An Internet of things company's first consumer product joins a diverse marketplace of plug-ins designed to ease consumers into smart-home technology and energy savings without investing thousands of dollars.
The i-Bright7x, which starts at $119, is a seven-outlet smart surge protector that allows consumers to use an iOS app to control and program devices that are plugged into the strip. This is the first product from the company Tri Cascade, and it's available through Amazon and Walmart.com. In October, the i-Bright7x will be sold in Walmart locations. Tri Cascade's debut is ambitious because the smart-plug market is already filled with established competitors such as Belkin, Quirky, iDevices and iHome that have spent at least two years unveiling and improving their products.
The i-Bright7x stands out for its higher price and larger number of controllable plugs. Many of the popular smart plugs available are single-outlet units that average $50 to $70, such as the $59 Belkin WeMo Insight Switch and the $50 D-Link Wi-Fi Smart Plug. The i-Bright7x is more similar to the multiplug Quirky Pivot Power Genius -- it has five outlets that users can control with an app and two outlets that are always on -- but Tri Cascade's version costs $40 more.
The i-Bright7x doesn't connect to IFTTT automations like many of its competitors, a nice feature that allows users to connect and therefore control more devices and apps. Instead, the user has to rely on the i-Bright7x app to manage whatever is plugged into the surge protector. The app also provides energy consumption data. Tri Cascade's goal is that the usage information, paired with the ability to automatically turn on and off devices and equipment, will help consumers reduce energy consumption.
It's a step up in the smart-home game for a smart surge protector to have as many controllable plugs as the i-Bright7x. But having all the controls on just one surge protector is limiting if you want to connect more than one room's worth of electronics. And at $119 for one surge protector, it would take big bucks to fully equip a home with the i-Bright7x.
