TREATLIFE Smart Light Switch Single Pole Smart Switch Works with Alexa, Google Home and SmartThings, 2.4GHz Wi-Fi Timer Light Switch, Neutral Wire Required, No Hub Required, FCC Listed, 4 Pack

great, affordable option
I’ve been putting off installing smart switches, unable to justify the cost of installing so many around the house, and concerned the cheaper options wouldn’t cut it. I finally pulled the trigger on these, and couldn’t be happier. They’re simple to install (about 15min per switch, once you know what you’re doing), the Smart Life app is responsive and reliable, and with a bit of futzing, you can fully integrate with Smart Things, Alexa, etc. I’ll comment on a few concerns I had going in, based on other comments I’d seen before purchasing:Potential Concern 1: The device is too deep to fit well into the box. I didn’t have any trouble. I’ve installed two into a 2-gang no problem. My house was built late 70s, then extensively renovated in the early 00s, so I’ve a mix a shallow, 40 year old boxes and deep newer boxes. The shallow boxes were a bit of a puzzle to get the wires folded in well, but I got them all.Potential Concern 2: Wifi based switches are less reliable, power outages cause issues reconnecting, etc, etc. I have only had these installed for 3 weeks, but haven’t had any trouble. Note that I’ve repeated caused “power outages” by throwing the break switch while installing other switches, and they’ve always immediately reconnected. In the most extreme case, I installed a switch, then a week later replaced it with a smart dimmer from the same company and left the original switch on my work bench, then a week later installed it somewhere else–smart life immediately recognized the switch and everything was fine (though of course I then renamed it). If it can handled a 1 week power outage, I’m sure it will be fine for any real world scenario.Potential concern 3: Wifi based switches have too much lag. I don’t have any trouble with this. I have numerous automations in which once switch flips on many others (how annoying is it to always flip the same 5 switches when you walk into the kitchen? Problem solved!). There’s essentially no lag, provided your internet is reliable.Potential concern 4: Limited interop with Smart Things and Alexa. I do like the Smart Things app better, and I have some smart devices (notably, a Door Lock) that don’t work with Smart Life. But the internet is full of wonderful hacks. I followed one in which I set up a virtual switch in Smart Things, then used ifttt to have Smart Life switches flip the Smart Things virtual switch. That Virtual Switch implements the contact sensor APIs, and so can trigger Alexa, the door lock, whatever. It’s a bit annoying to set up, but provides infinite interop between Smart Things, Smart Life and Alexa, which covers just about everything. The main issue here is that ifttt has significant latency, so this only works for links that can tolerate substantial lag.Two Annoying Things:1) The switch doesn’t implement the contact sensor API Alexa uses. So you can’t trigger Alexa routines when you flip a switch. The ifttt/Smart Things Virtual Switch hack fixes this, but adds considerable latency and it’s annoying to have to do that.2) Smart Life has a limit to the number of automations you can have. I’ve no idea why, couldn’t find documentation of what that limit is, and it was annoying when I hit it. Also, the Smart Life app has some questionable UI choices that make it a pain at times to work with (at least on iOS).A final note: These are single pole switches, which means they’re not intended to replace 3 way switches. BUT, if you understand how 3 way switches are wired, you can hack two of these to serve as a three-way (or arbitrary-way) switch. The trick is to make sure both switches have a constant power source (ie, the Line). Often, one of the three way switches doesn’t have that, but you can use the Traveler to run power to the switch that lacks the line. Then chose one switch to be connected to the light via it’s Load, and cap the other switch’s Load. Finally, use Smart Life to link the switches together. I used a similar hack to change a three-way switch in my kitchen so that the switch by the door to the garage acts as a master switch that turns on all kitchen and dining lights. As a matter of cost, this is significantly cheaper than buying two 3-way switches, but more expensive than using a single smart three-way switch and leaving the other dumb.