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+1 for Philips Hue - just get E27 bulbs that you can pair with any style of lamp you like. Note that now there are "standard" 800 lumen and 1100 and 1600 Lumen

+1 for Philips Hue - just get E27 bulbs that you can pair with any style of lamp you like. Note that now there are "standard" 800 lumen and 1100 and 1600 Lumen versions - but confusingly the bigger lumens are not for the whole color spectrum. You need to check tests/youtube videos if they are worth for your use case/color preferences. You could get colored bulbs for much cheaper, but the build quality/stability/compability is unmatched. Generally I find colored lights to be awesome - not only can you set warmth (from striking white if you are looking for something in the room, to warmest yellow when relaxing) seeing your surroundings in different colors per night does add a lot to your mood.

lloeki 4y ago
Similar story, only I got Ikea Tradfri E14 and E27 bulbs, non-colored, that go from very warm (orange-ish even) to very white, and dimmable brightness. I guess getting into colored reduces the number of non-colored leds and thus max brightness and "accuracy". The good: Entirely local. No cloud needed (and none exists). Hub does not phone home, except to query for updates, which is done without any extra metadata (this has been scrutinized[0] by multiple people). Updates have very synthetic but sensible changelogs. Hub provides an API over CoAP that has been reverse engineered[1], and is actually quite sensibly designed. Bulb-remote pairing and operation does not require hub at all, which is only used by the app for advanced features and discrete control. This means one can choose not to have a hub at all, or that should LAN be down for any reason - or for guests that don't have the app/lan access - there is a graceful degradation path from the app to the remotes. The bad: Lowest dimmer setting could be lower, at night I feel it's still quite bright. Not blessed by HomeKit for Adaptive lighting. I wish mains-powered remotes that replace physical switches existed, possibly with an additional small emergency physical switch, instead of CR2032 thingies (I blocked the physical switches so that the bulbs are never powered off, which would kill automation when guests or old habits cut power via the switch. If I want to cut power I do it via the circuit breaker panel. Also the constant power draw when off is small enough to be largely offseted by automation). The ugly: my E14 bulbs have some coil whine when light is out. Issue is known and widely reported, not sure if it's been fixed in recent production batches. Luckily I use them in places where we're absent when they're off (e.g not bedroom). The used-to-be-ugly: at first everything was perfectly working, then some updates broke stuff: hub loss of IP connectivity seemingly after DHCP lease expiration, some bulbs would desync/crash, requiring pairing them again, and other connectivity issues. IIRC this lasted a year and then a batch of updates were released addressing each issue in turn. Usage/main goal: adaptive/circadian lighting throughout home. Working from home, this has been lifechanging. [0]: https://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/47803.html https://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/47803.html [1]: https://github.com/glenndehaan/ikea-tradfri-coap-docs https://github.com/glenndehaan/ikea-tradfri-coap-docs
- kayodelycaon 4y ago
  Maybe not what you’re looking for, but I replaced most of my smart bulbs with Lutron Caseta smart light switches. Far from cheap, but they work well. If you’re okay with soft white, Phillips makes a bulb that gets yellower as you dim them. https://www.casetawireless.com/us/en https://www.casetawireless.com/us/en https://www.usa.lighting.philips.com/consumer/choose-a-bulb/warm-glow-dimmable-led-lighting https://www.usa.lighting.philips.com/consumer/choose-a-bulb/...
jmpman 4y ago
Loved my Philips Hue bulbs, but they only lasted about 2 years and then all started failing. At their price, it was hard to justify for such a short lifespan.
- poisonborz 4y ago
  When did you purchase those? There was a quite different Gen1 in 2012. I roll without problems for 5+ years with dozens of bulbs.
  - jmpman 4y ago
    2018, Philips Hue Color bulbs. Was a 4 pack plus a hub for $137.73 They all failed within a few months of each other.
acous 4y ago
> Compatibility is unmatched. I've had no issues with my Hue bulbs after 5+ years, but if I was getting bulbs now I'd probably opt for something with Thread[0] support like Nanoleaf Essentials line (no affiliation). [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thread_(network_protocol) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thread_(network_protocol)

lloeki 4y ago

Similar story, only I got Ikea Tradfri E14 and E27 bulbs, non-colored, that go from very warm (orange-ish even) to very white, and dimmable brightness. I guess getting into colored reduces the number of non-colored leds and thus max brightness and "accuracy". The good: Entirely local. No cloud needed (and none exists). Hub does not phone home, except to query for updates, which is done without any extra metadata (this has been scrutinized[0] by multiple people). Updates have very synthetic but sensible changelogs. Hub provides an API over CoAP that has been reverse engineered[1], and is actually quite sensibly designed. Bulb-remote pairing and operation does not require hub at all, which is only used by the app for advanced features and discrete control. This means one can choose not to have a hub at all, or that should LAN be down for any reason - or for guests that don't have the app/lan access - there is a graceful degradation path from the app to the remotes. The bad: Lowest dimmer setting could be lower, at night I feel it's still quite bright. Not blessed by HomeKit for Adaptive lighting. I wish mains-powered remotes that replace physical switches existed, possibly with an additional small emergency physical switch, instead of CR2032 thingies (I blocked the physical switches so that the bulbs are never powered off, which would kill automation when guests or old habits cut power via the switch. If I want to cut power I do it via the circuit breaker panel. Also the constant power draw when off is small enough to be largely offseted by automation). The ugly: my E14 bulbs have some coil whine when light is out. Issue is known and widely reported, not sure if it's been fixed in recent production batches. Luckily I use them in places where we're absent when they're off (e.g not bedroom). The used-to-be-ugly: at first everything was perfectly working, then some updates broke stuff: hub loss of IP connectivity seemingly after DHCP lease expiration, some bulbs would desync/crash, requiring pairing them again, and other connectivity issues. IIRC this lasted a year and then a batch of updates were released addressing each issue in turn. Usage/main goal: adaptive/circadian lighting throughout home. Working from home, this has been lifechanging. [0]: https://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/47803.html https://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/47803.html [1]: https://github.com/glenndehaan/ikea-tradfri-coap-docs https://github.com/glenndehaan/ikea-tradfri-coap-docs

kayodelycaon 4y ago
Maybe not what you’re looking for, but I replaced most of my smart bulbs with Lutron Caseta smart light switches. Far from cheap, but they work well. If you’re okay with soft white, Phillips makes a bulb that gets yellower as you dim them. https://www.casetawireless.com/us/en https://www.casetawireless.com/us/en https://www.usa.lighting.philips.com/consumer/choose-a-bulb/warm-glow-dimmable-led-lighting https://www.usa.lighting.philips.com/consumer/choose-a-bulb/...

jmpman 4y ago

Loved my Philips Hue bulbs, but they only lasted about 2 years and then all started failing. At their price, it was hard to justify for such a short lifespan.

poisonborz 4y ago
When did you purchase those? There was a quite different Gen1 in 2012. I roll without problems for 5+ years with dozens of bulbs.
- jmpman 4y ago
  2018, Philips Hue Color bulbs. Was a 4 pack plus a hub for $137.73 They all failed within a few months of each other.

acous 4y ago

> Compatibility is unmatched. I've had no issues with my Hue bulbs after 5+ years, but if I was getting bulbs now I'd probably opt for something with Thread[0] support like Nanoleaf Essentials line (no affiliation). [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thread_(network_protocol) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thread_(network_protocol)