The Adventures Of Justine #4: Exotic Liaison (Unrated)

I'll admit, compared to their cheaper and seemingly similar Chinese clones, these are quite pricey especially for a very simple product. But what you pay in price you get back in quality and durability. If you are serious about going all in on the smart home scene these are a must-have. I've tried those cheaper knockoff lights that have 'full' RGB color range, but they both have terrible connectivity issues, awful color accuracy, and even worse durability. I had 4/5 of my cheap bulbs fail within the first 3 months.These Philips hue lights? Not a single issue in the months and months I've had these. The color accuracy is impeccable. The software integration is seamless and super easy to navigate. The connectivity is fast and consistent. The brightness is top of its class. And the features are plentiful and super useful. Time based lighting is a must have for me now. And the ability to accurately sense when I leave my house or arrive is unlike any other app or tool I've tried to use in the past. Every time I come home, my lights are on, set to the correct temperature, and always ready for commands or changes in scenes.tl;dr - if you are serious about smart home, but the price seems too high in comparison to others. Get these regardless. It's worth every single penny. You won't regret it

For better or for worse, I'm outfitting most any bulb that makes sense in my house with Hue Color bulbs. I'm up to a few more than 20 at the moment. They all work great and these new 3rd generation bulbs make fantastic colors.I use them for my outside lights, kitchen recessed lights, family room recessed lights, and a few light fixtures around the house. My house is pretty highly controlled with a SmartThings setup and every light switch in the house is smart.Plenty has already been said of the Hue bulbs so i won't go crazy on that. Instead, I'll just mention how I've got mine set up. For the switches connected to fixtures with Hue bulbs in them, I've got the wiring setup to bypass the switch so the bulb always has power and then the smart switch just tells the bulb to turn on/off. There is a slight delay when pressing the switch (since the command has to go through SmartThings, then to the Hue controller, then to the bulb), but it works well overall and removes the issue of people turning off the switch connected to a smart bulb.Overall, with 20 or so bulbs at $50 each under my belt, I'd say I'm a pretty satisfied customer. Wish the price was a bit lower (careful when buying the used bulbs - compare the generation) but, if they last like they are supposed to, it'll even out in the end.

Hue is by far the most reliable HomeKit product I use and this is the reason for its heavy presence in my home (with over 200 bulbs and growing). The stability of the system is unmatched among competitors and the quality of the components is top notch. This truly is a case of getting what you pay for, and worth the extra cost compared to some of the more value-centered competitors' apparent deals that do come at the sacrifice of features or reliability. How Hue will totally handle thread remains a bit unknown, with the hubs only currently having support, but I don't see this as a major factor since the Zigbee mesh the bulbs create for themselves is sufficient. The only negative I would consider is that the hubs do have a finite number of bulbs they can support before reliability begins to deteriorate rapidly - with the absolute maximum number being 63 and the danger zone starting at 50.

In love with Hue. If you haven't tried it, I know the cost seems ridiculous at $50 per bulb. But just go for it sometime with the hub and one bulb (color, not just the white, but the color), and I think you'll have so much fun with this you won't regret it at all. For example, we use one in a bed lamp, and at night, can turn it blue or red for a night light, then white during the day. Versatility is the key there, and some fun. The kids have them in their rooms and love it.We put this in our 6" can lights and our room has a ton of flexibility in color and voice control (we use alexa as well - actually, because we use her, I rarely use the app to control my bulbs. Alexa turns them on and off for me via voice command. But I do like the app, too)

These bulbs are amazing. Just replaced all of the bulbs in our house with the Hue bulbs and can now control every room with Google Assistant and a Google Home device.The app is great as well at setting up scenes and schedules.I have the kitchen lights turning on in the am and off as we leave. Then they come back on at sunset with a different with a different scene. The kids love to use them and they are easy to set up.It would be nice to see these bulbs around $15 less. The cost is a little higher and to do an entire house it’s a big investment.Outside holiday lights are all set up as well. Having the ability to change one bulb orange and one green for Halloween is great. Red and green for Christmas and the Super Bowl teams in Feb is excellent.I highly recommend

First of all, let me say I am a Philips Hue convert! I LOVE the color-changing possibilities!I started with a starter set of the bridge and two regular bulbs, that I put in my living room lights as a test. Since then I have extended the bulbs to my front porch, around my garage, and out into the yard. Multi-color for Christmas, pink for Valentine’s Day, green for St. Patrick’s Day, etc. The ability to “decorate” by just pulling out your smartphone is amazing!These particular bulbs are downward facing in recessed can lights on my front porch. They have been going for 5 months now, with no issues. In fact, by now one of my regular non-led bulbs would have burned out, but these are still going strong!The light is just as bright as old incandescent bulbs, but the versatility can’t be beat!