An RV divided

If 400 square feet of living space sounds small to you, that’s because it is. Despite that, for our first five years of full-time RV living, we used two Google Home smart speaker devices: one in the bedroom and one about 15 steps away in the kitchen. Recently, we became an RV divided when we traded one of the units for an Amazon Alexa virtual assistant.

Embracing convenience

It only seemed natural that we would have Google devices. After all, both Bob and I own Google Pixel phones and Google Chromebooks. In addition, I have a Google Pixel watch. When we sold our house and moved into the fifth wheel, we ended up keeping two Google smart devices, with the intention of giving one away.

Before that could happen, Bob set up both units, and we quickly became accustomed to their convenience. The kitchen Google Home assistant is handy for rapidly adding items to our grocery list when we think of them, setting timers for cooking, playing music, and answering our questions that arise from conversations and TV shows.

The bedroom Google Nest Hub displays photos we’ve taken, in addition to occasionally playing peaceful sounds, such as crashing waves or thunderstorms, when we doze off and answering our all-important weather questions in the morning when we’re getting dressed.

Facing issues

Two units may seem like overkill for our small living quarters, and indeed they are. Many times, the Google device we wanted to operate deferred to the other, setting a timer in the bedroom, for example, when we needed it in the living room. 

Although activated by a simple “Hey Google,” the Google devices’ abilities seemed to be lacking. For some reason, I was never allowed to add anything to the grocery list. Google didn’t recognize my voice for that, even though I could ask her anything else. I had to go through Bob to add an item to the list or open the app on my phone and manually add it. 

We encountered another issue with the grocery list when trying to add two items at once. Google didn’t know how to process that. Instead, she added the two items as a single entry: cheese and dental floss. 

Exploring an alternative

Having set up Amazon Alexa for his mom and seeing her success in using it to turn her lights on and off and handle other tasks, Bob started considering having us transition as well. Logically, it didn’t make sense, given our affinity for all things Google. 

Seeing a smoking deal on Black Friday, we decided to purchase an Amazon Echo Dot (paid link) to replace our Google Home smart assistant in the kitchen. We debated transitioning to a single unit given our small living space but decided to keep the Google unit in the bedroom, at least for the time being. 

I have to admit I like the Amazon technology. I’m now able to add items to our grocery list by voice. If I want to add more than one item at a time, Alexa is able to parse that information and add two (or more) entries rather than combining the items into one. If I attempt to add something I previously added, she’s smart enough to tell me it’s already on my list and can even delete an item if I accidentally say something I didn’t mean. Google couldn’t do that. 

In addition, I can talk to Alexa from upstairs in the bathroom or bedroom, and she can usually hear me. So, do we still need the Google unit? No, not really. But we like the convenience of having it available. And sometimes, we like Google’s answers to our questions better than Alexa’s. 

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