HomeKit HomeKit?: LIFX or Philips Hue bulbs

[Wxchaser]

Does anyone know of good deals on LIFX multi-packs? I need 14 LIFX B30 bulbs (probably 12 white and 2 multi colored) - for a good price I could do all of them multi colored. I need at least 4 A19 bulbs for a couple bedrooms as well and could probably use up to 16.

 

[CPTmom2wp]

I actually wrote to Philips and asked if they might consider selling in bulk, thereby saving us both some money..........(crickets)

 

[Wxchaser]

I actually wrote to Philips and asked if they might consider selling in bulk, thereby saving us both some money..........(crickets)

Thanks for trying!

 

[wesley96]

One negative of Hue and the only one so far for us is during a power outage when the lights are off and the power comes back on, the lights come back on. Very annoying feature when we have the Hue BR30's in our bedroom. Not like we have a lot of power outages, but last night, during the snowstorm, the power quickly went off about 5 times and each time the Hue lights in our house were at full brightness. Another thing, what if we were traveling and that happend? They just stay on the whole time?

I wonder if LIFX stay off and if they do, that would be the winner in my book.

I remember reading about the discussion on this on the Hue developers forum and the company’s stance was that it was a failsafe measure. The bulbs would act, at a minimum, a dumb bulb if the power is turned off then back on. This is supposedly to avoid being mistaken for being broken and be able to be usable even in the event where no other external control is available.

While many agree this to be reasonable, there are several use cases where this becomes annoying. Thus, there had been extensive requests about a more nuanced approach, such as power outage detection, retaining last colour setting, or outright remain off by user preference. Unfortunately, Philips has not heeded any of this in the several years of Hue’s existence and I’m not holding any breath to see any significant changes soon.
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I actually wrote to Philips and asked if they might consider selling in bulk, thereby saving us both some money..........(crickets)

If colour changing isn’t necessary then I suppose the 4-pack for Hue White bulbs going for $50 is about as close as bulk as we’ll get for now.

 

[koa]

I have about 40 Hue bulbs including the light strips and a few Hue dimmers and motion detectors. The main thing I use the colors for is have a motion detector turn on kitchen and bathroom lights a dimmed red so I’m not blasted by white light if I getup in middle of night. The same kitchen strips turn bright white when I trip a motion sensor at front door after dark. I really like the dimmers since they are about the same price as a wired dimmer but you can put them anywhere and control whatever lights you like. I have one that turns on/off every light in the house if there an emergency or some weird sound outside.

There are periodic great deals on Hue stuff. Go to slickdeals site and set an alert for Hue. Be patient and you’ll save a ton of money.

 

[CPTmom2wp]

I have about 40 Hue bulbs including the light strips and a few Hue dimmers and motion detectors. The main thing I use the colors for is have a motion detector turn on kitchen and bathroom lights a dimmed red so I’m not blasted by white light if I getup in middle of night. The same kitchen strips turn bright white when I trip a motion sensor at front door after dark. I really like the dimmers since they are about the same price as a wired dimmer but you can put them anywhere and control whatever lights you like. I have one that turns on/off every light in the house if there an emergency or some weird sound outside.

There are periodic great deals on Hue stuff. Go to slickdeals site and set an alert for Hue. Be patient and you’ll save a ton of money.

Thanks! I had not heard of that site.

 

[mangopango]

Does anyone have HUE lights that turn themselves on? Mine do it constantly.

Hue lights turn themselves on when there is a power loss.
[doublepost=1520185007][/doublepost]I have a mix of affordable Hue white lights ($15 each) and the color bulbs. I only purchased the color bulbs when there was a great sale in December. The color change is nice, but not necessary. I also have the Hue dimmer switches scattered around to control whole rooms and a Hue motion sensor to light up the dining room and kitchen area at night.

I am not sure how much longer I will be in my house and did not want to invest in switches requiring me to replace them all with regular switches when I sell the house. For some that might not be a big deal.

 

[cynics]

So here is my advice.

I have both LIFX and Hue. Both are great however overall my Hue bulbs have been more reliable.

First and most importantly. I filled the house with mostly Hue and it was pain. I have seen installed 20 Leviton switches/dimmers with non smart Philips dimmable LEDs. Its just easier (once installed) because you can use the lights normally. Friends and family aren't confused about how to turn on the lights. My LIFX and Hue bulbs now reside mostly in lamps that dont have a switch.

Second, like I said I have about 20 switches/dimmers. The Leviton switches dont use a hub however a hub is nice when you have a lot of devices that can connect too it. While its never been a problem I have 20 IP's on my 2.4ghz network. Point is if you are looking for just a couple bulbs and never expanding I would safe the ethernet port and use LIFX, however if plan on getting a lot of bulbs than a hub with the Hue maybe easier to manage.

Third, color changing was a fad for me. Once the honeymoon phase wore off I was back to daylight 24/7 anyway.

Consider switches would be my main take away, then consider how many similar devices you will want so you can weigh whether a hub is beneficial or not.

Good luck!

 

[CPTmom2wp]

[/doublepost]
If colour changing isn’t necessary then I suppose the 4-pack for Hue White bulbs going for $50 is about as close as bulk as we’ll get for now.[/QUOTE]

The bulbs that I am watching to go on sale are the bullet shaped, E12's that go in chandeliers and outside fixtures. We have 2, 12 bulb chandelier type fixtures and one with 10 bulbs inside. Outside, we have 12 bulbs in 4 fixtures. So........46 bulbs x $30ea. = ridiculous. I don't need color, which I think those have, so am hoping another company might come out with a less expensive, compatible bulb of this type. Probably the most reasonable thing to do is just get a new switch for those fixtures.

 

[Wxchaser]

I heard back from LIFX answering some questions I had:

If there is a power outage, your LIFX lights will turn back on to the last setting they were on before the outage.

Yes, ordering 4 or more lights will give you a multipack discount. If you are looking at ordering 50+ lights in a single order, we can offer you a slightly higher discount.

 

[Wxchaser]

I was ready to place an LIFX order, but their site only offers UPS Ground for shipping with no other options. Best Buy had the same price per 4-pack, $195.96, with 2 day shipping - but you are limited to only ordering one 4-pack from Best Buy!

I'd like getting my entire shipment of BR30 bulbs at the same time.

 

[Wxchaser]

If you order Philips Hue products directly from Apple, they ship overnight.

 

[CPTmom2wp]

If you order Philips Hue products directly from Apple, they ship overnight.

I like to get my Apple products asap, as well. I think that if you don't get much of a discount elsewhere, it is worth the quality packaging and ability to resolve any issues quickly, if any, with Apple. On the other hand, I don't have to pay tax from out of state retailers who carry these bulbs. I've done both.

 

[Wxchaser]

I like to get my Apple products asap, as well. I think that if you don't get much of a discount elsewhere, it is worth the quality packaging and ability to resolve any issues quickly, if any, with Apple. On the other hand, I don't have to pay tax from out of state retailers who carry these bulbs. I've done both.

Apple mentioned they give you at least a one year warranty on any products ordered through their site.

 

[GDF]

Thanks for sharing the below. That is a big difference then compared to Hue, as for some reason we have lost power 5 times in the last two days around here and the Hue's always stay on. Hopefully, Hue updates this and give the user options, which is the way it should be.

I heard back from LIFX answering some questions I had:

If there is a power outage, your LIFX lights will turn back on to the last setting they were on before the outage.

Yes, ordering 4 or more lights will give you a multipack discount. If you are looking at ordering 50+ lights in a single order, we can offer you a slightly higher discount.

 

[CPTmom2wp]

I just called Philips about Hue for potential discounts. They said that they don't sell lighting online and sell only through brick and mortar and online retailers. The person I spoke with said that the best option is to find a local store that sells the bulbs and negotiate a quantity discount. He said Lowes, HD and the like would probably do it, but that the best option would be to find a smaller lighting store or electrical supplies distributor and make a deal. I'm going to try it with a local electrical supply house that sells both retail and wholesale to see what I can do with the E12's. I'll also get a price on the A19's and B30's and share my success or lack thereof with you all.

 

[Wxchaser]

Installed Hue Bridge (046677458478) & installed A19 white ambiance lights in 3 bedrooms. Went fairly smoothly after updating bridge, renaming rooms, etc. Interfaces pretty well with HomeKit and Siri thus far. I still have to install 7 BR30 white ambiance lights in my hallway, probably tomorrow morning.

So far even at far end of my house no problem with connectivity or disconnects. My first go at "smart bulbs", lol.
Smart switches once wired are so much simpler.

 

[CPTmom2wp]

Enjoy!....and have fun with setting automations and playing with Siri. It still makes me smile a little when I ask Siri to turn on a certain grouping of lights and set them to a particular percentage. Last night our night automation shut the lights off while I was still downstairs and I asked Siri to turn on the master bedroom lights to 20% and dark blue so it didn't wake up my husband. I still had enough light to navigate the bedroom without falling over a dog or stepping on a squeaky dog toy. Switches are so boring ......

 

[Wxchaser]

Enjoy!....and have fun with setting automations and playing with Siri. It still makes me smile a little when I ask Siri to turn on a certain grouping of lights and set them to a particular percentage. Last night our night automation shut the lights off while I was still downstairs and I asked Siri to turn on the master bedroom lights to 20% and dark blue so it didn't wake up my husband. I still had enough light to navigate the bedroom without falling over a dog or stepping on a squeaky dog toy. Switches are so boring ......

Thanks.

I was surprised how long it took me tonight to do software updates (almost an hour). Played around with scenes but haven't done much with automation yet. Compared to switches, the Hue does have lots of configuration capability. The Hue Labs is pretty cool. There is so much out there for Hue, they definitely have a big head start on most companies.

Still looking to get some LIFX BR30's for my kitchen and a couple bathrooms.
[doublepost=1520561584][/doublepost]Added Hue app to Apple Watch Series 3 and was unimpressed by spinning circle. Added a couple widgets to Watch and they worked ok, but I uninstalled them.

Looking into possibly using Huemote app and checking that out as reviews seem to state it works much better than the Hue app does at this time.

 

[Wxchaser]

Installed hallway BR30 Hue bulbs - working flawlessly. You just have to be sure names match for room name in Hue and HomeKit.

LIFX just emailed me a 10 percent off code so may look into an order from them, I still would like a better deal for the # of BR30 & E19 bulbs I would like to get.

 

[CPTmom2wp]

Installed hallway BR30 Hue bulbs - working flawlessly. You just have to be sure names match for room name in Hue and HomeKit.

LIFX just emailed me a 10 percent off code so may look into an order from them, I still would like a better deal for the # of BR30 & E19 bulbs I would like to get.

I just saved $100 on ebay buying bulbs with PSPRING20, which generates a 20% discount up to $100 off your purchase.

 

[happyprozak]

I have been using older LIFX white 800 bulbs for a while now. Maybe a year, I can’t remember.

I went with LIFX because I was only buying two and the point of entry was cheaper.

Now I’ll be updating my recessed lighting bulbs and going all smart bulbs.

I have to say that coming from the LIFX white 800 to the 3rd generation color that I am disappointed in the quality of the white light in the colored bulb. The white 800 has a much crisper light which is the light most people will use 99% of the time. The colored bulb seems to have this very slight green hue in its range compared to the white 800 that is a crisper white throughout the 2700-3500k temperature range.

LIFX only makes the mini bulb in a normal bulb color range which they call dusk and dawn I believe.

I’m going to have to also take a look at the Phillips hue range now because the 2700k to 4000k temperature range is the most important color frequency for a home bulb. As many people will tell you, the shifting colors is a novelty that wears off quickly.

Hopefully the LIFX mini dawn to dusk bulb will have the same quality of light as my existing older LIFX 800 white bulbs.

 

[CPTmom2wp]

I am using a lot of the Philips Hue White Ambiance bulbs, which is a white color range separate from the effect you get from dimming, e.g., 10-100% of whichever white you select. They are also less expensive than the Color and White Ambiance bulbs, which is nice since the color changing bulbs are really only used in a couple of areas or a few fixtures in most homes. I am currently using a really bright white in the laundry area which I really like; a general white light in ceiling fixtures used primarily for cleaning; a warmer light choice in the master bathroom over the sinks (not a morning person ), and a very warm white in the living room lamps, also frequently dimmed. A range of whites is most useful for most households, would be my guess. I really like being able to choose the color temperature and then the ability to dim the bulbs, as well. That provides maximum flexibility for a variety of situations.

I'm getting my first 4 LIFX mini bulbs in a few days. I have 4 places that will not accommodate a full size bulb and currently have appliance size bulbs (2 smaller dresser lamps and a Tiffany style lamp that holds two smaller bulbs). I have stayed loyal to the Philips Hue until now, but since there is no choice in that size with Philips, I am looking forward to trying the LIFX to compare the white spectrum. Review to follow.............

Can't wait to get all my bulbs replaced and not have to even THINK about lightbulbs again for 22.5 years.......

 

[happyprozak]

I am using a lot of the Philips Hue White Ambiance bulbs, which is a white color range separate from the effect you get from dimming, e.g., 10-100% of whichever white you select. They are also less expensive than the Color and White Ambiance bulbs, which is nice since the color changing bulbs are really only used in a couple of areas or a few fixtures in most homes. I am currently using a really bright white in the laundry area which I really like; a general white light in ceiling fixtures used primarily for cleaning; a warmer light choice in the master bathroom over the sinks (not a morning person ), and a very warm white in the living room lamps, also frequently dimmed. A range of whites is most useful for most households, would be my guess. I really like being able to choose the color temperature and then the ability to dim the bulbs, as well. That provides maximum flexibility for a variety of situations.

I'm getting my first 4 LIFX mini bulbs in a few days. I have 4 places that will not accommodate a full size bulb and currently have appliance size bulbs (2 smaller dresser lamps and a Tiffany style lamp that holds two smaller bulbs). I have stayed loyal to the Philips Hue until now, but since there is no choice in that size with Philips, I am looking forward to trying the LIFX to compare the white spectrum. Review to follow.............

Can't wait to get all my bulbs replaced and not have to even THINK about lightbulbs again for 22.5 years.......

Is the LIFX mini smaller than the Phillips Hue A19? I thought they were a similar size. The A19 LIFX bulbs on the other hand are much larger.

 

[wesley96]

Is the LIFX mini smaller than the Phillips Hue A19? I thought they were a similar size. The A19 LIFX bulbs on the other hand are much larger.

LIFX mini: 60 x 60 x 105 (mm)
Philips Hue: 62 x 62 x 110 (mm)

Bulb diameter is 2mm smaller, and the length is 5mm shorter. I’m not sure if that’s sufficient enough difference to switch from one to another.