How Many Amazon Echos Do You Need?

I have nine (yes, nine) Amazon Echos in my house:

• An Echo Show 5 in the entryway
• An Echo Show 10 in the kitchen
• An Echo Dot in the living room
• An Echo Show 5 in my husband’s office
• An Echo Dot in my office
• A white Echo Dot and blue Echo Dot in the master bedroom
• An Echo Dot in the library loft
• A green Echo Show 5 Kids in the nursery

Is that too many? Or just enough? And how will I even know?

I’ve got a theory: the number of Echos you need depends on how much other smart tech you use!

If you have between zero and two smart home devices, then you should need only one Echo. And where you put your new smart speaker will depend on how you use it.

For instance, you have a smart light switch to dim the lights in the den for movie time? Then put your Echo in that den so it’s easy to say, “Alexa, dim the lights,” when the time comes.

But if you bought a smart lock so you always remember to lock the garage, put the Echo in your bedroom so you can lock up even after you settle in for the night.

I put my first Echo Dot in my room and connected it to a smart plug. I’d read late into the night, then turn the lamp off without leaving my bed!

If you have several smart home devices, get enough Echos for the highest-traffic rooms in your home. That’s probably the kitchen, living room, and bedrooms. (I don’t recommend bathroom Echos because it’s hard to find a dry spot for them, although you can certainly go that route if you want.)

Having an Echo in most spots makes it easy to arm the security system, dim lights, and preheat the oven in advance.

If you’re all in on the smart home front, I recommend enough Echos so there’s always one within the sound of your voice.

An “all in” smart home means you have many devices and/or plan to add more. As an example, at my house, I have:

• Smart light bulbs
• Smart switches
• Smart plugs
• Smart locks
• Smart garage door opener
• Smart security system
• Smart cameras
• Smart TVs
• Smart washing machine
• Smart dryer
• Smart ovens
• Smart fridge

So how many Echos do I need to make this all work from anywhere in the house? Based on the floor plan, I need a minimum of seven devices to always be in an Echo's earshot. If I got rid of one of the two in the master and the one in the living room, I’d still be golden. But cut out any more than that, and there’d be an Alexa dry spot.

If you haven’t hopped on the smart speaker train yet but want to Echo-fy your house, here’s our general Echo review to help you figure out which ones to purchase.