HomeKit Final verdict: The Wemo Doorbell should be avoided at all costs

[c84216]

Just had to say that the Wemo Doorbell is one of the worst tech products I've ever owned and it has been unceremoniously discarded.

The disconnects were obnoxious but not unbearable. It would disconnect for no reason, whenever power was lost, and sometimes if the internet degraded. Okay fine I go outside, take out the Torx screw, and reset it. Again, extremely obnoxious, not unbearable.

But then....

...there's that very clear problem based on user feedback and that doorbell did not get one firmware update the entire time I had it (a year and a month to be exact).

The icing on the cake was the last time I had to reset it the Torx screw stripped and I was unable to get it out, meaning that doorbell was permanently affixed to the backplate and could not be removed to be reset. Furthermore, the plastic on the housing had begun to crack, so it was going to fail structurally, too.

I literally had to rip the doorbell out of the wall and then yank the wires out of it because the wires fed through the backplate and into the doorbell directly. I could not get the doorbell off the backplate to get the wires out. I. Could. Not. Get. The. Doorbell. Off. The Backplate. I. Had. To. Rip. It. Out. Of. The. Wall. I. Had. To. RIP. The. Wires. Out. Of. It.

Yeah. No one should be buying that doorbell.

 

[sparky672]

Okay fine I go outside, take out the Torx screw, and reset it. Again, extremely obnoxious, not unbearable.

Unscrewing something from the wall to do a simple reset is not unbearable?

You have a lot more patience than me. If I have to find a paperclip to stick in a hole I am annoyed. Any device that needs constant resetting is not worth owning.

 

[Itinj24]

I also found the night vision (or lack thereof) to be absolute dog spit. Nothing like what they advertise on their site. I too had frequent disconnects but they were mitigated by bypassing the chime on the wall and using HomePods as the chime. I may have had a weak transformer causing that but I was never able to locate it when I bought this house.

Only thing I absolutely loved about this doorbell was the FOV and wished there were more options on the market with the same… I was able to see everything up, down, to the left and right. I could swear I was even able to see behind it lol.

 

[rayward]

I have had a WeMo doorbell for about 10 months now. Getting it into HomeKit was an ordeal that involved hours on hold with Belkin support, but eventually we got it done. Thereafter, I was plagued with regular dropouts - seemingly at least once a week - requiring a reset. It was very frustrating.

But then a strange thing happened, it settled down and stayed up for months on end. This coincided with the weather cooling (I am in Houston), so I assumed it was the heat that was causing it problems. Sure enough, as the outside temps started to ramp up in late May, it had its first failure for months. I did the customary reset, and waited for it to fail again.

But, credit where credit's due, it has been rock solid since. I'm in Houston, and it has been so hot here for the last week or so that the roads are melting (for real). But the WeMo is still going.

 

[sparky672]

Sure enough, as the outside temps started to ramp up in late May, it had its first failure for months. I did the customary reset, and waited for it to fail again.

But, credit where credit's due, it has been rock solid since. I'm in Houston, and it has been so hot here for the last week or so that the roads are melting (for real). But the WeMo is still going.

Then how can you blame the heat? Heat related failures are usually a hardware issue that can't heal itself.

Regardless, it still sounds like a major problem if it needed constant resets. I'd be concerned the issue will come back.

 

[rayward]

Then how can you blame the heat? Heat related failures are usually a hardware issue that can't heal itself.

Regardless, it still sounds like a major problem if it needed constant resets. I'd be concerned the issue will come back.

I'm happy to report that it continues to function well, despite the record temperatures we're experiencing.

 

[sparky672]

I'm happy to report that it continues to function well, despite the record temperatures we're experiencing.

I am not doubting your word and I'm glad it's been solid in the heat for you. I am simply stating that your original problem could not have been caused by heat, because those problems don't just go away. Perhaps a software issue that previously coincided with temperature.

 

[rayward]

I am not doubting your word and I'm glad it's been solid in the heat for you. I am simply stating that your original problem could not have been caused by heat, because those problems don't just go away. Perhaps a software issue that previously coincided with temperature.

Yep. Correlation doesn't equal causality. I had assumed that the crashes were caused by the heat because they went away once it cooled off. Chances are there was a software update that happened coincidentally, resulting in the new-found stability.

 

[mikejd1]

anything wemo is dog ****

 

[JUMA55]

I have to add my 2¢. The Wemo is a POS. I'm not going to bore everyone with my trials and tribulations. You can read my review on Amazon. I posted it on 12-22-22. Long story short: I couldn't get it two work with two different eero routers while the other 40 or so devices around here work fine. I finally bought a Linksys router. Worked OK with it. But the Linksys router is another POS, so I'm back to an eero Pro 6 and no doorbell. I'll probably try the Logitech next and kiss someone's ring that it works. I'm tired of shoving good money after bad.

 

[c84216]

I have to add my 2¢. The Wemo is a POS. I'm not going to bore everyone with my trials and tribulations. You can read my review on Amazon. I posted it on 12-22-22. Long story short: I couldn't get it two work with two different eero routers while the other 40 or so devices around here work fine. I finally bought a Linksys router. Worked OK with it. But the Linksys router is another POS, so I'm back to an eero Pro 6 and no doorbell. I'll probably try the Logitech next and kiss someone's ring that it works. I'm tired of shoving good money after bad.

I’ve had no problems with the Logitech even in this unbearable heat. Granted my doorbell is shaded. But still. No disconnects and no high temp shutdowns. Night vision is light years beyond the Wemo. I’ve read some things that have led me to believe the Logitech issues have been corrected by firmware updates but I don’t know that for certain.

 

[JUMA55]

I’ve had no problems with the Logitech even in this unbearable heat. Granted my doorbell is shaded. But still. No disconnects and no high temp shutdowns. Night vision is light years beyond the Wemo. I’ve read some things that have led me to believe the Logitech issues have been corrected by firmware updates but I don’t know that for certain.

Thank you. Good to know since I'm in Texas. My front door faces north-east and is set back from the front of the house, so it gets some sun, but not lots and only early in the morning. However, it does get hot by my front door. It's 100F now. I don't think my Wemo problems were heat related. I believe a lot of it was and is HomeKit. But the fact the Wemo would not connect to two different eero routers is a deal breaker.

I don't know what the group as a whole thinks of eero routers. But I've never owned a computer device that was as easy to setup as the eeros and just worked day in and day out with no issues. First one was bought in 2018 and my son is using it now with no problems.

 

[rayward]

I have to add my 2¢. The Wemo is a POS. I'm not going to bore everyone with my trials and tribulations. You can read my review on Amazon. I posted it on 12-22-22. Long story short: I couldn't get it two work with two different eero routers while the other 40 or so devices around here work fine. I finally bought a Linksys router. Worked OK with it. But the Linksys router is another POS, so I'm back to an eero Pro 6 and no doorbell. I'll probably try the Logitech next and kiss someone's ring that it works. I'm tired of shoving good money after bad.

NVM