I installed my Sense monitor in late December of last year so I have had it for about 10 months. This is my review.
The short review: Fails at the implied promise as depicted in the advertising.
The long review:
Many failings of the promise of being able to be alerted on the status of electrical devices. First, the utterly missing.
Devices it has still not found after 10 months:
Ceiling fan in the den, used in the evening about 1/3rd of the days
Whole house fan: Used for several hours every night!
Office lights: The light most used in my house, but Sense still is unaware of it! I do turn it off and back on several times every day so it’s not part of the “Always on.” It is on for 6-12 hours of the day.
Smart hubs: I have several iHome iSP5 devices. I use these because they are compatible with Apple’s Homekit. Sense doesn’t recognize them or the devices plugged into them.
The broken promise:
Clothes washer and drier. Sense tells me when they start and stop but not when they are finished starting and stopping, i.e, when the cycle is finished. In other words, Sense tells me several times during a wash load that the washer has turned off. It hasn’t really. The motor just stopped momentarily. So Sense useless for alerting me to when laundry is done.
Espresso machine: This is one device that I really wanted an alert for. The switch and power light are on the side of the machine and all too often I discover the next morning that I have left this energy hog on for 24 hours. But Sense is of no use here because Sense only thinks the machine is on when the pump is running (making a shot of espresso). It does not understand that the heater is a separate thing.
TV: I have a TV and home theater unit. Sense thinks they are one device. I don’t forget to turn off the TV because you can see that it is on. However, the home theater unit is sometimes left on overnight. The power button can bounce and even though I went through the motion of turning it off, it got turned right back on without my noticing it. So Sense cannot tell me if I’ve left it on because I DID turn off the TV.
Further issue: Sense had identified my toaster oven. Then I bought and installed an under-sink instant hot water heater. Sense immediately identified (confused with) that device as my toaster oven.
But, hey! At least I know when the heater for releasing ice cubes in my refrigerator’s ice maker cuts in! That’s fabulously useful, right!?
Frankly, without the ability to train Sense, it is, and will remain, nothing more than a nifty toy.
