Hiku The Shopping Button

I wanted to give this 5 stars, but I can't, due to some limitations. I purchased this item with the sole purpose of integrating with Wal-Mart Grocery Pickup and quickly found that it does NOT work with Wal-Mart Grocery. Once you set up the app, you are able to enter your zip code to connect with Wal-Mart and the app will show a blue dot next to items that are available. You have the ability to add these items to your Wal-Mart shopping cart. The catch? These will go to your Wal-Mart.com shopping cart and not your Wal-Mart Grocery Shopping Cart. They are not one in the same. When I reached out to Hiku, I was told that Hiku does not work with Wal-Mart Grocery. They look forward to integrating with them, but the issue is with Wal-Mart and not with the shopping button itself. So, with that in mind ... this button does a pretty good job of keeping your shopping list organized and grouped (for the most part) by aisle. It's VERY convenient to scan items as you run out of things. Doesn't work as well with packaged items that you might unload into individuals and throw out the original packaging. However, you do have the option to type in or read out an item that you can't otherwise scan. The app has options to add and edit aisles and you can arrange your shopping list accordingly. It is a little cumbersome for a big shopping trip unless you've already had a chance to arrange your aisles to match that of your chosen marketplace. If not, you will be scrolling around a lot and checking items off. Not fun when you have a toddler with you (hence the reason I use Wal-Mart Grocery). If you're just looking for a list-keeper to keep track of your items as you go, then I would give this one 5 stars. Since I was given the impression that this was integrated with Wal-Mart Grocery, I have to dock a couple of stars. Hiku also offered to process a return/refund, but I will wait and see. I'm sure there will be changes and improvements, at which point, I might update my review.

Read this before you buy, please. Try out the appropriate app (Android or iPhone) and make sure you love it and can use it everyday to create and maintain a shopping list. The device, $59 on Amazon today, yet listed at prices from $49 to $79 likely the cheaper ones referred to a close out if their first gen product(s), will add the following functions to that app, should you be able to configure it to connect: bar code scanning and potentially voice recognition. That's it. And you're limited to connecting it on 2.4 gHz wifi, the loud beeps the device makes when either bar code or voice is used. I strongly recommend looking carefully at their Web site ([...]), the faq about the beeps the device makes suggests the product isn't baked. It never understood my voice well enough to get even one product right, and the bar code worked once. I even tried their automated (claimed API based) connection to Walmart, created an account, etc, yet the app wouldn't allow me to move between the Walmart page and the app! It required me to re-log in every time I wanted to check the items. And the one item I got to scan correctly transformed into 3 units of some other snack (was cookies, yet magically converted to something claiming to be celery flavored, I think for humans, but lost interest. I read a short interview with the then CEO I found on the Web (last quarter 2015, I think) and he claimed success in a few foreign markets. Yet the best rating I found (still on their site) was Macworld Dec 2014, rated 4 out if 5. Yet I got the 2nd generation hardware, and most current Android software, but everything failed, without any hardware or software issues other than the design and implementation of the solution. And do read the privacy statement, because that reviewer read a different privacy statement, or it has changed, I don't read that your private information is separated from what's on your list at all, and if it's stored with your IP or any other info like your email, name, or address it's available to hackers and "authorities" on demand, even if it's not sold, traded, loaned, or acquired. I'm not comparing this to Amazon's high-end solution that is always listening for its name, but was hoping for an easy to use, sharable shopping list app (not needing direct connection to Walmart, but liked the idea). But the entire user experience is dismal.

The haiku is a very unique device. I really like the fact that when I'm running low on a product in my home all I have to do is scan the barcode and it will add it to my shopping list. The only thing is that it will only add stuff to your main shopping list so if you plan on scanning items from different stores such as Sam's Club, the grocery store or A specialty food store it will not distinguish between the lists. You can go into the app and move the food into the list that you want but it takes a little more time. The battery on the haiku last several days so you don't always have to charge it. I found that about 80% of the products I scan are recognized in the app. However I did notice that sometimes it will not tell you the name brand. It will only tell you what the product is such as a duster vice a swiffer duster. My haiku does have a little bit of a hard time recognizing what I speak to it but it does keep the recording of your voice so you can go back and listen to figure out what it was you were trying to say. All in all it is a good product and I'm happy that I have one in my kitchen.