Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Full disclosure, I receive gift cards from my place of work from time to time and I used some of that money to pay for half of this unit, though it is not related to Amazon of course so this review is fully of my own opinions. I own a few of the Amazon Echo show units dating back to the original Gen 1 Echo Show (7 inch). I currently still own that unit and had a place in my kitchen for several years. My wife now working from home needed an Echo in her upstairs office (where it was becoming troublesome to reach her from the other end of the house) so instead of purchasing an all new one, we decided based on her casual usage that we would replace the Gen 1 Echo Show with the latest generation for the kitchen. At the time, I wasnt aware of the new Echo Show 10, but was intrigued to find out there was a new version with a motorized screen display. I am somewhat of an early adopter, but my profession is in computer/electrical engineering and wanted to see if this was worth the substantial increase in costs. The gift card funds just help take that sting out of the purchase that made the decision easier over the costs of the non motorized Show product line. Unboxing: Unboxing was straight forward if you are familiar with the Show lineup and not much to say other than that reviews had led me to believe the unit was big, but I was not surprised by what I found. Essentially a large speaker base with what appears to be a tablet stuck to it, not that surprising and what anyone would expect. The cable like many others have mentioned on the charcoal colored unit is a bit annoying that it is white, but not the end of the world. Just would have appreciated more attention to this detail. Packaging looked well capable of protecting the unit as it was a box within a box, within another Amazon box, but this is where I have a small gripe. Did we need 3 boxes for this, Amazon, please work on the overuse of packaging for wastage. Setup: Setup was pretty standard if you have ever performed an Echo setup, but a bit elongated to perform the turning radius setup limits which is handy if your Show will have objects nearby or walls to contend with. I have none in this case as it is going at the end of the counter bar that divides the Den area with the Kitchen area. It can turn 360 degrees freely and this was easy to see how to limit or run unhindered. The rest of the setup was just confirming the Amazon account, wireless connection, and home screen details. All within about 3 minutes or less. First impressions: My first impressions were the unit is very sleek looking and the weight seemed adequate for the unit to be stable on the bench. The screen was perfectly bright and just the right size to view from a reasonable distance. The speed of the rotation as some have mentioned being too slow I found just fine as I want it to be quiet (which it is in motion - perfectly silent) and yet not aggressive in the movements as to call too much attention to the unit. My family thought it was pretty interesting how it can follow if you interact with it, but normally it stay put unless you ask it a question. In locating the person to point at with the voice trigger, I actually found the unit a little less sensitive to the wake command than any of my other generation units including the latest 8 inch and 5 inch Show units (I own 4 x 8 inch units and 4 x 5 inch units, along with 3 echo dots). In fact I have an upstairs Echo Show 8 (open ceiling through the Den into the movie theater room, that many times "bongs" to the wake command sooner than the kitchen one will standing within a few feet of this new unit. This isnt a huge issue once you get used to it, but I hope Amazon tweaks the sensitivity of the wake command to be more in line with other models in the lineup. One of the reason I got this new unit was my impressively fast results with the other latest generation Echo Show 8 units being so fast to work a command over the 1st generation. After a few weeks of usage: I have found that the unit motorized feature is a little bit of a novelty, but in daily use it has been a welcome change. For the price difference, I am right on the fence of whether I would pay the difference knowing what I know now and I know that may not help anyone reading this, but it is really right there with I would or wouldnt pay the extra. As the price knowingly will come down over time, this should become easier to make a decision. Sound Quality: Sound quality is above par for my expectations, as it is more clear than the preceding model. It has more depth to me and sound dispersion to 360 degrees is far better than the rear/side facing speakers of the past. Potentially largely due to the screen being out of the way which is a bit expected. Louder volumes were reached without distortion compared to previous units and the highs were clear and pronounced without overdoing it. Happy with this as an area speaker, but this wont replace your bookshelf stereo for instance. It can be paired with other devices so you can expand this if necessary. Motion tracking: As mentioned from others, this is a bit laggy, but in the "works well enough" category. It is not quick to jump around, but can trail someone easily walking around. What I found is that it rarely loses focus of the individual completely even though it will trail the motion. And if the user is continuing to speak, it almost never loses track of the user in my testing. Of note, it of course does not track up and down as the motorized function is swivel only, but the wide angle of the lens makes this mostly unnecessary. Final verdict: Would I get this again? In this same scenario, definitely, no regrets. Had I needed to pay the entire amount? At $250 at the time of writing while the 8 inch is $109, this is a hard justification, but when we remember that a year ago the previous 10 inch model was selling for $229, it gets a lot easier to see that the extra $20 delivers quite a bit. Better sound, motorized swivel, a better screen, and a much better tilt/angle/level than the previous unit had out of the box. I think this is a win, if it isnt a solid win over the previous generation. I hope that the mic sensitivity gets better with updates, but I dont have many complaints over what is delivered today from this model.