Certified Refurbished Amazon Echo (previous generation), Black

Great product at a good price. Had been wanting one of these for a while, and on sites like ebay used ones were coming up for around £70, so tis certified refurbed Echo seemed like a good bet. The whole family love it, novelty of shouting out random commands hasn't yet worn off. It's a good sound from a fairly small speaker. I love the portability of it and regularly move it from room to room - kitchen for music or audible books when cooking, other rooms for listening to radio while ironing and yesterday for kids party music. Best features I have found are ability to listen to audible books, though you can't listen to a list of your audible library, you have to use the alexa app for that. Also great for listening to internet radio, the amazon music stations such as kids music are great. Downsides - quite a bit of msic isn't available even to prime customers and you have to pay £4 a month for amazon music unlimited. The voice interface isn't quite as clever as Sirie, e.g. you can't ask it what the weather is like today and then say "and for next week", but I suspect this will improve in time. Overall great product and have been recommending to friends. Glad didn't have to pay full price though!

Was in the market for an echo, when a refurbished unit came up my search that offered a significant saving. I was a bit unsure, but being Amazon I decided to give it a go. If I did not know I purchased a refurbished I would not have been able to tell, the Echo is SPOTLESS, and is literally brand new, all wrapped in the same plastic that a new one would be, power supply was also bagged up. Setup was a breeze through the app on my phone, was away within minutes, sound quality is good, not as good as my Bose, but better than my Anker speaker, once linked to Spotify, all my music is there. I will be buying another for the bedroom and one for the kitchen, refurbished for certain, as Amazon really do make these items look as good as new.

To start with, item came boxed and i would never have known it was a refurbished item, very well packaged, beautifully presented, and all in all appears very well made. A simply brilliant product, i am generally not a techy person, anything other than basic has me running for the hills, so i was a little apprehensive on setting it up, but i need not have worried, i installed the app on my phone, [no problems there even on my cheap and basic model] and switched it on and was set up within a few minutes, which precipitated a trip down memory lane picking out records i had long forgotten existed. For the money, the sound is quite superb, and to get it hooked up to smart plugs etc gives you extra for your money, i have not got that far yet, living in a small bungalow i have little need for AI to turn on the TV etc, but i can see the appeal for the younger generation to embrace life fully "smart" [or not as the case maybe ;) } Do i recommend, absolutely.

This is my 2nd first generation Echo. I also own a second generation Echo and a dot. This unit is supposed to be refurbished. There were no refurbished stickers on it like other reviews have mentioned theirs had and was presented in exactly the same way as my first brand new one was. I believe there are some brand new ones out there that have been delivered to clear the remaining stock and if you are lucky you may get one of those. If it is a refurb it is presented and works perfectly. This is an excellent way of getting the best (and now sadly discontinued) first generation Echo. If you read the technical specifications the speaker size and output is superior to the 2nd generation and this can be heard in use, I know because I also own a 2nd generation which has now been relegated to the spare bedroom. I have also bought the extra battery which means it can be moved anywhere in/out of the house without a mains lead. This battery however does not fit 2nd generation so this purchase means I can attach my battery onto either of my 1st generation for both of them to become portable. Get this half price offer before it runs out, it is a great way of either your first introduction to Alexa, or getting another unit for elsewhere in the house.

I actually already have a dot which is used in the main living room in conjunction with my sound system. I have been so impressed with the little gadget I thought I'd pickup it's bigger brother for the bedroom too. I thought I'd get the refurbished one to save a few quid. It arrived on time, as always with Amazon, but sadly it crackles constantly when running, amplified at lower volume. I suspect the volume ring has a faulty connection which suggests it wasn't tested correctly at the point of refurbishment. Prepared to give benefit of the doubt and have requested a replacement this time. Will update this post when it arrives next week UPDATE: Ok so he replacement echo arrived today and I'm happy to improve my initial one start rating to four. The replacement works correctly and I am pleasantly surprised by the sound quality. The woofer despite its small size manages to deliver an impressive bass line when playing my music. I have noticed the initial startup time from power up does take considerably longer than that of the Dot, which I find odd given its supposed to be the same software and the higher price would suggest a better quality unit all round. On the whole, I do like the product and can't complain now the faulty one has been returned, however where I would rate the Dot as 5 stars in a heart beat, I don't think the Echo stacks up to the higher price point when you consider the that all you are really getting is a better speaker for the extra £100. When you also consider the more limited connectivity options (no Bluetooth / 3.5 mm output) it does serve to fall short of my expectations My recommendation to anybody wanting to give the Alexa platform ago would be to go out buy the Dot and a reasonable Bluetooth speaker to use with it. You won't be disappointed and it will be much cheaper.