I Bought 5 Cheap Home Tech Products From Aliexpress To See If They Are Any Good

I’m a big fan of YouTube videos where people break down cheap items they can find at discount retailers like AliExpress, Temu, and Wish. My favorite is Great Scott’s AliExpress Hidden Gems seriesit continually amazes me. Guess it’s time to try my hand at some cheap home tech finds (or fails) from AliExpress.

My basic rules for this experiment are:

• Products must be priced below $15.
• Devices should be cheaper than the generic equivalent.
• Strange devices are more likely to be listed.

I’m happy to report that it’s an authentic experience with a mix of good products and some really bad ones. From best to worst, here’s how my AliExpress order played out.

Best: Tuya Zigbee smart USB dongle

USB chargers for lighting and small devices take up a lot of space in my smart sockets, so I always thought I could get a USB smart socket. i bought Tuya Zigbee Smart USB Adapter Switch — includes three USB-A ports — for a modest price of $5.02. Tuya devices like these are hidden gems for smart home enthusiasts, although they’re not always easy to work with. I’m glad it was easy to connect to my SmartThings home automation system.

It’s not much more than an on/off switch, but I like that I don’t need a big USB multiport charger to power a few small USB devices on my nightstand. You can’t control the ports independently — and the power output is too low to charge most devices, but it’s a good option for charging portable speakers or headphones. Plus, it can plug into almost any USB power supply, including empty ports on my computer.

The Smart USB Adapter switch earns an A for value and functionality. As a Zigbee device, it has less cybersecurity liability than any Wi-Fi device from AliExpress and Temu.

Better yet: a USB-powered ceiling fan

Ceiling fans have always been out of reach because I live in an archaic apartment without one. This means relying on a fleet of air circulators in my bedroom and office. But what if tenants could add a ceiling fan without the hassle of begging the property manager to install it? enter small ceiling fan I bought it for $14.

I like the design of this fan, especially the 12-foot USB cable, which is long enough to reach a ceiling hook without much effort. The fan is surprisingly quiet and uses three power settings. Again, it’s not that strong, with the highest setting producing a light breeze from a few feet away. The speed and timer controls are easy to learn, which is great because the entire manual is written in Chinese. You can get the gist of the tutorial by using Google Lens to translate the text, but it’s largely unnecessary.

I give this product a B+ for being useful, albeit in places where normal ceiling fans aren’t practical.

Good: Tuya Zigbee water sensor

Unlike Tuya’s smart USB key, Tuya Zigbee water sensor I didn’t connect properly to my SmartThings system on the first try. SmartThings classified it as a generic Zigbee device — when the sensor detected water, it couldn’t see it. This is a textbook example of how Tuya devices don’t always play well with smart home hubs.

So I rolled up my sleeves and dug in SmartThings Edge Driver Buildera developer tool for assigning drivers to smart home devices. After selecting my Tuya leak sensor from the list of devices in my smart home, I selected the Zigbee Water Leak Sensor driver and configured it as a water sensor. Like magic, the sensor started working. It’s pretty responsive and I like that it uses common AAA batteries.

The extra effort might be worth the $4.59 I paid for the Tuya Zigbee Water Sensor, but I can’t give it more than a C+ for someone who wants out-of-the-box smart home compatibility with SmartThings. I can’t gauge whether it’s great for other smart home platforms, but I doubt it’s any better on Home Assistant.

Worse: The Wi-Fi smartwatch movement

I recently started switching most of the analog clocks in my house to non-ticking clock movements, which are far less annoying than the second hand ticking when you’re trying to fall asleep at 2am. movement mechanism of a smart Wi-Fi watch To automatically set the time as a digital clock on Google Nest Hub. What followed was one of my most frustrating installation experiences in years.

The watch I received out of the box did not come with any hands for seconds, minutes or hours. I tried for a long time to fit the hands left over from a previous DIY project, only to find that the clock didn’t work.

The instructions included on a sheet of printer paper did not help. They don’t say that you need to remove the gray “positioning needle” on the back of the watch before working. This pin locks the gears in place at noon, likely to keep the watch straight during shipping and when wearing the hands, which makes sense in a self-setting Wi-Fi watch. It took me two hours to get it working.

I was more disappointed with the Wi-Fi connection which was not even close to secure. Anyone can open the watch’s Wi-Fi connection to see your network name and password. I’m glad I used my phone’s hotspot for a temporary network. I give this $14.01 product a D- for working as advertised, even if it takes a while and comes with a major Wi-Fi weakness. However, it is not the worst product.

Worst: The smart portable clothes dryer

I got the Beauty-Health Store smart portable clothes dryer for only $12.32. I won’t waste your time: This is the most dangerous product in my AliExpress order. How do I know that? It melted completely within about 2 hours of my first drying session. The plastic in this product is not heat resistant in any way. It didn’t even completely dry a single shirt, so there’s no reason to buy a cheap portable clothes dryer when laundromats can handle larger drying loads for a fraction of the price.

When I went online to see if other customers were experiencing this problem, I found that the product page was no longer available. With my suspicions confirmed, I won’t even delve into the features of this horrible product. Instead, I’ll use AliExpress, Temu, Wish, and other low-cost retailers as examples to reinforce why buying generic electronics is risky. With certain categories of technology, you are gambling with your security and privacy. As you can imagine, this device gets an F for being dangerous.

Now, excuse me, while I run through AliExpress’s 90-day return policy, here’s one bright spot. I hope this fares better than the last two products.