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I've been using the same Hue lightbulbs for at least 8 years now and never had any of the issues you describe. When you have a home with children and a fair num

I've been using the same Hue lightbulbs for at least 8 years now and never had any of the issues you describe. When you have a home with children and a fair number of rooms, you'll find that turning off the lights at night is not just a simple matter of "getting off the couch and flicking a switch." Also, I've rarely encountered smart lighting that didn't have a physical switch as a fallback option (for example, my Lutron Caseta switches have buttons on them that will work just fine if the network goes down, and my Hue bulbs are all connected to dumb switches), so the idea it doesn't work "100% of the time" is a strawman argument.

jjj123 3y ago
I’ve been using Hue lights for about 6 years now. They’re mostly not a pain, except for when they are. Some examples: - I used to move a lot, like every year or so. Each move required a few hours of setup in the new place. Compared to screwing in a few bulbs, that’s a big difference. - I waited so long to update my base that my hue app will no longer connect to it. I have to reset the whole system to get it back. I’m not going to do that until I have to, so I basically can’t add or change any hue light configurations without resetting everything. - sometimes the hue light switches just don’t do anything. I’m guessing this is if they’re having trouble connecting to the network or something. I’ll just keep tapping the “off” button until something happens 30s later.
- watermelongunn 3y ago
  Yeah, I wish the Hue switches worked better, they must have trouble waking up from sleep or something. For my office, I never even touch my physical switch or app; instead, a motion sensor turns the lights on when I enter and then off when there's no motion for 10 minutes. It's been working great for years now with the only annoyance being the need to occasionally change the battery on the sensor. That won't work in the living room where I like different lighting for different situations or times of the day, but that's where Homekit scenes come in handy (obligatory smart-home-enthusiast note: Home Assistant controls my house, but Homekit works great as a quickly accessible UI). Ultimately, I just don't get the fervent anti-smart-home sentiment. Sure, there are all kinds of silly products out there, and no, I don't use the app for my grill, but... oh well, I guess? Playing with home automation has been a net gain for me. It's part hobby / part genuine improvements. Yeah, there are annoyances, but problem solving is often fun. YMMV...
ghusto 3y ago
> When you have a home with children and a fair number of rooms, you'll find that turning off the lights at night is not just a simple matter of "getting off the couch and flicking a switch." What on earth are you talking about? My best guess is that your children turn on the lights, and you have to go around turning them off? Sounds like a parenting problem, not a technology problem.
- watermelongunn 3y ago
  Ha, I also don't always think to turn off lights when I leave a room, so I'm not going to be militant about my kids doing it if I can't. Do you seriously object to me solving this problem with tech? Do you even have kids??
  - ghusto 3y ago
    Yes and yes ;) As antagonistic as it sounds, I'm not trying to be a dick. I genuinely believe it's a bad thing to try and solve this problem with tech. It's a parenting problem, so when it's solved with technology, it's not solved at all. The problem isn't the lights being left on, it's kids needing to learn responsibility and mindfulness. This is normal and fine, but if you solve it with tech, you're robbing them of the (difficult!) parenting necessary in this area.
dharmab 3y ago
FYI Hue just pushed an update that will require an account to use the app

jjj123 3y ago

I’ve been using Hue lights for about 6 years now. They’re mostly not a pain, except for when they are. Some examples: - I used to move a lot, like every year or so. Each move required a few hours of setup in the new place. Compared to screwing in a few bulbs, that’s a big difference. - I waited so long to update my base that my hue app will no longer connect to it. I have to reset the whole system to get it back. I’m not going to do that until I have to, so I basically can’t add or change any hue light configurations without resetting everything. - sometimes the hue light switches just don’t do anything. I’m guessing this is if they’re having trouble connecting to the network or something. I’ll just keep tapping the “off” button until something happens 30s later.

watermelongunn 3y ago
Yeah, I wish the Hue switches worked better, they must have trouble waking up from sleep or something. For my office, I never even touch my physical switch or app; instead, a motion sensor turns the lights on when I enter and then off when there's no motion for 10 minutes. It's been working great for years now with the only annoyance being the need to occasionally change the battery on the sensor. That won't work in the living room where I like different lighting for different situations or times of the day, but that's where Homekit scenes come in handy (obligatory smart-home-enthusiast note: Home Assistant controls my house, but Homekit works great as a quickly accessible UI). Ultimately, I just don't get the fervent anti-smart-home sentiment. Sure, there are all kinds of silly products out there, and no, I don't use the app for my grill, but... oh well, I guess? Playing with home automation has been a net gain for me. It's part hobby / part genuine improvements. Yeah, there are annoyances, but problem solving is often fun. YMMV...

ghusto 3y ago

> When you have a home with children and a fair number of rooms, you'll find that turning off the lights at night is not just a simple matter of "getting off the couch and flicking a switch." What on earth are you talking about? My best guess is that your children turn on the lights, and you have to go around turning them off? Sounds like a parenting problem, not a technology problem.

watermelongunn 3y ago
Ha, I also don't always think to turn off lights when I leave a room, so I'm not going to be militant about my kids doing it if I can't. Do you seriously object to me solving this problem with tech? Do you even have kids??
- ghusto 3y ago
  Yes and yes ;) As antagonistic as it sounds, I'm not trying to be a dick. I genuinely believe it's a bad thing to try and solve this problem with tech. It's a parenting problem, so when it's solved with technology, it's not solved at all. The problem isn't the lights being left on, it's kids needing to learn responsibility and mindfulness. This is normal and fine, but if you solve it with tech, you're robbing them of the (difficult!) parenting necessary in this area.

dharmab 3y ago

FYI Hue just pushed an update that will require an account to use the app