Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsDoes exactly what it is supposed to do. No more, no less!
Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2020
The new Echo Flex does exactly what it is supposed to do, which is why I bought one. Amazon came up with this small Echo device to give people the ability to add an Alexa enabled device literally anywhere you have an electrical outlet, so that you can control all your smart devices with your voice, and make your life a bit easier.
For this, I gave it 5 stars. I wanted to have an Alexa enabled device in my kitchen so I could turn some lights on and off with my voice when I am busy cooking, or to ask for food measurement conversions, to set timers for cooking different things, and to also answer the phone when my hands are messy. All of these things it does, and does perfectly.
I also bought it to have voice activation of all my music, which I have it play over my WiFi speakers that I have in all the rooms of my house. Again, for this, it does that function perfectly. My kitchen is the loudest room in the house, especially at meal times! And the very tiny speaker built into the Echo Flex gets drowned out very quickly when people are talking, exhaust fans are going, and spoons and other utensils are banging against pots and pans. So to try to listen to music on the actual Echo Flex is never going to happen. Not even in a quiet room.
That is not the Echo Flex's intention. People are bashing the sound that comes out of the Echo Flex as being really poor quality. And it is, compared to larger Echo devices like the Echo Dot and regular Echo. If you want to listen to music using the speaker in an Echo device, you have to buy a larger one! You buy the Echo Flex to expand the areas of your house/garage/basement that you want to have voice control in!
My favorite feature of the Echo Flex is that it plugs directly into an electrical outlet with the male prongs on the back of it. It does not use a long cable like all the other Echo devices. This puts it up and out of the way of other things you normally have on your counter tops or shelves. By getting it up off your workspace you don't have to worry about knocking it off or damaging it by accident.
Another feature the Echo Flex has is that there is a USB port on the bottom of it that you can connect USB enabled devices to. There are night lights you can plug into it, and there is even a motion sensor you can plug into it that you can use to program WiFi enabled lights to turn on and off when you enter a dark room. That is pretty cool.
Overall, the Echo Flex is a great little Alexa enabled device that expands the areas that you want voice control of all your WiFi and smart items. Think of it as your assistant, or helper. You tell it what to do, and it does it. For that, it works great. Using it as your only means of listening to music? No way. It is not designed for that, and you will be disappointed in the sound quality. You want a larger Echo device for that.
But if you buy it for what it is, and what it was made to do, you will love it, and it will make your life easier and more enjoyable.
Jim
