Amazon has announced that they’re ending support for their Dash Wand barcode scanner in a month on July 21st, 2020. All indication is that both generations of the Dash Wand will completely stop functioning because Amazon is directing customers to their Device Recycling program in an email sent out this morning.
The Dash Wand was an interesting device that predated Alexa as a grocery shopping helper you kept in the kitchen. The idea was that you could dictate items that you want ed to add to your shopping list or scan them with the built-in barcode if you had the item/container. Amazon quietly released the 2nd-gen version in 2016 with minimal changes over the first version, but it really became interesting when they replaced the simple dictation capabilities with full Alexa support a year later.
At a retail price of $49.99, purchasing the Dash Wand made little sense over the equally priced Echo Dot, but it seems like nobody ever bought it for full price. Amazon gave Dash Wands away for free to Amazon Fresh subscribers, back when Amazon Fresh wasn’t included with Prime membership. Later, Amazon offered Prime members a $20 credit for purchasing and setting up a Dash Wand. With the Dash Wand often on sale for less than $20, purchasing it and taking advantage of the credit actually made the buyer some money, which is how I suspect most buyers came to own the device.
The Dash Wand was unique in that it was a portable battery-powered Alexa device you could carry around the house to belt out commands in places you didn’t have a permanent smart speaker. While that wasn’t its intended functionality, since it was meant to be a shopping companion, it was definitely handy back when having access to Alexa in every room was not common.
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I got mine on one of those deals that was essentially free. Now I just need to figure out if I still have it or if I already threw it out.
I purchased 4 of these . Have one on the refrigerator doors in both of our homes another on the refrigerator in the cabin in the lake . The 4th I have set up to communicate through my cell phone hot spot so I can be shopping in a store- scan an item and see if it’s available from Amazon and price compare . I use mine all the time and think it’s a shame they are dropping support for them . Come on Amazon – wake up and let us use our devices
When amazon did the same thing to the echo look (couple of weeks ago) they gave users a free echo show 5. With this, they give you a free cup of “shut the hell up!” LOL
I use this all the time, it is not always listening but within reach at my desk when I need Alexa. I will miss it bad when it stops working :(
Haven’t seen an email from Amazon on this. I purchased one for either free or very low cost a few years ago. Having several echo devices I didn’t really use it much but it was kind of neat as a handheld portable battery powered echo.
Are they giving any sort of trade in credit? Is there any way to hack or re-purpose it?
I just got a email about it and they’re giving a $25 promo credit towards something sold by them.
fassfa, thanks for the info. I’ll give it a few days and if I don’t get an email from them I’ll call and try to get the promo credit.
I wonder if whether you get a credit for it depends on whether you paid full price for it. I haven’t gotten anything about a credit, but I also got mine in a deal that was essentially free.
Does anyone know of a homebrew project for these? I use my Dash Wand almost daily to put things on the shopping list (via voice). Maybe a new firmware could be rolled onto it.
Here for the possible Homebrew Hack on these things… shame when companies kill support for items that still should be working…
All I wanted out of mine was to be able to hack it to scan all the UPC codes of books and DVDs that I have to keep track of my library. This could have been a data mining treasure trove for Amazon. Users voluntarily upload every piece of media in their house and then users could share that list (public/private) so come birthdays or holidays friends and family don’t purchase something we already own.
Re: $25 credit.
My email included the following:
“Beginning July 21st 2020, Dash Wand devices will no longer be supported. You can still use Alexa to add items to your Shopping List, add groceries to your cart, reorder items, and more with any Echo device or use the Alexa feature within the Amazon App and the Alexa App. To help you get started, we applied a $25 credit to your Amazon account.”
I have not seen any $25 credit show up anywhere and TWO chats with Amazon chat folk have gone nowhere.
Anybody know what the story is?
I just followed up with them in a chat about the $25.00 credit too / no luck…
Wish there was a use for this thing instead of throwing it away.
I just complained in chat.
They offered a refund.
At least there’s that.
I remember showing it to my son. It could help with his homework.
Oh well.
Kind of crappy though what they did.
I have 2 wands you need to bring support for these back AMAZON!!!!!!!