Amazon Echo Club

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by OregonJim

Yeah, I tried that, too. For some reason, she's behaving better today. Yesterday was endless frustration, today is more or less what I expected it to be. I'm wondering if there wasn't something wonky on Amazon's end yesterday evening. Time will tell...

It could also be related to your accent and/or speech patterns. Alexa needs to get used to your voice and mannerisms and she tends to improve on interpreting what you say the more she hears you.

[tubemonkey]

The Home Mini sounds substantially better than the Echo Dot 2. What a difference. But it comes with lots of negatives. The content, device controls, and app are worse. Given that you can bluetooth a better sounding speaker to either device, the Dot 2 wins hands down.

As to the Dot 3, it's speaker blows both the Mini and Dot 2 out of the water. There's just no comparison. Couple in the stereo pairing for the Dot 3 and you're in a different ballpark altogether.

[OregonJim]

Originally Posted by OtinG

It could also be related to your accent and/or speech patterns. Alexa needs to get used to your voice and mannerisms and she tends to improve on interpreting what you say the more she hears you.

Well, I looked at the voice log in my account, and every single command was interpreted correctly (except when the device kept saying "I'm having trouble understanding - please try again later"). It just didn't respond correctly.

It also seems strange that it behaved so badly the first day and, after sleeping for 8 hours, it all of a sudden behaved perfectly the second day with no other changes. It certainly wasn't learning any voice patterns in that time. It had already downloaded a firmware update within 15 minutes of being plugged in, so I doubt that it downloaded another one so soon.

I dunno. At this point, it's just a novelty. Neither my wife nor I have found any real use for it yet. Looks like just another device to be relegated to the junk drawer soon.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Couple in the stereo pairing for the Dot 3 and you're in a different ballpark altogether.

Just got an email from Amazon that my second Dot 3 just shipped and I should get it by Wednesday. So apparently they have them back in stock now.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by OtinG

Just got an email from Amazon that my second Dot 3 just shipped and I should get it by Wednesday. So apparently they have them back in stock now.

Cool

Be sure and report back when you have your stereo pair setup.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Cool

Be sure and report back when you have your stereo pair setup.

Will do! Looks like it shipped out of Phoenix, AZ. Usually at least 95% of what I order ships from one of the big warehouses here in the Dallas/Fort Worth metro, so I guess they were out of them all over the country. It must be a hot selling item, especially since they made such great improvements to it for gen 3. We have two or three warehouses here in DFW, so when I order something that says 2-day delivery it usually gets delivered the next day.

[tubemonkey]

Here's one of Amazon's success stories. I was looking at the prices for all of the Echo devices and discovered this killer deal

Remember the Echo Look, Amazon's $200 always-on bedroom camera? Well, it's now selling for $50. So hurry and snap one up. It'll make a perfect Christmas gift for your dog

I always wondered why Amazon never gave the Echo Look the Drop In feature

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by OtinG

Will do! Looks like it shipped out of Phoenix, AZ. Usually at least 95% of what I order ships from one of the big warehouses here in the Dallas/Fort Worth metro, so I guess they were out of them all over the country. It must be a hot selling item, especially since they made such great improvements to it for gen 3. We have two or three warehouses here in DFW, so when I order something that says 2-day delivery it usually gets delivered the next day.

On my Dot 2, I had to turn it up to max volume. Turning the Dot 3 to max volume is way too loud.

[OtinG]

My second Dot 3 arrived last night or early this morning but I didn't hear anyone and they didn't ring the doorbell. As of 9:30pm last night it wasn't here, but it was this morning.

I tried to set it up this morning, but true to Amazon tradition there was a major glitch. After several attempts it appears to be connected to my WiFi, can answer questions, already updated the FW, but for some strange reason it is not appearing in my list of devices. So I'm about to call the bozos in CS to see what went wrong. Geez, Bezos needs to stop hiring every bozo he can for his design teams!

ETA: Well apparently it did register the new Dot 3 but in a rather bazaar way. Before I called CS I took a deeper look into my devices including going to Amazon.com website Manage Your Content and Devices page. I noticed a device I had named Donna's Dot2 which was originally a Dot2 which I gifted to my sister 13 months ago and then deregistered. I thought it was strange that it suddenly reappeared in my device lists yesterday. So I deregistered it again. Then when I setup my new Dot3 this morning, apparently it was given this name automatically. After getting frustrated I went to the Manage Your Content and Devices page and clicked the info button for Donna's Dot2 and sure enough it was listed as a Dot 3. WTH!!!! Why is Amazon automatically naming new devices with deregistered device names? That makes absolutely no sense. In the past they used a naming scheme something like "[your name]'s New Dot 3". Oh well, at least it is registered and working, so now to pair it with my other Dot 3 for stereo!

ETA-Part 2: Looks like it was delivered at 10:18 pm last night. I looked at my security camera footage, see attached. Pretty late for a delivery and because I had no idea it had arrived it spent the night on my porch. It had been scheduled for delivery by 9 pm but when it passed 9 pm the Amazon website changed to say it had been delayed and to expect it the next day.

......

[OtinG]

Got my two Dot 3's paired for stereo, and wow what great sound! I have them placed in the opposite back corners of my office desk about 1 meter apart. They are plenty loud at volume 3, even a bit too loud for background listening at 3 as 2 is better. They start to vibrate the desk around volume 4 and volume 5 is about as loud as I can tolerate if sitting at the desk. So plenty of volume!

I adjusted the Equalizer to improve the sound for my tastes. To adjust the Equalizer for a paired set of Echos do the following:

1. Open Alexa app, select Devices icon in bottom-right of screen.
2. In Devices screen, select Echo & Alexa icon in top-left of screen.
3. In the Echo & Alexa screen, select one of the Echo devices in the set. (Don't select the Sub if it is paired.)
4. In the Device Settings screen, select Audio Controls (listed in the General section).
5. In the Audio Controls screen, make your adjustments.

The adjustments made to either Echo in the paired set will be applied to both Echos. I'm not sure about the Sub as I don't have one of those.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by OtinG

Got my two Dot 3's paired for stereo, and wow what great sound! I have them placed in the opposite back corners of my office desk about 1 meter apart. They are plenty loud at volume 3, even a bit too loud for background listening at 3 as 2 is better. They start to vibrate the desk around volume 4 and volume 5 is about as loud as I can tolerate if sitting at the desk. So plenty of volume!

Incredible, huh! I never expected this kind of sound from these.

[darryl]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Incredible, huh! I never expected this kind of sound from these.

Get thee behind me Monkey! It's only a few weeks since I bought a single Dot 3!

[tubemonkey]

Amazon -- exp unknown

• $19.99 -- Alexa Voice Remote for Amazon Echo (list $29.99)

Official remote for Echo Plus, Echo (1st and 2nd generation), Echo Dot (1st, 2nd and 3rd generation), Echo Show (1st and 2nd generation) and Echo Spot. (Not compatible with Amazon Tap)

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by darryl

Get thee behind me Monkey! It's only a few weeks since I bought a single Dot 3!

Gotta get a second one

BTW, I keep meaning to ask you about the blood dripping from your mouth. What species was that?

[darryl]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Gotta get a second one

BTW, I keep meaning to ask you about the blood dripping from your mouth. What species was that?

It's a Great White, likely been snacking on a few of those cute seals. It's a joking reference to my previous profession.