Where To Buy Smart Light Bulbs
Light bulbs have grown exponentially smarter in recent years. You can now replace your standard incandescent bulb with a variety of connected solutions you can control with just a few taps on your smartphone or tablet. Some even connect with smartwatches and voice assistants. But with so many options flooding the smart home market, which one is right for you?
where to buy smart light bulbs
We've rounded up the highest-rated smart bulbs we've tested here. Read on for our top picks, and scroll down for general information about smart light bulbs and some points to consider while you're shopping for one.
The Wyze Bulb Color is the most affordable smart color bulb we've tested. It can shine 16 million colors, and you can control it from your phone or with your voice via Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. It offers ample smart features for the price, including support for custom scenes, device-triggered automations, and scheduling. You simply won't find a better smart light bulb for a lower price than this.
With the ability to produce virtually any color, plus a range of warm to cool white tones that shine bright or dim low, the Wyze Bulb Color can help set the mood, whether you're working from home or hosting a game night. It's a lot smarter than your average light bulb, but affordable enough to put in every fixture in the house. And you can group bulbs together to control them at the same time, or make each shine a different color.
The Wyze Bulb Color BR30 stands out among the many smart light bulbs we've reviewed because it works specifically in recessed fixtures. It shares many strengths with its A19 sibling, the Wyze Bulb Color, with support for 16 million colors, voice controls, and third-party integrations via IFTTT. We also appreciate its hub-free design and low price.
The Wyze Bulb Color BR30 uses a standard E26 base, while the BR30 in its name refers to its shape. These variants have wider (or bulged) reflector elements that give them a floodlight-like shape, whereas A19 models have a traditional shape that's common for everything from tabletop lamps to ceiling fans. Which one you should use depends on the type of light fixture in question. If it's recessed into a ceiling, BR30 bulbs are the better choice because they more completely fill the space within.
Whether you're looking to turn a dorm room into the ultimate party zone or you just want some soft illumination under your kitchen cabinets, the Wyze Light Strip Pro makes it easy and affordable to achieve a wide range of accent lighting goals. Like the standard model, it allows for quick peel-and-stick installation, has a support app and voice control, offers a range of effects and automations, and has a microphone for music syncing. It can display millions of colors as well as a range of white tones, but the standard Light Strip can shine only one at a time, whereas the Pro can output up to 16 hues at once.
For a festive way to illuminate your outdoor spaces, try string lights such as the Govee Lynx Dream. Each string has dimmable multicolor LED bulbs that you can control with your voice or phone. They also support IFTTT applets, and you get a generous selection of preset lighting scenes and a fun Music Sync mode that's great for parties.
Philips makes some of our favorite smart light bulbs, but its Hue LEDs are prciey. Starting at just $9.97, the Philips Dimmable A19 Smart Wi-Fi Wiz Light Bulb is a far more affordable option. It offers ample features for the price, including support for IFTTT integrations and voice control via Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri Shortcuts.
If you're looking for a smart, stylish table lamp that can evoke a specific vibe instantly, the Philips Hue Iris is a terrific standalone smart accent light for beginners and existing Hue users alike. It's easy to set up and use and even easier on the eyes, offering preset white or color scenes, along with the ability to create and save your own.
The Wyze Bulb White improves upon its predecessor with a longer lifespan, a wider color-temperature range, and an easier setup process. At less than $10 per bulb, it's the best smart white LED we've tested, and second only to the slightly pricier Wyze Bulb Color.
Although it lacks the smart features of the Globe Electric Smart Ambient Light, the Wyze Night Light costs less and doesn't occupy an outlet. This wireless, battery-powered light casts an attractive soft white glow to illuminate dark areas when its integrated sensors detect motion. You can mount it on your wall within minutes and it lasts up to three months per charge. And then, when the light runs low on battery, simply recharge it via USB-C and pop it right back onto its magnetic mounting plate.
The Philips Hue Bluetooth White and Color Ambiance is the first Hue smart bulb equipped with a Bluetooth radio, which means you can control it without connecting it to a Hue Bridge: Its app lets you turn it on and off, dim it, and change colors and color temperature settings, and the Ambiance supports Alexa and Google voice commands. You can pair it to a Hue Bridge if you want to control it from afar, as well as take advantage of smart home integration and other features that make Hue a best-in-class smart lighting platform.
If you want to dip your toe into the smart lighting waters before investing in a pricey hub-controlled system, the Hue Bluetooth White and Color Ambiance bulb is a good place to start. It performed well in our tests and is easy to install, and you can add it to your Hue ecosystem should you decide to go all out.
Smart bulbs offer a degree of control and interactivity you just can't get with traditional bulbs, including scheduled timers and remote control options. They're also more convenient; it's easier to tap on a smartphone screen than to get up and trudge over to a wall switch.
Beyond keeping you out of the dark, you can schedule or remotely control most of the bulbs we've reviewed, which is great if you want to save on energy costs or often forget to turn off the lights before leaving the house. Some bulbs use geofencing, which means they work with the GPS in your smartphone to automatically turn on or off when you get home or leave the house. Color-changing bulbs are also great for mood lighting, and some can even sync with certain movies and TV shows.
Some bulbs are compatible with Amazon's Alexa, Apple's HomeKit, or Google Assistant, which means you can control your home lighting with just your voice. You can also integrate some of the bulbs on this list with security cameras, thermostats, and other smart home devices. IFTTT compatibility further lets you create recipes that automatically cause your lights to react to certain triggers, like phone notifications or weather changes.
Most of the smart bulbs we review are marketed as equivalent to 60-watt incandescent models, which sounds self-explanatory, but some bulbs are brighter than others. To see just how bright a light is, you need to look at the lumens it puts out (listed in the table below): the more lumens, the brighter the light.
Some smart bulbs need to connect to your smartphone through a home automation hub such as the Philips Hue Bridge. The addition of a hub usually means a higher price and an extra step or two in the installation process.
Since you are likely going to control these lights from your phone or tablet, make sure that it's easy to do. If you have multiple bulbs, for instance, you should seek out a companion app that lets you easily arrange them in groups for customization.
The second way is to purchase a corresponding hub like the Philips Bridge to set up the smart bulbs. A smart hub acts as the middle man between your bulb and wireless router. All you have to do is connect the bridge to your WiFi router. Once the three lights on the bridge appear, you can finish up the setup process by downloading the Philips Hue app. Note that the exact setup process may differ by brand.
Since all smart light bulbs are LED (light-emitting diode), you can expect these light bulbs to last much longer than your old incandescent bulbs. And because LED bulbs are 90 percent more efficient than incandescent light bulbs, you may even see a reduction in your energy bill with enough smart bulbs on the premises.
Also, many companies make smart lighting starter kits that include bulbs, switches, hubs, and other necessary accessories to get you set up. By purchasing a bundle, you may be able to save some money. If you are looking for a starter kit, we found the Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance Starter Kit Gen 3 has the best smart bulbs. Why? Our testing found that it is easy to set up, offers a large list of helpful features, and is compatible with an intuitive app to help you control the whole system.
Looking to add a pop of color to your space? Smart light bulbs can help with that. For example, take the Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance A19 Starter Kit. You can set the bulbs to a certain color to help wake you up in the morning, go to bed at night, and it's compatible with Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant.
Colorful smart home bulbs also let you change the tone based on your mood or an event such as a birthday party. You can set some smart light bulbs to change color (and switch back) at certain times via a compatible app.
Whether your place of residence was built over 100 years ago or is newly-constructed, you can use smart light bulbs to bring some convenience into your everyday life. Smart light bulbs can be used in lamps, installed in pre-existing light fixtures in the home, and, really, anywhere you would install a traditional bulb.
The Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus makes for a great and easy way to add accent lighting to kitchen counters, stairways, and other indoor areas. The Philips Hue ecosystem is bigger than any other smart lighting solution, but Hue products are also much more expensive than the competition.
White smart bulbs downplay the party features that are a staple of color-tunable bulbs. On the other hand, white smart bulbs are less expensive than color bulbs, making it more affordable to roll them out in multiple rooms. 041b061a72