Amazon Echo Club

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by OtinG

Probably a good thing Bezos's giant sex toy looking spaceship he rode up to suborbital space wasn't using Alexa for control!

In December I bought an Echo Studio and tried to get it to connect and work with my Fire TV Cube, but Alexa kept disconnecting and trashing the system. It would work a few days then quit again. Plenty of reboots took place. After a few weeks I returned the Studio while I was still within the 30 day window. I actually have more luck using Apple Music with Echos than I do Amazon Music. I finally cancelled Amazon Music and went with Apple Music instead, even though I don't own any Apple HomePods.

I can't believe how unreliable the Dot is. I mean, I get that it's a cheap device, but as a gateway to higher-end devices, it really should work better and be easier to troubleshoot.

Basically I was trying out the various options on the new stereo to make sure everything works while it's still returnable; I don't expect to use Bluetooth much to listen to music. It's a lot less frustrating to listen to my own mp3s and CDs.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I can't believe how unreliable the Dot is. I mean, I get that it's a cheap device, but as a gateway to higher-end devices, it really should work better and be easier to troubleshoot.

Basically I was trying out the various options on the new stereo to make sure everything works while it's still returnable; I don't expect to use Bluetooth much to listen to music. It's a lot less frustrating to listen to my own mp3s and CDs.

The issue is probably with Alexa as much as the Dot, but the microphones do make a huge difference too. Alexa is crap on all the Echo devices. But some Echos are better than others for sure, perhaps because they have better and/or more microphones. My Show 5 gen 1 is a total piece of junk, basically deaf, so Alexa is terrible on it, but TM’s Show 5 seems to be good. So mine is probably just a bad unit with a crappy mic. My Dot 3s and 2 or okay with Alexa, but not nearly as good as my Echo Plus 2nd gen. However the Echo Plus has more mics. My Fire TV Cube 2nd gen seems okay as far as Alexa, but I keep the mic turned off since it sits right next to the TV and sound system, plus I don’t use Alexa with Prime Video because it is more of a hindrance than a help.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by OtinG

The issue is probably with Alexa as much as the Dot, but the microphones do make a huge difference too. Alexa is crap on all the Echo devices. But some Echos are better than others for sure, perhaps because they have better and/or more microphones. My Show 5 gen 1 is a total piece of junk, basically deaf, so Alexa is terrible on it, but TM’s Show 5 seems to be good. So mine is probably just a bad unit with a crappy mic. My Dot 3s and 2 or okay with Alexa, but not nearly as good as my Echo Plus 2nd gen. However the Echo Plus has more mics. My Fire TV Cube 2nd gen seems okay as far as Alexa, but I keep the mic turned off since it sits right next to the TV and sound system, plus I don’t use Alexa with Prime Video because it is more of a hindrance than a help.

I'm conflating Dot and Alexa; I have no idea where the lines are. I just want the tech to work.

[CRussel]

A reasonable request, Catlady. OTOH, mostly it does, at least for what I use. And yeah, sometimes it goes wonky. But usually comes back to working properly in a few days. Of course, I pretty much never ask it to play music from anywhere -- the speakers aren't good enough for me. But I do play audio books when I'm in the potting shed. And it does a good job of keeping my lists, reminders, appointments and timers all working, and it handles my smarthome devices across multiple brands, giving me a single place to control them.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Of course, I pretty much never ask it to play music from anywhere -- the speakers aren't good enough for me. But I do play audio books when I'm in the potting shed. And it does a good job of keeping my lists, reminders, appointments and timers all working, and it handles my smarthome devices across multiple brands, giving me a single place to control them.

The speakers in most of our Dots and Echos are fine for us, (I'm not nearly as picky as I used to be, and my kids were raised on cheap ear buds, so what do they know?) but we also have a Dot paired to our living room stereo system for parties and the like, so voice control and good sound when needed.

I otherwise use it for the same stuff you mention, and when it works, it's kinda magical. But too often, the wrong device will answer (and will have misheard, because it's far away, and shouldn't have answered in the first place) or one or more devices will randomly complain there's no Internet, when there is. And when she's working perfectly, she is adding "by the way...." on to WAY WAY too many simple requests (No, I don't want to try the new skill, I just want the timer set so I can get back to cooking, you F@#$%^$ B!tc#!).

So I love her. And I want to kill her.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I'm conflating Dot and Alexa; I have no idea where the lines are. I just want the tech to work.

You poor, naive child.

[OtinG]

You have to wonder what is wrong with Alexa and/or an Echo device when you are sitting in a quiet room reading, and she suddenly starts babbling on about who knows what, and it takes several shouts at her to get her to shut up. Having a phone conversation without her chiming in is nearly impossible. Maybe my cats are communicating with her telepathically. They can both be a bit evil sometimes…

I use unique names for each one I have the mics activated on, otherwise I too get an Echo two rooms away answer instead of the one three feet from me. Probably some really crappy mics in some of them. I wish we could assign our own choice of names, like Moron1, Moron2, Moron3, etc.

Asking for TV streaming of a specific show can be a lesson in futility too. If Amazon doesn’t have the requested show, or Alexa misheard the request, or the planets are aligned in a specific manner, you get a long list of unrelated crap you don’t won’t to watch. I turned the mics off on my Fire TV Cube a long time ago since it was pretty useless at navigating that crap interface anyway. Plus I mostly use my ATV 4K for streaming. And yes, Siri is even more stupid than Alexa, so she stays turned off on all my Apple devices.

Thankfully the Echos do seem fairly good at running timed routines to turn on/off lights, set their brightness and color, etc.

And one of the good things about getting old is your hearing goes, so the Echo speakers are all pretty much sufficient since I can’t hear that well anyway. Good enough for casual listening to music. At least on the Dot 3s in stereo setup and the Echo Plus 2. If I want to go back to the 1970s when hair was long and brains were far from fully developed, and rock and roll like I did as a teenager, then I turn up the surround sound stereo system, but I still hear the words wrong according to the lyrics being displayed on my TV.

[cc_in_oh]

I'm not so thrilled with Govee these days - we've had a couple of short power outages recently and Govee can't reconnect itself to WiFi. It remembers the SSID and password, but I have to explicitly tell it to reconnect. No such problem with Amazon, Sengled, Smart Life or Kasa devices...

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by cc_in_oh

I'm not so thrilled with Govee these days - we've had a couple of short power outages recently and Govee can't reconnect itself to WiFi. It remembers the SSID and password, but I have to explicitly tell it to reconnect. No such problem with Amazon, Sengled, Smart Life or Kasa devices...

The Govee app doesn’t stay connected and I have to sign in every time I open it, but I rarely use the app so not a big deal. I only have one Govee light set, a Govee RGBIC Alexa LED Strip Lights, but it doesn’t seem to lose Wi-Fi connection during a power outage. But I have a UPS hooked up to my modem and router, so it probably hasn’t had the Wi-Fi go completely down during a power outage. Thankfully most of our outages are for just a few minutes and the UPS can keep it online. Anything beyond about 30 minutes and it will likely go down though.

[cc_in_oh]

Originally Posted by OtinG

The Govee app doesn’t stay connected and I have to sign in every time I open it, but I rarely use the app so not a big deal. I only have one Govee light set, a Govee RGBIC Alexa LED Strip Lights, but it doesn’t seem to lose Wi-Fi connection during a power outage. But I have a UPS hooked up to my modem and router, so it probably hasn’t had the Wi-Fi go completely down during a power outage. Thankfully most of our outages are for just a few minutes and the UPS can keep it online. Anything beyond about 30 minutes and it will likely go down though.

A UPS would likely avert problems. I just don't get why Kasa, Sengled etc. are able to recover but Govee can't.

I have a set of Govee outdoor floodlights I haven't installed yet - it will be interesting to see if they behave better.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by cc_in_oh

A UPS would likely avert problems. I just don't get why Kasa, Sengled etc. are able to recover but Govee can't.

I have a set of Govee outdoor floodlights I haven't installed yet - it will be interesting to see if they behave better.

Will the outdoor lights be within Wi-Fi range? I had issues with Wi-Fi 2G only outdoor security cams. The one that was also 5G worked better, the 2G ones were always losing Wi-Fi connection on and off. I finally had to run ethernet to them. Granted my router is old and Wi-Fi 5 rather than 6, but connectivity outside of the house is pretty spotty at best even though those security cams were only no more than 20 feet away from the router and on the other side of one exterior wall.The exterior wall seems to have wreaked havoc on the Wi-Fi signals.

[cc_in_oh]

Originally Posted by OtinG

Will the outdoor lights be within Wi-Fi range? I had issues with Wi-Fi 2G only outdoor security cams. The one that was also 5G worked better, the 2G ones were always losing Wi-Fi connection on and off. I finally had to run ethernet to them. Granted my router is old and Wi-Fi 5 rather than 6, but connectivity outside of the house is pretty spotty at best even though those security cams were only no more than 20 feet away from the router and on the other side of one exterior wall.The exterior wall seems to have wreaked havoc on the Wi-Fi signals.

I doubt if any of these devices support wifi6 yet My deck is right below a window near the router (which is a AX5400 FWIW) so I'm optimistic. It streams to the bowels of my basement with no problems. It's winter again here this week but when I deploy I'll post an update. I'm hoping to be able to add some outdoor lights on the opposite side of the house but not as optimistic about the prospects.

[OtinG]

In my case, it is probably just crappy low quality Wi-Fi 2G radios in the cams. My devices in the house can easily see other Wi-Fi networks from neighbors several houses away.

[tubemonkey]

Sure wish my 1st gen Echo Show 5 would stereo-pair with an Echo Dot. As is, it will stereo-pair with another Echo Show 5. Why? Do I get stereo videos out of that arrangement?

Come on, Amazon. You can do better.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

. As is, it will stereo-pair with another Echo Show 5. Why? Do I get stereo videos out of that arrangement?

Yes, you're supposed to strap them both to your head and make a big ol' VR headset.