Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I'm a HUGE fan of Echo devices. I have one in nearly .... *thinking* ... yes, nearly every room (I don't have one in the dining room but only because the ones in other rooms can pick up my voice while I'm in the dining room). I even have a car one so ... when I saw this one ... I was PRETTY intrigued. I bought it to go in the bathroom, to replace my Dot that I have in there, plugged into and hanging on the wall via a bulky thing made just for it that you can find on Amazon (that I don't mind ... I'm just saying it's bulky). The set up on the Flex is just as easy as the set up on other devices. You plug it in, it starts up and if it's registered and you have an Alexa account on your phone, you're set to go. PRO - there's a USB port on the bottom of the Flex, so you can plug in a charger cord or a fan cord or whatever you want that is USB powered. Nifty! I was going to plug in a night light. But, the sound. So, the sound is not as good as the most recent generation of Dots (pre the one with the clock, I haven't tried that one yet). It's a much smaller speaker, obviously, and the sound isn't as rich. I plugged it into the outlet in the bathroom, turned on the shower and hopped in for a listen. Even at the highest volume, it wasn't really the sound I was looking for to get me going in the morning. Boo. So, I replaced it with my bulky Dot and took the Flex into my computer room, where I don't really NEED an Echo device because I have a Fire TV with Alexa built in but ... my family can't drop in on that (NOT a bad thing, right?). Because of my outlet situation, I ended up putting it in an outlet midway up the wall, behind a small lamp. I had to turn it upside down. I noticed that either because it's in a bigger space (13'x9') or because it's upside down, the sound is better but still not like a Dot but still passable. Like a first generation Dot's sound. Anyhow, my husband dropped in on me with it last night and it worked great. It would be great for a garage or a small bathroom without a shower or somewhere where there isn't a lot of background noise. Of course, you can use the USB to plug in a speaker but ... there's already a speaker. It's literally touted as a mini-speaker! I also found the voice pickup wasn't as responsive as my newest Dot. It responds but you have to give it a second to wake up to your voice and speak slower. I don't want you to think I don't like this Flex ... I really do. I think it's perfect for certain spaces ... ones that don't have a lot of background noise and are smaller. I really like the added USB and I like the shape and the way it looks on the wall. I think if you're going to have Echo devices, you should have them in every room (especially as you age) and they should be the right ones for each room. This one serves a purpose for specific spaces and the price is certainly right.