Home Assistant Voice Preview Edition - good substitute for Alexa?

Hardware
1

Hi there.

I have becoming a little bit tired of my Echo Dot as of late.

I find that its general knowledge has become appalling (my family tend to use our smart phones for general queries, instead) and we now only really Alexa for the following:

  1. Turning lights on
  2. Setting timers and reminders
  3. Adding things to the shopping list
  4. Announcing when things on HA have been triggered
  5. Asking about the day's weather

Ultimately, should I get rid of this and go for a Home Assistant Voice Preview Edition instead?

Will it be able to cover all I need to do?

Any advice from anyone that has one would be much appreciated.

2

Your ability is limited only by your ability to write scripts.

Most of your ask is built in box.

The mic quality and audio quality will not he as good as you're used to. Timers are still local to the device (as opposed to a central timer registry, want to see that change soon) But the capability won't be your issues.

(I have mine run by an agentic llm that even runs my hot tub and inventory system...)

4 Likes
3

I completely agree with @NathanCu that "The mic quality and audio quality will not be as good as you're used to."

I find that I can RARELY get HA Voice Preview to understand my most basic commands. I spend a lot of time updating it and NO time using it.

I would recommend that you buy it first and try it before decommissioning your Alexa so you can be sure it works for you.

3 Likes
4

I have struggled with this as well, but a full revamp is not ideal with the number of Alexa devices I have invested in. Have you migrated to Alexa +? It's slightly better in my opinion.

I'd also add, Home Assistant Voice Preview Edition still needs work.

2 Likes
5

I don't have detection or recognition issues but I have spent time installing a custom wake word trained for my environment

For the audio I've got every one of mine sending output to some kind of aux speakers. (like connected to my Denon or a local speaker)

1 Like
6

Thanks, everyone - really helpful.

I have watched a few Youtube reviews, online, suggesting that the device is perhaps a little more ready than it really is.

In light of your comments, I am certainly going to wait before trying to do a straight swap (I might indeed buy the Voice, as suggested, and tinker with it at the same time).

Whilst I like the idea of Alexa+, I don't have Prime so will have to pay for the service - seems a bit cheeky of Amazon (at £19.99), when my phone does it for free.