A huge thanks to iDevices for sponsoring today’s post.
If you’re stuck with gift ideas this holiday season, DON’T PANIC! I have a great gift idea that I’ve been bursting at the seams to share with you all for a few weeks — give the gift of EASE AND CONVENIENCE with the new iDevices Instinct Smart Light Switch with Alexa built right in! That’s right — this device lets you not only control the lights in your home remotely through your phone, but it also lets you control your lights with VOICE CONTROL… & without the need for another Alexa device!
A little backstory here…
Remember when we gutted our kitchen earlier this summer? In addition to the regular kitchen construction, we figured it was the best time to add some home automation elements to our very 1980’s house. We loved the idea of controlling our lights and outlets remotely — perfect for traveling and great for reducing unnecessary home energy use. Even more so, we wanted to be able to create routines and scenes so with the click of a button, all the lights could be dimmed to the desired amount without running all over the house to physically adjust them. We had our electrician install a few iDevices Dimmer Switches in our kitchen and family room while we were under construction, and also added the iDevices Outdoor Switch Smart Plug to control our patio lights. WE. WERE. HOOKED.
It has been SO COOL and beyond that, SO CONVENIENT to be able to control our lights and outlets via an app on our phones. iDevices has their own app which you can install to control the lights and set up certain settings, but the light switches and outlets also work effortlessly with Amazon Alexa, Google Home and Apple Homekit, so you could control your lights using an app you likely already have on your phone. I think it hit me most when we were in London a few weeks ago — being able to click a button on my phone halfway across the world to turn my lights on at home was pretty insane. But more than that, we’ve used the iDevices app to set up schedules and automation — set sunrise/sunset automations, location-based automations that turn the lights on when we pull into the driveway, and turning things off automatically when we leave home. We’ve also set “scenes” that allow us to control multiple products with a single button push – for example: every night, we turn all the lights off with a single button instead of going room to room to turn them off.
As if we weren’t happy enough, iDevices then introduced us to the brand new ‘Instinct’ — which is a smart light switch (similar to their other light switches) BUT it has Alexa built right into it. So now, not only are we able to control our lights and outlets with the app (which was easy enough), but now we can also control them with VOICE COMMAND! The best part of the new Instinct (in my opinion), is that you DO NOT NEED another Alexa device to make this happen. I personally hate the look of clutter and devices all over the place… I hate the look of huge TVs, and screens in places they don’t belong. So while all of the iDevices Smart Light Switches allow you to control them via voice command, you would typically need an Alexa device (such as an Echo Dot) to act as the hub to be able to do so. If you don’t have an Alexa device already OR you don’t want another piece of clutter for your limited counter space, this product would be perfect for you — it seamlessly blends into the wall (looking just like another light switch). It also works in conjunction with Alexa products, so if you already have an Alexa product, you could put that one downstairs and put the Instinct upstairs, so you would have TWO devices in range to be able to listen to voice command from anywhere in your home. We had the new Instinct installed in our home a couple weeks ago and have absolutely LOVED using it via voice command to turn on and off our lights… AND the Christmas Tree. “Alexa, turn on the Christmas Tree” is one of the first things I say each morning with a HUGE smile on my face!
In addition to voice command for lights and outlets, the Instinct does SO MUCH MORE because it has a microphone and speaker embedded right into the little device. You can use it to make ANNOUNCEMENTS like an intercom — no more shouting throughout the house that dinner in on the table. Or you could use it like us to try to make each other laugh. Raj has been doing this “cruise bit” where he makes an announcement like they do on cruises with the daily itinerary. He also decided he would do this daily in a British accent for some reason — it chimes at the beginning before an announcement is made and I start laughing even before I hear what he says! You can also use the Instinct to stream music, podcasts and audiobooks, ask Alexa to add to your Amazon cart, ask Alexa for recipes, and even ask Alexa for measurement conversions or ingredient replacements!
This would make the absolute PERFECT gift for just about anyone on your list — your significant other, your parents or in-laws, your siblings… you name it! I’m excited to tell you about two promotions currently going on right now for Cyber Week — the iDevices Instinct is on sale right now on both Amazon (15% off through December 2nd) and directly on the Instinct website (20% off through December 2nd).
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