Meross Smart Wi-Fi Plug Dual Review: Twice as nice

Smart plugs are everywhere these days, with every connected company under the sun having their own take on the convenient little controllers. The rather simple nature of smart plugs, though doesn't provide much in the way of product differentiation, leading most just to choose whatever is cheapest and supports their smart home platform of choice.

The lack of differences is especially apparent in the world of HomeKit, where fans only have a handful of options that sit outside of the standard single outlet plug mold. One of the latest plugs to hit the market, though, the Meross Smart Wi-Fi Plug Dual aims to bolster the category by offering a slightly bigger plug that offers up two outlets in one.

I have been testing the new plug for the past few weeks, and have found it to provide pretty much everything one could want in a smart outlet. An affordable price, responsive controls, easy pairing, and support for HomeKit, Alexa, and the Google Assistant, it has it all. Plus, it comes with the added bonus of having the extra, independently controlled outlet.

Two-in-one

Meross Smart Wi-Fi Plug Dual: The features

At first glance, the Meross Smart Wi-Fi Plug Dual looks similar to most smart plugs on the market, aside from the slightly wider design and presence of a second outlet. The plug sports an all-white plastic body, with a slight inset lip that runs around the face to give it a little more visual flare. The plug measures around 4.5-inches at its widest point and is just 1.6-inches tall, allowing it to work without blocking the second receptacle on a standard North American electrical outlet.

Around the right-hand side of the plug is one physical button that acts as a way to toggle power to both outlets with a simple press. The button is also used to perform a factory reset, which is engaged by pressing and holding it for a few seconds. The outlet has a sole LED indicator light on the front that glows solid green when an outlet is on, and flashes amber in pairing mode. Outside of the button, light, and outlets themselves, the only other highlight on the hardware is the HomeKit setup code, which comes attached to the top of the plug.

The dual plug supports a maximum of 10 amps, and does not feature any weather resistance as it is only intended for use indoors. For smart features, the plug communicates to home networks via 2.4ghz Wi-Fi without a dedicated hub, and can be paired right out of the box to Apple's Home app on iOS. When pairing in this manner, a separate app download or account registration is not required; however, for Android users, both are necessary to get it up and running.

Once connected, both plugs on the device are available for remote controls via the various apps, or through voice controls. The outlets can be independently controlled, meaning that you can toggle one to off, while the other remains on, although this can only be accomplished via remote controls, and not via the physical button. Through HomeKit, each outlet is available for use in scenes and automations, and through the Meross app, timers and schedules can be set, but scenes are limited to only Meross devices.

Still slim

Meross Smart Wi-Fi Plug Dual: What I like

As with most other HomeKit accessories, setting up the Meross Smart Wi-Fi Plug Dual is fast, easy, and frustration-free. The plug can be paired directly to HomeKit via the Home app, without having to download the Meross app or register an account. Combined with the simple plug and play nature of the product category, it takes just a minute or two to begin toggling connected appliances on and off remotely.

Moving over to the design, I love that the dual plug is so slim that it doesn't block the other outlet on the wall. While you certainly can't use a bulky plug above or below the dual outlet, it does work with typical plug heads, which can be crucial where space is at a premium. Of course, with the slim design, I just had to try plugging in two of the dual outlets into the same receptacle, and I am happy to report that they did indeed fit just fine.

Speaking of space, another thing that I like about the dual plug is that it provides plenty of room in between both of the outlets on-device. During testing, I tried plugging in a combination of bulkier power bricks and plugs and found that the dual plug was able to accommodate pretty much everything that I could throw at it, with only the largest blocks used for things like cable modems causing an issue. Finally, despite the ample room and slim design, the dual plug isn't as wide as you would expect, which prevents it from sticking out too much visually on the wall.

The performance of the plug was about as good as it gets, with fast response times and a stable, reliable connection to HomeKit. Toggling an outlet from the Home app or Siri resulted in a change on device within a second, with most instances feeling like they happened instantly. The dual plug has not given me any instances of it not responding through the Home app, and I haven't seen any cases where the plug took anything more than a second or two to update its status.

One-for-two?

Meross Smart Wi-Fi Plug Dual: What I don't like

Even though the outlets on the dual plug can be controlled individually remotely, there is only one physical button device. When pressed, the button toggles power to both of the outlets at the same time, which isn't the biggest of deals, as I don't expect to use the on-device controls often, but separate buttons are somewhat of an odd omission.

Another minor complaint that I have is that the Meross Smart Wi-Fi Plug Dual does not support energy monitoring. I assume that is due to wanting to keep costs low, which is a perfectly fine tradeoff, but having the ability to check in on how much energy an appliance is using can be quite handy. It is something that only adds to the overall value.

My final gripe is that the Meross app and an account is required to perform firmware updates, just like with other Meross products that I have tested. I definitely would like to see Meross implement a way to request access to HomeKit data, which would automatically bring in the company's accessories into the app without the registration process to keep things simple.

Terrific twos

Meross Smart Wi-Fi Plug Dual: The Bottom Line

With an affordable price and two individually controlled outlets, there is no doubt that the Meross Smart Wi-Fi Plug Dual is one of the better smart plugs available today. Add in excellent performance, high levels of reliability, and support for all of the major voice assistants, and you get one incredible little accessory.

Sure, there are some minor flaws, like only having one button on-device, and a lack of energy monitoring, but there is just so much to love about the Meross dual plug. If you need two outlets in a space-saving design, or just a smart plug in general, it is hard to go wrong with this smart combination.

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