Ordered an Invoke today. Anyone else?

[Mark Kaplan]

I ordered the silver model. I know a lot of people (including my wife) will ask why? Well, very simply, I love Cortana and I'm looking forward to comparing her with Alexa. The Skype integration is a big plus however Alexa has this now with her own messaging and calling capabilities. As Dan mentioned in his article, there really is no compelling reason to lay down $200 for this device. I just decided I want to try it out. I will update this thread once I receive the device. ETA 10/25.
Harman Kardon Invoke – Voice Activated Speaker with Cortana

 

[Scienceguy Labs]

Awesome. I was really anticipating the Invoke, but as soon as I heard the price, I decided to hold off. Its build quality, Cortana functionality, and sound quality are probably worth the $199, but I just couldn't pull the trigger on it. Let us know that you think.

 

[bellyer]

I bought a black Invoke at Best Buy today. A few hours in and I'm quite enjoying it. I've been a huge fan of Cortana since launch and love the recent improvements to the service, especially on the home automation front. There are a few things that take some work to figure out when it comes to figuring out the right way to ask/command certain tasks, like setting restaurant reservations through OpenTable. Overall though, the build quality and the sound and responsiveness to voice are terrific. Having used Cortana on our phones (Win10Mobile and Android) and on Surface Pro 4s and our Surface Studio, the Invoke seems to be the best implementation so far when it comes to the responsiveness to voice commands from me, my wife and my young kid. I'm looking forward to future improvements, but for now, I think I'll be pretty happy with it.

 

[Mark Kaplan]

In addition the two (Cortana & Alexa) will soon be able to access each other by voice command. I'm looking forward to seeing what owning both brings.

 

[lmoritz]

I bought one at Best Buy yesterday, and actually am quite impressed. The sound is excellent (at least as good overall as my Sonos Play:1 speakers). The build quality is exceptional. The Cortana functionality is as expected, with some nice touches, such as a continuing to play music in the background at a lower volume while engaging with you. The coming Alexa skills will push it even further.

I was surprised when I heard the price was $199, considering the cost of the Echo's and Google Home's out there, but considering the hardware, the price is fair.

 

[gamo62]

I bought the Graphite version at the MS store. Turns out they started selling them on the 20th. After the 10% student discount, I got it for $180 plus tax. I love it. Sounds great, and it was easy to set up. It looks gorgeous, and the build quality is solid.

 

[fdruid]

I would, even I'd get it as an import. But I think it doesn't support Spanish, or my country. It sounds like a great device and most things that don't convince about it are flaws in the system (ie, Cortana, Windows).

For example, how would this handle multiple users talking to it, using their calendar, playing their music?

 

[lmoritz]

@fdruid Unfortunately, it doesn't handle multiple users yet. I hope they get it because I could really use that capability.

 

[MirthRock]

I ordered the silver model. I know a lot of people (including my wife) will ask why? Well, very simply, I love Cortana and I'm looking forward to comparing her with Alexa. The Skype integration is a big plus however Alexa has this now with her own messaging and calling capabilities. As Dan mentioned in his article, there really is no compelling reason to lay down $200 for this device. I just decided I want to try it out. I will update this thread once I receive the device. ETA 10/25.
Harman Kardon Invoke – Voice Activated Speaker with Cortana

I wish that the Poll associated with this post had an option for "No, I won't be burned by another product that Microsoft abandons in less than a year."

 

[gregsedwards]

I ordered mine online this morning for pick up at my local Microsoft store this afternoon. I cashed in $100 worth of Microsoft Rewards points on the purchase, so maybe my wife will only half-murder me.

I'm interested to see how it performs in the living room alongside my Xbox One. Hoping they don't compete over every request, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[ashram]

If I got it with a HUGE discount, then sure.... but after the Band and now Windows Phone "dumping" I'd rather wait to see where it it in 2 years. Now if someone made a small, echo dot sized unit, in the $40-70 price range, then sure, I'd try it.

 

[RonSouther]

Picked one up at Best Buy yesterday. Quality Speaker. Great sound. Hoping for Xbox integration and multi user soon.

 

[tgp]

I cashed in $100 worth of Microsoft Rewards points on the purchase, so maybe my wife will only half-murder me.

Or you'll only have to sleep on the couch one week instead of two weeks!

 

[th34monk3ys]

Wish this was in England.......

 

[Type_Grey]

I ordered the silver model yesterday from Harmon Kardon, and received a shipping confirmation this morning - ETA 10/26.

I'm bought it as I'm looking for a good quality speaker first, and Cortana integration for my 950XL as an added bonus.

 

[anon(5884236)]

ashram

I'd rather wait to see where it in 2 years.

This is the flaw in many people's logic. You can use it and be a happy customer for 2 years or wait for 2 years. If it's a good product today, it will continue to function at least as good as it does today. My Windows Phone still works perfect. The fact that they don't sell anymore has no impact on my personal usage. Who cares if they kill it off in 2 years? It will continue to work. The only way it stops working is if MS kills all the Cortana APIs. Barring that, this device will continue to be a smart speaker for many years to come even if they stop selling them and even if they stop developing new features.

 

[kevon skat pedersen]

I don't really have a problem with the price.
You pay the same for a quality speaker without Cortana. I haven't seen or tried the invoke, so I can't compare to a regular speaker.

But the thing that annoys me about so many products. They aren't available in my country. I can't even buy them from the US, and use them in my country.

Even though my country probably have a higher percentage that speaks English, than the US does.

But for it to work, you have to spoof you region to be US. But then you suddenly can't use the store, or some other ****.

But otherwise, I like that Cortana is cross platform. As far as I know, neither Alexa, Google Assistant or Siri is available on windows.

I do think that MS should make a Cortana software for windows 7 and 8.1.

The syncing of notifications etc. Is an awesome feature!

 

[blazewon22]

Can't say that I have seen a huge need for Cortana, Alexa, Google AI in my home yet. My Sonos speakers work just fine.

 

[DiesIrae512]

I bought one from Best Buy yesterday. So far, I'm happy with it. Great sound as a basic Bluetooth speaker and using the streaming services. Skype calls were clear and problem free. Probably the biggest reason I pulled the trigger against my better judgment was for use with my Insteon home automation deployment, and it works very well with that, too. The main thing stopping me completely loving it currently is that I can't just play my own OneDrive music collection (no Groove support unlike Windows 10 Cortana, which I knew before buying). I'd love it if that were a capability it supported.

 

[anon(7584364)]

Can it play music from your OneDrive or a NAS? I know multi-room audio and multi-user will come later. All of this is a big factor vs. Echo or Sonos. Sonos can play off a NAS and I was hoping they would add Cortana support since they said they want to work with many digital assistants. SO I'm afraid to pull the trigger.