Echo Plus (2nd Gen) – Premium

If you are wanting a gift for someone that loves smart home technology, the new Echo Plus is a great option. With superior sound quality and all sorts of voice controls for music, as well as your home, you can keep everything on track with your Echo. Dim your lights, lock your doors, turn down your music, all with the Echo!

If you do not yet have other smart home products, the Echo is still a great device that comes equipped with Alexa. With more Alexa skills being added all the time, there is so much to enjoy with the Echo Plus!

Specs: The new design features premium sound with deep bass and 360 degrees of audio around the entire speaker. Comes in 5 unique colors. A mute button allows you to turn off the mic if you do not want it to listen in.

Why it’s an awesome gift: This is a great gift because it is an excellent speaker on its own, but also because it gives you so many possibilities for increased smart home capabilities. It is perfect for anyone who wants to add more smart home products to their house such as Nest thermostats, smart lights, and even smart door locks. However, you don’t need any of that right away and on its own, the Echo Plus is a great gift that will play music and perform all sorts of other cool tasks thanks to Alexa.

Why we like it: The improved speaker design and 360-degree audio makes it a great speaker that you will enjoy listening to music on. The mute button is convenient if you do not want to worry about it listening in on your conversations. All of the Alexa capabilities make it so much more than just a speaker. Ask it about your weather, trivia questions, or even to play a game!

What we don’t like: This particular device does not have a screen, which can make it feel a bit more limiting to what it can do. However, overall, we really do not have any complaints about this device.

It might feel a little pricey for a speaker, but considering all of the capabilities it has, the price feels right. If you are planning to just use it as a speaker, you can probably opt for another product that will be cheaper and will just play music.