Last year I wrote about a new wall mount for the Amazon Echo Dot that cleverly hung the smart speaker from its power adapter. The creator has just released an updated version of the wall mount, called The Essential Mount, that quite possibly perfects the hanging holder style. The new design is sleeker and more compact than it’s predecessor. It also now allows you to mount the Echo Dot in any direction, depending on your outlet’s orientation. It improves on the first design in multiple ways and yet is also significantly cheaper at $7.99 for one or $14.99 for a pair. The mount includes a custom short USB cable, so you just need to provide the Echo Dot and its stock power adapter.

Apart from cutting a hole in your wall, the new Spot USB Outlet Cover Plate is the cleanest way to mount an Amazon Echo Dot to your wall. This is the latest mount from Dot Genie, whose mounts have previously involved attaching the Echo Dot to its power adapter. This new mount replaces your power outlet’s cover plate with one that has a cradle for the Echo Dot molded into the side of the plate. The reason it’s such a clean setup is that it relies on a USB outlet for power, so it eliminates the large power adapter altogether. The USB power outlet is not included, so you’ll need to have or install your own for this holder to work. Dot Genie recommends this $12 USB outlet by Top-Greener, but most USB outlets capable of 2 Amps of power should work, since they all generally place the USB ports in the same place. The Spot USB Outlet Cover Plate is currently available for $7.99 in white or black and it comes with the small right-angle USB cable.

A few months ago I posted about The Spot, which lets you hang an Amazon Echo Dot from its power adapter. The creator of it has just released its successor, The Spot Deluxe, which improves on the concept in numerous ways. The new Spot Deluxe incorporates its own power adapter into the mount to greatly reduce the overall size of the device. It’s easily the most minimalistic outlet mount available. A nice touch is including a dummy ground plug on the included power adapter to improve the mount’s rigidity. This new improved mount also no longer blocks the adjacent outlet, which was a common complaint of the first version. The kit includes the mount, power adapter, and a perfectly sized tiny USB cable, providing everything you need to mount a 2nd Gen Echo Dot to a wall outlet. You can buy The Spot Deluxe for $14.99 from Amazon, which is a very reasonable price, considering it comes with its own power adapter.