Amazon Dash Wand With Alexa - Review 2022

Amazon wants to make it really easy for you lot to buy things. You tin can use the Alexa voice assistant in products like the Repeat to lodge items with your voice, or press a Nuance push to purchase commonly used household goods instantly. You lot can besides apply the Nuance Wand to scan the barcode of nearly anything in your home for when y'all need to stock upwardly on more than of the same item. Amazon released the Dash Wand a few years ago, and recently updated the device with Alexa phonation control. It can now respond your questions, command your smart home devices, and buy things for you. Its $20 price tag (bachelor for Prime number members only) is low enough that you lot tin can order ane on impulse (you likewise get a $twenty Amazon credit on eligible items after registering it, and so it'south essentially free). The Dash Wand won't supervene upon an Alexa-equipped media device and tin can't access Amazon's media libraries, but information technology's a useful gadget to proceed on your fridge.

The Wand

The Dash Wand measures v.7 inches long from the scanner on i end to the rubber loop on the other. It'south just ane.2 inches wide and 0.8-inch deep, making it slimmer than well-nigh Tv remotes. The Wand consists of ii halves. The white half holding all of the electronics is plastic, with a barcode scanner on the end. There'southward as well a physical push surrounded by a lite-upward band and a pinhole for the microphone on one wide side, and another pinhole for the speaker on the other.

The blackness half of the Wand is safety, and pulls off to reveal a compartment for two AAA batteries (included). This half is a simple sleeve to protect the battery compartment and provide a longer, more grippy section to hold. A band on the end lets you hang the Wand anywhere with the included adhesive-backed plastic hook. You lot can also but slap it on your fridge or whatsoever steel surface thanks to the white half's magnetic back.

Setting up the Nuance Wand is simple, but requires a smartphone or tablet. Y'all need to install the Amazon shopping app for Android or iOS on your mobile device, then visit the Dash Wand setup folio. This will launch the app and get directly to the setup process. A series of prompts walks you through installing the batteries, putting the Dash Wand in setup mode by holding the button for a few seconds until the light ring glows orange, then connecting the Wand to your habitation Wi-Fi network through the app. I got it working through my Moto G5 Plus in minutes.

Shopping

Once your Dash Wand is registered and connected to your network, you can use it for shopping and Alexa. Shopping with the barcode scanner is easy: Just browse the UPC of whatever item you lot desire to order through Amazon, and if it's in stock it will exist added to your cart. I went on a scanning frenzy through PC Labs, and the Nuance Wand instantly put just about every item I scanned in my shopping cart. Information technology fifty-fifty identified the very old PC game Realmyst. The only production information technology had a hard time figuring out was an obscure lath game.

Amazon Dash Wand

Yous can also store using your vocalism, either adding items to your cart or ordering straight. Y'all have to hold the button on the Wand downwardly to give voice commands, like y'all do with the Vocalization Remote that comes with the Amazon Fire TV Stick; you tin't use Alexa hands-complimentary like yous can with the Echo, Echo Dot, or Amazon Tap. Proverb a production proper name will add it to your cart, and if the item is also vaguely defined or has too many different options, a button will appear in your cart prompting y'all to select the specific version of the product you want to buy—you don't demand to worry virtually blindly ordering something that isn't the best price. You tin can society any item directly from the Dash Wand by maxim "Order" earlier naming the product. The speaker will then tell you the full proper name of the item and its price, then inquire for confirmation earlier placing the order.

The Nuance Wand lets you shop both from Amazon and the Amazon Fresh grocery commitment service. Depending on the type of detail you lot social club, information technology volition appear in your regular Amazon cart, or in a divide Amazon Fresh cart that appears on the same folio in its ain light-green-bordered section with additional data for delivery time slots. Amazon Fresh orders can be scheduled for delivery at specific times, similar to other grocery commitment services like FreshDirect.

Instant orders are convenient, and at that place's no danger of accidentally buying something y'all don't want. When you tell Alexa to order something, it responds with the closest item it can observe, looking through your previous orders and the content of your shopping cart to get a better picture. When I asked the Dash Wand to gild tissues, it first asked if I wanted to gild a box of lens wipes, since I had them in my shopping cart and haven't ordered facial tissues from Amazon earlier. Afterwards I turned down the proffer, Alexa offered the most popular product, a 20-box case of tissues.

I placed the order, and the Wand told me the total amount I paid and that the instance would be delivered by the end of the week. However, Alexa didn't ask what address I wanted it delivered to, and causeless I wanted it sent to my apartment (I had hoped to become information technology sent to the lab). Fortunately, information technology let me cancel the gild immediately then I could alter my options (all of which I was able to practice by voice). Similar all lodge modifications on Amazon, it depends on the club's status, and you tin't always count on being able to cancel or change it on a moment'southward notice.

Amazon Dash Wand

Alexa, Speaker, and Wi-Fi

Amazon'southward Alexa voice assistant is what makes this Nuance Wand different from before iterations, and it'due south very useful despite offer only partial functionality compared with other Alexa devices similar the Amazon Fire Tv Stick and Echo Dot. You tin can speak into the Dash Wand to ask Alexa questions most news, weather, traffic, and sports; check your own calendar if it's synced with your account; get data well-nigh local businesses; and find nutritional information and recipes most anything in your kitchen. You can also use it to control your Alexa-compatible smart dwelling house devices.

Even so, the Dash Wand isn't a media device, and Amazon's extensive media libraries tin't be accessed with it. That means you tin can't listen to Prime Music through the Dash Wand'south tiny speaker. Curiously, the timer part is also disabled on the Nuance Wand, which is strange, because setting timers is a very handy function for a device that will most likely alive in the kitchen.

The built-in speaker does't go particularly loud, which is why the lack of media features isn't a large loss. It's about equally loud an average smartphone speaker, with no book controls to speak of. It's piece of cake to unintentionally put your finger over the speaker hole, which can conceal the sound. Fortunately, you tin can adjust your grip readily thank you to the unproblematic design and minimalist controls.

The Dash Wand's Wi-Fi reception isn't particularly impressive. In PC Labs, which is absolutely congested with wireless signals, the Wand had difficulty accessing the network more 40 feet away from the router in testing. Since the Wand can only be used when information technology'due south online, this might be a business concern if don't have a strong signal in your kitchen or wherever else yous program to use information technology.

Conclusions

The Amazon Dash Wand is an interesting picayune gadget that provides a ton of convenience to avid Amazon Prime number users. If you regularly order items on Amazon, you can simply scan the contents of your refrigerator or apply voice commands to save yourself a trip to the grocery store. The addition of Alexa makes the Nuance Wand even more useful, providing voice access to information most weather, traffic, and your schedule without needing to check your mobile device. The Alexa integration is incomplete, just the Dash Wand'southward cheap $20 price tag makes it easier to eat. Information technology won't supersede the Echo or Echo Dot as a hands-free Alexa device, but at the very least it'southward a neat, inexpensive tool you tin can stick to your refrigerator and whip out when you need to restock the pantry.