Here’s My Experience With 5 Cheap Gadgets I Bought From AliExpress

If you’re shopping online, you may have noticed products from Temu and AliExpress often come up in your shopping search. These items are so cheap that you may wonder if it’s really a steal or if you should stay away. I was in that boat as well. And I love a good YouTube video where the host tests cheap tech from low-cost retailers.

So, curious as I am, I decided to try my hand at testing cheap home products from the popular discount marketplace, AliExpress. Now, when shopping for a new piece of home hardware, gaming gear or audio tech, cheap tech usually equates to low-quality performance. But as I’ve come to learn, that’s not always the case.

Rules for the experiment

• Products must cost less than $15.
• Devices need to be cheaper than a mainstream equivalent.
• Weird devices are more likely to make the list.

I’m happy to report it was an authentic experience with a mix of good-ish products and some really bad ones. From best to worst, here’s how my AliExpress order played out.

Best: Tuya Zigbee smart USB adaptor switch

USB chargers for lighting and small devices occupy far too much space in my smart plugs, so I always wondered if I could get a USB smart plug. I got the Tuya Zigbee Smart USB Adaptor Switch — which includes three USB-A ports — for a measly $5.02. Tuya devices like these are hidden gems for smart home enthusiasts, though they aren’t always the easiest to work with. I’m glad it was easy to link to my SmartThings home automation system.

It’s not much more than an on/off switch, but I like the fact that I don’t need a bulky USB multiport charger to run the few small USB devices on my nightstand. You can’t control the ports independently — and the power output is too low for charging most devices, but it’s a good option for trickle-charging portable speakers or headphones. Plus, it can connect to practically any USB power supply, including empty ports on my computer.

The Smart USB Adaptor Switch earns an A for value and functionality. As a Zigbee device, it’s also less of a cybersecurity liability than any Wi-Fi device from AliExpress and Temu.

Better: USB-powered ceiling fan

Ceiling fans have always been out of reach, since I live in an archaic apartment without them. This means relying on a fleet of air circulators in my bedroom and office. But what if renters could add a ceiling fan without the hassle of begging the property manager to install one? Enter the tiny ceiling fan I got for $14.

I like the design of this fan, especially the 12-foot USB cord, which is long enough to reach a ceiling hook without much effort. The fan is surprisingly quiet and uses three power settings. Still, it’s not particularly powerful, with the highest setting producing a light breeze from a few feet away. The speed and timer controls are easy to learn, which is great because the entire manual is written in Chinese. You can get the gist of the manual by using Google Lens to translate the text, but it’s largely unnecessary.

I give this product a B+ for being useful, albeit in niche settings where normal ceiling fans aren’t practical.

Good: Tuya Zigbee water sensor

Unlike Tuya’s smart USB switch, the Tuya Zigbee water sensor didn’t properly connect to my SmartThings system on the first try. SmartThings classified it as a generic Zigbee device — it couldn’t see when the sensor detected water. This is a textbook example of Tuya’s devices not always playing nicely with smart home hubs.

So I rolled up my sleeves and dug into the SmartThings Edge Driver Builder, a developer tool for assigning drivers to smart home devices. After selecting my Tuya leak sensor from the list of devices in my smart home, I chose the Zigbee Water Leak Sensor driver and configured it as a water sensor. Like magic, the sensor started working. It’s pretty responsive, and I like that it uses common AAA batteries.

The extra effort might be worth the $4.59 I paid for the Tuya Zigbee Water Sensor, but I can’t give it more than a C+ for someone who wants out-of-the-box smart home compatibility with SmartThings. I can’t gauge whether it’s great for other smart home platforms, but I suspect it’s even better in Home Assistant.

Watch this: Testing Temu Tech So You Don’t Have To

13:52

Worse: Smart Wi-Fi clock movement mechanism

I recently began transitioning most of the analog clocks in my home to tickless clock movements, which are less annoying than the ticking of a second hand when you’re trying to fall asleep at 2 a.m. Let’s try a smart Wi-Fi clock movement mechanism to set the time automatically like the digital clock on my Google Nest Hub. What followed was one of my most frustrating setup experiences in years.

Out of the box, the clock I bought didn’t come with any hands for seconds, minutes or hours. I spent far too long trying to fit some leftover hands from a previous DIY project, only to find that the clock didn’t work. 

The included instructions, which came on a sheet of printer paper, were not helpful. They don’t say that you need to remove the gray “locating needle” from the back of the clock before it will work. This pin locks the gears in place at Noon, likely to keep the clock aligned during shipping and when putting on the hands, which makes sense on a Wi-Fi clock that sets itself. It took two hours before I got it working.

I’m even more disappointed with the Wi-Fi connection, which is not even close to secure. Anyone can open the clock’s Wi-Fi connection to see your network’s name and password. So glad I used my phone’s hotspot for a temporary network. I give this product, which costs $14.01, a D- for working as advertised, even if it takes a while, and comes with a major Wi-Fi vulnerability. However, it’s not the worst product by a long shot.

Worst: Smart portable clothes dryer

I got the Beauty-Health Store smart portable clothes dryer for just $12.32. I won’t waste your time: This is the most dangerous product from my AliExpress order. How do I know this? It quite literally melted about 2 hours into my very first drying session. The plastic in this product is not heat-resistant in any way. It didn’t even dry a single shirt completely, so there’s no reason to buy a cheap portable clothes dryer when laundromats can handle much larger drying loads for a fraction of the price.

When I went online to see if other customers experienced this problem, I noticed the product page was no longer available. With my suspicions confirmed, I won’t even delve into the features of this terrible product. Instead, I’ll use it as an example to reinforce why buying generic electronics from AliExpress, Temu, Wish and other cheap retailers is risky. With certain categories of tech, you’re gambling on your safety and privacy. As you can imagine, this device earns an F for being unsafe.

Now, excuse me while I navigate the 90-day AliExpress return policy, which is one bright spot. Hopefully, it fares better than these last two products.