Kasa Smart Dimmer Switch HS220P3 Review: a straightforward Wi‑Fi dimmer that mostly just works

I’ve been using the Kasa Smart Dimmer Switch HS220P3 for a little over three weeks now in my living room, hallway, and a bedroom. I replaced three basic dumb switches with this 3‑pack, mainly because I already had some Kasa plugs and liked how stable they were. I’m not an electrician, just a reasonably handy homeowner with a multimeter and a healthy fear of getting zapped, so that’s the angle I’m coming from here.

In practice, this dimmer is pretty straightforward: it’s a Wi‑Fi wall switch that needs a neutral wire, connects directly to your 2.4 GHz network, and then you control it with the Kasa app or with Alexa/Google. No hub, no weird extra boxes. Once installed, it behaves like a normal wall dimmer with on/off and brightness buttons, but you also get schedules, remote control, and voice control on top.

What stood out to me right away: when it’s set up, it’s very stable. I haven’t had random disconnects or ghost on/offs, which I’ve seen with some cheaper smart switches. Dimming is smooth with my LED bulbs, and I haven’t noticed flicker at normal brightness levels. The app does exactly what it needs to do without feeling bloated. That said, setup can be a bit finicky on some units, and the neutral requirement will instantly rule it out for some older houses.

Overall, I’d say this is a pretty solid option if you want to smarten a few key circuits without going into a full smart home ecosystem. It’s not perfect, there are some quirks during pairing and the switch is a bit bulky in the box, but once it’s in the wall, it mostly fades into the background and just gets the job done. If you already live in the Kasa world, it fits right in; if not, it’s still easy enough to live with as a standalone solution.

On the price side, the HS220P3 3‑pack usually comes out noticeably cheaper per switch than buying single Kasa dimmers, and it undercuts a lot of the big‑name competitors like Lutron Caseta once you factor in that you don’t need a separate hub. So if you know you need two or three dimmers anyway, the bundle makes financial sense. You’re basically getting solid mid‑range smart switches at a lower per‑unit cost.

What you’re paying for here is a mix of: decent hardware, a stable app, and pretty smooth integration with Alexa and Google. You’re not paying for advanced automation or multi‑way support. If your house is full of 3‑way circuits, or you want deep integration with Apple HomeKit or a local hub like Home Assistant out of the box, you might be better off with something else even if it costs more. But for a standard single‑pole setup where you just want remote control, dimming, and schedules, this hits a nice balance between price and features.

Compared to super cheap off‑brand smart dimmers, you do pay a bit more, but in my experience you get that back in fewer headaches: fewer random disconnects, better app support, and an actual company that pushes firmware updates. Compared to higher‑end systems, you save money but give up some flexibility and polish. For most people who just want to modernize a few rooms, I think this trade‑off is fair.

So in terms of value, I’d call it good but not mind‑blowing. If you already use Kasa gear, it’s kind of a no‑brainer to stick with the ecosystem and grab this 3‑pack. If you’re starting from scratch, it’s still a solid deal as long as your wiring has neutrals and you’re okay living inside the Kasa/Alexa/Google triangle. If your expectations line up with what it actually offers, you’ll probably feel like you got your money’s worth.

Visually, the HS220P3 is pretty standard. With the wall plate on, it just looks like a clean white rocker switch with a slim vertical LED and two small dimmer arrows in the middle. Nothing flashy, which I actually like – it blends in with the other white Decora‑style switches in my house. The included screwless wall plate gives it a slightly more modern look, but you can also use your existing Decora plate if you want everything to match perfectly.

The switch body itself (without the plate) is where things get a bit chunky. At roughly 4.13 x 1.71 x 1.74 inches, the depth is what you feel during installation. In newer plastic boxes with decent space, it’s fine. In older, shallow metal boxes crammed with wires and wirenuts, it’s a bit of a fight to tuck everything in neatly. On one of my installs in a 3‑gang box with a lot of existing wiring, I had to spend some time reorganizing wires and trimming old pigtails just to get the switch to sit flush.

Tactile feel is decent. The main paddle has a firm click without feeling cheap, and the tiny dimmer buttons are raised enough that you can find them in the dark by feel. The status LED is small and not overly bright, which I appreciate in a bedroom. You can tweak some LED behavior in the app, but it’s not super granular – mostly on/off or showing Wi‑Fi status. It’s enough so you know the thing has power and connection without lighting up the whole room.

Overall, the design is practical and low‑key. It doesn’t scream "smart switch" at you, and once it’s on the wall, most people will just think it’s a normal dimmer with a couple extra buttons. The only real downside is the bulk in the electrical box, so if you already know you have crowded boxes or stiff old wiring, plan for a bit of extra patience getting it seated properly.

Durability is always tricky to judge in a few weeks, but I can at least talk about build quality and how it compares to other switches I’ve used. The HS220P3 units feel sturdy in the hand. The housing is solid plastic with no creaks, the metal mounting plate is rigid, and the screw terminals are proper screws rather than flimsy push‑in connectors. When you tighten the screws onto your wires, they clamp down firmly without stripping or feeling mushy.

I’ve pulled one of the switches out of the wall again after a week just to check for heat marks or anything weird – everything looked clean, no discoloration or smell. That’s a good sign, especially on the dimmer that’s driving a larger number of recessed LEDs. The front paddle and dimmer buttons haven’t loosened up or gotten squeaky with use so far, and I have kids who love to mash switches repeatedly, so they’re getting more abuse than a normal adult household would give them.

Compared to cheaper no‑name smart switches I’ve tried from Amazon, this feels more solid. The plastic doesn’t feel brittle, the screws don’t feel like they’ll strip out if you look at them wrong, and the wall plate fits snugly with no gaps. I also like that it’s UL certified – I’m not usually a certification nerd, but for something sitting in my wall 24/7, that matters more than it does on, say, a USB cable.

Long term, based on my past experience with other Kasa switches and plugs I’ve had running for a couple of years, I’d expect these to hold up fine. Those older units have survived multiple router upgrades, firmware updates, and power hiccups without dying. So while I can’t say this specific 3‑pack has years under its belt yet, the track record of the brand plus the solid physical build make me reasonably confident they’ll last. If something is going to fail, my guess is it would be Wi‑Fi or firmware weirdness, not the physical switch falling apart.

From a performance standpoint, I’d say this dimmer is reliable enough for everyday use. All three switches have stayed online for the three weeks I’ve used them, even with a couple of router reboots and one short power outage. After the power came back, they reconnected to Wi‑Fi on their own without any manual intervention. The only time I had to re‑pair anything was when I changed my Wi‑Fi SSID; that required going through setup again, which is expected for Wi‑Fi based gear.

Load handling has also been fine. One of my HS220s drives a string of 12 recessed LED cans in the living room, another controls a hallway with 4 fixtures, and the third one is on a bedroom ceiling light. None of these come close to the 15A rating, but the living room circuit is still a decent test because of the number of LEDs. No overheating, no buzzing from the switch itself, and no random shutoffs. The unit stays slightly warm to the touch after a few hours at high brightness, but nothing I’d consider worrying – pretty normal for a dimmer.

The Kasa app isn’t fancy, but it’s stable. I like that it doesn’t try to shove ads or random "smart suggestions" in my face. Scenes and schedules sync quickly, and the switch status in the app stays accurate – if someone flips the physical switch, the app updates within a second or two. That sounds basic, but I’ve had cheaper smart switches where the app state gets out of sync and you end up tapping on/off twice to get what you want.

Where performance could be better is initial configuration. As mentioned earlier, one unit took several attempts to add. The process is simple on paper – reset the switch, join its temporary Wi‑Fi, then give it your network details – but sometimes the app just times out. Skipping that switch and coming back later did the trick for me, which matches what another user review described. So, performance once installed is strong; performance during setup can be mildly annoying. If you can live with that, the day‑to‑day behavior is pretty solid.

The HS220P3 is basically three single‑pole smart dimmer switches in one box. Each switch works on a single circuit only (no 3‑way support), needs a neutral wire, and talks directly to your Wi‑Fi at 2.4 GHz. No Zigbee, no Z‑Wave, no hub. If you’re used to Kasa devices, this will feel familiar: open the Kasa app, add a device, connect to the switch’s temporary Wi‑Fi, give it your home Wi‑Fi password, and you’re done – in theory, anyway.

Once it’s set up, you can do the usual smart stuff: turn lights on and off from your phone, dim from 0–100%, set schedules (like turning on at sunset or a fixed time), create scenes ("movie night" with low light, for example), and link it to Alexa or Google Home for voice control. The switch itself has three main areas: a big paddle for on/off, and two small up/down buttons for brightness. A quick tap brings lights back to the last level, and a double tap can be set to fade off, which is actually nice at bedtime so you’re not walking in the dark immediately.

What it doesn’t do: there’s no HomeKit support out of the box, no multi‑way support, and no fancy motion sensor built in. It’s also limited to 120V and 15A, so it’s for standard US/Canada lighting circuits, not for heavy loads. The dimmer works best with dimmable LED bulbs; if you throw random no‑name LEDs at it, you might get a bit of low‑end flicker or buzzing. With my Philips and Feit dimmable LEDs, it behaved fine after I tweaked the dimming range in the app.

In short, this is a basic but capable Wi‑Fi dimmer. It’s not trying to be a full smart home system, it just makes a regular light circuit controllable from your phone and voice. If that’s all you need, it’s a pretty clean fit. If you’re expecting advanced automation or support for every ecosystem under the sun, you’ll probably find it a bit limited.

In daily use, the HS220P3 does what it’s supposed to do without much drama, which is honestly all I want from a light switch. The dimming performance is smooth from about 10–100% with the dimmable LEDs I tested (Philips Warm Glow and a generic Costco brand). At the very lowest levels (under 10%), I saw a bit of minor shimmer on one brand of bulbs, but you can adjust the minimum brightness in the app so the slider never goes that low. Once I did that, the flicker basically disappeared in real‑world use.

On the control side, the Kasa app is pretty straightforward. You open the app, tap the switch, and you get a big on/off button plus a brightness slider. Response time on my network is usually under a second. There’s a slight delay compared to hitting the physical switch, but nothing that feels annoying. Schedules are easy to set – I’ve got my porch lights turning on at sunset and dimming down at 11 PM, and so far they’ve been consistent with no missed events.

Voice control with Alexa has been solid. I named mine “Living Room Lights”, “Hallway Lights”, and “Bedroom Lights”, and commands like “Alexa, set living room lights to 40 percent” work reliably. The only minor gripe is that first setup with Alexa needs you to link the Kasa skill and then discover devices – not hard, just an extra step if you’re not used to it. Once that’s done, I haven’t had to touch it again. Google Home works similarly; I tested briefly and it picked up the switches without any weirdness.

The only real annoyance I hit was during initial pairing on one of the three units. Two connected within about three minutes each. The third one refused to finish setup a couple times, then randomly worked the next day when I tried again – which lines up with some reviews saying setup can be "unpredictable". Not a deal‑breaker, but if you’re installing several in a row, expect that one might waste some time. After that, though, stability has been good. No random drop‑offs, no schedules failing, and they reconnect fine after brief power or router outages.