Review: OFFONG P2-3 Smart Plugs
Smart plugs are simple devices that allow users to easily control lights and other accessories. As its name implies, you plug one of these gizmos into an existing power outlet, and add an electrical device to it. Once the smart plug is recognized on your Wi-Fi network, you can then use your smart phone or tablet to control the device. Pretty nifty – especially when it comes to home automation.
For this review, I purchased the P2-3 OFFONG Smart Plug set ($30US on Amazon).
The box includes two smart plugs and a small pamphlet that contains configuration instructions for both Android and Apple devices. (My review is from the perspective of an Apple user.)
My reason for purchasing smart plugs were simple:
1) I wanted to automate the turning on and off of our Christmas tree lights.
2) I wanted a means for automating a night light we have in our bedroom.
Before purchasing the OFFONG smart plugs, I verified that they were HomeKit compatible. (HomeKit is Apple’s app for controlling smart home accessories.) Within a few days, a small box containing two OFFONG plugs arrived.
The plugs are made of a white ABS material that blends in with most outlet recepticles. One end of the smart plug features the prongs, while the left side has a small circular ON/OFF button to manually toggle the unit.
The tech specs for the OFFONG smart plug are as follows:
Electrical Rating: AC 90V – 250V, 50/60Hz, 10A (Max)
Max Power: 1200W
Wi-Fi: 2.4 GHz bandwidth
Output Power: 9.33dBm
Wi-Fi Standard: IEEE 108.11/b/g/n
Setup was predictably simple: Take the unit out of the box, plug it in to an outlet, use the Homekit app to add the accessory (via pointing your iOS device to the smart plug’s QR code, conveniently located on the top of the unit) and wait a few seconds for it to be added to your home network. My eero router (firmware 6.60) immediately recognized both smart plugs and, within seconds, they were added to our home network. HomeKit also recognized both devices straight away. I’ll go out on a limb and say the experience was truly “plug and play”.
In addition to having the ability to manually toggle the smart plugs on / off, I added a simple automation routine within HomeKit to control each smart plug. Our Christmas tree lights were set to turn ON at 6PM and shut off at 11PM each night using smart plug 1, while the night light comes on at 10:45PM and shuts off at 11:30PM using smart plug 2.
I’ve had a week to test the OFFONG smart plugs and they work exactly as advertised. Our lights come on and off at the appropriate times, with no issues whatsoever. All in all, I have no reservations whatsoever in recommending these devices.
Addendum: It should be noted that OFFONG has their own app that one can download from the iOS App Store, but – thanks to HomeKit – there was no need for me to do so. Everything just works through HomeKit. The OFFONG smart plug also supports Alexa, but I did not test this feature.
-Krishna
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