As you’d expect, Amazon has put all of its Echo Dots on sale for Black Friday, including the new 5th-gen models released last month. On the least expensive end is the 3rd-gen Echo Dot for $14.99, which is the new lowest price that it has ever been. However, if you qualify, you can get it for $9.98 with a free month of Amazon Music Unlimited. Just be sure to cancel the subscription before it auto-renews. Alternatively, you can get the 3rd-gen Echo Dot w/ a White Hue Smart Bulb for $17.98. Next is the new 5th-gen Echo Dot w/ a White Hue Smart Bulb for $24.99. This is the first time the new Dot has ever been on sale. Compared to the old model, the new Dot now includes a Zigbee hub so you don’t need the Hue Hub to control Hue lights anymore. What I consider to be the best deal is the 5th-gen Echo Dot w/ Clock and 2 White Hue Bulbs for $39.99. The addition of a clock on the Dot is very handy and this new version can now display even more things, like the weather, on its pixel display. Lastly are the 5th-gen Echo Dot Kids models on sale for $29.99, which is half off their regular price of $59.99.
Does the Echo Dot 5 really have a built-in Zigbee hub? I’m seeing conflicting information on Amazon’s webpage.
It’s not listed here:
https://www.xda-developers.com/how-to-link-zigbee-devices-amazon-echo/
I noticed the conflicting info too. The product page says:
“The Echo Dot offers a built in Hub with Alexa. Ask Alexa to control Zigbee-compatible devices. No additional Philips Hue hub required.”
So I’m going to assume it does have the hub.
https://www.philips-hue.com/en-us/explore-hue/works-with/amazon-alexa/set-up
Looks like this model of hue bulbs will configure as bluetooth mesh when configuring with only an echo device and the alexa app. So it should work whether your echo device has a built-in ZigBee hub or not. At least that my guess.
From Amazon:
If you’re not sure if your Echo device has a hub, ask Alexa. Say, “Do you have a smart home hub?”
Follow up: The Echo Dot 5 does NOT have built-in Zigbee hub.
Verified by asking the device:
“Do you have a built-in smart home hub?”
The Philips Hue bulb will connect by Bluetooth, if you do not have a compatible Zigbee hub on your network.