TECH REVIEW: Meross Accessories — plugged into the smart home trend
Meross Accessories
Cool factor 4/5
Usability 4/5
Value for money 5/5
New to the smart home product scene is Meross, founded in 2016. It recently entered the SA market exclusively with geewiz.co.za.
It makes Wi-Fi products like wall plugs, garage-door openers, light switches, bulbs, ambient side lights, humidifiers and LED lights. What’s appealing about the brand is the price point, which starts at R195 for a wall plug with energy monitoring.
If you have a smart speaker such as Google Home, Apple HomePod or Amazon Echo and want to tinker by adding more products to your smart home, Meross is ideal. You don’t need to be tech savvy to set up most of these products.
We’ve been testing the smart Wi-Fi wall plug (MSS210) and LED strip lights (MSL320). You need to create a user account with Meross, which can be done on the app. The app also lets you run firmware updates for all products linked to it.
The two-pin plug is chunky and requires an adaptor, which you’ll have. It connects to Wi-Fi on the 2.4Ghz band and the minimum requirement is iOS 9 or Android 4.1.
The plug has a MediaTek chipset built in that allows it to work with voice commands through Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant. It also has support for Apple HomeKit and Samsung’s SmartThings.
Its best use is for automating activities around the house, or to control switches that you forgot to power off before you went away. It can be controlled through schedules or timers by day and time.
If you buy multiple plugs, you can change the icon to what they are attached to, for easier app access, such as lamp, coffee machine, heater, TV and so on.
The LED strip lights are nifty and can be used for décor or a feature element in any room. Each box comes with two 5m LED strips with adhesive tape so you can stick it to a desk, skirting, ceiling or bed.
It can be controlled through voice commands (Google Assistant, Apple’s Siri or Alexa), schedules or directly from the Meross app or Apple Home app.
As an RGB light, it can be any colour, or you could use presets on the app for different modes, like reading, party, relax and so on.
The Wi-Fi plug costs R295 and the LED strip lights cost R895, both affordable and useful additions to any smart home.