I was looking to buy one of these smart relays for my CNC.
The idea is, when the machine starts cutting, it will also turn on the shop vac for dust collection.
Simple enough, I could probably DIY one, but who wants to mess around with household electricity!
But look at the Amazon reviews!
Half are saying it is a piece of junk and the other half like it and find it works as intended.
Who to believe?
Amazon reviews can be all over the place for a bunch of reasons:
People have different needs and hopes for a product. What works great for one person might not cut it for another.
Sometimes, products aren't made consistently or even at the same plant. One batch might be perfect, and another might have issues, leading to mixed reviews.
How people use the product can vary a lot. Some folks might find it perfect for their use, while others might struggle with it. For example, with this it might be Dewalt routers are fine but Makita refuse to work due to safety shutoff.
What one person loves, another might hate. This is not just true for things like taste or design but in this case people complain about flimsy plastic but I don't care so long as it is safe.
Beginners might find a product fantastic, while someone more experienced could be more critical. A contact published a good review for this on YouTube but he admitted to me he didn't open it up or know what to look for if it was shoddy or safe.
Some reviews might even be fake, either too positive or too negative. People get paid in products or $$$ to place reviews, we all know this.
Issues like shipping problems or bad customer service can affect reviews, even if the product itself is fine (at least when it starts its journey). People often give negative book reviews even though the author does not personally print or ship the paperbacks!
Early buyers might give great reviews before any long-term issues pop up and people often hit review as soon as they receive a package rather than after intensive testing ...
But it could start a fire
It's not like with this kind of thing you can just buy it and send it back if it is no good because the risk of it being no good is starting a fire or wrecking something important.
So I go to the interwebs and search around and again, either "this is amazing" or "avoid this junk". Now some of the former want you to buy through them, and some of the latter want you to go to a brand they like better, but man this is hard.
For now I think I will stick with using the individual appliances on and off switches LOL!