Phillips Hue Smart Bulbs

[johbreaking]

Finally taking the plunge and starting to go down the smart home route. Have Alexa's in each room and now we want a couple of Smart Bulbs, Philipps Hue seem to be most mentioned. The only problem is I don't know what to go for. I have mainly spotlights in the house so which bulb is best?

[Netwacky87]

eBay/Amazon knock off's mate, all the way. I have all smart bulbs in the house including outdoor lights. All controlled from Alexa on routines and fraction of the price of Philips Hue. I can say 'Alexa, start a movie' and it'll dim all the lights and even change the colours if you want. I paid about £12 per bulb for coloured and cheaper for just white.

[tom_newton]

I've got a bunch of Hue bulbs and I'm very happy with them. As @mmoseley mentions though, if you've got spotlights the Hue GU10s could get pricey (I've only got bayonet fitting regular pendants where I have my Hues).

[mullet_man]

I've got a few of the Philips ones, you can also add the Ikea bulbs to the Philips hub which is nice as they are a bit cheaper.

[localzuk]

If you don't want to spend on the Hue ones, look for Zigbee compatible bulbs (most say if they're compatible with Hue).

[johbreaking]

So I have to go for GU10 for spotlights? That could get expensive pretty fast!

[localzuk]

Depends on what fitting your spots use. If they're GU10 spots, then yeah.

[FishCustard]

It might be cheaper to replace the fitting with a different one than buy GU10 bulbs. For reasons unknown they are always far more expensive.

[SamanthaD]

Ask yourself if you really need full colour - I have 16 Hue's in my house and only 2 are the full colour ones. Most are variable white - only 3 are plain white ones. Keep your eyes on the auction sites - you can occasionally get a good deal on proper Hue's (got 4 x GU10's for £31 last year!).

[Steve21]

Out of curiosity, how many of you who have them so far actually change colours etc? (After the initial ooooh that's pretty stage)

 

Was looking at some of these before and like the idea of dimming them on command/settings, or being able to control on/off etc, but struggling to see where the colours will actually be used a lot (Unless you like the idea of changing your house colours etc when a goal is scored according to the adverts )

 

Steve

[SamanthaD]

I use the warm white / cool white quite a lot depending on what I'm doing (especially in the kitchen), actual colours less so unless it's a special occasion.

[FishCustard]

Out of curiosity, how many of you who have them so far actually change colours etc? (After the initial ooooh that's pretty stage)

 

Was looking at some of these before and like the idea of dimming them on command/settings, or being able to control on/off etc, but struggling to see where the colours will actually be used a lot (Unless you like the idea of changing your house colours etc when a goal is scored according to the adverts )

 

Steve

 

On the very odd occasion to wind up my partner! Other than that, not at all.

[johbreaking]

It might be cheaper to replace the fitting with a different one than buy GU10 bulbs. For reasons unknown they are always far more expensive.

 

What fittings would you say to look at?

[FishCustard]

Depends what the luminaire is (i.e. is it a lamp, a ceiling light, where is it in the house, etc.), but anything with a standard E27 (screw) or B22 (bayonet) mount would be better than a GU10!

[sted]

its also worth looking at the ikea ones. they are what i use and work fine (you just need to get a gateway for them but there should be a pack with bulbs and a gateway in) they are also releasing blinds that can be controlled by the gateway later this month. looks like they have upgraded the bulbs with more colour options https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/tradfri-gateway-kit-colour-and-white-spectrum-10406877/

[fiendishlyclever]

I've got a load of Hue bulbs and stand alone lamps and even the LED strips. Bought most of them when Phillips phased out the old hub and everyone sold off the kits cheap (I've since managed to give away several hubs) I've yet to see a single one fail.

 

I pick a colour I like but don't change them in response to a trigger.

 

I've also got several smart plugs, most of which are connected to lamps. I've got a Xiaomi led bulb in the bedroom and it's a lovely piece of kit for the money. The downside of the cheaper kit is most uses WiFi and I've got dozens of devices in total connected to my router...

 

Have a look at ifttt.com if you want to make your devices respond to external triggers (eg a tweet etc) It works for smart plugs too. [emoji106]

[Davit2005]

I went for Hue for the option of a Hub which used wired connectivity rather than multiple WiFI devices. I also have Hive as I prefer the Hub and the Plugs have been rock solid compared to the TP links that I tried 3 of.

 

I use a Harmony Hub which controls my AV Amp, TV, Apple TV and BlueRay player.

 

Alexa controls it all, I say I'm up and it switches on lights in Lounge and Kitchen and turns the TV onto a specific channel. When I leave home it switches off all the lights and AV equipment and turns on the internal CCTV cameras. I say watch DVD or Movies and it switches on the AV Amp, Blueray, turns down the lights and turns on the TV to correct input.

Edited August 14, 2019 by Davit2005