Amazon Echo

I have four Amazon Echo devices. I was an early adopter, and I purchased the original unit back in January of 2015. I remember the list price was $199 but they were selling it to Prime members for $99. I used that unit for a long time, even after the remote failed. I notice that no Echo device since then have included a remote.

I have purchased many units since then, some were given away as gifts, and others I used to expand the number of devices in my house. Currently, I also have the following installed:

The OG Echo is in the master bathroom. It has the largest speaker and I use it to play the news when I take a shower. The Echo Show is in the office, right under the large monitor for my MacBook Pro. The Echo Dot is on my nightstand, and the Echo Flex is in the dining room in case I need to turn device on/off from downstairs.

IMHO, out of all four devices, the original Echo works the best. The Echo dot has issues with the display; it would glitch every few seconds. It appears to be random and does not affect the readability, but it is distracting to look at. The Echo Dot is often non-responsive, even if I am right next to it. My commands would be picked up by the OG Echo in the bathroom instead. Finally, the Echo Flex is low to the floor on a plug and has terrible sound quality. I am going to swap the original Echo with the Echo Dot since I use Alexa the most from the bedroom. I will also find a small Bluetooth speaker to connect to the Flex downstairs to improve the sound quality.

The various Echo devices have been quite useful in the past eight(!) years. I have connected my collection of smart lights and plugs, as well as security cameras which are viewable on the Echo Show. I have also connected my Nest thermostat and I heard there are plug-ins for controlling your Tesla vehicle to Alexa as well. Since Amazon was the first choice available, I never got interested in competing products from Google and Apple.