first day on the forum, two questions please .........

[showlow george]

My niece convinced me to get the echo dot to start using alexa.  It arrives tomorrow but after buying it I think I should have gotten a larger unit.

Two questions.........

1.  If I want to purchase smart light bulbs, smart devices, etc which require smart hubs would the Echo Plus (approx $150) be a smarter choice than the Echo (approx $100)?  If I understand correctly, many stand alone smart devices which require a hub can use the Echo plus as their hub but the plain ECHO doesn't.

2. We have a 2 story home, can the small Echo Dot AND the ECHO Plus be used in the same home, one upstairs and one downstairs?

Thanks in advance for any knowledge you can share.

[renegade600]

you will need more than two echos.  You can add as you need but generally you will need one per room if you don't want to yell.  it is all about placement. 

I don't have and echo plus but from what I read it should work with most smart lights and switches.   I live in a small two bedroom apartment and have two dots and the original echo and they barely cover the whole apartment. 

[mike27oct]

Many of us use TP link smart plugs that need NO hub for just turning lights off or on.  I have "too many" alexa devices, and they are spaced throughout whole 3 story house.  The Dot is cheap, so if you want a larger Echo, nothing is lost and you won't have spent too much.  Just take your time, hang around here, do research and you will figure out what else you need or don't need.  I feel I  "don't need" an Echo with a built in hub. Original Echo is fine.

[showlow george]

Many of us use TP link smart plugs that need NO hub for just turning lights off or on.  I have "too many" alexa devices, and they are spaced throughout whole 3 story house.  The Dot is cheap, so if you want a larger Echo, nothing is lost and you won't have spent too much.  Just take your time, hang around here, do research and you will figure out what else you need or don't need.  I feel I  "don't need" an Echo with a built in hub. Original Echo is fine.

Good advice, thanks.  I was watching an Alexa video showing a young lady waking up, talking to Alexa and continued talking to her while moving from room to room. I'm assuming there are more than one echo units in this house and am GUESSING that you can put several echo units in the house and somehow have them sync together, but cannot find this verified or discussed anywhere, is my assumption correct?

Let's say I start in the bedroom upstairs (where there is an echo dot) and have Alexa turn on the lights then tell Alexa to start the coffee in the kitchen then walk downstairs telling her to turn on the lights downstairs and turn up the floor heater relying on another echo dot downstairs to hear me.  This would take at least two echo units synced together.

[k9kids]

Or... you can buy one Tap and carry it with you as you roam around the house. Sound is much
better than the Dot too. You can have it turn on/off all your smart things.

You can buy a spare charging base for $30.00 and keep it downstairs.

But then again a Dot only costs $30.00.

[renegade600]

Many of us use TP link smart plugs that need NO hub for just turning lights off or on.  I have "too many" alexa devices, and they are spaced throughout whole 3 story house.  The Dot is cheap, so if you want a larger Echo, nothing is lost and you won't have spent too much.  Just take your time, hang around here, do research and you will figure out what else you need or don't need.  I feel I  "don't need" an Echo with a built in hub. Original Echo is fine.

Good advice, thanks.  I was watching an Alexa video showing a young lady waking up, talking to Alexa and continued talking to her while moving from room to room. I'm assuming there are more than one echo units in this house and am GUESSING that you can put several echo units in the house and somehow have them sync together, but cannot find this verified or discussed anywhere, is my assumption correct?

Let's say I start in the bedroom upstairs (where there is an echo dot) and have Alexa turn on the lights then tell Alexa to start the coffee in the kitchen then walk downstairs telling her to turn on the lights downstairs and turn up the floor heater relying on another echo dot downstairs to hear me.  This would take at least two echo units synced together.

everything is stored in the cloud.  that was why the woman was able to move around and talk.  as long as you use the same amazon account on the same wifi network, you can do it too.  just need more dots.

[Jerome]

Or... you can buy one Tap and carry it with you as you roam around the house. Sound is much
better than the Dot too. You can have it turn on/off all your smart things.

You can buy a spare charging base for $30.00 and keep it downstairs.

But then again a Dot only costs $30.00.

Bear in mind that the Tap does not support multiroom and some other features though.
https://www.reddit.com/r/amazonecho/comments/7bif5f/why_not_multiroom_on_amazon_tap/