Dear Meh, sell me on which Google home to buy?

sohmageek shared a link said Wed, Dec 13th 2017 at 8:16am ET

I’m looking at the google home (mostly for the call santa feature… https://lifehacker.com/how-to-talk-to-santa-claus-with-your-amazon-echo-or-goo-1820805697) I’m looking at the mini chalk color… but sell me on why I should pay the extra and get a full size google home? (other than the 4 spinning lights)

We have 3 Alexa devices- 1 in the living room, 1 in my son’s room, 1 in my car… That’s part of my hesitation to getting into a different speaker ecosystem… plus we’re iOS users…

8 comments, 31 replies
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sohmageek said Wed, Dec 13th 2017 at 8:18am ET:

Also if anyone knows where a good deal on Chromecasts are… I need to pick up 2 as gifts…

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- @sohmageek Groupon is having a flash sale and there is one on there I think it was $20
  
  ambershirley1 said Wed, Dec 13th 2017 at 8:34pm ET
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- @ambershirley1 Thuper! I got one.
  
  therealjrn said Wed, Dec 13th 2017 at 9:28pm ET
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CaptAmehrican said Wed, Dec 13th 2017 at 8:22am ET:

The minis have been on sale at Wal-Mart for 29 including a 25 dollar Wal-Mart credit

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- @CaptAmehrican I bought one of those. I just need to set it up before the credit expires.
  
  sammydog01 said Wed, Dec 13th 2017 at 8:25am ET
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- @CaptAmehrican One note on the credit. It is through Google express and I can’t see a full line of stuff for Walmart. I can still find stuff to spend the credit on but several things I had in mind where not available that way.
  
  @Sohmageek You can download the Google express app and order the mini from Walmart. There was a $10 off first your first order through the app. I have seen different % off codes, too. I was not able to combine codes so read through what is available. I tried to use the $10 off and the mini $25 credit and no dice.
  
  speediedelivery said Wed, Dec 13th 2017 at 8:42am ET
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- I did the deal with Walmart but have not figured out the $25 credit to Walmart on Google Express.
  
  @sohmageek the mini (especially at $29) is a great deal. The speaker sounds surprisingly good for its size, much better than the unaided Echo Dot for music. The speaker in the full size Google Home is capable of being even louder and with more bass, but the mini is fine. As far as bang for the buck goes, I’d say the mini is your clear choice at 1/3 the price unless you want to really crank up the music.
  
  Other than that unless you do things in the Google universe a lot of the benefits of Home like adding things to your calendar are lost on you. The only real benefit I can immediately think of is the ability to ask more follow on questions in a conversational style.
  
  djslack said Thu, Dec 14th 2017 at 12:43am ET
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- @djslack Did you connect your walmart account? The offer popped up on the screen when I set up my mini asking if I wanted it. I got a confirmation email within minutes.
  
  speediedelivery said Thu, Dec 14th 2017 at 7:05am ET
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- @speediedelivery I believe I did but I’ll go though it again. Thanks for letting me know what to look for.
  
  djslack said Thu, Dec 14th 2017 at 8:50am ET
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- @speediedelivery @CaptAmehrican
  
  The best deal on the Google Home Mini was right after they announced that joint Walmart - Google $29-25 promo.
  
  Apparently they did not realize you also could stack the “Get $10” referral credit available in the left panel on Google Express ("$10 credit for the referer and referee).
  
  So they were paying you $6 to take the Mini off their hands! ($29-10-25)
  
  So they changed the deal to require you buy the Mini directly from Walmart rather than via Walmart Google Express.
  
  I got the deal before they shut it down.
  
  RedOak said Thu, Dec 14th 2017 at 11:05am ET
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- @CaptAmehrican it is true the range of stuff available in the Walmart Google Express store is limited.
  
  But it is not severly limited. And even tho the prices are not all that great, even if you overpay by $5, look at it this way… you effectively paid $9 instead of $4 for that Google Home Mini.
  
  Still a very nice deal.
  
  RedOak said Thu, Dec 14th 2017 at 11:09am ET
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therealjrn said Wed, Dec 13th 2017 at 8:23am ET:

Mehbe I’m feeling Grinchy, but I think 30 clams is a lot to blow on something with so little return. I vote wait for the Alexa version.

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- @therealjrn well if you use the walmart credit it is 4 clams.
  
  CaptAmehrican said Wed, Dec 13th 2017 at 8:25am ET
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- @CaptAmehrican That does make a yuge difference. OK, I’ll change my vote to “get a WalMart mini for a net 4 smackeroos.”
  
  therealjrn said Wed, Dec 13th 2017 at 8:28am ET
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sammydog01 said Wed, Dec 13th 2017 at 8:27am ET:

I bet Alexa tops Google Home. Their commercials are more entertaining anyway.

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- @sammydog01 oooh ooooh so we can buy an in house commercial just for fun?
  
  Kidsandliz said Wed, Dec 13th 2017 at 8:37am ET
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- @sammydog01
  
  It is written
  Never trust Jeff Bezos
  
  Cerridwyn said Wed, Dec 13th 2017 at 8:23pm ET
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RedOak said Thu, Dec 14th 2017 at 11:14am ET:

We have both the Google Home Mini and Alexa Dot.

FYI, they play well together - in one room we have them sitting next to each other so closely they could kiss.

We set Google Home to the male voice for more contrast.

If it doesn’t already exist, I think I’m going to do a contrast post about our experience this far.

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- @RedOak
  Please do, Alexa does a lot of great stuff, but she’s not the brightest bulb in the chandelier. I’m wondering if google is better at answering questions.
  
  mtb002 said Thu, Dec 14th 2017 at 6:48pm ET
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- @RedOak I will be awaiting that post also!
  
  lseeber said Sat, Dec 16th 2017 at 7:57am ET
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- @lseeber @mtb002 ok… assembling some thoughts in my head for a conversation starter post…
  
  RedOak said Sat, Dec 16th 2017 at 11:12am ET
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- @RedOak Great!
  
  lseeber said Sat, Dec 16th 2017 at 6:46pm ET
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sammydog01 said Thu, Dec 14th 2017 at 4:46pm ET:

I just set up my Google Home Mini. Wait, no speaker jack? And I can’t hook it up by Bluetooth?
/giphy what?

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- @sammydog01 Dot has both! I just bought 4 Home Mini’s for xmas because they don’t have Amazon Prime. (for music)
  
  medz said Thu, Dec 14th 2017 at 4:48pm ET
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- @medz I have a bunch of Dots. The $25 credit hooked me. I’m not sure what I’ll use this thing for. I can’t even figure out how to turn the volume down.
  
  sammydog01 said Thu, Dec 14th 2017 at 4:50pm ET
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- @sammydog01 Me too! Dots rule! I even have one hooked up to a splitter that will play through a Zune dock and/or the surround sound.
  
  medz said Thu, Dec 14th 2017 at 4:51pm ET
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- @medz I use my Dots every day. Love them.
  
  sammydog01 said Thu, Dec 14th 2017 at 4:54pm ET
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- @sammydog01 Yeah. We’re so cool.
  
  medz said Thu, Dec 14th 2017 at 4:57pm ET
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- @medz @sammydog01
  
  therealjrn said Thu, Dec 14th 2017 at 4:57pm ET
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- @therealjrn Those Dots are excellent as well.
  
  sammydog01 said Thu, Dec 14th 2017 at 6:53pm ET
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- @sammydog01
  
  How to Add Headphone Audio Port to Google Home Mini:
  
  mflassy said Thu, Dec 14th 2017 at 7:00pm ET
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- @mflassy Sure, I’ll just run out and buy a voltage divider, soldering iron, solder, that special screwdriver, the port thing, and a tube of epoxy to fix my four dollar mini. Sounds like a plan.
  
  sammydog01 said Thu, Dec 14th 2017 at 7:09pm ET
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- @sammydog01
  
  Can’t wait to see how it turns out.
  
  mflassy said Thu, Dec 14th 2017 at 7:29pm ET
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- @sammydog01 tap the left side of the mini (power jack towards the back) to turn it down.
  
  djslack said Fri, Dec 15th 2017 at 10:33pm ET
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thismyusername said Fri, Dec 15th 2017 at 10:39pm ET:

yea… the mini… so rushed to market that the buttons
get stuck and record everything constantly… such a bad design flaw they had to permanently disable the button entirely with software…

all the buttons on my cheap meh google home work great… and my router logs show it only calls google when I ask it to

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- @thismyusername
  
  At least they enabled some of that functionality in 1.29, although it’s in a different sense.
  
  Although it doesn’t restore what was lost.
  
  mflassy said Sat, Dec 16th 2017 at 9:38pm ET
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Yoda_Daenerys said Sat, Dec 16th 2017 at 10:15pm ET:

don’t buy the first one

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- @Yoda_Daenerys or the last one. Or one made on Monday. Or one made on Friday.
  
  therealjrn said Sat, Dec 16th 2017 at 10:21pm ET
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- @therealjrn of course
  
  Yoda_Daenerys said Sat, Dec 16th 2017 at 10:33pm ET
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