Amazon’s Alexa Echo devices make it easy for anyone in any living situation to take advantage of new smart home luxuries. Homeowners with multiple rooms, tiny houses, and even rural properties can all benefit from the voice assistant and her compatibility with smart home devices like smart lighting, smart thermostats, smart security, and more. And because few of these devices require permanent installation, even renters can take advantage of the many benefits of smart living.
Setting up most compatible devices with Alexa Echo is quick and easy. Most devices require minimal installation, making them a breeze to get set up – even for those of you who aren’t too technological savvy.
Amazon offers a variety of Alexa Echo devices to fit your home, needs, and budget. Below are just a few of the Alexa Echo devices you can choose from and their embedded features:
Amazon Alexa Echo Spot
Alexa voice recognition assistant
Built-in video capability
Hands-free video calling
Built-in speaker
Manage compatible devices including security, smart thermostats, lighting, & more!
Amazon Alexa Echo Dot
Alexa voice recognition assistant
Built-in speaker
Hands-free calling
Manage compatible devices including security, smart thermostats, lighting, & more!
Amazon Alexa Echo Input
Alexa voice recognition assistant
Add Alexa to any quality speaker you already have (great for audiophiles!)
Manage compatible devices including security, smart thermostats, lighting, & more!
Alexa Echo devices easily pair with a wide variety of compatible smart home devices to simplify and improve your life. As you use your Alexa Echo, Alexa will learn and adjust to your behaviors, preferences, and daily patterns to help you reach that balance.
Additional Features Include:
Alexa Guard. Your Alexa Echo device will send you alerts about your compatible devices when you’re not at home and can continue running them systematically to deter burglars when you’re on vacation or stuck at work later than usual.
Whisper Mode. Set your Alexa Echo device to Whisper Mode, allowing you to give your commands in a softer voice in the evenings, before your morning coffee, and when your children are sleeping.
Alexa Routines. Alexa Echo devices strive to make your life easier in many ways. You might create a routine where the words, “Alexa, good night” triggers your Alexa Echo to remind your kids to brush their teeth and 10 minutes later, read a bedtime story followed by soothing music. Or, the phrase, “Alexa, I’m leaving for work” can prompt Alexa to recite the day’s weather, real-time traffic on your commute ahead, turn off the lights and coffee pot, set your smart thermostat 10 degrees lower, and remind you to grab your lunch bag out of the refrigerator. The opportunities are endless!
Smart Home Devices to Pair with Your Alexa Echo
As a market leader, Amazon’s Alexa Echo offers one of the widest variety of compatible smart home devices that can all be voice controlled with the built-in Alexa voice assistant.
Smart Plugs
If you’re just getting started with smart home technology or looking for easy add-ons to further improve your smart life, smart plugs are definitely one of the simplest and most impactful choices.
Smart plugs make it possible to turn any electronic you already have into a smart device to be controlled by your Alexa Echo. Simply plug the smart plug into your electrical outlet and plug in any lamp, fan, TV, stereo, exercise equipment, or other electronic you’d like to control. Smart plugs make it possible to use your Alexa Echo device to turn not so smart devices on and off and automate them according to your schedule.
Check out the easy Amazon Smart Plug or the Eco4life WiFi power strip for indoor electronics and the iHome ISP100 plug for outdoor electronics like Christmas lights and patio entertainment.
Smart Thermostats
Constantly adjusting a manual thermostat can be frustrating and costly. Families that can’t agree on a comfortable temperature often fight over temperature control, increasing the electric bill. Even those who don’t even touch the thermostat may be using more energy that necessary by heating or cooling an empty house or keeping it too warm at night. Analog Thermostats are typically built with outdated technology that can add significantly to your bill every month. Smart thermostats remove all that frustration and added expense by automating your indoor temperature so you never have to think about it again.
If your home runs on baseboard heating, be sure to investigate your smart thermostat options as not all are compatible with this type of heat or Alexa Echo devices. You’ll need a high voltage smart thermostat designed specifically for baseboard heating, like the Mysa Smart Thermostat for Baseboard Heaters. Mysa also has smart product for electric in-floor heating and smart air conditioning control.
Multi zone thermostats make it possible to cool and heat rooms individually or as a group, enabling you to keep the kitchen cool and the bedrooms warm or skip heating and cooling altogether in unused rooms like the basement and guest bedroom. By connecting your smart thermostat to an Alexa Echo device, you’ll achieve hands-free voice control of your indoor climate to tell Alexa to cool the temperature down when you turn on the fireplace or warm it up when your loved one is coming down with a cold. Smart thermostats are easy to set up and begin using with your Alexa Echo same-day. And if you own mini splits for extra zone efficiency, there are even smart mini split thermostats that can help you save too.
Smart Lighting
Using an Alexa Echo device, you can pair compatible smart light bulbs and fixtures to your smart home system. Smart light bulbs are energy efficient and long lasting to save on electricity and maintenance and are also available in dimmable, single color, and color changing options.
Paring smart lighting and smart thermostats to your Alexa Echo smart home system is a great combination to automate your routines and truly make life easier. They’ll also work together, systematically adjusting the smart thermostat to a lower temperature when more lights are turned on.
It’s easy to switch out existing light bulbs for new smart bulbs and begin using Alexa Echo voice commands to control them immediately. Your Alexa Echo device will learn your lighting preferences and patterns and adjust according. You can also set automations and zoning to automatically control lighting by your schedule and most-used rooms. The Philips Hue is one of the most popular smart lighting options currently compatible with Alexa Echo voice control.
Smart Security
Homeowners and renters in neighborhoods, cities, and high crime areas find smart security devices to be a highly valuable add-on to their Alexa Echo smart home systems. The popular Ring Doorbell (also made by Amazon) provides 24/7 video surveillance and motion detection of your front porch to prevent break-ins, watch for package deliveries, and even communicate with friends and family if they stop by while you’re away.
Whenever the doorbell is rung or motion is detected, the connected device will alert your Alexa Echo and app, no matter where you are. These doorbells are installed just like any ordinary doorbell and can be switched out with your existing doorbell in minutes.
For increased security, you might also consider adding Alexa Echo compatible indoor cameras. The Blink camera provides motion detection and live-streaming in addition to voice control with any Alexa Echo device. If you do choose to install any video security system, be sure to choose an Alexa Echo device with video capability like the Alexa Echo Spot or Alexa Echo Show.
Some of these systems are free, but some also come with monthly fees and tiered rates depending on the level of security and smart features you want.
Set Smart Home Zones and Scenes with Alexa Echo
Many compatible smart devices like smart plugs, smart light bulbs, and smart thermostats offer zoning options to control multiple areas of your home with a single voice command or routine. Instead of telling your Alexa Echo voice assistant to have the smart thermostat lower the temperature in each bedroom individually, a zoned command makes it possible to tell Alexa to lower the multi zone thermostat temperature in all bedrooms at once.
Alexa Echo’s scene setting capability also makes it possible to create unique settings to control multiple devices and zones with a single command. For example, you might create a dinnertime scene that dims smart lighting, instructs your smart thermostat to turn up the heat, and begins your dinnertime playlist on your kitchen smart speaker.
