Philips Hue White A19 E27 60 W Equivalent Smart Bulb Starter Kit (2 Hue White Bulbs and a Bridge, Compatible with Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit and Google Assistant) [Energy Class A+]

I would say brand says a lot here and with Philips you can be sure you're getting a good product.A lot of companies rip products off and I always try to go with the original or market leader because you do get quality although you pay a bit more but with these lights you will want to pay that extra bit for the quality.The hub was really easy to setup, you just plug it into your router, the only thing is it has to be wired so you better have a port free.The connection is reliable and it always works.The only negative thing and this could be the ECHO DOT but when you tell it to turn off "ROOM" sometimes it gets confused.~TURN OFF "MY ROOM"~ There is more than one device named "MY ROOM" which one do you mean?~ "MY ROOM"~ OKThen the light goes off so you have to repeat the name of the room...I only have two rooms setup with a single light bulb in each room and it gets confused and it did it when I just had the one room so there isn't multiple rooms with similar names or anything.It's not too bad, most of the time it works, it helps if you phrase it a certain way:"ALEXA TURN OFF.... .... .... 'MY ROOM' "You can connect the bridge to the Philips website so you can control the lights when you're away from home which is good.Make sure you get the correct bulb set for your lights, bayonet or screw.I haven't tried it but Philips say a single hub can control up to 50 lights and there are lots of options.I don't have 50 lights in my house even with lamps and everything but you can buy wall lights for cool ambient effects and you can set moods where you get your control device a command and it will turn that setting on.I just have the white lights but you can get the colour lights if you want something like that.Practically for me it is handy turning off the lights using voice commands, the light switch is on the opposite side of the room with respect to my bed and my room can be messy so for me I used to turn the light off and navigate to the bed but now I can get into bed and just turn the light off with a voice command.It's also nice using brightness commands to dim the lights so If I wake up in the middle of the night I can set all lights to 50% brightness meaning I don't need to cover my face when I go to the toilet.It's only a benefit to get this, you just have to justify the price.

Ok here we go.....Having recently moved into a new house I thought it was about time that I finally accepted that technology was moving at a great speed and that I needed to do some catching up. Having already gotten an Amazon Echo and a Dot, plus a Nest Thermostat, (reviews are available in my profile), I already had the makings of a simple smart home.My first venture in smart wireless lighting was the Phillips Hue starter kit, that comes with the bridge, power supply for this and two smart bulbs.As can be expected for the price you get a well designed and thought out package with all the techno bumph to boot, the box draws eyes but sort of shows the lacking inadequacy of the purchase and as you can guess further bulbs are needed to really zoop up your house, so to speak.The whole setup is simple, this is done in conjunction with the Hue app and the bulbs I got are dimmable but no colour change. The light given off by the bulbs is warm and cosy and at the dimmest is great for the evening in front of the TV. The brightest setting is enough to easily read a book or write a letter etc.The app is straight forward with varying degrees of functionality but this can be extended with zones being set up, more bubs, coloured bulbs, the list goes on and on.Now the real fun for me was the integration with Alexa, she allows voice control at the simplest end, for those with coloured bulbs, you guys are going to need the IFTTT app, I don't use this app but rest assured set up is simple and use more so.As the product matures technologies like zonal lighting, motion detection and speech recognition are only going to improve and I am so far very happy with my techno purchase.Great product, 5 stars and I'm very happy.

The media could not be loaded. I have Alexa and wondered, "What do I do every day, that requires very little effort that I no longer want to do". The answer? Turning my lights on and off.My laziness had increased 200% now I have the Phillips Hue bulbs. I can either control them from my phone, assuming I can be bothered to lift my arm, or scream at Alexa to turn the lights on.The system itself is very clever. You can control seperate lights in different rooms, or control individual lights on one room. I have three bulbs in 1 room and can turn them all on or off independently of each other. I can even have them at different brightness to each other. You can do this level of control from the app or Alexa.Using the app you are able to set routines such as 'wake up' or 'go to bed'. These either gradually increase or lower the brightness, depending on what you are doing (waking or sleeping). You are able to set timers and have them flash after 10 mins. And you can use them like conventional schedule timers. Setting them to come on when you are away. You can even have then turn on randomly between certain hours to simulate someone being at home.The light switch they are connected too must always be on, and you turn them off via the app. The bulbs must be connected to the hub which is connected to the internet. If there is a power cut, when the power comes back on, as the switch is on the bulbs will turn on. This can be annoying at night time as the 100% brightness is very bright. But how often are there power cuts?I absolutely love the system. I was worried how often I would use it, but it's become a daily activity, turning lights on before I get into rooms, or rushing upstairs light off when I forgot to. Simply fantastic