What smart switches are a good replacements for Plum Light Pads?

During the voicemail part of our IoT Podcast this week, we heard from Ed, who currently owns a number of Plum Light Pads.

These smart switches aren’t just nice to look at with their minimalistic design; they can monitor energy usage, don’t require a hub, act as dimmers and they have a unique LED ring around the paddle switch. You can customize those ring colors and they make it very easy to find the light switch in the dark.

So why did Ed call? Well, the Plum Light Pads arrived via a Kickstarter project and it doesn’t appear that you can buy them any longer from the company. In fact, we haven’t heard from them in around a year, so it’s not clear if they’re even still in business. Ed is also experiencing some “inconsistency” in how they work for home. Ed wants to know what viable replacements would be optimal if he either wanted more switches or wanted to swap them out.

That’s tricky, mainly because we couldn’t find any options that have the same LED ring around the switch. Instead, most switches either have no LED light or they have a much smaller one. Additionally, very few smart switches monitor energy, likely because they typically operate low-powered bulbs. Smart outlets are the traditional use case for energy monitoring devices and appliances that use far more electricity.

Having said that, here’s a range of possible options with MSRPs:

• A GE Zigbee switch that has energy monitoring, but no LED indicator ($55)
• The Noon Room Director shows scene icons on the switch ($249)
• Brilliant’s light switches have a touchscreen and can handle between one and four switches ($299 to $449)
• The iDevices switch is a HomeKit option that uses Wi-Fi and has a small LED indicator ($80)
• Other options include the new $199 Orro light switch with sensors or the $50 WeMo switch.

While there’s no true one-to-one replacement for Plum switches, depending on which features Ed wants vs. the ones he can live without, there are plenty of choices. Our advice? Make a list of features in priority order and see which products meet the top few requirements.

For the full question and our conversation, tune in below to this week’s podcast.