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Today we are taking a look at the Nyrius Smart Outlet available online now for 40 bucks.
Now for most smart plugs communication is immedicated between the phone and the plug.
By the local wi-fi network.
This one is a little bit different, in that it uses bluetooth.
That means that your phone communicates directly with the plug, and vice versa.
Practically, that means that set up, instead of taking four or five minutes, takes thirty seconds.
The problem is that bluetooth has a very small communication range.
For us at the CNET Smart Home, that meant that when I was upstairs or in the basement, I would lose connection with the plug.
Even when I was on the same floor and the plug was pretty centrally located, I could lose it if I were kind of on the fringes of the house.
As far as basic functionality is concerned, this plug is so-so.
Using it, you can turn things on and off and you can schedule certain commands.
But it also has an additional feature called proximity.
While using this feature, when you enter the bluetooth range, the switch will activate and when you exit that range, it will deactivate.
This is a cool solution to sometimes finicky geotesting systems.
The problem is that it really doesn't work very well.
Like I mentioned before, Bluetooth range is limited, which means that when I was walking around the house, I would lose and regain connection, which meant that my lights would be flipping on and off throughout the day.
Eventually, I just turned off the proximity feature altogether.
The Nyrius outlet app is also problematic.
It's an exclusive app which means that you can't access other products using it, even Nyrius products.
Overall, between app exclusivity and major problems with the bluetooth functionality, I really can't recommend this plug to most users.
For more smart plug coverage, be sure to check us out on cnet.com.
Here at the CNET Smart Home, I'm Dave Priest.
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