They're smart audio streamers. But they work very well at it. Everything else is a bonus for now. Home automation is more of a chore than a benefit. There are

They're smart audio streamers. But they work very well at it. Everything else is a bonus for now. Home automation is more of a chore than a benefit. There are always exceptions and you have to deal with those and they happen more frequently than expected. I bought a few smart plugs but they regularly disconnected from the network or crashed. I replaced them with a remote control switch and a few timers. They worked much better for a third of the price plus no Echo needed.