I love the convenience and utility of connecting devices to my smart home system. My favorite is my smart thermostat that lets me adjust the temperature with a simple voice command, but my lights, air quality monitors, portable air conditioner, garage door opener, and more are all Wi-Fi connected and ready for voice commands and automation.

My philosophy boils down to this: “Why get up and walk over to a switch when Alexa can do it for you?” The problem, of course, is that not everything is smart. 

I have lamps, fans, and all sorts of other devices I don’t want to replace, and the Kasa Smart Plug Power Strip lets me easily add voice controls and automation to up to six, non-smart electronics—all while not blocking an electrical outlet or having to download more than one phone app. 

It also does it all for $80 or less. (We’ve seen it as low as 45 percent off for Amazon’s Prime Days.) I’ve used a variety of smart plugs in the past, but love how this Kasa power strip gives you instant access to the equivalent of six smart plugs—so much so that I’ve bought a few for my own living space.

Easy Automation for Non-Smart Electronics

Shortly after I picked up my first Kasa smart plug power strip, my sister asked me to watch their turtle. I’m notoriously forgetful, so I decided to use it to automate the process of keeping the little guy comfy.

With the power strip connected to Alexa, I plugged in a heat lamp, heating pad, regular lamp, and thermometer. The lights and heating pad weren’t smart, but they became smart when I plugged them into the power strip. The thermometer had built-in Wi-Fi connectivity and was the key to my plan.

With this simple setup, I was able to automate the regular lamp to provide light to the turtle during the day and early evening. I was also able to automate the heat lamp and heating pad to keep the environment in his terrarium at an appropriate temperature in the chilly environment of my air-conditioned house, switching on and off based on an automation enabled by the Wi-Fi thermometer.

After that initial experiment, I repurposed the power strip to automate several devices in my home office: a desk fan (“Alexa, turn on desk fan,” I’d say.), a lamp, and electronics that would normally draw energy in standby mode like my home printer and monitor, which helps me save some energy.

All this to say, the Kasa smart plug power strip is capable of turning your home’s fixtures smart, too, corralling wires in a busy home office, living room, or bedroom and ensuring that you don’t have to spend hundreds on smart devices—just $80 on one item that upgrades the rest.

I’ve added more of these power strips throughout my house since then, including one in my living room that lets me power on my TV, Apple TV, sound bar, and LED lighting. I love having one voice command to turn everything on to kick off movie night (and turn everything off when it’s bed time), and don’t worry about setting up those automations: it’s a breeze.

Painless Setup With an Excellent App

One of my favorite things about the Kasa HS300 (compared to other smart plugs) is that setting one up instantly gives you six configurable smart outlets, as I mentioned earlier. It’s faster than setting up individual plugs, and you can automate more devices via one power outlet.

I’ve set up smart devices that gave me a huge headache, but to set up this power strip, just plug it in, open the Kasa app on your phone, and select the “add a device” option.

The power strip is automatically discoverable when you first plug it in; you don’t need to connect to a temporary Wi-Fi network, connect to a Bluetooth device, put it into pairing mode, or do any other headache-inducing procedures. It just works, and then it’s ready to set up with your smart home system.

And for the record, easy setup has been the norm for me with other Kasa devices I own, too, like my Kasa smart light bulbs.

Works With Several Smart Hubs—Or None

The Kasa smart plug power strip works with both Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home, and you can also just use it with the Kasa app if you don’t have either Alexa or Google Home. The latest version works with Samsung’s SmartThings too, but using this power strip with Apple HomeKit is more complicated. (It’s possible, but requires Homebridge.)

When you use this power strip with Alexa or Google Home, you can use voice commands to turn each outlet on and off individually. That’s how I’m able to turn my desk fan on by saying, “Alexa, turn on desk fan.”

Since each outlet shows up as a separate device in Alexa and Google Home (without the hassle of setting up six smart plugs), they’re all available for automation as well. For example, I have a desk lamp set to turn on automatically at dusk, along with specific other smart bulbs and smart light switches around my house. Convenience is really at your fingertips.

It’s a Great Surge Protector, Too

This is a great surge protector in its own right, too. I just plug other devices into it and don’t take advantage of the smart controls for all of them if I don’t want to.

For example, my desktop PC is plugged into the Kasa smart power strip in my home office, but I just use it as a regular outlet. Since it’s an ETL-certified surge protector, I feel confident that my computer is safe when bad storms start rolling in.

In addition to the six, individually controlled smart outlets, it also has three USB ports. The USB ports aren’t smart, but I still find them very useful for charging up my phone and watch, plugging in my wireless headset at the end of a long day, charging my USB power bank, and powering up a variety of other USB devices. 

Sometimes, with this smart plug power strip, the convenience is simply in giving all of your items one place to plug in, charge up, and live safely.

Why It’s Worth It

The Kasa smart plug power strip is pricey when it isn’t on sale, but I bought my first one at full price and you can’t overstate its usefulness and value.

If you think of it as six smart plugs, that works out to less than $14 per smart plug. Since it’s much easier to set this power strip up than it is to set up six individual smart plugs, and you couldn’t connect six individual smart plugs to a power outlet in the first place, that’s a deal I’m satisfied with.

After I realized how useful the Kasa Smart Plug Power Strip is (and that I wanted one in my TV room, bedroom, workshop, and more), I started watching the sales. This smart plug power strip typically goes on sale during Amazon’s Prime Days, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday, and I’ve seen it on sale at other times throughout the year as well—for as much as 45 percent off.

While I’m happy to have paid full price for this power strip, it’s an even easier recommendation when it’s on sale. Just keep in mind that you may decide you want more than one after you see how useful it is, like I did, so either stock up right away or get ready to watch the sales with me.