@stfn You've got many answers already, so maybe I'm a bit late.
Personally so far I have Zigbee plugs from IKEA and one "NEO NAS-WR10BH" as a test.
All bought in Germany: the IKEA one in person, the Nous at mediarath.de (I'm not affiliated to them). They are specialized on "cloud-free" smart devices, e.g. they even sell some items with Tasmota software that originally would only work in a cloud.
Generally I like the Nous one better: it's less bulky, I can use it nicely in a 4x socket extender ("Steckdosenleiste"). Otherwise they are equivalent, e,g. both measure power usage and work fine with #homeassistant.
Generlly, Zigbee devices (almost) always can be used without a cloud, given that either zigbee2mqtt or ZHA supports them.
@holgerschurig Thank you! I'm leaning towards going the Zigbee way. I might go with Nous, more than one person recommended it so far. We'll see how it goes
@stfn If you don't mind buying from a Chinese manufacturer, I have one from https://www.athom.tech/ and it works great.
It comes pre-flashed with Tasmota, and you can upload your own image if you don't trust them.
@stfn Another option would be to buy a ZigBee device instead, but since I don't really know what exists on the market. I know that IKEA has one, but I'm not sure if it does power monitoring or just on/off. And obviously, you would need a ZigBee dongle/hub (e.g., Home Assistant Sky Connect) to get that connected to Home Assistant ;)
@stfn@kuba@arek They are not cheap but I can recommend them - I have a clone (Gosund) with ESPHome (something almost the same as Tasmota) and works great for a two years now.
I can find something cheaper for you, but only If you know how to flash firmware.
@stfn I use Meross plugs for my energy monitoring. I would definitely recommend because not only are they very affordable but they can also be controlled locally with the Meross LAN integration. You can even (as I've done with my two latest plugs) skip connecting them to the Meross cloud altogether and use your own MQTT server.
@stfn i would get something i can easily fish tasmota on. Some of the Denver ones are valid targets for that. The Shelly plug s also work with that and they monitor power usage quite well (we tested it against calibrated industrial hardware)
@stfn I've used a load of Shelly stuff and it all has the ability to work without the shelly cloud service (which can be entirely disabled in all the devices I have used) with each device having a simple REST API, think it does MQTT as well. I've not used this specifically but they have an EU power monitoring smart plug: https://www.smarterhomeshop.eu/shelly-plus-plug-s-smart-plug-with-power-metering
@stfn most options are a bit "swings and roundabouts" - I settled in Shelly equipment for the pub renovation and do not regret it. But I also have to consider future support/etc and thus "out of the box" functionality rather than something like "Chinese kit flashed with tasmota" is important. Proprietary platform/updates but documented and supported.
I was going to suggested sonoff kit flashed with tasmota but havent' confirmed if they have a flashable "plug" format device.
@stfn I've done loads with sonoff/tasmota gear - until I discovered Shelly tasmota was the only affordable non-industrial-control-system approach to this sort of thing other than building from scratch - but not everyone wants to get out a soldering iron, flash new firmware, etc! I still like it as a platform for doing stuff at home which I know nobody else will ever need to support or work out 😅 but I've only used the TH16 and similar models which would require addition of socket/plug and a box.
@stfn Just refreshing my memory: TH16s don't do power monitoring anyway. Think some other model does. I used TH16 most as I have a pile I got cheap years ago - there have been a lot of changes and additions to the sonoff range since which I am not up to date with, TH16 does most of what I want for a mains powered device and for anything else there's Pico/etc. Long story short: Shelly just works out of the box with a bit of config, doesn't need "cloud", and so far has been entirely robust for me.
@stfn@localbytesshop Gotcha yeah. They sell an EU equivalent, but that leaves the shipping. I think they're pretty generic plugs (amazon sells similar looking ones under many brands), but if you get them elsewhere you'd probably have to DIY flashing decent firmware (tasmota/esphome) onto it. :/
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