Forget wiring, this Brilliant smart home controller just needs a plug

What you need to know

• The latest Brilliant smart home control panel just needs a USB port for power instead of hard-wired wall power.
• Brilliant says this is perfect for renters or folks who don't want to hard-wire its control panels into a wall.
• The new panel includes a large touch screen and two dimmer switches, plus an easy wall-mount so you can hang it like a picture.

Brilliant just launched its latest control panel, and while it looks identical to its previous two-switch product, it's different in one major way: it no longer requires hard-wired power to your home in order to function.

For the past few years, I've had a Brilliant smart home control panel on my wall. It directly controls my dining room light, but I've also got plenty of quick presets for controlling living room lights, basement lights, and so on. But folks who don't want to hard-wire one into their walls — or can't because they're renting — didn't get the luxury of such a great smart home controller.

The new control panel retails for $399 — which is actually $50 cheaper than the traditional hard-wired 2-switch panel — and includes an installation plate and a 13-foot-long USB cord. There's no power brick in the box, so be sure you've got one lying around with a USB-A port.

If you've never used a Brilliant control panel, each one features a touchscreen with a customizable UI that allows you to add controls for many of the best smart home devices. You can also create automations — including motion control using the panel's sensors — as well as use each panel like an intercom between Brilliant panels or the Brilliant app.

Plus, that camera has a physical cover slider, so you can feel safe if you're like me and refuse to put cameras in your home.

Almost no installation needed

All Brilliant smart home control panels are designed to be on a wall, and the new plug-in model is no different. Instead of removing an existing wall switch and wiring the panel up to your home's power wires, this new panel can be put anywhere you want. That makes it perfect for anyone who doesn't want to touch in-wall wires or for renters.

Find a good spot on a wall somewhere and screw the plastic installation panel to the wall. The Brilliant smart home controller slides right on and locks into place by sliding down into little plastic teeth. All the power is delivered via the end of the 13-foot USB cable connected to the back of the installation plate.

The downside to this method is that if you happen to lose or damage the cable, you'll probably have to buy a new one from Brilliant — unless you're comfortable splicing together cables, of course.

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Other than the installation portion, this new Brilliant panel is identical to all the others the company has sold for the past six years or so. The idea is that controlling smart home devices is just plain better when it's done from a switch on the wall.

This logic might seem mildly counter-intuitive, but as the company told me, people are wired to expect home appliance controls to be on a wall, not on another device. It's just easier telling your guests or babysitter that the lights are controlled from the panel on the wall instead of spending 20 minutes explaining how to voice control the hallway light — and what the exact name of that light might be.

Brilliant works best when you use products from the most popular smart home companies. The bulk of the list includes August, ecobee, Genie, Google Nest, Honeywell Home, Hunter Douglas, Kwikset, Philips Hue, Resideo, Ring, Samsung SmartThings, Schlage, Somfy, Sonos, TP-Link, Yale, and a few more.

It's been a few years since I set one up, and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Brilliant now asks users to use the smartphone app to make installation faster. This was a lot simpler and quicker to use than typing everything into the panel again, and it linked to the panel I already had in my home, making setup a breeze.

Brilliant still has Alexa built-in and includes both a mic and a speaker, so you can talk directly to Alexa without needing one of the best Alexa devices in the same room. Plus, the microphone and speakers can be used to stream video and audio for a whole-home video intercom system, an easy way to answer your video doorbell, and more.

Since this particular model has two slider switches next to the control panel, it can be used for things like controlling the fan speed of a Hunter Douglas fan, adjusting the thermostat temperature on your Nest thermostat, or dimming the brightness of your Philips Hue lights.

Each can be fully customized, and they're also context-sensitive depending on what's shown on the display. Few things are cooler than walking into a room and having the lights turn on automatically, not to mention all the other fantastic smart home integrations coming in the future — like full Matter support.