At a look
Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Clean total design
- Can management GE Cync bulbs and fixtures, even when they’re not wired to the swap
- Doesn’t depend on a sensible house hub
- Can work on 3-way/4-way circuits without having companion switches
- Matter licensed
Cons
- GE brand on the quilt plate is unappealing
- Large proportions and pigtails may complicate set up
- You’re paying for 3-way/4-way performance whether or not you want it or not
Our Verdict
This easy dimmer will get the job achieved and is especially enticing in properties that produce other GE Cync merchandise, however its giant dimension and pigtails may complicate set up.
Price When Reviewed
This worth will present the geolocated pricing textual content for product undefined
Best Pricing Today
Price When Reviewed
$25.99
Best Prices Today: GE Cync Paddle Dimmer Smart Switch
GE Lighting’s Cync model takes a much-needed break from its sometimes overdesigned and overcomplicated in-wall swap design technique with this launch, a mercifully clear, virtually elegant, sensible dimmer. Don’t let its mouthful of a reputation, the GE Cync Paddle Dimmer Smart Switch, sully your preliminary opinion.
As with the GE Cync Keypad Dimmer I reviewed in December 2025, it is a product that makes probably the most sense for members within the GE Cync ecosystem who’ve a number of GE Cync merchandise in the home. That stated, it’s additionally an reasonably priced choice for anybody who wants a sensible 3-way or 4-way dimmer, as a result of not like most related merchandise, you received’t want companion switches on the different ends of that circuit.
The GE Cync Paddle Dimmer Smart Switch can management different GE Cync units even when they’re not bodily wired to the swap.
Now, if you happen to don’t want a 3-way dimmer, there are many inexpensive options; the Tapo Smart Wi-Fi Light Switch Dimmer S505D, prices simply $19, for instance. Tapo’s 3-way dimmer, alternatively, prices about $33).
In phrases of high quality, it compares favorably with such higher-end sensible dimmers because the $75 Lutron Diva Smart Dimmer (which requires the Lutron Smart Hub, however integrates many extra sorts of sensible house units–regardless of not supporting Matter) and the $39 Leviton Decora Smart Wi-Fi 2nd Gen (mannequin D26HD; we reviewed the first-generation model DW6HD in 2021).
Specifications
The GE Cync Paddle Dimmer comes with adhesive labels you should use to determine the wires in your field, wire nuts for making connections, and a canopy plate with a mildly obnoxious GE brand.
Christopher Null/Foundry
The swap helps Matter-over-Wi-Fi with its built-in 2.4GHz Wi-Fi adapter and is suitable with the Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant, and Samsung SmartIssues ecosystems. It’s additionally suitable with GE’s Savant sensible house system for these enterprise skilled installations.
The swap will be assigned to a gaggle within the Cync app, which signifies that it could management different units even when they aren’t bodily wired to the swap.
Installation and setup
The again of the swap is an identical to the Keypad Dimmer, with 5 pigtails that you just’ll connect with your family wiring. In addition to load, line, floor, and impartial wires, a fifth traveler wire is just used for multi-way setups. The wiring is easy for single-pole setup, and a considerable wiring diagram within the field can information you thru extra advanced installs. Multiple wire nuts are included, however as with my Keypad Dimmer set up, I wanted to make use of a few of my very own to finish set up; particularly, to tie into the fats bundle of white impartial wires in my electrical field.
The dimmer has pigtail wires for line, load, impartial, floor, and a traveler wire for 3-way circuits. Its giant dimension made for a tricky slot in my electrical field.
Christopher Null/Foundry
After wiring up the swap, I managed to get all the pieces in place inside my field, though the electronics portion of the unit doesn’t look like any smaller than the Keypad swap. Nonetheless, these 5 pigtails and the guaranteeing wire nuts take up a number of house, and getting all the pieces located simply so to make sure the swap is flush in opposition to the wall is perhaps a problem if you happen to aren’t fortunate the primary time round. Again, I had higher success with this course of than I did with the Keypad and was in a position to mash all the pieces into place with out an excessive amount of hassle.
The included cowl is a two-piece affair. A bracket mounts on high of the swap with two tiny screws, and a canopy plate snaps on high of it, hiding these screws. The GE brand on the quilt plate is small however not sufficiently small; company branding just isn’t a design function I ever need on my gentle switches.
The swap will be put in utilizing the Cync app or bypassed in favor of a Matter setup. Since the swap is so easy, there’s no big purpose to make use of the Cync app if you happen to don’t have a number of different Cync gear in the home you additionally need to management. That stated, the app is required for firmware updates and different administration, so that you’re most likely finest off beginning there both approach. I didn’t have any points with onboarding, although preliminary Matter configuration generally is a bit gradual.
Using the GE Cync Paddle Dimmer Smart Switch
The GE Cync app is simple to make use of, and if you happen to set the dimmer up to make use of it–versus controlling it by way of Matter–you may unlock a lot of options for controlling different GE Cync units.
Christopher Null/Foundry
As talked about, it is a easy dimmer: The central paddle’s appears are deceiving: It just isn’t a rocker that toggles from on to off and vice versa; it’s only a button that depresses barely on the backside and bounces proper again. Tap it as soon as to show the sunshine on—or off—and that’s it. A mechanical slider on the proper facet of the swap strikes easily up and down to regulate brightness dynamically; a row of seven white LEDs on the left-hand facet of the swap offer you a visible indicator of the place issues stand in relation to most brightness.
These LEDs will be set to briefly show or stay on completely as a swap finder in the dead of night. I didn’t encounter any hassle utilizing both the swap or the app, and I discovered its dimming options labored completely nicely and fluidly with LED bulbs.
This is the place the GE brand belongs: on the swap itself, prior to installing its clean cowl plate.
Christopher Null/Foundry
The swap will be assigned to a gaggle within the GE Cync app, which signifies that it could management different GE Cync units even when they aren’t bodily wired to the swap. This is useful if you wish to management, say, each overhead lights, lamps, and/or undercabinet or undershelf lights in the identical room utilizing a single button on the wall.
GE’s TrueImage function additionally works with the Paddle Dimmer, and as with the Keypad it’s a fantastic however enjoyable add-on. To set it up, you snap two photographs of your lights, one at full brightness and one at zero. The app then merges the 2 photographs; as you dim and brighten the lights contained in the app, the photograph of the lights within the app dims and brightens accordingly. It’s a kind of instruments that makes extra sense if you see it in motion. It’s a surprisingly efficient addition to the function set.
Should you purchase the GE Cync Paddle Dimmer Smart Switch?
As I’ve already mentioned, the GE Cync Paddle Dimmer Smart Switch is just a bit costlier than competing merchandise from the likes of TP-Link (Kasa Smart and Tapo), Meross, or Treatlife, nevertheless it’s loads cheaper than what you’ll discover from high-end opponents equivalent to Leviton or Lutron, and it really works about in addition to the rest I’ve examined.
However, as with the Keypad Dimmer, there’s nothing overly particular about it to justify selecting it over one other title model dimmer, until you have already got a heavy funding in different Cync-brand gear.
This evaluation is a part of TechHive’s in-depth protection of the best smart dimmer switches.