Just wanted to say I have one of these and the volume and clarity of sound it has for such a tiny device is really incredible. Very happy with mine and WAY better than the original Dot.
Agreed, while the 2nd Dot was a very nice device and more compact, the single issue was limited volume level and not wonderful sound. The 3rd gen becomes a nearly ideal device for its purpose, plenty loud and improved sound quality.
Unfortunately, that additional sound power means you give up the much more flexible universal micro-USB power port/supply (that you could power by a multi-USB power supply or even a portable battery pack) for a proprietary power port and a largish, beefier wall wart.
Other than special promos with other devices, youâre not likely to find it cheaper, even at mothership Amazon where it is currently on sale for $35.
It is unfortunate that unlike big brother Echo devices that have a 1-year warranty, it has a paltry 90-day warranty (here and at the mothership).
And it is new, not a refurb as is often the case on Woot!
What are you eating for? Time to replace those 2nd (and 1st) gen Dots.
â What are you eating for? Time to replace those 2nd (and 1st) gen Dots.
Well, itâs lunchtime, and I need to eat to survive, soooooâŚ
lol, this is a great deal, buy buy buy! Save some for handing out to friends next Christmas or birthday presents throughout the year!
What am I eating for? I guess itâs because Iâm hungry. Great review. Very informative. I bought the 1st Gen when it first came out, and itâs still going strong. I havenât found a need to replace it, since Iâm an audiophile who only listens to music with high end wired headphones that require an amplifier. Echo turns my lights on and off, and offers some fun games. If I have any questions, I ask my Google Home.
Iâm really ignorant about these Amazon items. Could I use this with my Blink XT2 camera with audio? Could I use 2 Dots as an intercom between rooms? I blush with shame for my ignorance.
Iâve got a bunch of these and I havenât delved into the intercom aspect. However, I do know you can make a call to someone and use them kind of like a speaker phone, and you can use the command âAnnounceâ to make an announcement from all the devices in the house.
Iâm not sure about the camera, but Iâve set my parents up to use the intercom/drop-in feature a lot when one person is in the garage and one in the house and they want to bother each other about something. The echos are reasonably intuitive about it too, they donât remember the device names, so I taught my folks to just say âecho, call the other echoâ and the device can interpret that and actually complete the command.
@fanspastic - Hereâs a quick rundown:
No, you really canât use these Dots with your Blink camera, even with audio. While a camera is possible with any network of Echo devices, Iâm not even certain if Alexa would understand your request when you say âAlexa, listen to my front door.â You would have to look into purchasing an Echo Show (an Echo with a screen) to get any utility out of your camera.
If you have more than one Echo device you most certainly can use them as an intercom. You can âdrop inâ on a particular Echo in another room, or you could say âAlexa, announce Dinner is Readyâ and she will sound a tone on every device and say âDinner is Readyâ (or whatever you like).
You can even drop in on another personâs Echo (or Alexa App on their phone) at another location provided that you have their permission. If they donât have an Echo or the app, you can link your phone number and contact list to your Amazon account and your Echo can make phone calls, just by saying âAlexa, call Momâ, or âAlexa, dial 321-555-5309â and it will act like a speaker phone.
You can use it to play a specific podcast or music of any genre or era, start your car if you already have OnStar or a similar service, read you the news or tell you a joke, report the weather or the extended forecast (from any city), and a thousand other things. Alexa can read to you any eBook that you have borrowed or purchased from Amazon - even if you donât have Audible. Set timers and alarms (even have it wake you to a specific newscast or music style), play a game with you, etc. ad nauseum. The list of skills (the Alexa term for apps) is extremely long and growing by the day.
$25 is an extremely reasonable price to pay for a 3rd generation Echo Dot, even if you only get one just to give it a try. Hope this helps.
The original intention wasnât to equip the Dot with anything more than a barely adequate speaker. It was intended to be linked via Bluetooth or audio cable to something better like a portable Bluetooth speaker or your home stereo, or used as a productivity device on your desk where the speaker only needed to be as good as a typical speakerphone. As the entry-level device, even with this generationâs better speaker you still wonât get stereo separation or adjustable room-filling sound, but even a Dot will sound great if you pair it with a nice set of self-powered bookshelf speakers, one of the better portable BT speakers or a nice pair of BT headphones.
slightly off topic but is there any substantial benefit to getting a device with a screen (show) versus dot for now? And if so, does it make sense to get the 10" or wait until the next iteration?
I have three dot devices at home.
Two of them are 3rd gen, one is 1st gen. One of the two 3rd gens will slow down more and more until it needs to get hard-rebooted before it works again.
-delay in wake word response
-takes a long time to connect to streaming services that arenât âAmazon musicâ
I hooked it up to a timer to reset it daily so now it behaves normally but I was annoyed to have to do it that way. I would go with the full size Amazon Echo if youâre able to. more pricey, but havenât had a problem with both 1st and 2nd gen ones I own.
I bought some smart lights and have them connected to Alexa. Itâs nice when I come home from work and I can ask her to turn living room on and she turns on all my living room lights. I also like to play my spotify music through the dot, the 3rd gen sounds really good.
I bought one just so I can use âComputerâ as the trigger phrase.
Now I can nerd out and pretend my house is a holodeck and I can give commands to make the simulation better.
Now Amazon just needs Majel Barrettâs voice rights from CBS and theyâll have a cash-cow!
The Show 10 is sort of a second gen device, after the original Show, which did have screen issues.
We have an Amazon-recertified Show 10 that we paid $130 for and love it. I cannot think of any hardware issues that would lead us to hanker for the second gen version of it, if it ever comes.
You can look at the Amazon page for it for the typical stuff, but we use it as a secondary video streaming device in the Kithcen and to video call my mother, for whom we bought a Show 8 for Christmas.
The sound is excellent and âmusicalâ, if not perfect (just a bit boomy) so it works nicely for streaming music. Much better sound than the original Show.
Handy feature, if you have Alexa-capable security cameras like from Wyze, âAlexa, show me the front door cameraâ. You can also do that with a FireTV device connected to your TV for a gloriously huge view.
A less expensive way to get a nice video Echo without much compromise is the Show 8 which was available for $80 over the holidays. At that price, I donât know why anyone would get a regular (not the Dot) Echo.
But back to your original question, Iâd get one or three 3rd gen Echo Dots first so you have multi-room coverage for automating plugs and lights.