts. I spent way too much time. After the fix, I’ll live a blended tech life. I’ll give a quick answer, followed by my backstory: Last week I was at my wits end in utter frustration over three major roadblocks. I acquiesced and decided to try Alexa because I couldn’t get almost any of my Apple HomeKit enabled devices into HomeKit, except for new Apple products. I knew it had to be something small I was missing. Alexa was sooooo easy and quick to connect to everything, before I figured out the fix. (I dislike the echo show advertising, their echo speakers are better.) While they seemed a breeze to connect everything, for some reason I couldn’t get more than one echo speaker to work at a time. I was continually blocked from setting up Multi-Room Music or even connect a pair to play together.  Hundreds of tries. I deleted, reset, rebooted, spent over 4 hours with Comcast yesterday (thankfully a Boston native who did not put me on hold every minute like certain countries) getting my internet working again. I had rebooted my modem and router so many times, my computer got molasses slow and I feared I went too farIn interest I also decided to try a few Google nest hub speakers. Black Friday had great sales on all this stuff. Trying to set up googles hub 7 was impossible. It wouldn’t stay connected to the internet for more than a split second before “Something went wrong” message. Probably over 70 tries. (Google is better than Echo Show. Apple HomePod mini sounds crisper and better than Amazon echo 4 and mini 5’s. But Alexa is way friendlier to interact with verbally, and price point, well…)Frustration. Thursday, I broke down and bought my first Apple Homepod Mini to see if I can get that working and see if it works better than the Apple TV 4k Ethernet connection. The HomePod mini gave me a hint how to solve all these l connection and internet blocks. The HomePod mini kept telling me that I don’t have “peer-to-peer connection” allowed on my network.Now, I’m a little techy, but it took three days (ehem, months) to finally take a chance on a for granted setting I always enable on my netgear router. It’s the blasted first Wireless page when enabling a wifi broadcast.I had to deselect “Enable Wireless Isolation.”That was it. It solved every issue I have come across with smart home tech for the last 4 months, ..year.For the months that I could not solve these problems, Amazons Multi-Player Music issue made me dig deeper. I did not find anyone suggesting this particular router setting, so I thought I’d share with ppl. Tonight, I finally am able to simultaneously play music on all of my Echo speakers, connect my HomeKit enabled and Google nest hubs.I’m not sure what this will do for my/your internet security. But I’m going with it for now. And I’ll try to put all devices back onto guest Wi-Fi. I’ll never really leave Apple, but after interacting with other smart speakers, it’s probably not going to be my main go to for speaker or answers to questions. Or I’ll just get too creeped out by Google and Amazon invasiveness and acquiesce with Apple instead. Echo Dot 5 (this is such a sprite, great speaker!)Echo 4are my favorite for Amazon EchoEcho Studioseems the least smart, most deaf, quiet, combative, difficult to interact with, of the three speakers. Hopefully the Multi-Room music fix will improve my experience with itEcho Show 8Meh. Far too much and annoying advertising of non-solicited or wanted advertisements. Least user friendly screen to work with. It sits unplugged for the most part. I mostly got this for a friend who visits who wants a YouTube fireplace playing on the tv.SIDE NOTE on other Smart Home Amazon (online, or physical store) products, related to this topic:I have been pleased with Smartbot plugs, switches and app, the Levoit 600s air purifiers and app (app goes by VeSync), and Lutron Caséta Light Switches and Dimmers, and hub. Lutron has the most stable and reliable app out there. I was fine running their apps separately. They are very nice, better than the big 3 apps. Well, back to listening to music throughout my house instead of one or two rooms. Joy!

192 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

I bought two!

The newest Echo Dot might be small enough to fit in your hand, but don’t let that fool you—this thing packs a punch. The sound is surprisingly full and vibrant for its size, with deeper bass and clearer vocals than I expected. It fills my room effortlessly, whether I’m playing music, podcasts, or just asking Alexa for the weather.What really sets this model apart is how smart it is. The built-in temperature sensor is a cool upgrade—I’ve actually set routines to turn on my fan when it gets too warm, and it works like magic. The tap controls are also a great touch; I love being able to snooze an alarm or pause music without saying a word.Setup was a breeze, and the compact design blends perfectly into any space. It’s sleek, modern, and doesn’t scream “tech gadget.” Plus, knowing it’s made with recycled materials is a nice bonus—it feels like a thoughtful product in every way.If you’re looking to add a smart speaker to your home (or upgrade an older one), this is the one. It’s reliable, responsive, and honestly just fun to have around.

17 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

One of the best purchases I’ve made in a long time!

We absolutely love our Amazon echo! I don’t know how many times I’ve asked it questions just out of curiosity about something and get a great answer. We use it when we have friends over for a cookout, when we are meal prepping for the next week, when I have to set a timer on when to take the pizza out, or just having a dance party in the living room with my littles. One of my son’s favorite things to do with Amazon Alexa is to ask it math questions. 😆 I didn’t realize how much we were missing out not having one!

3.0 out of 5 stars

Did Alexa get stupider or is it just me?

The product looks quite sharp. The design look is quite pleasant and the volume and sound quality are remarkably good for a unit the size of a softball. The WiFi range is lacking, severely. My office is the farthest room away from my router but she is the only device with connectivity issues. I have a 2012 laptop that gets 4 bars in the same spot. She gets about 2. The voice recognition software is very impressive. She can distinguish my voice clearly from others with a room full of several chatting people and music/tv going in the backround. I have a very odd accent as I’ve spent each quarter of my 40 years in a different corner of the United States but she seems to have adapted rather easily and rarely fails to understand a command on the first try. I pulled stars because despite all her new bells and whistles she seems to have lost quite a bit of her playfulness and more basic commands. When she misunderstands a command, she does not even get it close and I get a lot of the defacto “I’m sorry I can’t do that” responses to simple queries. When I was younger I remember sitting having an hour long smart-alec b.s. trash talking session with my uncle’s Alexa. This one is boring and no fun to joke around with. She also cannot retain instructions and preferences by voice. Some can be done via the app. But if I wanted to interact with the app on my phone, I wouldn’t have bought the pod. I’ve told her endless times that Spotify is my preferred music player, but unless I specify Spotify in the command she defers to Amazon music. Overall she’s become more Amazon’s than my own product. Much less independent. Amazon should be giving these away for free for the amount of permission and intrusions needed just to use her. It claims she can integrate with any Bluetooth audio device. This is a lie. She can scan and find her own products no problem but my expensive non-amazon Bluetooth audio devices are invisible to her. The Alexa accessories like light switches, cameras, speakers, thermostats are fairly cheap and basic and allow little to no user customization or expansion. The level of integration is also very basic. About as complex as simply getting a “clap-on/clap off” light switch. Now if there was a smart plug hub where I could plug in all my office devices and instruct her to power on my workstation upon entry to my office(meaning activate my computer, desk light, air conditioning, and interactive display) but leave the rest of my electrical devices plugged in there deactivated unless instructed otherwise, that would be neat. I’m also somehow quite uncomfortable with giving her access to any cameras in her home as we know Alexa has behaved as a spy and unauthorized gatherer of personal information in the past. This model has a “privacy mode” based on the honor system and a very reassuring red light to designate this. Yeah, trust is a hard thing to get back once you’ve betrayed it. She does not have a battery. This is a major design flaw. My 20 year old clock radio has a backup but my brand new Alexa does not. So every single time we lose power or I have to unplug her to move her, I have to go through the ENTIRE process of putting her back into setup mode, reconnecting her to my wifi. An absolute insufferable pain. Also, she does things for no apparent reason, which again makes me nervous. Normally when idle or not in a set mode, her base black out. Occasionally I will be watching her and she will just begin to pulse a color at the base for random periods of time for no explainable reason. I’ve asked her to explain herself and she plays dumb. Sometimes a song will come on in shuffle play that I will like and I will ask her afterwards to identify the last song she played. She cannot do this. I ask her to identify the last task I had her perform, she cannot do this. I ask her why she is blinking, she cannot do this. She can adjust her volume up or down one small phase at a time verbally, but mutes the music while executing the command but does not pause it. To go from very quiet to very loud is a process of about 30 seconds, 10 requests, and a starting over of the track. Overall she is limited, does not learn. Little to no AI, and is mostly an exercise in frustration rather than convenience. Another MAJOR design flaw, she cannot be made to respond only to my voice or to refuse a specific voice. We learned this the hard way with my young nephew who spent a good 20 minutes playing hit or miss demanding calls to names he was guessing from my address book and even our local police. A 5 year old is going to stupid things. A 5 year old is going to talk to and play with damn near anything that will play with it. How in god’s name did no one at Amazon think it a good idea to put a “parent” or “owner” mode where she answers only to my voice, or uses that amazing voice recognition software to single out and restrict a voice. Does anyone at Amazon have children? Or do they simply not like Amazon products either? If you are willing to do things her way, she can be an asset. If you want something that can adapt to and work with you, she’s a frustration and a liability. If you want an attractive centerpiece for your livingroom to impress your friends with your “smart house”, shes perfect. I thought newer would be better. Overall I’m dissapointed with this product and miss my echo dot.

788 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

THE SMALLER ECHO THAT IS TRULY A HEAVY-WEIGHT IN PERFORMANCE!!!!

For more than nine years running, I have had Amazon Echo devices on every level of my home. An Amazon Echo lived in the kitchen, the family room, the office, and four bedrooms. All were Generation 1 devices, you know….the tall tower-like devices that if they fell would severely damage your foot!!!😫 Then one day, all of my Generation 1 devices went off-line and ceased to function!!😮 I contacted Amazon for help, and was told the Generation 1 devices were no longer supported by Amazon and could not receive any updates. I can’t comprehend how 7 separate devices just stopped working all at the same time. My entire family has come to depend on Alexa to play music, news, weather, podcasts, and many other apps we added to the mix. I ordered a new 5th-generation Echo Dot, and it was delivered overnight. Set-up was easy-peasy using my Alexa app on my phone. It was connected to my internet, and the settings were selected in just a few minutes. The sound from my old Echo was dynamic, but this new Echo Dot produces great-sounding music with the right blend of bass, mid-range tones, and highs brilliantly!!😃 This Echo Dot is small in its dimensions but VERY BIG IN PERFORMANCE!!!😄 The bass is deeper and more pronounced, and the mid-range vocals are more defined and clear!! This new Echo has exceeded my expectations regarding punching out some music!!! This first purchase of the Amazon Echo Dot was my test device, which, if great, would be purchased in greater quantity and set up in each room missing an Echo device.I believe I’ll be ordering more of these to satisfy the family!!! The design is very pleasant to look at, and the rounded shape looks more at home than my previous 1st generation units!! I set the Echo so that if I was talking to the unit and stopped, I didn’t have to say “Alexa” to wake the device. This unit waits for my next words seamlessly making commands flow much more smoothly!! You can also set whether the Echo, when woken, makes a sound or remains quiet. I like the awake notification especially if I’m not looking directly at the device. This Echo also has a temperature sensor which could make it more repsonsive if it were running a home thermostat!! I like the “+” and “-” bottons on the top of the device to control volume as opposed to turning the top of my old Echos to increase or decrease the volume. You can also, like the older models, use your voice to tell Alexa which level of volume you prefer. Whether you’re playing music, listening to news, or getting a weather report, this device can be muted just by touching the top of the Echo!!! NICE FEATURE!!!!😃 It will remain muted until you touch the top again which will pick up where you stopped the unit!!! CONVENIENT!!!!😉 I have also found that this newer generation Echo is much more responsive to voice commands and follows through with exactly you asked for in a flash!!! I discovered that if I didn’t know how to install an app or function, or wasn’t aware of what’s available to run on the unit, Alexa is on the job either describing apps or functions she can perform, or she can tell me how to set up an app or functions in easy to follow clear directions!!!!😉 I haven’t in the past set up lights or the house thermostat, but since this Echo seems better suited to the tasks than my previous generation devive, I think I’ll venture into the world of Alexa controlled convenience items!!! 🚩I rate this new 5th Generation Echo Dot a super-solid 10 out of 10, because of the units ease of set-up, the quick and crisp responses from Alexa, the improved sound whether playing music or even just news, the addition of volume controls on the topo of this device, and the affordable price of this amazingly handy device!!!! I highly recommend this new 5th Generation Echo Dot to anyone who has gone through the same situation as I with my older devices shutting down, or to new first time buyers that have yet to experience the convenience and helpfulness of owning an Amazon Echo device!!! I can guarantee you that you won’t be disappointed in the least with the function and performance of this newest generation Echo device!!!!😊

40 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

Multi-Music Player mystery solved, how to select more than one echo if you cannot

Alexa Echo SpeakersMulti-room Music issuesI found a solution to not being able to get more than one speaker to work at a time, paired, or set up a “Multi-Room Music” in the Alexa app. This solution also fixed my inability to get Apple enabled devices connected into HomeKit, or even Google Nest Hubs to set up, period.Quick answer: Deselect “Enable Wireless Isolation” when activating your 2.4 Wi-Fi broadcast on your router.I also took all speakers off guest wifi. But I’ll try to put them back to see if that is necessary now.Back story: Months of issues with HomeKit, (only weeks with Echo Multi-Room Music), I gave up trying and decided to try Alexa and Google to replace my Apple smart home efforts. I spent way too much time. After the fix, I’ll live a blended tech life. I’ll give a quick answer, followed by my backstory: Last week I was at my wits end in utter frustration over three major roadblocks. I acquiesced and decided to try Alexa because I couldn’t get almost any of my Apple HomeKit enabled devices into HomeKit, except for new Apple products. I knew it had to be something small I was missing. Alexa was sooooo easy and quick to connect to everything, before I figured out the fix. (I dislike the echo show advertising, their echo speakers are better.) While they seemed a breeze to connect everything, for some reason I couldn’t get more than one echo speaker to work at a time. I was continually blocked from setting up Multi-Room Music or even connect a pair to play together.  Hundreds of tries. I deleted, reset, rebooted, spent over 4 hours with Comcast yesterday (thankfully a Boston native who did not put me on hold every minute like certain countries) getting my internet working again. I had rebooted my modem and router so many times, my computer got molasses slow and I feared I went too farIn interest I also decided to try a few Google nest hub speakers. Black Friday had great sales on all this stuff. Trying to set up googles hub 7 was impossible. It wouldn’t stay connected to the internet for more than a split second before “Something went wrong” message. Probably over 70 tries. (Google is better than Echo Show. Apple HomePod mini sounds crisper and better than Amazon echo 4 and mini 5’s. But Alexa is way friendlier to interact with verbally, and price point, well…)Frustration. Thursday, I broke down and bought my first Apple Homepod Mini to see if I can get that working and see if it works better than the Apple TV 4k Ethernet connection. The HomePod mini gave me a hint how to solve all these l connection and internet blocks. The HomePod mini kept telling me that I don’t have “peer-to-peer connection” allowed on my network.Now, I’m a little techy, but it took three days (ehem, months) to finally take a chance on a for granted setting I always enable on my netgear router. It’s the blasted first Wireless page when enabling a wifi broadcast.I had to deselect “Enable Wireless Isolation.”That was it. It solved every issue I have come across with smart home tech for the last 4 months, ..year.For the months that I could not solve these problems, Amazons Multi-Player Music issue made me dig deeper. I did not find anyone suggesting this particular router setting, so I thought I’d share with ppl. Tonight, I finally am able to simultaneously play music on all of my Echo speakers, connect my HomeKit enabled and Google nest hubs.I’m not sure what this will do for my/your internet security. But I’m going with it for now. And I’ll try to put all devices back onto guest Wi-Fi. I’ll never really leave Apple, but after interacting with other smart speakers, it’s probably not going to be my main go to for speaker or answers to questions. Or I’ll just get too creeped out by Google and Amazon invasiveness and acquiesce with Apple instead. Echo Dot 5 (this is such a sprite, great speaker!)Echo 4are my favorite for Amazon EchoEcho Studioseems the least smart, most deaf, quiet, combative, difficult to interact with, of the three speakers. Hopefully the Multi-Room music fix will improve my experience with itEcho Show 8Meh. Far too much and annoying advertising of non-solicited or wanted advertisements. Least user friendly screen to work with. It sits unplugged for the most part. I mostly got this for a friend who visits who wants a YouTube fireplace playing on the tv.SIDE NOTE on other Smart Home Amazon (online, or physical store) products, related to this topic:I have been pleased with Smartbot plugs, switches and app, the Levoit 600s air purifiers and app (app goes by VeSync), and Lutron Caséta Light Switches and Dimmers, and hub. Lutron has the most stable and reliable app out there. I was fine running their apps separately. They are very nice, better than the big 3 apps. Well, back to listening to music throughout my house instead of one or two rooms. Joy!

192 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

I bought two!

The newest Echo Dot might be small enough to fit in your hand, but don’t let that fool you—this thing packs a punch. The sound is surprisingly full and vibrant for its size, with deeper bass and clearer vocals than I expected. It fills my room effortlessly, whether I’m playing music, podcasts, or just asking Alexa for the weather.What really sets this model apart is how smart it is. The built-in temperature sensor is a cool upgrade—I’ve actually set routines to turn on my fan when it gets too warm, and it works like magic. The tap controls are also a great touch; I love being able to snooze an alarm or pause music without saying a word.Setup was a breeze, and the compact design blends perfectly into any space. It’s sleek, modern, and doesn’t scream “tech gadget.” Plus, knowing it’s made with recycled materials is a nice bonus—it feels like a thoughtful product in every way.If you’re looking to add a smart speaker to your home (or upgrade an older one), this is the one. It’s reliable, responsive, and honestly just fun to have around.

17 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

One of the best purchases I’ve made in a long time!

We absolutely love our Amazon echo! I don’t know how many times I’ve asked it questions just out of curiosity about something and get a great answer. We use it when we have friends over for a cookout, when we are meal prepping for the next week, when I have to set a timer on when to take the pizza out, or just having a dance party in the living room with my littles. One of my son’s favorite things to do with Amazon Alexa is to ask it math questions. 😆 I didn’t realize how much we were missing out not having one!

3.0 out of 5 stars

Did Alexa get stupider or is it just me?

The product looks quite sharp. The design look is quite pleasant and the volume and sound quality are remarkably good for a unit the size of a softball. The WiFi range is lacking, severely. My office is the farthest room away from my router but she is the only device with connectivity issues. I have a 2012 laptop that gets 4 bars in the same spot. She gets about 2. The voice recognition software is very impressive. She can distinguish my voice clearly from others with a room full of several chatting people and music/tv going in the backround. I have a very odd accent as I’ve spent each quarter of my 40 years in a different corner of the United States but she seems to have adapted rather easily and rarely fails to understand a command on the first try. I pulled stars because despite all her new bells and whistles she seems to have lost quite a bit of her playfulness and more basic commands. When she misunderstands a command, she does not even get it close and I get a lot of the defacto “I’m sorry I can’t do that” responses to simple queries. When I was younger I remember sitting having an hour long smart-alec b.s. trash talking session with my uncle’s Alexa. This one is boring and no fun to joke around with. She also cannot retain instructions and preferences by voice. Some can be done via the app. But if I wanted to interact with the app on my phone, I wouldn’t have bought the pod. I’ve told her endless times that Spotify is my preferred music player, but unless I specify Spotify in the command she defers to Amazon music. Overall she’s become more Amazon’s than my own product. Much less independent. Amazon should be giving these away for free for the amount of permission and intrusions needed just to use her. It claims she can integrate with any Bluetooth audio device. This is a lie. She can scan and find her own products no problem but my expensive non-amazon Bluetooth audio devices are invisible to her. The Alexa accessories like light switches, cameras, speakers, thermostats are fairly cheap and basic and allow little to no user customization or expansion. The level of integration is also very basic. About as complex as simply getting a “clap-on/clap off” light switch. Now if there was a smart plug hub where I could plug in all my office devices and instruct her to power on my workstation upon entry to my office(meaning activate my computer, desk light, air conditioning, and interactive display) but leave the rest of my electrical devices plugged in there deactivated unless instructed otherwise, that would be neat. I’m also somehow quite uncomfortable with giving her access to any cameras in her home as we know Alexa has behaved as a spy and unauthorized gatherer of personal information in the past. This model has a “privacy mode” based on the honor system and a very reassuring red light to designate this. Yeah, trust is a hard thing to get back once you’ve betrayed it. She does not have a battery. This is a major design flaw. My 20 year old clock radio has a backup but my brand new Alexa does not. So every single time we lose power or I have to unplug her to move her, I have to go through the ENTIRE process of putting her back into setup mode, reconnecting her to my wifi. An absolute insufferable pain. Also, she does things for no apparent reason, which again makes me nervous. Normally when idle or not in a set mode, her base black out. Occasionally I will be watching her and she will just begin to pulse a color at the base for random periods of time for no explainable reason. I’ve asked her to explain herself and she plays dumb. Sometimes a song will come on in shuffle play that I will like and I will ask her afterwards to identify the last song she played. She cannot do this. I ask her to identify the last task I had her perform, she cannot do this. I ask her why she is blinking, she cannot do this. She can adjust her volume up or down one small phase at a time verbally, but mutes the music while executing the command but does not pause it. To go from very quiet to very loud is a process of about 30 seconds, 10 requests, and a starting over of the track. Overall she is limited, does not learn. Little to no AI, and is mostly an exercise in frustration rather than convenience. Another MAJOR design flaw, she cannot be made to respond only to my voice or to refuse a specific voice. We learned this the hard way with my young nephew who spent a good 20 minutes playing hit or miss demanding calls to names he was guessing from my address book and even our local police. A 5 year old is going to stupid things. A 5 year old is going to talk to and play with damn near anything that will play with it. How in god’s name did no one at Amazon think it a good idea to put a “parent” or “owner” mode where she answers only to my voice, or uses that amazing voice recognition software to single out and restrict a voice. Does anyone at Amazon have children? Or do they simply not like Amazon products either? If you are willing to do things her way, she can be an asset. If you want something that can adapt to and work with you, she’s a frustration and a liability. If you want an attractive centerpiece for your livingroom to impress your friends with your “smart house”, shes perfect. I thought newer would be better. Overall I’m dissapointed with this product and miss my echo dot.

788 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

THE SMALLER ECHO THAT IS TRULY A HEAVY-WEIGHT IN PERFORMANCE!!!!

For more than nine years running, I have had Amazon Echo devices on every level of my home. An Amazon Echo lived in the kitchen, the family room, the office, and four bedrooms. All were Generation 1 devices, you know….the tall tower-like devices that if they fell would severely damage your foot!!!😫 Then one day, all of my Generation 1 devices went off-line and ceased to function!!😮 I contacted Amazon for help, and was told the Generation 1 devices were no longer supported by Amazon and could not receive any updates. I can’t comprehend how 7 separate devices just stopped working all at the same time. My entire family has come to depend on Alexa to play music, news, weather, podcasts, and many other apps we added to the mix. I ordered a new 5th-generation Echo Dot, and it was delivered overnight. Set-up was easy-peasy using my Alexa app on my phone. It was connected to my internet, and the settings were selected in just a few minutes. The sound from my old Echo was dynamic, but this new Echo Dot produces great-sounding music with the right blend of bass, mid-range tones, and highs brilliantly!!😃 This Echo Dot is small in its dimensions but VERY BIG IN PERFORMANCE!!!😄 The bass is deeper and more pronounced, and the mid-range vocals are more defined and clear!! This new Echo has exceeded my expectations regarding punching out some music!!! This first purchase of the Amazon Echo Dot was my test device, which, if great, would be purchased in greater quantity and set up in each room missing an Echo device.I believe I’ll be ordering more of these to satisfy the family!!! The design is very pleasant to look at, and the rounded shape looks more at home than my previous 1st generation units!! I set the Echo so that if I was talking to the unit and stopped, I didn’t have to say “Alexa” to wake the device. This unit waits for my next words seamlessly making commands flow much more smoothly!! You can also set whether the Echo, when woken, makes a sound or remains quiet. I like the awake notification especially if I’m not looking directly at the device. This Echo also has a temperature sensor which could make it more repsonsive if it were running a home thermostat!! I like the “+” and “-” bottons on the top of the device to control volume as opposed to turning the top of my old Echos to increase or decrease the volume. You can also, like the older models, use your voice to tell Alexa which level of volume you prefer. Whether you’re playing music, listening to news, or getting a weather report, this device can be muted just by touching the top of the Echo!!! NICE FEATURE!!!!😃 It will remain muted until you touch the top again which will pick up where you stopped the unit!!! CONVENIENT!!!!😉 I have also found that this newer generation Echo is much more responsive to voice commands and follows through with exactly you asked for in a flash!!! I discovered that if I didn’t know how to install an app or function, or wasn’t aware of what’s available to run on the unit, Alexa is on the job either describing apps or functions she can perform, or she can tell me how to set up an app or functions in easy to follow clear directions!!!!😉 I haven’t in the past set up lights or the house thermostat, but since this Echo seems better suited to the tasks than my previous generation devive, I think I’ll venture into the world of Alexa controlled convenience items!!! 🚩I rate this new 5th Generation Echo Dot a super-solid 10 out of 10, because of the units ease of set-up, the quick and crisp responses from Alexa, the improved sound whether playing music or even just news, the addition of volume controls on the topo of this device, and the affordable price of this amazingly handy device!!!! I highly recommend this new 5th Generation Echo Dot to anyone who has gone through the same situation as I with my older devices shutting down, or to new first time buyers that have yet to experience the convenience and helpfulness of owning an Amazon Echo device!!! I can guarantee you that you won’t be disappointed in the least with the function and performance of this newest generation Echo device!!!!😊

40 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

Multi-Music Player mystery solved, how to select more than one echo if you cannot

Alexa Echo SpeakersMulti-room Music issuesI found a solution to not being able to get more than one speaker to work at a time, paired, or set up a “Multi-Room Music” in the Alexa app. This solution also fixed my inability to get Apple enabled devices connected into HomeKit, or even Google Nest Hubs to set up, period.Quick answer: Deselect “Enable Wireless Isolation” when activating your 2.4 Wi-Fi broadcast on your router.I also took all speakers off guest wifi. But I’ll try to put them back to see if that is necessary now.Back story: Months of issues with HomeKit, (only weeks with Echo Multi-Room Music), I gave up trying and decided to try Alexa and Google to replace my Apple smart home efforts. I spent way too much time. After the fix, I’ll live a blended tech life. I’ll give a quick answer, followed by my backstory: Last week I was at my wits end in utter frustration over three major roadblocks. I acquiesced and decided to try Alexa because I couldn’t get almost any of my Apple HomeKit enabled devices into HomeKit, except for new Apple products. I knew it had to be something small I was missing. Alexa was sooooo easy and quick to connect to everything, before I figured out the fix. (I dislike the echo show advertising, their echo speakers are better.) While they seemed a breeze to connect everything, for some reason I couldn’t get more than one echo speaker to work at a time. I was continually blocked from setting up Multi-Room Music or even connect a pair to play together.  Hundreds of tries. I deleted, reset, rebooted, spent over 4 hours with Comcast yesterday (thankfully a Boston native who did not put me on hold every minute like certain countries) getting my internet working again. I had rebooted my modem and router so many times, my computer got molasses slow and I feared I went too farIn interest I also decided to try a few Google nest hub speakers. Black Friday had great sales on all this stuff. Trying to set up googles hub 7 was impossible. It wouldn’t stay connected to the internet for more than a split second before “Something went wrong” message. Probably over 70 tries. (Google is better than Echo Show. Apple HomePod mini sounds crisper and better than Amazon echo 4 and mini 5’s. But Alexa is way friendlier to interact with verbally, and price point, well…)Frustration. Thursday, I broke down and bought my first Apple Homepod Mini to see if I can get that working and see if it works better than the Apple TV 4k Ethernet connection. The HomePod mini gave me a hint how to solve all these l connection and internet blocks. The HomePod mini kept telling me that I don’t have “peer-to-peer connection” allowed on my network.Now, I’m a little techy, but it took three days (ehem, months) to finally take a chance on a for granted setting I always enable on my netgear router. It’s the blasted first Wireless page when enabling a wifi broadcast.I had to deselect “Enable Wireless Isolation.”That was it. It solved every issue I have come across with smart home tech for the last 4 months, ..year.For the months that I could not solve these problems, Amazons Multi-Player Music issue made me dig deeper. I did not find anyone suggesting this particular router setting, so I thought I’d share with ppl. Tonight, I finally am able to simultaneously play music on all of my Echo speakers, connect my HomeKit enabled and Google nest hubs.I’m not sure what this will do for my/your internet security. But I’m going with it for now. And I’ll try to put all devices back onto guest Wi-Fi. I’ll never really leave Apple, but after interacting with other smart speakers, it’s probably not going to be my main go to for speaker or answers to questions. Or I’ll just get too creeped out by Google and Amazon invasiveness and acquiesce with Apple instead. Echo Dot 5 (this is such a sprite, great speaker!)Echo 4are my favorite for Amazon EchoEcho Studioseems the least smart, most deaf, quiet, combative, difficult to interact with, of the three speakers. Hopefully the Multi-Room music fix will improve my experience with itEcho Show 8Meh. Far too much and annoying advertising of non-solicited or wanted advertisements. Least user friendly screen to work with. It sits unplugged for the most part. I mostly got this for a friend who visits who wants a YouTube fireplace playing on the tv.SIDE NOTE on other Smart Home Amazon (online, or physical store) products, related to this topic:I have been pleased with Smartbot plugs, switches and app, the Levoit 600s air purifiers and app (app goes by VeSync), and Lutron Caséta Light Switches and Dimmers, and hub. Lutron has the most stable and reliable app out there. I was fine running their apps separately. They are very nice, better than the big 3 apps. Well, back to listening to music throughout my house instead of one or two rooms. Joy!

192 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

I bought two!

The newest Echo Dot might be small enough to fit in your hand, but don’t let that fool you—this thing packs a punch. The sound is surprisingly full and vibrant for its size, with deeper bass and clearer vocals than I expected. It fills my room effortlessly, whether I’m playing music, podcasts, or just asking Alexa for the weather.What really sets this model apart is how smart it is. The built-in temperature sensor is a cool upgrade—I’ve actually set routines to turn on my fan when it gets too warm, and it works like magic. The tap controls are also a great touch; I love being able to snooze an alarm or pause music without saying a word.Setup was a breeze, and the compact design blends perfectly into any space. It’s sleek, modern, and doesn’t scream “tech gadget.” Plus, knowing it’s made with recycled materials is a nice bonus—it feels like a thoughtful product in every way.If you’re looking to add a smart speaker to your home (or upgrade an older one), this is the one. It’s reliable, responsive, and honestly just fun to have around.

17 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

One of the best purchases I’ve made in a long time!

We absolutely love our Amazon echo! I don’t know how many times I’ve asked it questions just out of curiosity about something and get a great answer. We use it when we have friends over for a cookout, when we are meal prepping for the next week, when I have to set a timer on when to take the pizza out, or just having a dance party in the living room with my littles. One of my son’s favorite things to do with Amazon Alexa is to ask it math questions. 😆 I didn’t realize how much we were missing out not having one!

3.0 out of 5 stars

Did Alexa get stupider or is it just me?

The product looks quite sharp. The design look is quite pleasant and the volume and sound quality are remarkably good for a unit the size of a softball. The WiFi range is lacking, severely. My office is the farthest room away from my router but she is the only device with connectivity issues. I have a 2012 laptop that gets 4 bars in the same spot. She gets about 2. The voice recognition software is very impressive. She can distinguish my voice clearly from others with a room full of several chatting people and music/tv going in the backround. I have a very odd accent as I’ve spent each quarter of my 40 years in a different corner of the United States but she seems to have adapted rather easily and rarely fails to understand a command on the first try. I pulled stars because despite all her new bells and whistles she seems to have lost quite a bit of her playfulness and more basic commands. When she misunderstands a command, she does not even get it close and I get a lot of the defacto “I’m sorry I can’t do that” responses to simple queries. When I was younger I remember sitting having an hour long smart-alec b.s. trash talking session with my uncle’s Alexa. This one is boring and no fun to joke around with. She also cannot retain instructions and preferences by voice. Some can be done via the app. But if I wanted to interact with the app on my phone, I wouldn’t have bought the pod. I’ve told her endless times that Spotify is my preferred music player, but unless I specify Spotify in the command she defers to Amazon music. Overall she’s become more Amazon’s than my own product. Much less independent. Amazon should be giving these away for free for the amount of permission and intrusions needed just to use her. It claims she can integrate with any Bluetooth audio device. This is a lie. She can scan and find her own products no problem but my expensive non-amazon Bluetooth audio devices are invisible to her. The Alexa accessories like light switches, cameras, speakers, thermostats are fairly cheap and basic and allow little to no user customization or expansion. The level of integration is also very basic. About as complex as simply getting a “clap-on/clap off” light switch. Now if there was a smart plug hub where I could plug in all my office devices and instruct her to power on my workstation upon entry to my office(meaning activate my computer, desk light, air conditioning, and interactive display) but leave the rest of my electrical devices plugged in there deactivated unless instructed otherwise, that would be neat. I’m also somehow quite uncomfortable with giving her access to any cameras in her home as we know Alexa has behaved as a spy and unauthorized gatherer of personal information in the past. This model has a “privacy mode” based on the honor system and a very reassuring red light to designate this. Yeah, trust is a hard thing to get back once you’ve betrayed it. She does not have a battery. This is a major design flaw. My 20 year old clock radio has a backup but my brand new Alexa does not. So every single time we lose power or I have to unplug her to move her, I have to go through the ENTIRE process of putting her back into setup mode, reconnecting her to my wifi. An absolute insufferable pain. Also, she does things for no apparent reason, which again makes me nervous. Normally when idle or not in a set mode, her base black out. Occasionally I will be watching her and she will just begin to pulse a color at the base for random periods of time for no explainable reason. I’ve asked her to explain herself and she plays dumb. Sometimes a song will come on in shuffle play that I will like and I will ask her afterwards to identify the last song she played. She cannot do this. I ask her to identify the last task I had her perform, she cannot do this. I ask her why she is blinking, she cannot do this. She can adjust her volume up or down one small phase at a time verbally, but mutes the music while executing the command but does not pause it. To go from very quiet to very loud is a process of about 30 seconds, 10 requests, and a starting over of the track. Overall she is limited, does not learn. Little to no AI, and is mostly an exercise in frustration rather than convenience. Another MAJOR design flaw, she cannot be made to respond only to my voice or to refuse a specific voice. We learned this the hard way with my young nephew who spent a good 20 minutes playing hit or miss demanding calls to names he was guessing from my address book and even our local police. A 5 year old is going to stupid things. A 5 year old is going to talk to and play with damn near anything that will play with it. How in god’s name did no one at Amazon think it a good idea to put a “parent” or “owner” mode where she answers only to my voice, or uses that amazing voice recognition software to single out and restrict a voice. Does anyone at Amazon have children? Or do they simply not like Amazon products either? If you are willing to do things her way, she can be an asset. If you want something that can adapt to and work with you, she’s a frustration and a liability. If you want an attractive centerpiece for your livingroom to impress your friends with your “smart house”, shes perfect. I thought newer would be better. Overall I’m dissapointed with this product and miss my echo dot.

788 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

THE SMALLER ECHO THAT IS TRULY A HEAVY-WEIGHT IN PERFORMANCE!!!!

For more than nine years running, I have had Amazon Echo devices on every level of my home. An Amazon Echo lived in the kitchen, the family room, the office, and four bedrooms. All were Generation 1 devices, you know….the tall tower-like devices that if they fell would severely damage your foot!!!😫 Then one day, all of my Generation 1 devices went off-line and ceased to function!!😮 I contacted Amazon for help, and was told the Generation 1 devices were no longer supported by Amazon and could not receive any updates. I can’t comprehend how 7 separate devices just stopped working all at the same time. My entire family has come to depend on Alexa to play music, news, weather, podcasts, and many other apps we added to the mix. I ordered a new 5th-generation Echo Dot, and it was delivered overnight. Set-up was easy-peasy using my Alexa app on my phone. It was connected to my internet, and the settings were selected in just a few minutes. The sound from my old Echo was dynamic, but this new Echo Dot produces great-sounding music with the right blend of bass, mid-range tones, and highs brilliantly!!😃 This Echo Dot is small in its dimensions but VERY BIG IN PERFORMANCE!!!😄 The bass is deeper and more pronounced, and the mid-range vocals are more defined and clear!! This new Echo has exceeded my expectations regarding punching out some music!!! This first purchase of the Amazon Echo Dot was my test device, which, if great, would be purchased in greater quantity and set up in each room missing an Echo device.I believe I’ll be ordering more of these to satisfy the family!!! The design is very pleasant to look at, and the rounded shape looks more at home than my previous 1st generation units!! I set the Echo so that if I was talking to the unit and stopped, I didn’t have to say “Alexa” to wake the device. This unit waits for my next words seamlessly making commands flow much more smoothly!! You can also set whether the Echo, when woken, makes a sound or remains quiet. I like the awake notification especially if I’m not looking directly at the device. This Echo also has a temperature sensor which could make it more repsonsive if it were running a home thermostat!! I like the “+” and “-” bottons on the top of the device to control volume as opposed to turning the top of my old Echos to increase or decrease the volume. You can also, like the older models, use your voice to tell Alexa which level of volume you prefer. Whether you’re playing music, listening to news, or getting a weather report, this device can be muted just by touching the top of the Echo!!! NICE FEATURE!!!!😃 It will remain muted until you touch the top again which will pick up where you stopped the unit!!! CONVENIENT!!!!😉 I have also found that this newer generation Echo is much more responsive to voice commands and follows through with exactly you asked for in a flash!!! I discovered that if I didn’t know how to install an app or function, or wasn’t aware of what’s available to run on the unit, Alexa is on the job either describing apps or functions she can perform, or she can tell me how to set up an app or functions in easy to follow clear directions!!!!😉 I haven’t in the past set up lights or the house thermostat, but since this Echo seems better suited to the tasks than my previous generation devive, I think I’ll venture into the world of Alexa controlled convenience items!!! 🚩I rate this new 5th Generation Echo Dot a super-solid 10 out of 10, because of the units ease of set-up, the quick and crisp responses from Alexa, the improved sound whether playing music or even just news, the addition of volume controls on the topo of this device, and the affordable price of this amazingly handy device!!!! I highly recommend this new 5th Generation Echo Dot to anyone who has gone through the same situation as I with my older devices shutting down, or to new first time buyers that have yet to experience the convenience and helpfulness of owning an Amazon Echo device!!! I can guarantee you that you won’t be disappointed in the least with the function and performance of this newest generation Echo device!!!!😊

40 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

Multi-Music Player mystery solved, how to select more than one echo if you cannot

Alexa Echo SpeakersMulti-room Music issuesI found a solution to not being able to get more than one speaker to work at a time, paired, or set up a “Multi-Room Music” in the Alexa app. This solution also fixed my inability to get Apple enabled devices connected into HomeKit, or even Google Nest Hubs to set up, period.Quick answer: Deselect “Enable Wireless Isolation” when activating your 2.4 Wi-Fi broadcast on your router.I also took all speakers off guest wifi. But I’ll try to put them back to see if that is necessary now.Back story: Months of issues with HomeKit, (only weeks with Echo Multi-Room Music), I gave up trying and decided to try Alexa and Google to replace my Apple smart home efforts. I spent way too much time. After the fix, I’ll live a blended tech life. I’ll give a quick answer, followed by my backstory: Last week I was at my wits end in utter frustration over three major roadblocks. I acquiesced and decided to try Alexa because I couldn’t get almost any of my Apple HomeKit enabled devices into HomeKit, except for new Apple products. I knew it had to be something small I was missing. Alexa was sooooo easy and quick to connect to everything, before I figured out the fix. (I dislike the echo show advertising, their echo speakers are better.) While they seemed a breeze to connect everything, for some reason I couldn’t get more than one echo speaker to work at a time. I was continually blocked from setting up Multi-Room Music or even connect a pair to play together.  Hundreds of tries. I deleted, reset, rebooted, spent over 4 hours with Comcast yesterday (thankfully a Boston native who did not put me on hold every minute like certain countries) getting my internet working again. I had rebooted my modem and router so many times, my computer got molasses slow and I feared I went too farIn interest I also decided to try a few Google nest hub speakers. Black Friday had great sales on all this stuff. Trying to set up googles hub 7 was impossible. It wouldn’t stay connected to the internet for more than a split second before “Something went wrong” message. Probably over 70 tries. (Google is better than Echo Show. Apple HomePod mini sounds crisper and better than Amazon echo 4 and mini 5’s. But Alexa is way friendlier to interact with verbally, and price point, well…)Frustration. Thursday, I broke down and bought my first Apple Homepod Mini to see if I can get that working and see if it works better than the Apple TV 4k Ethernet connection. The HomePod mini gave me a hint how to solve all these l connection and internet blocks. The HomePod mini kept telling me that I don’t have “peer-to-peer connection” allowed on my network.Now, I’m a little techy, but it took three days (ehem, months) to finally take a chance on a for granted setting I always enable on my netgear router. It’s the blasted first Wireless page when enabling a wifi broadcast.I had to deselect “Enable Wireless Isolation.”That was it. It solved every issue I have come across with smart home tech for the last 4 months, ..year.For the months that I could not solve these problems, Amazons Multi-Player Music issue made me dig deeper. I did not find anyone suggesting this particular router setting, so I thought I’d share with ppl. Tonight, I finally am able to simultaneously play music on all of my Echo speakers, connect my HomeKit enabled and Google nest hubs.I’m not sure what this will do for my/your internet security. But I’m going with it for now. And I’ll try to put all devices back onto guest Wi-Fi. I’ll never really leave Apple, but after interacting with other smart speakers, it’s probably not going to be my main go to for speaker or answers to questions. Or I’ll just get too creeped out by Google and Amazon invasiveness and acquiesce with Apple instead. Echo Dot 5 (this is such a sprite, great speaker!)Echo 4are my favorite for Amazon EchoEcho Studioseems the least smart, most deaf, quiet, combative, difficult to interact with, of the three speakers. Hopefully the Multi-Room music fix will improve my experience with itEcho Show 8Meh. Far too much and annoying advertising of non-solicited or wanted advertisements. Least user friendly screen to work with. It sits unplugged for the most part. I mostly got this for a friend who visits who wants a YouTube fireplace playing on the tv.SIDE NOTE on other Smart Home Amazon (online, or physical store) products, related to this topic:I have been pleased with Smartbot plugs, switches and app, the Levoit 600s air purifiers and app (app goes by VeSync), and Lutron Caséta Light Switches and Dimmers, and hub. Lutron has the most stable and reliable app out there. I was fine running their apps separately. They are very nice, better than the big 3 apps. Well, back to listening to music throughout my house instead of one or two rooms. Joy!

192 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

I bought two!

The newest Echo Dot might be small enough to fit in your hand, but don’t let that fool you—this thing packs a punch. The sound is surprisingly full and vibrant for its size, with deeper bass and clearer vocals than I expected. It fills my room effortlessly, whether I’m playing music, podcasts, or just asking Alexa for the weather.What really sets this model apart is how smart it is. The built-in temperature sensor is a cool upgrade—I’ve actually set routines to turn on my fan when it gets too warm, and it works like magic. The tap controls are also a great touch; I love being able to snooze an alarm or pause music without saying a word.Setup was a breeze, and the compact design blends perfectly into any space. It’s sleek, modern, and doesn’t scream “tech gadget.” Plus, knowing it’s made with recycled materials is a nice bonus—it feels like a thoughtful product in every way.If you’re looking to add a smart speaker to your home (or upgrade an older one), this is the one. It’s reliable, responsive, and honestly just fun to have around.

17 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

One of the best purchases I’ve made in a long time!

We absolutely love our Amazon echo! I don’t know how many times I’ve asked it questions just out of curiosity about something and get a great answer. We use it when we have friends over for a cookout, when we are meal prepping for the next week, when I have to set a timer on when to take the pizza out, or just having a dance party in the living room with my littles. One of my son’s favorite things to do with Amazon Alexa is to ask it math questions. 😆 I didn’t realize how much we were missing out not having one!

3.0 out of 5 stars

Did Alexa get stupider or is it just me?

The product looks quite sharp. The design look is quite pleasant and the volume and sound quality are remarkably good for a unit the size of a softball. The WiFi range is lacking, severely. My office is the farthest room away from my router but she is the only device with connectivity issues. I have a 2012 laptop that gets 4 bars in the same spot. She gets about 2. The voice recognition software is very impressive. She can distinguish my voice clearly from others with a room full of several chatting people and music/tv going in the backround. I have a very odd accent as I’ve spent each quarter of my 40 years in a different corner of the United States but she seems to have adapted rather easily and rarely fails to understand a command on the first try. I pulled stars because despite all her new bells and whistles she seems to have lost quite a bit of her playfulness and more basic commands. When she misunderstands a command, she does not even get it close and I get a lot of the defacto “I’m sorry I can’t do that” responses to simple queries. When I was younger I remember sitting having an hour long smart-alec b.s. trash talking session with my uncle’s Alexa. This one is boring and no fun to joke around with. She also cannot retain instructions and preferences by voice. Some can be done via the app. But if I wanted to interact with the app on my phone, I wouldn’t have bought the pod. I’ve told her endless times that Spotify is my preferred music player, but unless I specify Spotify in the command she defers to Amazon music. Overall she’s become more Amazon’s than my own product. Much less independent. Amazon should be giving these away for free for the amount of permission and intrusions needed just to use her. It claims she can integrate with any Bluetooth audio device. This is a lie. She can scan and find her own products no problem but my expensive non-amazon Bluetooth audio devices are invisible to her. The Alexa accessories like light switches, cameras, speakers, thermostats are fairly cheap and basic and allow little to no user customization or expansion. The level of integration is also very basic. About as complex as simply getting a “clap-on/clap off” light switch. Now if there was a smart plug hub where I could plug in all my office devices and instruct her to power on my workstation upon entry to my office(meaning activate my computer, desk light, air conditioning, and interactive display) but leave the rest of my electrical devices plugged in there deactivated unless instructed otherwise, that would be neat. I’m also somehow quite uncomfortable with giving her access to any cameras in her home as we know Alexa has behaved as a spy and unauthorized gatherer of personal information in the past. This model has a “privacy mode” based on the honor system and a very reassuring red light to designate this. Yeah, trust is a hard thing to get back once you’ve betrayed it. She does not have a battery. This is a major design flaw. My 20 year old clock radio has a backup but my brand new Alexa does not. So every single time we lose power or I have to unplug her to move her, I have to go through the ENTIRE process of putting her back into setup mode, reconnecting her to my wifi. An absolute insufferable pain. Also, she does things for no apparent reason, which again makes me nervous. Normally when idle or not in a set mode, her base black out. Occasionally I will be watching her and she will just begin to pulse a color at the base for random periods of time for no explainable reason. I’ve asked her to explain herself and she plays dumb. Sometimes a song will come on in shuffle play that I will like and I will ask her afterwards to identify the last song she played. She cannot do this. I ask her to identify the last task I had her perform, she cannot do this. I ask her why she is blinking, she cannot do this. She can adjust her volume up or down one small phase at a time verbally, but mutes the music while executing the command but does not pause it. To go from very quiet to very loud is a process of about 30 seconds, 10 requests, and a starting over of the track. Overall she is limited, does not learn. Little to no AI, and is mostly an exercise in frustration rather than convenience. Another MAJOR design flaw, she cannot be made to respond only to my voice or to refuse a specific voice. We learned this the hard way with my young nephew who spent a good 20 minutes playing hit or miss demanding calls to names he was guessing from my address book and even our local police. A 5 year old is going to stupid things. A 5 year old is going to talk to and play with damn near anything that will play with it. How in god’s name did no one at Amazon think it a good idea to put a “parent” or “owner” mode where she answers only to my voice, or uses that amazing voice recognition software to single out and restrict a voice. Does anyone at Amazon have children? Or do they simply not like Amazon products either? If you are willing to do things her way, she can be an asset. If you want something that can adapt to and work with you, she’s a frustration and a liability. If you want an attractive centerpiece for your livingroom to impress your friends with your “smart house”, shes perfect. I thought newer would be better. Overall I’m dissapointed with this product and miss my echo dot.

788 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

THE SMALLER ECHO THAT IS TRULY A HEAVY-WEIGHT IN PERFORMANCE!!!!

For more than nine years running, I have had Amazon Echo devices on every level of my home. An Amazon Echo lived in the kitchen, the family room, the office, and four bedrooms. All were Generation 1 devices, you know….the tall tower-like devices that if they fell would severely damage your foot!!!😫 Then one day, all of my Generation 1 devices went off-line and ceased to function!!😮 I contacted Amazon for help, and was told the Generation 1 devices were no longer supported by Amazon and could not receive any updates. I can’t comprehend how 7 separate devices just stopped working all at the same time. My entire family has come to depend on Alexa to play music, news, weather, podcasts, and many other apps we added to the mix. I ordered a new 5th-generation Echo Dot, and it was delivered overnight. Set-up was easy-peasy using my Alexa app on my phone. It was connected to my internet, and the settings were selected in just a few minutes. The sound from my old Echo was dynamic, but this new Echo Dot produces great-sounding music with the right blend of bass, mid-range tones, and highs brilliantly!!😃 This Echo Dot is small in its dimensions but VERY BIG IN PERFORMANCE!!!😄 The bass is deeper and more pronounced, and the mid-range vocals are more defined and clear!! This new Echo has exceeded my expectations regarding punching out some music!!! This first purchase of the Amazon Echo Dot was my test device, which, if great, would be purchased in greater quantity and set up in each room missing an Echo device.I believe I’ll be ordering more of these to satisfy the family!!! The design is very pleasant to look at, and the rounded shape looks more at home than my previous 1st generation units!! I set the Echo so that if I was talking to the unit and stopped, I didn’t have to say “Alexa” to wake the device. This unit waits for my next words seamlessly making commands flow much more smoothly!! You can also set whether the Echo, when woken, makes a sound or remains quiet. I like the awake notification especially if I’m not looking directly at the device. This Echo also has a temperature sensor which could make it more repsonsive if it were running a home thermostat!! I like the “+” and “-” bottons on the top of the device to control volume as opposed to turning the top of my old Echos to increase or decrease the volume. You can also, like the older models, use your voice to tell Alexa which level of volume you prefer. Whether you’re playing music, listening to news, or getting a weather report, this device can be muted just by touching the top of the Echo!!! NICE FEATURE!!!!😃 It will remain muted until you touch the top again which will pick up where you stopped the unit!!! CONVENIENT!!!!😉 I have also found that this newer generation Echo is much more responsive to voice commands and follows through with exactly you asked for in a flash!!! I discovered that if I didn’t know how to install an app or function, or wasn’t aware of what’s available to run on the unit, Alexa is on the job either describing apps or functions she can perform, or she can tell me how to set up an app or functions in easy to follow clear directions!!!!😉 I haven’t in the past set up lights or the house thermostat, but since this Echo seems better suited to the tasks than my previous generation devive, I think I’ll venture into the world of Alexa controlled convenience items!!! 🚩I rate this new 5th Generation Echo Dot a super-solid 10 out of 10, because of the units ease of set-up, the quick and crisp responses from Alexa, the improved sound whether playing music or even just news, the addition of volume controls on the topo of this device, and the affordable price of this amazingly handy device!!!! I highly recommend this new 5th Generation Echo Dot to anyone who has gone through the same situation as I with my older devices shutting down, or to new first time buyers that have yet to experience the convenience and helpfulness of owning an Amazon Echo device!!! I can guarantee you that you won’t be disappointed in the least with the function and performance of this newest generation Echo device!!!!😊

40 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

Multi-Music Player mystery solved, how to select more than one echo if you cannot

Alexa Echo SpeakersMulti-room Music issuesI found a solution to not being able to get more than one speaker to work at a time, paired, or set up a “Multi-Room Music” in the Alexa app. This solution also fixed my inability to get Apple enabled devices connected into HomeKit, or even Google Nest Hubs to set up, period.Quick answer: Deselect “Enable Wireless Isolation” when activating your 2.4 Wi-Fi broadcast on your router.I also took all speakers off guest wifi. But I’ll try to put them back to see if that is necessary now.Back story: Months of issues with HomeKit, (only weeks with Echo Multi-Room Music), I gave up trying and decided to try Alexa and Google to replace my Apple smart home efforts. I spent way too much time. After the fix, I’ll live a blended tech life. I’ll give a quick answer, followed by my backstory: Last week I was at my wits end in utter frustration over three major roadblocks. I acquiesced and decided to try Alexa because I couldn’t get almost any of my Apple HomeKit enabled devices into HomeKit, except for new Apple products. I knew it had to be something small I was missing. Alexa was sooooo easy and quick to connect to everything, before I figured out the fix. (I dislike the echo show advertising, their echo speakers are better.) While they seemed a breeze to connect everything, for some reason I couldn’t get more than one echo speaker to work at a time. I was continually blocked from setting up Multi-Room Music or even connect a pair to play together.  Hundreds of tries. I deleted, reset, rebooted, spent over 4 hours with Comcast yesterday (thankfully a Boston native who did not put me on hold every minute like certain countries) getting my internet working again. I had rebooted my modem and router so many times, my computer got molasses slow and I feared I went too farIn interest I also decided to try a few Google nest hub speakers. Black Friday had great sales on all this stuff. Trying to set up googles hub 7 was impossible. It wouldn’t stay connected to the internet for more than a split second before “Something went wrong” message. Probably over 70 tries. (Google is better than Echo Show. Apple HomePod mini sounds crisper and better than Amazon echo 4 and mini 5’s. But Alexa is way friendlier to interact with verbally, and price point, well…)Frustration. Thursday, I broke down and bought my first Apple Homepod Mini to see if I can get that working and see if it works better than the Apple TV 4k Ethernet connection. The HomePod mini gave me a hint how to solve all these l connection and internet blocks. The HomePod mini kept telling me that I don’t have “peer-to-peer connection” allowed on my network.Now, I’m a little techy, but it took three days (ehem, months) to finally take a chance on a for granted setting I always enable on my netgear router. It’s the blasted first Wireless page when enabling a wifi broadcast.I had to deselect “Enable Wireless Isolation.”That was it. It solved every issue I have come across with smart home tech for the last 4 months, ..year.For the months that I could not solve these problems, Amazons Multi-Player Music issue made me dig deeper. I did not find anyone suggesting this particular router setting, so I thought I’d share with ppl. Tonight, I finally am able to simultaneously play music on all of my Echo speakers, connect my HomeKit enabled and Google nest hubs.I’m not sure what this will do for my/your internet security. But I’m going with it for now. And I’ll try to put all devices back onto guest Wi-Fi. I’ll never really leave Apple, but after interacting with other smart speakers, it’s probably not going to be my main go to for speaker or answers to questions. Or I’ll just get too creeped out by Google and Amazon invasiveness and acquiesce with Apple instead. Echo Dot 5 (this is such a sprite, great speaker!)Echo 4are my favorite for Amazon EchoEcho Studioseems the least smart, most deaf, quiet, combative, difficult to interact with, of the three speakers. Hopefully the Multi-Room music fix will improve my experience with itEcho Show 8Meh. Far too much and annoying advertising of non-solicited or wanted advertisements. Least user friendly screen to work with. It sits unplugged for the most part. I mostly got this for a friend who visits who wants a YouTube fireplace playing on the tv.SIDE NOTE on other Smart Home Amazon (online, or physical store) products, related to this topic:I have been pleased with Smartbot plugs, switches and app, the Levoit 600s air purifiers and app (app goes by VeSync), and Lutron Caséta Light Switches and Dimmers, and hub. Lutron has the most stable and reliable app out there. I was fine running their apps separately. They are very nice, better than the big 3 apps. Well, back to listening to music throughout my house instead of one or two rooms. Joy!

192 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

I bought two!

The newest Echo Dot might be small enough to fit in your hand, but don’t let that fool you—this thing packs a punch. The sound is surprisingly full and vibrant for its size, with deeper bass and clearer vocals than I expected. It fills my room effortlessly, whether I’m playing music, podcasts, or just asking Alexa for the weather.What really sets this model apart is how smart it is. The built-in temperature sensor is a cool upgrade—I’ve actually set routines to turn on my fan when it gets too warm, and it works like magic. The tap controls are also a great touch; I love being able to snooze an alarm or pause music without saying a word.Setup was a breeze, and the compact design blends perfectly into any space. It’s sleek, modern, and doesn’t scream “tech gadget.” Plus, knowing it’s made with recycled materials is a nice bonus—it feels like a thoughtful product in every way.If you’re looking to add a smart speaker to your home (or upgrade an older one), this is the one. It’s reliable, responsive, and honestly just fun to have around.

17 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

One of the best purchases I’ve made in a long time!

We absolutely love our Amazon echo! I don’t know how many times I’ve asked it questions just out of curiosity about something and get a great answer. We use it when we have friends over for a cookout, when we are meal prepping for the next week, when I have to set a timer on when to take the pizza out, or just having a dance party in the living room with my littles. One of my son’s favorite things to do with Amazon Alexa is to ask it math questions. 😆 I didn’t realize how much we were missing out not having one!

3.0 out of 5 stars

Did Alexa get stupider or is it just me?

The product looks quite sharp. The design look is quite pleasant and the volume and sound quality are remarkably good for a unit the size of a softball. The WiFi range is lacking, severely. My office is the farthest room away from my router but she is the only device with connectivity issues. I have a 2012 laptop that gets 4 bars in the same spot. She gets about 2. The voice recognition software is very impressive. She can distinguish my voice clearly from others with a room full of several chatting people and music/tv going in the backround. I have a very odd accent as I’ve spent each quarter of my 40 years in a different corner of the United States but she seems to have adapted rather easily and rarely fails to understand a command on the first try. I pulled stars because despite all her new bells and whistles she seems to have lost quite a bit of her playfulness and more basic commands. When she misunderstands a command, she does not even get it close and I get a lot of the defacto “I’m sorry I can’t do that” responses to simple queries. When I was younger I remember sitting having an hour long smart-alec b.s. trash talking session with my uncle’s Alexa. This one is boring and no fun to joke around with. She also cannot retain instructions and preferences by voice. Some can be done via the app. But if I wanted to interact with the app on my phone, I wouldn’t have bought the pod. I’ve told her endless times that Spotify is my preferred music player, but unless I specify Spotify in the command she defers to Amazon music. Overall she’s become more Amazon’s than my own product. Much less independent. Amazon should be giving these away for free for the amount of permission and intrusions needed just to use her. It claims she can integrate with any Bluetooth audio device. This is a lie. She can scan and find her own products no problem but my expensive non-amazon Bluetooth audio devices are invisible to her. The Alexa accessories like light switches, cameras, speakers, thermostats are fairly cheap and basic and allow little to no user customization or expansion. The level of integration is also very basic. About as complex as simply getting a “clap-on/clap off” light switch. Now if there was a smart plug hub where I could plug in all my office devices and instruct her to power on my workstation upon entry to my office(meaning activate my computer, desk light, air conditioning, and interactive display) but leave the rest of my electrical devices plugged in there deactivated unless instructed otherwise, that would be neat. I’m also somehow quite uncomfortable with giving her access to any cameras in her home as we know Alexa has behaved as a spy and unauthorized gatherer of personal information in the past. This model has a “privacy mode” based on the honor system and a very reassuring red light to designate this. Yeah, trust is a hard thing to get back once you’ve betrayed it. She does not have a battery. This is a major design flaw. My 20 year old clock radio has a backup but my brand new Alexa does not. So every single time we lose power or I have to unplug her to move her, I have to go through the ENTIRE process of putting her back into setup mode, reconnecting her to my wifi. An absolute insufferable pain. Also, she does things for no apparent reason, which again makes me nervous. Normally when idle or not in a set mode, her base black out. Occasionally I will be watching her and she will just begin to pulse a color at the base for random periods of time for no explainable reason. I’ve asked her to explain herself and she plays dumb. Sometimes a song will come on in shuffle play that I will like and I will ask her afterwards to identify the last song she played. She cannot do this. I ask her to identify the last task I had her perform, she cannot do this. I ask her why she is blinking, she cannot do this. She can adjust her volume up or down one small phase at a time verbally, but mutes the music while executing the command but does not pause it. To go from very quiet to very loud is a process of about 30 seconds, 10 requests, and a starting over of the track. Overall she is limited, does not learn. Little to no AI, and is mostly an exercise in frustration rather than convenience. Another MAJOR design flaw, she cannot be made to respond only to my voice or to refuse a specific voice. We learned this the hard way with my young nephew who spent a good 20 minutes playing hit or miss demanding calls to names he was guessing from my address book and even our local police. A 5 year old is going to stupid things. A 5 year old is going to talk to and play with damn near anything that will play with it. How in god’s name did no one at Amazon think it a good idea to put a “parent” or “owner” mode where she answers only to my voice, or uses that amazing voice recognition software to single out and restrict a voice. Does anyone at Amazon have children? Or do they simply not like Amazon products either? If you are willing to do things her way, she can be an asset. If you want something that can adapt to and work with you, she’s a frustration and a liability. If you want an attractive centerpiece for your livingroom to impress your friends with your “smart house”, shes perfect. I thought newer would be better. Overall I’m dissapointed with this product and miss my echo dot.

788 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

THE SMALLER ECHO THAT IS TRULY A HEAVY-WEIGHT IN PERFORMANCE!!!!

For more than nine years running, I have had Amazon Echo devices on every level of my home. An Amazon Echo lived in the kitchen, the family room, the office, and four bedrooms. All were Generation 1 devices, you know….the tall tower-like devices that if they fell would severely damage your foot!!!😫 Then one day, all of my Generation 1 devices went off-line and ceased to function!!😮 I contacted Amazon for help, and was told the Generation 1 devices were no longer supported by Amazon and could not receive any updates. I can’t comprehend how 7 separate devices just stopped working all at the same time. My entire family has come to depend on Alexa to play music, news, weather, podcasts, and many other apps we added to the mix. I ordered a new 5th-generation Echo Dot, and it was delivered overnight. Set-up was easy-peasy using my Alexa app on my phone. It was connected to my internet, and the settings were selected in just a few minutes. The sound from my old Echo was dynamic, but this new Echo Dot produces great-sounding music with the right blend of bass, mid-range tones, and highs brilliantly!!😃 This Echo Dot is small in its dimensions but VERY BIG IN PERFORMANCE!!!😄 The bass is deeper and more pronounced, and the mid-range vocals are more defined and clear!! This new Echo has exceeded my expectations regarding punching out some music!!! This first purchase of the Amazon Echo Dot was my test device, which, if great, would be purchased in greater quantity and set up in each room missing an Echo device.I believe I’ll be ordering more of these to satisfy the family!!! The design is very pleasant to look at, and the rounded shape looks more at home than my previous 1st generation units!! I set the Echo so that if I was talking to the unit and stopped, I didn’t have to say “Alexa” to wake the device. This unit waits for my next words seamlessly making commands flow much more smoothly!! You can also set whether the Echo, when woken, makes a sound or remains quiet. I like the awake notification especially if I’m not looking directly at the device. This Echo also has a temperature sensor which could make it more repsonsive if it were running a home thermostat!! I like the “+” and “-” bottons on the top of the device to control volume as opposed to turning the top of my old Echos to increase or decrease the volume. You can also, like the older models, use your voice to tell Alexa which level of volume you prefer. Whether you’re playing music, listening to news, or getting a weather report, this device can be muted just by touching the top of the Echo!!! NICE FEATURE!!!!😃 It will remain muted until you touch the top again which will pick up where you stopped the unit!!! CONVENIENT!!!!😉 I have also found that this newer generation Echo is much more responsive to voice commands and follows through with exactly you asked for in a flash!!! I discovered that if I didn’t know how to install an app or function, or wasn’t aware of what’s available to run on the unit, Alexa is on the job either describing apps or functions she can perform, or she can tell me how to set up an app or functions in easy to follow clear directions!!!!😉 I haven’t in the past set up lights or the house thermostat, but since this Echo seems better suited to the tasks than my previous generation devive, I think I’ll venture into the world of Alexa controlled convenience items!!! 🚩I rate this new 5th Generation Echo Dot a super-solid 10 out of 10, because of the units ease of set-up, the quick and crisp responses from Alexa, the improved sound whether playing music or even just news, the addition of volume controls on the topo of this device, and the affordable price of this amazingly handy device!!!! I highly recommend this new 5th Generation Echo Dot to anyone who has gone through the same situation as I with my older devices shutting down, or to new first time buyers that have yet to experience the convenience and helpfulness of owning an Amazon Echo device!!! I can guarantee you that you won’t be disappointed in the least with the function and performance of this newest generation Echo device!!!!😊

40 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

Multi-Music Player mystery solved, how to select more than one echo if you cannot

Alexa Echo SpeakersMulti-room Music issuesI found a solution to not being able to get more than one speaker to work at a time, paired, or set up a “Multi-Room Music” in the Alexa app. This solution also fixed my inability to get Apple enabled devices connected into HomeKit, or even Google Nest Hubs to set up, period.Quick answer: Deselect “Enable Wireless Isolation” when activating your 2.4 Wi-Fi broadcast on your router.I also took all speakers off guest wifi. But I’ll try to put them back to see if that is necessary now.Back story: Months of issues with HomeKit, (only weeks with Echo Multi-Room Music), I gave up trying and decided to try Alexa and Google to replace my Apple smart home efforts. I spent way too much time. After the fix, I’ll live a blended tech life. I’ll give a quick answer, followed by my backstory: Last week I was at my wits end in utter frustration over three major roadblocks. I acquiesced and decided to try Alexa because I couldn’t get almost any of my Apple HomeKit enabled devices into HomeKit, except for new Apple products. I knew it had to be something small I was missing. Alexa was sooooo easy and quick to connect to everything, before I figured out the fix. (I dislike the echo show advertising, their echo speakers are better.) While they seemed a breeze to connect everything, for some reason I couldn’t get more than one echo speaker to work at a time. I was continually blocked from setting up Multi-Room Music or even connect a pair to play together.  Hundreds of tries. I deleted, reset, rebooted, spent over 4 hours with Comcast yesterday (thankfully a Boston native who did not put me on hold every minute like certain countries) getting my internet working again. I had rebooted my modem and router so many times, my computer got molasses slow and I feared I went too farIn interest I also decided to try a few Google nest hub speakers. Black Friday had great sales on all this stuff. Trying to set up googles hub 7 was impossible. It wouldn’t stay connected to the internet for more than a split second before “Something went wrong” message. Probably over 70 tries. (Google is better than Echo Show. Apple HomePod mini sounds crisper and better than Amazon echo 4 and mini 5’s. But Alexa is way friendlier to interact with verbally, and price point, well…)Frustration. Thursday, I broke down and bought my first Apple Homepod Mini to see if I can get that working and see if it works better than the Apple TV 4k Ethernet connection. The HomePod mini gave me a hint how to solve all these l connection and internet blocks. The HomePod mini kept telling me that I don’t have “peer-to-peer connection” allowed on my network.Now, I’m a little techy, but it took three days (ehem, months) to finally take a chance on a for granted setting I always enable on my netgear router. It’s the blasted first Wireless page when enabling a wifi broadcast.I had to deselect “Enable Wireless Isolation.”That was it. It solved every issue I have come across with smart home tech for the last 4 months, ..year.For the months that I could not solve these problems, Amazons Multi-Player Music issue made me dig deeper. I did not find anyone suggesting this particular router setting, so I thought I’d share with ppl. Tonight, I finally am able to simultaneously play music on all of my Echo speakers, connect my HomeKit enabled and Google nest hubs.I’m not sure what this will do for my/your internet security. But I’m going with it for now. And I’ll try to put all devices back onto guest Wi-Fi. I’ll never really leave Apple, but after interacting with other smart speakers, it’s probably not going to be my main go to for speaker or answers to questions. Or I’ll just get too creeped out by Google and Amazon invasiveness and acquiesce with Apple instead. Echo Dot 5 (this is such a sprite, great speaker!)Echo 4are my favorite for Amazon EchoEcho Studioseems the least smart, most deaf, quiet, combative, difficult to interact with, of the three speakers. Hopefully the Multi-Room music fix will improve my experience with itEcho Show 8Meh. Far too much and annoying advertising of non-solicited or wanted advertisements. Least user friendly screen to work with. It sits unplugged for the most part. I mostly got this for a friend who visits who wants a YouTube fireplace playing on the tv.SIDE NOTE on other Smart Home Amazon (online, or physical store) products, related to this topic:I have been pleased with Smartbot plugs, switches and app, the Levoit 600s air purifiers and app (app goes by VeSync), and Lutron Caséta Light Switches and Dimmers, and hub. Lutron has the most stable and reliable app out there. I was fine running their apps separately. They are very nice, better than the big 3 apps. Well, back to listening to music throughout my house instead of one or two rooms. Joy!

192 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

I bought two!

The newest Echo Dot might be small enough to fit in your hand, but don’t let that fool you—this thing packs a punch. The sound is surprisingly full and vibrant for its size, with deeper bass and clearer vocals than I expected. It fills my room effortlessly, whether I’m playing music, podcasts, or just asking Alexa for the weather.What really sets this model apart is how smart it is. The built-in temperature sensor is a cool upgrade—I’ve actually set routines to turn on my fan when it gets too warm, and it works like magic. The tap controls are also a great touch; I love being able to snooze an alarm or pause music without saying a word.Setup was a breeze, and the compact design blends perfectly into any space. It’s sleek, modern, and doesn’t scream “tech gadget.” Plus, knowing it’s made with recycled materials is a nice bonus—it feels like a thoughtful product in every way.If you’re looking to add a smart speaker to your home (or upgrade an older one), this is the one. It’s reliable, responsive, and honestly just fun to have around.

17 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

One of the best purchases I’ve made in a long time!

We absolutely love our Amazon echo! I don’t know how many times I’ve asked it questions just out of curiosity about something and get a great answer. We use it when we have friends over for a cookout, when we are meal prepping for the next week, when I have to set a timer on when to take the pizza out, or just having a dance party in the living room with my littles. One of my son’s favorite things to do with Amazon Alexa is to ask it math questions. 😆 I didn’t realize how much we were missing out not having one!

3.0 out of 5 stars

Did Alexa get stupider or is it just me?

The product looks quite sharp. The design look is quite pleasant and the volume and sound quality are remarkably good for a unit the size of a softball. The WiFi range is lacking, severely. My office is the farthest room away from my router but she is the only device with connectivity issues. I have a 2012 laptop that gets 4 bars in the same spot. She gets about 2. The voice recognition software is very impressive. She can distinguish my voice clearly from others with a room full of several chatting people and music/tv going in the backround. I have a very odd accent as I’ve spent each quarter of my 40 years in a different corner of the United States but she seems to have adapted rather easily and rarely fails to understand a command on the first try. I pulled stars because despite all her new bells and whistles she seems to have lost quite a bit of her playfulness and more basic commands. When she misunderstands a command, she does not even get it close and I get a lot of the defacto “I’m sorry I can’t do that” responses to simple queries. When I was younger I remember sitting having an hour long smart-alec b.s. trash talking session with my uncle’s Alexa. This one is boring and no fun to joke around with. She also cannot retain instructions and preferences by voice. Some can be done via the app. But if I wanted to interact with the app on my phone, I wouldn’t have bought the pod. I’ve told her endless times that Spotify is my preferred music player, but unless I specify Spotify in the command she defers to Amazon music. Overall she’s become more Amazon’s than my own product. Much less independent. Amazon should be giving these away for free for the amount of permission and intrusions needed just to use her. It claims she can integrate with any Bluetooth audio device. This is a lie. She can scan and find her own products no problem but my expensive non-amazon Bluetooth audio devices are invisible to her. The Alexa accessories like light switches, cameras, speakers, thermostats are fairly cheap and basic and allow little to no user customization or expansion. The level of integration is also very basic. About as complex as simply getting a “clap-on/clap off” light switch. Now if there was a smart plug hub where I could plug in all my office devices and instruct her to power on my workstation upon entry to my office(meaning activate my computer, desk light, air conditioning, and interactive display) but leave the rest of my electrical devices plugged in there deactivated unless instructed otherwise, that would be neat. I’m also somehow quite uncomfortable with giving her access to any cameras in her home as we know Alexa has behaved as a spy and unauthorized gatherer of personal information in the past. This model has a “privacy mode” based on the honor system and a very reassuring red light to designate this. Yeah, trust is a hard thing to get back once you’ve betrayed it. She does not have a battery. This is a major design flaw. My 20 year old clock radio has a backup but my brand new Alexa does not. So every single time we lose power or I have to unplug her to move her, I have to go through the ENTIRE process of putting her back into setup mode, reconnecting her to my wifi. An absolute insufferable pain. Also, she does things for no apparent reason, which again makes me nervous. Normally when idle or not in a set mode, her base black out. Occasionally I will be watching her and she will just begin to pulse a color at the base for random periods of time for no explainable reason. I’ve asked her to explain herself and she plays dumb. Sometimes a song will come on in shuffle play that I will like and I will ask her afterwards to identify the last song she played. She cannot do this. I ask her to identify the last task I had her perform, she cannot do this. I ask her why she is blinking, she cannot do this. She can adjust her volume up or down one small phase at a time verbally, but mutes the music while executing the command but does not pause it. To go from very quiet to very loud is a process of about 30 seconds, 10 requests, and a starting over of the track. Overall she is limited, does not learn. Little to no AI, and is mostly an exercise in frustration rather than convenience. Another MAJOR design flaw, she cannot be made to respond only to my voice or to refuse a specific voice. We learned this the hard way with my young nephew who spent a good 20 minutes playing hit or miss demanding calls to names he was guessing from my address book and even our local police. A 5 year old is going to stupid things. A 5 year old is going to talk to and play with damn near anything that will play with it. How in god’s name did no one at Amazon think it a good idea to put a “parent” or “owner” mode where she answers only to my voice, or uses that amazing voice recognition software to single out and restrict a voice. Does anyone at Amazon have children? Or do they simply not like Amazon products either? If you are willing to do things her way, she can be an asset. If you want something that can adapt to and work with you, she’s a frustration and a liability. If you want an attractive centerpiece for your livingroom to impress your friends with your “smart house”, shes perfect. I thought newer would be better. Overall I’m dissapointed with this product and miss my echo dot.

788 people found this helpful