Echo Dot (3rd Gen, 2018 release) – Smart speaker with Alexa – Charcoal

I have the third gen echo dot and this is my first amazon device. I’m pretty much an android / google guy. The price was right and i initially just wanted to listen to am / fm radio stations that are on the internet, but i’m finding so many more useful features that echo does as well. This is one smart dame. Set up was super easy from my android smartphone and the alexa app and with a marginal (fair) wifi signal where i have the dot, it’s been working fine with no dropped wifi or long delays connecting to the internet radio stations.
One thing i suggest you do after the basic set up is to open the app and go through the settings and configure the device to suit you, as some of the default settings might not be how you want. Enable some things and disable others, set custom time to start and stop things, like the do not disturb setting. Mine is set to start at 8 pm and go off at 8 am that way it will be sure never to wake me since it’s in the bedroom with me. Also check the privacy settings as you may want to change some of them as well. Amazon did a pretty good job of allowing the end user to get it set up as you want, but you need to spend a little time in the app. Hard to beat at the price. Wonderful item.

We have quite a large number of echo devices in our home, acting as a sort of whole-home communication and entertainment tool. Got a 4th gen last year and we thought it was good. Got two 3rd gens this year on pre-prime day sale, and i now wish we had never purchased the 4th gen. The 3rd gen has amazing stereo quality sound, crystal clear. You can hear bass and treble perfectly balanced and equalized. No muffling, no tinny sound, it’s perfect. The mic, unlike the mics in our flex, show, and 4th gen devices, actually understands what we are trying to say and never makes us repeat or misinterprets. I wish i had gone for the 3rd gens all along.

I didn’t realize how unresponsive my google was until i made the switch to the echo dot. I whispered its name not wanting it to hear me and it still responded.. The response time is also immediate, and the commands work immediately as well. I have smart outlets in my home and used to use the google to turn them on, i didn’t think there was a lag between the command and the action until i set it up with the echo. It was almost like they turned on before i could finish the command!

These perform so many useful functions. Just to name a few: use our voice to set alarms, timers and reminders. Ask what the weather is today or for the next week. Ask questions on just about anything that we would like information for (about 90% of the time there is a reasonable answer). Play music. Ask it how to spell a word or for a meaning of a work. Integrate with our phone to make phone calls. Integrate with our outdoor security cameras. And play all sorts of games.

I absolutely love this echo dot with alexa! I don’t know why i waited so long to get one. I talk to alexa all the time. She tells me stories and jokes. Reads my kindle books. Plays my audible books. Reminds me about things. Holds my shopping lists. I also ask her for an alarm or a timer. She’s great with recipes. I have so much fun. She even cohosted my live stream!

Super great product. I look forward to having several in our home.

I bought this when it was on sale for 99 cents. It’s a great little invention and i use it a lot. I can set an alarm. I can get the weather for my area. I can get a 5 day forecast. It gives me a notification when my items i ordered have been delivered. The best part about it, is that i can play music on it. I enjoy listening to rain or waves at night when i am going to sleep.

After reading so many great reviews for this one vs the generation 4 i took a chance and it paid off. Bundle with amazon’s music i literally purchased it for less than $10. I will definitely be purchasing more soon. Even if you aren’t tech savvy, the set up was clear and easy enough for a kid to do. I set a reminder with alexa to update this review in a couple of months lol.

I didn’t think i would use the echo as much as i do. I really enjoy asking alexa all kinds of questions including weather, history, jokes, etc. She tells me etas & when my packages have arrived. She sends me reminders to do things. In the morning i get a whole good morning message lol. I tell alexa to play radio stations for me & almost anything you can think of including turning on tv, running my irobot, etc. This echo can do so much for a little speaker. If you’re considering trying one, do it just buy it

First off, i do not use these for music listening. The sound is just too weak. I use them to activate lights in the house. About 90% of my lights are controlled by alexa. I have dots or echos in almost every room. Only the guest bedroom did not have one. Now that i plan on using that room, i needed another dot so they can control the lights. I do not like the 4th generation dots so i was pleased to see these brand new generation 3 dots at a huge discount. So happy.

Perfect for all the other rooms of my house. I have my main echo in my living room and had two other dots in other rooms. Just bought my 3rd dot for my newly finished family room in the basement. I just can’t live without being able to talk to my friendly assistant alexa! Great quality as always. Easy to set up and add to my home.

So i ordered this as part of a prime promotion, where they packaged it with the smart bulbs. Fine enough, i already have some alexa devices and know how the process works. Where things got complicated is when i traded in an earlier alexa. I was supposed to get a 25% credit towards a new alexa device. Seems straightforward. The problem is that the 25% was never applied. I chatted with customer service. The rep was very professional and helpful, but i was told that because it was bundled with the free smart bulbs, it didn’t count as a new alexa device. I wasn’t convinced. Needless to say, it wasn’t worth a few bucks credit to spend much time on this, but it is worth my time to write this review to inform you of my experience. Overall i enjoy amazon and all their cool stuff, and don’t mind giving up some level of privacy to have this stuff. But this review speaks to something larger. Some things such as this (and occasional pricing ‘hiccups’ at the amazon fresh store) really cut to the heart of the ‘trust’ and ‘transparency’ relationship with amazon. I always check my receipts when walking out of an amazon go store. I would highly recommend that you do the same. As one u.s. President recently said, ‘trust but verify’. Big tech is here to stay, but we need to hold these companies accountable. Thanks for reading, and have a blessed day.

It seems people either love or hate alexa. I like mine, but i don’t love it. My wife is from another country–english is her 3rd or 4th language–she and alexa do not always get along, so i end up repeating my wife’s requests, which works most of the time. I’ve learned a few things, though. Never aske to play the same song more than once per week. When alexa’s ai figures out that you really like a song, it always goes to the $3.99 extra per month list of songs. It seems safe to ask for a specific group, i.e., the rolling stones or the beatles, just don’t ask for specific songs too often. My wife and i both love a wide variety of music, but my wife tends to get frustrated by alexa and does not use the unit very often.

I liked my generation 2 so well that i bought one each for a couple of family members and another one for myself (it is a generation 3). I was going to buy a third unit for my in-home office, but after transferring the 2nd gen from my bedroom for my office, i realized i could not concentrate on my work for listening to the music.

I’ve heard all the stories about how alexa is spying on me, but i’m not terribly concerned. I watch a fair number of youtube videos–anything that sparks my interest–and the 3rd gen unit is right next to the tv, so, if it’s recording my info, it’s getting a wide variety from sensible to weird information. Also, i like to play the tv while i’m away from home, just to confuse the would-be burglars, and i usually play it on one of the traditional news channels, because they talk a lot instead of showing movies, and that should confuse the wannabe burglars more. I tried using alexa for that, but the unit stops playing after half a dozen songs (just estimating), but the tv will drone on and on until i turn it off. When some of my more suspicious friends or relatives visit, i unplug the unit so they can talk candidly, just to make them feel more comfortable. I have been known to remind them that their cell phones and tv sets do the same thing, even when you turn them off.

I’ve learned to be very specific about the music i want to hear. I never tell alexa to play a song without specifying the artist. If she still picks the wrong song or artist, i try to ask in a different way, but usually find out that the song i want to hear is on the $3.99 per month additional list, which i do not subscribe to. The unit is usually pretty good about substituting a channel that has music i like–based on the song i asked for. I’m impressed that ai is as smart as it is in this tiny unit.

Sometimes, when i get bored, i like to ask alexa stupid or confusing questions, just to see how it answers. Yeah, i’m easily entertained, but it’s surprising what the unit can come up with. I get a lot of ‘sorry, i don’t know that.’

my brother and i were trying to fix a leaky faucet in my daughter’s home when her alexa unit in the other room spoke to us. At first we thought someone had come in without our knowing it. Since it was a female voice, we did not start looking for weapons to defend ourselves from burglars, but we quickly went to see who was there. The house was empty. I laughed when my brother suggested the house might be haunted, but it made me stop and think. Later, my daughter reminded me about the alexa unit i had bought for her–yep, same voice. The point is, you never know what will set the unit off. You do not have to mention its name or speak to it.

I’ve never had a problem with the unit waking me up in the middle of the night, but it does start blinking yellow when i have a notification. Took me a while to figure that out. I get notified about storms, kidnappings in my home state, when an amazon package has arrived, and a few other miscellaneous messages. It never wakes me up, except for when i set an alarm, but i have to set the alarms individually. I cannot tell it to wake me up every weekday morning at 7 a.m. I have to set a separate alarm for every morning of every day i want awakened. But it also allows me to set other alarms. For instance, i can tell it to set an alarm for 5 p.m., so i don’t work too long on my computer. If i’m cooking something, i can tell it to set an alarm for 15 minutes from now; otherwise, i will ruin my lunch and stink up my house, because i don’t think about food until 3 or 4 p.m. All in all, i highly recommend the units.

For the longest time alexa and i got along famously. She would play my favorite playlists on command, and turn my lights on and off in my rooms that have no installed light fixtures in them (modern living). Anyhow, sometime this summer she began to tell me how to live. Constantly asking if i wanted a friday routine? Or do i want to add an end of work day playlist, or constant reminders for things.

I also move a lot and so every time i move i have to break it to her we no longer live in arizona. But still she persists that i must know the weather of arizona. Now that i adjusted it to the correct location, she has stopped telling me the weather. How petty!

I now got invis-align braces. The braces gave me a slight lisp and before i knew it, work out playlist became work it out (some really sad breakup music). Night vibes became good vibes and honestly it feels like the fragile ecosystem of my condo is utterly shattered.

Alexa is insubordinate and churlish…but she does tell better jokes then siri so i guess i’ll keep her.

This is my first time owning an alexa and i wasn’t sure about it but, i have enjoyed it so far. Its easy to get the weather and ask other questions of trivia and such. I enjoy most that i have a louder speaker for music now, it sounds alright but the more you turn it up it loses some of tone to the music. There is also a mute button on the device that turns the light red when pushed, so alexa will not listen or accidentally start talking. The major thing i do not like about it is my family have different spotify accounts and in order for us each to listen on our own accounts you have to have two different amazon accounts and swap between them through alexa. Also alexa’s jokes are too corny and she needs better ones!

The main only thing i don’t like about these is, i haven’t found a way to turn off the voice! I don’t need it to shout at me all night:

‘your speaker has connected!!!!’ ‘your speaker has dis-connected!!!’

(*maybe it needs a voice volume and speaker volume)

other than that, i’m very satisfied! The speakers are small and decent quality! The sound quality is perfect for what i need (all i do is stream bluetooth from computer or tv. I don’t do calls, i don’t ‘talk’ to alexa). Highs are sharp and clear (no lows, but i don’t need them –i turned the lows all the way down in eq) and get loud enough for anything i’ll ever need in my small studio apartment! Connecting to bluetooth is usually simple and doesn’t take long. …i also don’t like that i can not connect my speaker to a bluetooth device *using the alexa app on my computer* however! I have to use my phone app.

But, other than that i couldn’t be happier!!

Perfect for what i need!!

-matt

The echo dot is a valuable addition to our echo devices at home. We have the 1st generation amazon echo and several kindle devices that have the alexa app so i thought that there was no real need for the echo dot. Since it was a gift and was relatively easy to set up, i put it in the family room. My wife uses it now more than her kindle alexa app to know about the weather, her appointments, and other trivia questions that she likes to ask. This device is not for listening to music but good enough for podcasts and news.

Great device, works for what i wanted it to buuuuuut who runs the channels….

90s alternative music been listen to this channel for over an hour and not one female singer i grew up in the 90s and can tell you while yes it was dominated by men there were tons of females…… I’m just going to list a few in hopes you’ll fix the channel or tell whoever runs it to fix it ‍

alanis morrisette
bjork
fiona apple
the cardigans
the cranberries
garbage
the donna’s
hole
poe

i could go one for days ……. Please just pick a few… ( also i know i can ask for an all female alternative 90s music channel but i like it all and if it’s separated then call this the all male alternative channel )

The echo dot itself is a nice little unit. It’s compact, and if you don’t need a screen or camera it works well for simple device control, weather reports and some uncomplicated questions. You can turn the microphone off if you don’t want it listening to what you’re up to, and it’s wonderful for times and alarms. ‘alexa, 30 minute timer’ is all you need to say to get beeped in 30 minutes. I like that better than fussing with the timer on my stove. Timers, reminders and alarms (all different things) are probably what i use the most.
Where i think it falls down is the ai aspects. I’m sure amazon is proud of how well it does, and as a software engineer who has done a bit with natural language parsing, i recognize the challenges. But i was writing natural language analyzers in the 90’s as a hobby, that did better than this. Simple example: you can ask for current weather almost anywhere in the world with a simple ‘alexa, what’s the temperature in san jose costa rica.’ and bang, you get the temperature there. Oh, you want the humidity too? You try ‘alexa, what’s the temperature and humidity in san jose costa rica’ and it is instantly confused. Yet you can ask for the humidity separately and it can figure that out. Basically, asking for ‘x and y’ instantly confuses it. That’s just bad analysis; kids in grammar school used to be able to diagram sentences and alexa should be able to as well. That’s one example of many.
Using alexa for web searching is hit or miss, and more miss than hit. She has a few favorite websites she likes to look things up on and for some simple queries that works. But more often than not she comes up with an answer that’s wildly unrelated to the question; these can be laughable moments, but it can also be annoying. She’s no watson. Don’t buy it if your main hope is getting it to do web searches for you.
If you have a few of these in the house, you can use them as intercoms, either point to point or to all devices in the house. ‘alexa, intercom, living room’ is all it takes. The microphones allow you to have conversations even if you’re across the room from the echo. You can also set them up to place calls using an iphone account, though you can’t use it to pick up calls to your iphone.
Randomly, she loses contact with the internet (and that makes her instantly useless) even when nothing else has connection problems. Power cycling fixes it. Just waiting doesn’t seem to. It’s rare but annoying.
You will absolutely want to turn off the option for buying things via an echo. It sometimes tries to make product suggestions and that’s absolutely untenable. And while they did try to make it hard to order stuff by mistake, and you can set a security code so your children can’t order candy by the metric ton, it’s surely a matter of time before your kids eavesdrop and get the code. I know amazon wants you to use alexa as a ‘shopping assistant’ but it’s a foot in the door that you don’t want open in the first place.
One awful misfeature – alexa sometimes tries to be cheery and positive. Occasionally she’ll throw in stuff like ‘have a nice day!’ or some other meaningless drivel. I don’t see an option to turn it off. I’m sorry, but alexa is not and will never be a person, and having some algorithm wish me a good day is at best an insincere try at manipulation and at worst some sort of weird attempt to make you trust robots. It’s flat out creepy. When i ask her to reporting something, i want a brief answer and then silence. If i want an actual conversation i’ll talk to my wife, thanks.
Sound quality is actually fairly good given the size, which is to say, not special. It’s no audiophile device and using it play even background music is something i just don’t do. It’s fine for news stations on the web. If you want to ruin an early pentatonix song, have alexa play it. Ari’s voice is simply out of range. And just forget most classical.
Summary: useful, yes. I might even say very. Life-changing, not quite. And it could be so much better. Eventually maybe it will be; the language processing is done remotely and i’m sure there are improvements monthly. But as ‘your plastic pal who’s fun to be with’, or even a device with the language understanding of a four year old, it has a long way to go.

I primarily want to be able to listen to music in multiple rooms. I’m usually ok setting up new technology – by following written directions, but had a bit of trouble here. When i got the smart speaker working, it is not in sync with the audio coming from the “base” unit. Will try again to trouble-shoot, but for now it is annoying enough to dock the rating a star.

It’s good for music, i have it in my room and it wakes me up every morning by playing my music (very fire) speaker quality is surprisingly loud since it’s so small can hear it throughout my whole house on max volume. Sometimes i say the name of my dog (max) and she’ll activate but besides that she always recognizes her name. Buying alexa compatible items really make it worth it would recommend