Designed for use with outdoor lighting, fountain pumps, and other small electronics, the Leviton Decora Smart Wi-Fi Outdoor Plug-In Switch D2150 ($54.99) is a Matter-enabled single outlet smart plug that works with a plethora of home automation platforms. You can control it with your voice, phone, and other Leviton switches, and it uses an embedded light sensor for daytime and nighttime activation. It's very easy to install and program like most other smart plugs, but it doesn’t tell you how much power it is using, and it costs nearly three times as much as our Editors' Choice winner, the $17.99 Wyze Plug Outdoor.

Meant for the Elements

The black D2150 plug-in switch has an IP65 weatherproof rating and measures 4.6 by 2.1 by 1.2 inches (HWD). The top part holds a 10-inch cord with a three-prong plug, and there’s a 6-inch cord with a three-prong receptacle coming from the bottom. On the front is an On/Off button, a light sensor that enables automatic daytime and nighttime control based on the ambient light, and a status LED. As with the Leviton Decora Smart Mini Plug-In Dimmer D23LP-2RW, this plug can be paired with and controlled from a Leviton Anywhere Companion device (sold separately) such as a wireless indoor wall switch.

(Credit: Leviton)

Under the hood, there's a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi radio for connecting the plug to your home network and a Bluetooth radio for pairing it with the My Leviton mobile app. The D2150 is a general-purpose 15-amp/120-volt AC plug that can handle halogen and incandescent lights of up to 1,500 watts, small pumps and motors of up to 3/4 horsepower, and other small electronic devices.

With support for Matter, the D2150 plug works with several third-party home automation platforms including Alexa, Google, HomeKit, and SmartThings. You can control it with Alexa, Google, and Siri voice commands, and from the My Leviton (available for Android, iOS, and the Web) and Apple Home mobile apps. It also supports IFTTT applets that allow it to work with scores of third-party smart devices such as lights, locks, thermostats, and cameras, but it does not offer power usage reports like the Roku Outdoor Smart Plug and the Wyze Plug Outdoor.

The indicator light on the plug rapidly flashes green during setup, slowly flashes green while connecting to Wi-Fi, shines solid green when everything is working correctly, blinks amber when network connectivity is lost, and blinks red when the plug is no longer paired with a Leviton Anywhere Companion device.

(Credit: Leviton)

Once connected, the plug gets its own panel on the My Leviton app’s Dashboard screen and is also accessible via the Light button at the bottom of the screen. The panel shows whether the plug is on or off, and it contains a three-dot button that takes you to a screen with a large On/Off button that is color-coded green when the plug is on and gray when it is off. Here you’ll also find a Device Settings button and an Auto Shutoff button. Use the Device Settings button to configure wireless settings, update the firmware, identify the device with a multi-colored flashing LED, and view the Matter QR code for pairing. Within Device Settings is an Advanced Settings tab that lets you enable and disable the light sensor and the LED indicator. The Auto Shutoff button lets you set a timer to have the plug automatically turn off.

The bottom of the Dashboard screen contains a play arrow button that lets you create scenes to have multiple Leviton devices turn on or off with the touch of a button, a clock button for creating on and off schedules, and a three-bar icon that lets you edit your account information, enable notifications, view help files, and give others access to the plug.

Plays Well With Others

In testing, I had the D2150 plug up and running in minutes. I already had the My Leviton app installed, so I simply tapped the plus button in the upper right corner of the Dashboard screen, chose Add Device, then selected the Outdoor Plug-In from the list. I plugged the D2150 into a GFCI outlet, verified that the LED was flashing green, and the app immediately identified it. I tapped Next, selected my Wi-Fi SSID, and entered my password, at which point the plug successfully connected to my home network. I chose an icon, gave the plug a name, and tapped Finish to complete the pairing process.

Next, I opened the Apple Home app on my iPhone, then tapped the plus icon and selected Add Accessory. When prompted, I used my iPhone to scan the Matter code on the getting started guide and the app immediately added the plug to my Apple Home device list. To add the plug to my Alexa device list, I opened the virtual assistant's app, linked it with My Leviton, and then tapped Discover.

The Decora D2150 worked flawlessly in testing. It instantly responded to on and off controls via its companion mobile app and Alexa and Siri voice commands, and it always adhered to my on/off schedules. The light sensor worked as intended, and my Alexa routine to have the plug turn on when a Ring Floodlight Cam detected motion worked like a charm. I added the D2150 to an Apple HomeKit scene and it also worked without issue.

A Matter of Price

The Decora Smart Outdoor Plug-In Switch lets you control outdoor lighting and small electronics in your yard without setting foot outside. With support for the Matter connectivity standard, it seamlessly integrates with numerous smart home platforms and works with the most widely used voice assistants. The D2150 makes sense for homes that are using Leviton Anywhere Companion switches, but its $55 price makes it one of the more expensive outdoor plugs we’ve tested. Our Editors’ Choice winner, the $17.99 Wyze Plug Outdoor, is a much better value. It’s not Matter-enabled and doesn't support HomeKit, but it offers dual outlets, works with Alexa and Google voice commands, integrates with other devices via IFTTT, and tells you how much power you’re using.