By now, you should be intimately familiar with Amazon Echo, the smart home automation device no one can stop talking about lately. Not only has Amazon made significant improvements to the Echo over the past year, but recently Amazon has been hard at work expanding its partnerships with some of the most popular smart home companies and devices, from Samsung SmartThings to Philips Hue.
The newest addition to the Amazon Echo compatibility family is Insteon. Using your Amazon Echo, you can turn your house lights on and off and dim them via voice commands. This will also work for other devices that you can control through an Insteon Hub system, like a fan. While we are all well aware of what Amazon Echo can do, not as many people are familiar with Insteon.
Insteon makes, as they say in their own words, “the Internet of things for your home and business.” This home automation technology system enables lights, motion sensors, fans, thermostats, and a number of other electrical devices to interoperate. The great thing about Insteon is how simple it is to set up. You can easily install yourself, no matter how new you are to home automation devices. You can also control the device from your smartphone or computer from anywhere in the world.
Similar to SmartThings, Insteon’s main home is its hub. However, unlike SmartThings, Insteon offers a standard hub and a HomeKit-enabled hub. With this hub, you can control Insteon devices and HomeKit devices together and control everything with Siri. This is a big selling point for diehard Apple fans. Beyond the hub are Insteon’s many products, which work with the hub.
The most popular items are LED bulbs, plug-in devices, wireless sensors, and wall switches. They also have remotes, wall keypads, thermostats, wall outlets, WiFi cameras, sensors, door locks, and more. While SmartThings offers a plug that allows you to easily make a standard item a smart item, I love that Insteon offers more options. It makes it much easier to make your entire household smart without mixing too many different brands that may offer products that don’t match with one another. And beyond Insteon’s many products, it also offers these products in multiple colors beyond white. No need to fear if you prefer black or grey outlets or wall switches. Insteon has you covered.
Insteon becomes that much more powerful with the integration of Amazon Echo. While you can always control and monitor your smart home via your smartphone when you’re away, but you can control it all via voice command when at home. Just have the Amazon Echo placed in the main room and you can request the lights to be dimmed from anywhere in the room, even if music is playing or the TV is on. With Amazon Echo and Insteon joining forces, you can truly have a smart home.
Photo by: Adrienne Hoffman
