Purchased this to monitor our Barn Sub-Panel, a recent addition to the house. It's a 1500sq/ft building with two 18k BTU mini spits, 800w of LED overhead lights, 2 post lift, full wood shop, welding outlet, etc. There's eight 240v circuits and eight120v circuits in the subpanel this was installed in. Install was straight forward, but if you're not comfortable working in an electrical panel, I'd recommend letting a licensed electrician do it. I wired the subpanel and the barn, but am not a licensed electrician, it's all inspected Rough and Final, but different jurisdictions have different rules about is legally allowed to do electrical work on their home. On to the review - Well, it definitely muddies up a clean electrical panel with the sensors and their wires but it's not too bad. If your panel has a TON of excess wire and is very full, this is going to be a tough installation.
Once installed the set up is pretty straight forward and the instructions to do so work well. For each 240v circuit (two 120v legs) only one sensor is needed and the software in the app can be set to multiply the value by two; this in principal works great on things like Mini splits or a dust collector for example. However some 240v devices will have 120v items that will run between one of the 120v legs and a neutral wire, so if it's monitoring the leg being used for that 120v item, it's going to double it's usage and if it's monitoring the other leg, it won't measure the usage. This isn't that big of a problem, the 120v items on these types of circuits are hour meters or small control boards, etc. but it can create some inconsistencies.

The view of everything is eye opening and that's why I'm not sure I love it.... but I do. It's very helpful to know what things cost. For example the network (security cameras, network switch, wireless AP's and related) are operating at able 2kw/hr's a day (a little less than a normal 80w systained draw. For me, it's $0.32/day to run the Barn's network. HVAC usage as well being able to see it is helpful to know if it's worth the cost to keep the barn warm or just warm it up when I use it.

Overall, I'd definitely recommend this, it's price point over other brands is a bonus. Since purchasing this, we've also added four of the US Smart plugs from emporia that do the energy monitoring and are just as happy with them. We'll likely be adding two additional 16 circuit monitors to our two existing 200a service entrance panels.

This is an excellent product and it comes with great support and customer service also.
I like it so much I bought a second one for Mom's home - which is where things went wrong (but appears that this may be due to someone buying a Gen2 and doing a return putting their old original first-generation Vue in the new box and then Amazon sending it to me as 'new'.)

For the real product that I did get earlier (direct from Emporia) -

Packaging: Wow - it's beautiful.
Documentation: Clear and concise.
Android app: Very good (I'd like to see some tweaks here and there, but it works and gives you access to all the usage details.)
Installation: I respect electricity and don't like getting shocked! But, it really wasn't difficult to safely install on live panel. I took my time and was careful.
Support: Accessible and responsive - both phone and email.
Price: Good!
What more could you ask for?

I've always wanted to know how much electricity things were using and have a Kill-A-Watt which works well for things that plug in. But, what about things like lights on switches, heat pumps, cooktops, etc? This device will let you see your total usage on everything, and up to 16 different individual circuits. And since the app shows usage on the whole home and any individual circuit in real time 1-second intervals, it's quite easy to see electric usage even on circuits that power multiple things. For example, a typical breaker may shut off power to all the lights in one or more rooms. Either have all the lights off and turn just the one you want to check on - or, if other lights on circuit are also on, just use the difference between the usage on that circuit from the amount with and without the light you want to measure being 'on'. Same technique can be used for receptacle circuits.

With the Emporia Vue I was able to see: my modern washing machine draws about 6 watts constantly when it's 'Off'. Oral-B toothbrush chargers draw more than 5 watts constantly if plugged in, with or without a toothbrush on the charger - there's basically no difference if you charge a toothbrush or not. My central A/C draws 10 watts less when my smart Sensi thermostat has it 'off' than when it's in 'cool' but not running. These are all little things, but they add up on things that run 24x7. Reduce 24x7 demand by 100 watts, and that's 72kWh per month. In Hawaii at about 25 cents per kWh, that's $18/month!

The Vue will also give you insight into the big things as well - the usage of electric water heater, clothes dryer, cooktop, oven, etc.

I'm glad I bought this, and I'm also glad to see some delays in availability - demand for the product is picking up as more people realize what this can do for their energy awareness/conservation, and hopefully allows Emporia to be successful and continue to offer this at a reasonable price! (It does require Internet/cloud to work and continue working.)

I recently purchased this electricity monitor, and I'm genuinely impressed with its performance. Installation was a breeze, which was a pleasant surprise. The user manual provided clear instructions, and I had it up and running in 1 hour.

The real-time electricity usage display is a standout feature. It's fascinating to see how different appliances and activities impact my electricity consumption. This monitor has been instrumental in identifying unnecessary energy wastage in my home. By pinpointing these areas, I've been able to make more energy-efficient choices, which I anticipate will reflect positively on my electricity bills.

One of the most helpful aspects is the ability to track usage over time. The monitor provides a clear, comprehensive view of my electricity consumption patterns. This data is invaluable for making informed decisions about energy use and has helped me understand my household's energy habits better.

However, there's one feature that could take this monitor from great to perfect: an API for web integration. If I could access my electricity usage data through a website, it would enhance the usability and accessibility of the information. This addition would allow for more detailed analysis and the possibility of integrating the data with other smart home systems.

In conclusion, I'm very satisfied with this electricity monitor. It's easy to install, simple to use, and provides crucial insights into electricity usage. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to gain a better understanding of their energy consumption and looking to make more environmentally friendly and cost-effective choices. A web API in future models would make it an unbeatable product in its category.

I love the Emporia Vue 2 energy monitor. The monitor is the only monitor that provides detailed info on each individual circuit. Most monitors provide only the mains usage. The only near competitor to the Vue 2 is the Sense. However, I read too many negative reviews regarding the Sense's ability to determine what devices were being used in the house.

The Vue 2 gives accurate information on each circuit. The Vue 2 matches my electrical bill regarding monthly usage per day and month. The total cost is off due to variation of end of month billing dates and add on utility company charges.

The charts are functional and fine for my purposes. There is no API for to the feed data to an external program. You can download the raw data in CSV format if you want your own custom reporting. You can use the phone app or the website. You must login into the website to view your household information.

I have not experienced any of the device or app issues that some people have reported.

Tech support is awesome! They respond, know their stuff, and stay engaged until the issue is resolved.

I did the installation myself. There are many You Tube videos that provide guidance. The instructions are simple, easy to follow, and accurate. The installation itself is easy and went relatively quickly. The breaker box will be a little crowded and messy unless you make an effort to wire-mind the cables.

The Vue 2 can monitor only 16 circuits/breaker slots. I have 20 breaker slots occupied and 2 mains, so my Vue 2 is full. If you have more than 16 breakers and some are dual pole breakers, you can save a Vue 2 slot by monitoring 1 pole of the dual pole breaker and use a circuit multiplier of 2. If you still have additional breakers to monitor, you will need a second Vue 2 and "nest" the 2nd device under the 1st device. Contact Emporia support for additional questions.

It is critical that you understand that when the main breaker is pulled the individual circuits to the house are dead BUT the mains that come from the utility pole into the breaker box are still live and dangerous. If you are not comfortable working around high voltage hire an electrician. Note: Make sure he records the breaker number and breaker amps to Vue 2 circuit number (explained below). Also make sure he dresses the cables neatly. After all he is a professional!

As you make the connections you need to record the breaker number and what Vue 2 circuit number the breaker is connected to. This is important since you will need the information to set up the circuits in the monitor software.

Once I had the device hooked up and working, I then determined what was connected to each breaker and corresponding Vue 2 circuit by turning on each household device one at a time (A/C, clothes washer, etc.) or by going to each wall outlet and plugging in a portable device that required noticeable watts. By observing what Vue 2 circuit showed an increase in usage I was able to develop a device mapping to Vue 2 circuit number to breaker number.

In the VUE 2 software I labeled each Vue 2 circuit with the associated device name, the breaker number, and the breaker amps. This allowed me to have a breaker number to Vue 2 circuit number to device mapping with the circuit amps.

The only downside to the Vue 2 is the AMPs reporting. As far as i can tell the individual mains and circuits are correctly reported in AMPs. However, the total of the mains is incorrectly calculated by totaling the two mains. This can be done for Watts/KW but not for AMPs since totaling ignores whether the result is from a 120 or 240 circuit if only 1 leg is being monitored. Either use the main with the biggest AMP usage or total the individual Vue 2 circuits to get a decent estimate. Emporia support says they want to fix this issue but there is no timeline.

Yes I would buy this product again and recommend it to a friend.

I've been wanting to be able to monitor my home's electrical usage for some time now, not just from a standpoint of trying to minimize our electricity bills but also from a standpoint of situational awareness and equipment health status. I'd like to know if my well pump is running more than usual, if my oven has been left on, or if my heat pump is having a harder time starting up than it usually does. And, with a little effort, Emporia lets me set notifications for each of those things.

Emporia tells me that the so-called "50A" sensors actually saturate at 75A, and will not be damaged if you go beyond that"”they'll simply fail to report any additional current. It makes sense that they've allowed some margin above the nominal value"”a 50A breaker might easily let you draw 100A for several seconds without tripping. But that's good to know if, like me, you have a 60A emergency heat circuit in your air handler that you want to monitor.

There are alternatives out there. The most widely known one is probably Sense (also sold as Wiser Energy), which tries to infer based on only sensing your main lines what loads are running. That's a neat idea, and certainly easier to install because of so many fewer sensors, but I can't say I really trust their computer to be able to tell the difference between all the various loads in a house just from looking at the combined draw. Plus, Sense costs twice as much as Emporia"”and I needed two monitors because I have two completely separate panels in my house (neither is a subpanel of the other), so I was doubly sensitive to price. Another interesting option, though, is called IotaWatt. Its price tag is comparable to Sense, but like the Emporia it relies on individual circuit sensors rather than guesswork (although you only get 14 sensors, including the mains). And the IotaWatt is open source, so you don't have to rely on a company like Emporia to keep supporting the software ecosystem in the future (on the flip side, though, you're almost certainly looking at having to fiddle more with the software, and I'd expect it to be a lot harder to contrive a way of looking at the data when you're not at home on your local network). Another interesting option, although it won't work for most people, is the Emporia "Vue Utility Connect wireless energy monitor." If you happen to be in one of the relatively few markets using the appropriate Zigbee-connected smart meter, that cheap little device can tell you your total power draw by simply asking your existing smart meter what's happening. Not as informative as being able to monitor 16 individual circuits, but not bad for the price tag and ease of installation.

I also like how the Emporia ecosystem includes smart plugs to monitor individual devices. I bought some of those also because I wanted to be able to schedule the on and off time of certain equipment, and being able to monitor the power draw of that specific service is handy. You can nest the device to put it under the appropriate circuit in the app.

If you're getting the 16-branch-sensor version like I did, there's no getting around the fact that it's going to turn the inside of your breaker box into a rat's nest. I don't care for that, but I don't have any better ideas. The Sense approach of only monitoring the mains is the only way around it that I can see, and as I said I don't really trust that.

The app feels a little dodgy. Sometimes the branch circuits don't show up unless I fiddle with the time scale. Changing the name of a circuit doesn't update until you leave the menu, so it can get confusing if you're renaming several at once. And I ended up remaking all of them because when I finished typing them all in the first time it suggested I take a picture of the inside of my breaker box"”and navigating from the Emporia app to my camera seemed to abort the entire setup process. It also failed to update firmware and said it would do it overnight instead. And even after it's all set up, the high resolution data by the second"”which is the only glimpse into how hard a motor is starting"”disappears quickly (3 hours), in many cases preventing you from comparing to previous runs of that equipment if you haven't explicitly gone to the effort of saving it. I would've appreciated emporia saving the peak draw from each circuit over the last day, week, and month. So on the whole I'm not feeling like it's a very polished experience.

The one second sample rate frequently misses startup spikes. If you're really only concerned with total energy usage, that might not matter, but if you have an interest in how hard a motor is starting then that's a bit disappointing. The one-second data is also only saved for three hours, which isn't a lot of time. I wish they would save the peak consumption per hour and per day, ideally from a quick enough sample to catch startup peaks reliably.

I'd like to be able to set a notification for power draw between two bounds rather than just above or below a threshold. If I want to recognize a hard start of my air handler but not confuse emergency heat with a hard start, I need that kind of functionality.

If I'm understanding things correctly, setting the time scale to minute or hour or day shows me how much energy has been consumed so far during this minute or hour or day (etc) even if it just started seconds ago. I don't see a way to view my usage over the last rolling 24 hours, or 60 minutes, or 60 seconds, which makes it hard to understand how much energy I'm using right now as opposed to one unit of time ago.

About a week after installing the sensors, I accidentally hit the breaker to my heat pump while turning on another breaker that was new and quite stiff. The next morning, I got a bunch of notifications that I had configured to alert me when the system was in emergency (resistive) heat mode. I found my error with a quick investigation and remedied it before a lot of energy was wasted.

In all, it could be better but I like it.