The perfect good gentle bulb for 2024

Connectivity: Bluetooth or hub | White or coloration? Each | App options: Mild schedules and automations, dwelling and away modes, syncing with motion pictures and music | Good dwelling compatibility: Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri/HomeKit | Expandability: Contains outside lighting

In the event you’ve performed any analysis into good lights, you’ve in all probability come throughout Philips Hue bulbs. The vary is standard for quite a lot of causes, and we agree they’re the most effective good gentle bulbs you may get because of their vast compatibility, simple to make use of cellular app and their expandability. Notably, if you already know you wish to outfit a couple of room in your house with these IoT gadgets, Philips Hue is the way in which to go.

The very first thing that’s vital to learn about Hue bulbs is that they’re now Bluetooth enabled. Meaning you should buy a number of to check out first, then simply increase your system with a hub whenever you wish to add extra lights to your private home. Beforehand, the hub was required for any and all lights, however now it’s a lot simpler to dip your toe into the vary earlier than totally taking the plunge.

Like all the different good lights we examined, you solely have to screw in a Philips Hue bulb, flip in your gentle, and observe the directions within the cellular app to begin utilizing it. Even in the event you solely have the lights in a single room to begin, we nonetheless suggest grouping them into their very own “room” within the Hue app so you’ll be able to simply management all the house’s surroundings without delay.

Hue’s White + Shade bulbs present a spread of heat to chill whites and tens of millions of colours to experiment with in your good dwelling. Colours are wealthy and vibrant, and Philips’ pre-programmed scenes, similar to Energize, Vibrant and Calm down, allow you to shortly emulate your outdated “dumb” lights with completely different heat ranges of white gentle. You may choose from plenty of coloration scenes within the app, too, nevertheless it’s additionally simple to create your personal coloration temperature. So in the event you’ve all the time needed to flood your workplace with a rainbow of vibrant colours when you’re live-streaming on Twitch, you could find the exact presets you need, save them after which flip them on with only a few faucets within the app.

The Hue app is fairly simple to make use of, and the bulbs help voice instructions from Amazon’s Alexa and the Google Assistant. Meaning you don’t even should open the app to manage your lights; you’ll be able to merely use voice management and say “Alexa, flip off the bed room lights” and solely the lights in that designated room will extinguish. You’ll have the ability to add as much as 10 bulbs to your system utilizing Bluetooth alone – at which level you’ll have so as to add a Philips Hue hub into the combo to help as much as 50 lights. The hub additionally permits issues like HomeKit connectivity, gentle schedules and automations, dwelling and away modes and syncing with motion pictures and music.

Arguably essentially the most helpful of these options is automations, which helps you to set on/off schedules in your lights, together with mechanically turning the lights off whenever you depart the home. It’s comprehensible why Philips would make these few options unique to these with Hue hubs – including a hub into the combo makes the system extra dependable, permitting you to do extra with growing numbers of related lights, plus it would encourage many to put money into a hub and extra Hue bulbs over time. We like Hue’s hub not just for its reliability, but additionally as a result of it permits finer and extra versatile management over your gadgets. So in the event you’re on trip and wish to flip in your lounge lights to see what’s happening, you are able to do that.

Expandability goes past the variety of lights you have got in your good dwelling: It additionally consists of a number of good bulbs you’ll be able to set up exterior, too. The Hue vary has a ton of indoor and outside gentle bulbs to select from, together with recessed lights, outside pedestal and flood lights, gentle strips and extra. It’s one of many few ranges out there right this moment that provides you a ton of choices to make each bulb out and in of your private home good, which is vital to think about if you already know you wish to go all in on the good gentle entrance.

However that brings us to the largest draw back of Philips Hue, which is the worth. Hue bulbs are on the costly facet, with a two-pack of White + Shade Ambiance bulbs costing $80. In the event you’re searching for low-cost bulbs to check out good lighting, a few of our different high picks beneath, just like the Kasa good gentle bulb, will probably be higher decisions since most of them have decrease costs per bulb. Nevertheless, if good lighting is one thing you wish to put money into going ahead, we suggest going with one in every of Philips’ Hue starter kits: the White + Shade Ambiance starter equipment, together with three bulbs, a hub and a wise button, is available in at $180, which is cheaper than in the event you had been to purchase all of these elements individually.

Connectivity: Wi-Fi solely | White or coloration? Each | App options: Group by room, pre-made scenes or presets (together with “spooky” and strobe lights), scheduling | Good dwelling compatibility: Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri/HomeKit | Expandability: Not as many choices as Philips Hue

General, LIFX’s coloration good lights are much like Hue’s White + Ambiance bulbs in that they’re simple to arrange, they provide hanging, saturated colours and work with three main platforms: Alexa, Google Assistant and HomeKit. However the primary distinction is the LIFX bulbs are Wi-Fi solely, so you’ll be able to’t join them to a hub even in the event you needed to, and a few are barely costlier than Hue gadgets. The Shade A19 bulb, which helps 1100 lumens, usually prices $50, however there’s an 800-lumen equal that’s a bit cheaper, coming in at $35 per bulb.

LIFX’s cellular app can be undoubtedly the slickest we examined. Whereas that will not imply a lot to you, it’s value mentioning as a result of cellular apps are the way in which most individuals work together with their good lights each day. The homepage options all the room teams in your family, together with the names of the lights in every room. You may simply flip a complete room, or a particular gentle, on with only a faucet, and do the identical for all the lights in your good dwelling.

LIFX lights help scheduling, so you’ll be able to program lights to be just right for you so that you not often (if ever) have to manage them manually, plus there are a plethora of scenes and results to select from. Whereas all the coloration lights we tried had pre-made scenes or presets able to go within the app, Philips Hue and LIFX clearly had essentially the most out of all of them. Personally, I discovered LIFX’s scenes and extra results to be a bit extra enjoyable and fascinating than Hue’s. You may choose from scenes like “spooky” or “pastel” and use results like “strobe” if you wish to make your lounge really feel a bit extra like a nightclub. Whereas most individuals in all probability received’t use these area of interest scenes and results regularly, they’re nice perks to have whenever you’re entertaining or simply wish to set the suitable vibe in your subsequent film evening or game-streaming session.

LIFX has plenty of merchandise in its ecosystem, from customary A19 bulbs to lightstrips to candles. It has switches, too, so you’ll be able to bodily management your good lights if you want. However Philips Hue has all of these choices too and extra, together with not simply switches, however standalone ground lamps, outside spotlights, downlights, gentle bars and movement sensors. You’ll have extra choices with Hue if you wish to convert your whole dwelling’s lights to good ones, and have a number of methods to manage them, too.

Connectivity: Wi-Fi | White or coloration? Shade | App options: Presets, lighting schedules, grouping by room, vitality utilization meter | Good dwelling compatibility: Alexa, Google Assistant | Expandability: Limitless, however there’s no hub choice

TP-Hyperlink’s Kasa model is thought for its strong but reasonably priced good dwelling gadgets and its good lights aren’t any completely different. We examined out the Wi-Fi-only multicolor good gentle bulbs and located them simple to put in and use, they usually present a bunch of options at an reasonably priced value; a four-pack of multicolor bulbs will solely set you again $40.

Moreover having a easy set up course of, Kasa’s multicolor good lights stayed reliably related the entire time we examined them and the companion cellular app is easy and clear. All the foremost features for every gentle reside in that bulb’s devoted web page within the app, permitting you to vary brightness, white ranges, coloration, schedules and extra with out navigating via a bunch of various menus. Altering colours is sort of instantaneous, and the sunshine adjustments as you drag your finger throughout the colour wheel within the app. Enhancing the 4 presets you’re in a position to save takes only some faucets, as does grouping a number of bulbs into rooms and creating lighting schedules. For the latter, in the event you do set on/off schedules, the app will present you the subsequent step in that schedule (i.e., off at 8:35pm) subsequent to every particular person gentle.

There’s additionally a helpful “utilization” part in every gentle’s web page that reveals you the bulb’s vitality use over time, plus an estimate of how a lot vitality you’re saving through the use of a wise gentle as an alternative of a daily one. That is one thing that may be enjoyable to look at over many weeks and months of utilizing these bulbs, particularly if conserving vitality is without doubt one of the foremost causes you invested in good lights within the first place.

TP-Hyperlink claims you’ll be able to join “limitless” good gadgets to its cellular app, which technically means you’ll be able to have as many Kasa good lights in your house as you’d like. We solely examined a number of collectively, so we will’t say for certain how dozens of related gadgets would have an effect on app velocity and light-weight response time. These are Wi-Fi-only bulbs, which implies connecting them to a Zigbee hub isn’t an choice, so maintain that in thoughts earlier than deciding to put money into a house-full of those devices. It’s additionally value noting that these lights aren’t suitable with Apple’s HomeKit, though you’ll be able to management them utilizing Alexa and Google Assistant instructions.

Connectivity: Wi-Fi | White or coloration? White | App options: Presets, lighting schedules, grouping by room, vitality utilization meter | Good dwelling compatibility: Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri/HomeKit | Expandability: Limitless, however there’s no hub choice

Possibly you don’t wish to trouble with coloured lights. If that’s the case, LIFX’s White E26 is your finest guess. You get all the non-color options within the cellular app that we defined above, together with schedules and digital assistant controls, however in a extra fundamental LED gentle bulb that solely prices $10.

My greatest gripe is that it doesn’t span the cool-to-warm temperature vary that different white bulbs do. Reasonably, you’re caught with only one shade of white: 2700K, which is on the hotter facet. This makes the LIFX bulb higher for intimate settings like a bed room or a lounge, however because it’s not overly heat, it might work in a house workplace, too. It’s additionally dimmable, so you’ll be able to management its brightness.

When you have a particular use case in thoughts in your good lights that doesn’t contain a rainbow of colours, then a LIFX bulb will greater than suffice. They’d work nicely in a toddler’s room, as an example, permitting you to set wake-up and sleep schedules that step by step activate and off the lights, or in a house workplace the place you simply desire a bit extra management over your lights with out further frills.

Connectivity: Wi-Fi | White or coloration? Shade | App options: Grouping, schedules and automations | Good dwelling compatibility: Alexa, Google Assistant | Expandability: Choice to buy a hub

Sengled’s Good Mild Bulbs deserve a shout as a result of they’re basically extra reasonably priced variations of the most effective bulbs talked about right here, simply with a number of compromises. Key amongst these is that their colours are much less nuanced than most others we examined and the cellular app is much less polished.

That stated, you’re nonetheless getting tens of millions of colours out of Sengled’s good lights and the app is simple to make use of. It additionally gives all the options you’d need from a wise gentle bulb, together with grouping, schedules and automations. The truth that the Sengled cellular app isn’t as slick as Hue’s or LIFX’s may very well work in its favor with newbies – the essential controls and labels will probably be very simple for good dwelling novices to grasp.

The bulbs we examined had been Wi-Fi-based, so they don’t require a hub. Nevertheless, Sengled has a bunch of different good lights that work through Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or hub connectivity. A pack of 4 Wi-Fi coloration bulbs will set you again $30, whereas a set of six Zigbee hub-based lights prices solely $100. General, Sengled’s gadgets are rather more reasonably priced than Hue’s, making them an excellent funds choice no matter whether or not you wish to keep on with Wi-Fi or put money into a wise dwelling hub like Sengled’s personal or a wise gadget like Amazon’s Echo with a built-in hub.

Connectivity: Bluetooth, Hue Bridge | White or coloration? Each | App options: As much as three colours without delay, “candle” and “hearth” results | Good dwelling compatibility: Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri/HomeKit | Expandability: Choice to buy a hub

Philips’ Signe desk lamp is a slick method so as to add a wash of coloration into your lounge, or a extra controllable gentle supply in your desk. The practically two-foot tall lamp may be personalized with as much as three colours of sunshine without delay, plus it helps a full array of cool and heat hues as nicely. Shine it in direction of a wall to set the temper with coloured lights throughout your sport evening, or use it to offer your self adequate lighting throughout your subsequent Zoom assembly – you may make it as enjoyable or as sensible as you want. It additionally helps results like “candle” and “hearth,” each of which produce transferring gentle that emulates flickering flames. We additionally recognize that the Signe lamp is a very standalone gadget, like most of Philips’ new Hue bulbs: you don’t want a Hue bridge to make use of it. However when you have one, you’ll have the ability to do issues like management the lamp whenever you’re away from dwelling.

The Signe lamp is a splurge, although, coming in at over $200. It’s definitely value it in the event you want only one highly effective gentle supply, however a extra reasonably priced different can be the Philips Hue Go moveable desk lamp. It too helps tens of millions of colours and a full spectrum of heat and funky gentle, nevertheless it runs on a chargeable battery and can be utilized wirelessly. Relying on the setting you select, you’ll rise up to 18 hours of steady use, making it an excellent choice if you need a controllable gentle that may go wherever you want it with out fuss.

Connectivity: Wi-Fi | White or coloration? Shade | App options: “Results lab” with pre-made and customizable scenes | Good dwelling compatibility: Alexa, Google Assistant | Expandability: Works nicely with different merchandise

Mild strips can carry illumination to hard-to-reach locations, or give a complete new vibe to your lounge or workplace. The most recent gentle strip from Govee, the M1 RGBIC mannequin, will get tremendous vivid and helps a variety of colours. It’s Wi-Fi-connected however requires no central hub, so even when you have different good lights all through your private home, this one will slot in simply. One strip measures practically 16.5 toes lengthy and it’s divided into 15 segments you could management individually from inside the Govee app.

We’ll get into the app options, nevertheless it’s value noting the place the M1 sits within the good gentle strip house. There are numerous completely different lengths on the market and you’ll even discover some two-packs that can cowl as much as 100 toes. The 16.4-foot size is fairly frequent in single packs, though you could find some that run as much as 33 toes lengthy. You may anticipate to pay $25 to $50 for a fundamental, multi-color, 16.4-foot gentle strip and the worth will go up from there relying on what number of segments the strip has, the colour vary it helps, if it’s Wi-Fi-connected and different further options. Govee’s M1 Mild Strip is on the upper finish of the spectrum, coming in at $110 for 16.4 toes of sunshine, nevertheless it nonetheless prices lower than arguably its greatest competitor: Philips’ Hue Mild Strips, which are available in at $80 per 6-foot strip.

I used to be impressed by not solely the colour spectrum the M1 Mild Strip helps, but additionally how vivid it’s. This strip will get nearly blinding, and I often had it working at simply 75 p.c of its full brightness. Whilst you can’t management every particular person gentle on the strip, you’ll be able to customise all 15 segments within the Govee app.

The sheer variety of choices and results Govee gives is exceptional: the “results lab” provides you pre-made fundamental colours, scenes that mimic sunrises, starry nights, completely different sorts of flicks like thrillers and dramas, gaming genres and extra. On high of that, you may make your personal customized scenes (and select to share them with others in Govee’s Discover web page) in addition to your favourite colours and hues you could save for frequent use. The strip’s coloration is saturated and vibrant – mix that with the general brightness and it was simply in a position to give my workplace a horny, ambient glow when positioned across the periphery of my sofa.

Except for the upper price ticket, my solely different criticism in regards to the M1 gentle strip is definitely Govee’s cellular app. It’s a bit chaotic and takes some getting used to, so it won’t be your best option for anybody that desires one thing fundamental. Nevertheless, I used to be in a position to get the hold of all of the controls, after which some, after a couple of half hour. And you may all the time default to utilizing Alexa or Google Assistant voice instructions to manage your gentle strip in the event you want, or you’ll be able to set automations within the app that may deal with all of your most used controls.