To start using a Philips Hue bulb, you only need to screw it in, turn on your light, and follow the instructions in the mobile app. We recommend grouping the lights into their own “room” in the Hue app, even if you only have them in one room to start. This way, you can easily control the entire space’s environment at once.
Hue’s White + Color bulbs provide a range of warm to cool whites and millions of colors to experiment with. The colors are rich and vibrant, and Philips’ pre-programmed scenes, such as Energize, Bright and Relax, allow you to quickly emulate your old “dumb” lights with different warmth levels of white light. Additionally, you can choose from a variety of color scenes in the app, or create your own color temperature.
The Hue app is easy to use, and the bulbs support voice commands from Amazon’s Alexa and the Google Assistant. This means you don’t even have to open the app to control your lights; you can simply say “Alexa, turn off the bedroom lights,” and only the lights in that designated room will extinguish. You can add up to 10 bulbs to your system using Bluetooth alone – at which point you’ll have to add a Philips Hue hub into the mix to support up to 50 lights. The hub also enables features like HomeKit connectivity, light schedules and automations, home and away modes, and syncing with movies and music.
Automations is arguably the most useful of those features, as it allows you to set on/off schedules for your lights, including automatically turning the lights off when you leave the house. While some features are exclusive to those with Hue hubs, adding a hub to the mix makes the system more reliable, allowing you to do more with increasing numbers of connected lights.
Philips Hue also offers a ton of options for both indoor and outdoor smart bulbs. This means you can make every bulb in and out of your home smart, which is essential if you plan on investing in smart lighting long-term.
However, the biggest downside of Philips Hue is the price. These bulbs are on the expensive side, with a two-pack of White + Color Ambiance bulbs costing $80. If you’re looking for cheaper bulbs to test out smart lighting, some of the other picks available may be better choices. However, if smart lighting is something you want to invest in going forward, we recommend going with one of Philips’ Hue starter kits, which can save you money in the long run.
Number 2. LIFX Color A19
