Defiant Smart Hubspace Wi-Fi Bluetooth Outdoor Plug

Designed for controlling decorative lights, pool pumps, and other outdoor electrical devices, the Defiant 15-Amp 120-Volt Smart Hubspace Wi-Fi Bluetooth Outdoor Plug ($18.97) is an affordable smart plug that is part of The Home Depot’s Hubspace platform. It installs in minutes and has two outlets that can be controlled independently of one another using the Hubspace mobile app or with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands. It works well, but it won’t tell you how much power you’re using or integrate with nearly as many third-party smart home devices as our Editors’ Choice winner, the $11.99 Wyze Plug Outdoor.

Defiant Outdoor Plug Design and Features

Shaped like a trapezoid, the Defiant Outdoor Plug uses a black-and-gray plastic housing that measures 3.6 by 3.7 by 1.7 inches (HWD) and has a pair of three-prong outlets on the bottom that are protected by removable rubber covers. It has an IP64 rating, which means it is suitable for outdoor use. The front of the plug has two on/off buttons (one for each outlet) and there’s an 8-inch power cord with a three-prong plug protruding from the top. Also up top is a bracket for securing the plug to a surface.

Both buttons contain a small embedded LED indicator that glows green when its respective outlet is on and red when there is a connectivity issue. The plug has a 15-amp rating and a built-in Bluetooth radio for connecting to the Hubspace mobile app. It also has a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi radio that connects it to your home network without the need for a hub. When connected via Wi-Fi, the plug can be controlled remotely and can be linked with Alexa and Google accounts for voice control. You can make the plug work with a handful of other devices using Alexa routines, but it doesn’t support IFTTT applets that allow it to interact with scores of third-party devices, nor does it support Apple’s HomeKit platform. Also missing are the energy usage reports that you get with the Wyze Plug Outdoor.

As with the Defiant Indoor Smart Plug, the outdoor model gets its own panel on the Hubspace mobile app’s home screen. Here you’ll find the name of the plug and an on/off button that controls both outlets at the same time. For individual outlet control, tap the panel. This opens a screen with on/off buttons for each outlet, as well as another button that controls both outlets at the same time. At the bottom of this screen is a button for creating on/off schedules for one or both outlets, a timer button for each outlet, and a settings button for naming the outlets, assigning the plug to a room, configuring Wi-Fi settings, and updating firmware.

There are five additional buttons on the home screen, one of which is a red Group button that lets you turn all of your Hubspace device on or off with a single tap. The Home button returns you to the home screen from anywhere in the app, and the Rooms button takes you to a screen where you can create groups that allow you to control all of the devices in the room with a single tap. With the Schedules button, you can create on and off schedules based on the time and the day or have the plug turn on and off at sunrise and sunset, and the Integrations button lets you link your Hubspace account to your Alexa and Google accounts.

Installing and Using the Defiant Outdoor Plug

In testing, I had the Defiant Outdoor Plug installed and ready to go in minutes. I already had the Hubspace app installed on my phone, so I tapped “Add a product to Hubspace” on the home screen and used my phone’s camera to scan the QR code on the back of the plug when prompted. I gave the plug a name, selected my Wi-Fi SSID, and entered my Wi-Fi password. After a few seconds, the plug was connected to the app and the installation was finished.

The Defiant Outdoor Plug worked as intended. It followed my on/off schedules without issue and instantly responded to app commands to turn the outlets on and off. Alexa voice commands also worked without issue, as did my Alexa routines to have both outlets turn on when a Ring Floodlight Cam detected motion.

A Simple Way to Smarten Up Your Outdoor Devices

The Defiant 15-Amp 120-Volt Smart Hubspace Wi-Fi Bluetooth Outdoor Plug offers an affordable way to bring smart home connectivity to outdoor lighting and appliances. It has two outlets that work independently of one another and can be controlled with Alexa and Goolge voice commands, as well as with your phone using the Hubspace mobile app. The plug is easy to install and will interact with other smart devices when added to an Alexa routine, but it doesn’t generate power usage reports or support IFTTT applets like our more affordable Editors’ Choice winner, the Wyze Plug Outdoor.