Are you doing anything with Hue?

Purchased a white starter kit last week after being interested in the whole hue system for a while. Wasn't sure what to expect but i love them, even just having 2 white bulbs its great having control over lighting, especially when away from home. It is quite addictive though as now the wife wants coloured bulbs and also looking into getting an Echo. Just got to keep an eye out for any deals.
 
Yep, it's a bit expensive but loads easier. I'm using up a home made bit of Cat5 at the moment but will be replacing it shortly when a move house.
 
Probably a fairly biased place to pose the question, but what are peoples thoughts on Hue vs Lifx?

Previously I always seen Lifx as being recommended more as it's cheaper, doesn't require the bridge, longer life and brigher/more colours, Gen 3 supposedly changed that on Hue though and lifx seems to be having a lot of issues with wifi just randomly dropping on the bulbs.

Has anyone tried both brands? or moved from one to another?
 
I am a dissenter wrt to hue after reading this (which I had posted in LED thread)
I have seen a teardown of a LIFX bulb and it uses a RGBW emitter approach. The Philips Hue uses a completely different combination of emitters: amber, phosphor-converted lime, and blue.
The RGBW approach used in the LIFX bulb gives it an average CRI of 88-89, peaking at over 92 between 3100-3400K, according to a comment from a representative of the company which was posted on Amazon.
The specs for the Philips Hue bulb says it has a CRI above 80 between 2000-4000K, and it has a CRI of 91 at 2700K. This might not sound as good in terms of CRI, but the choice of emitters does allow the light to have better color rendering when the bulb is strongly color-tinted (which is the whole reason people buy a color tunable bulb in the first place). That LIFX bulb is going to make the surroundings in your room look pretty monochromatic if it is set to a yellowish-green lime color, or is set to a heavy pink rose tint. Most people do not stop to think about what the color rendering is going to be like in off-white color mode.
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if anything I would like a robust wireless dimmer to control a regular white bulb, V-PRO the std recommended dimmer do not make one afaik.

maybe I do the thread an injustice, but I would like to know more how folks use the hue colours day to day.
 
As nice as colour can be to mess around with, I tend to stick to the white ambiance bulbs most of the time.

They are half the price, and do any colour temp of white you could want, whilst still being dimmable and controllable in the same fashion as normal.
 
Scotteh said:
Probably a fairly biased place to pose the question, but what are peoples thoughts on Hue vs Lifx?

Previously I always seen Lifx as being recommended more as it's cheaper, doesn't require the bridge, longer life and brigher/more colours, Gen 3 supposedly changed that on Hue though and lifx seems to be having a lot of issues with wifi just randomly dropping on the bulbs.

Has anyone tried both brands? or moved from one to another?
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Wasn't a fan of my LIFX bulb, it ran really hot. Like couldn't touch it hot.
 
Need to light my 2.7m long double pc desk, going to pick up a light strip and one bloom to go along the back of it and in the middle respectively, if it needs more light might get a second bloom and have them at each end
 
TBH if you are only lighting the desk Hue is probably the least cost effective solution. Are you planning on expanding it to other lights/rooms? Otherwise I'd consider just using any cheap lighting strip with remote.
 
What is the typical use case to make these bulbs worth the money? I'm all for smart home (Tado, Alexa, Nest Protects), but the only lighting I've done so far is to change the plug for my living room lamp to be Wifi so we can switch it on via voice.

£25 a pop for a blub, when one light could require three, seems excessive just to show your friends it changing colour.
 
Contemplating my first dabble into Hue to do the lighting in my Kitchen and Conservatory and spread to the rest of the house.

I'm looking at quite a lot of strip lighting - would be 5.5m in continuous run, but could be split as it goes in/out of cupboards to account for raised cupboards above sink and hob, can you cut and reattach? If so would be about 3.5-4m.

Would it be a case of getting one of the strip light kits + extensions, and then a starter kit with the bridge on top, or would it cope without the bridge until a later date?
 
Kemik said:
£25 a pop for a blub, when one light could require three, seems excessive just to show your friends it changing colour.
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the white only (dimamble) ones seem to be halfish/£15 that price , as hungryhippos suggested,

I think philips documentation is confusing on their capabilitiies - does anyone have a good link ?

but for a bulb that does not have a high cri value, it is expensive.
After previous post I had found wemo will have a new product better for my needs
https://www.cnet.com/uk/products/belkin-wemo-dimmer-wi-fi-light-switch/preview/
so will (hopefully) be able to control a regular bulb directly without buying a controller of some kind
 
TP Link now have bulbs that require no hub, although bulb prices are similar to Hue. It works with the same app that they use for their smart plugs too, which might be handy.

As for hue, and colour changing bulbs in general. I like being able to change the white colour based on what I'm doing - Hue is the most complete system and has an API you can plug into. It's more expensive, but they do quite often come up on special offer (e.g. Amazon flash deals or Argos 20% off codes).
 
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I'm getting on of these later today, although it seems expensive - it's the equivalent of 3 of the ambience bulbs (2400lm) + you get the light fitting and remote. Hopefully will be perfect for my office.
 
I am selling a few of my unused bulbs over in the Gadgets/Tech for sale section if anyone is needing any.

I have moved house so they don't all fit in anymore, I still have quite a few hue bulbs dotted around.
 
Got my starter pack and strip last night. Paired up with Google Home and slowly working/setting up last night and playing around, but need a few more bulbs/motion sensors. Seen the Smart Things sensors for £22 each, seems like an ok price compared to other offerings, or should I be looking at alternatives?

I presume there are better apps than Hue, but are there any standouts worth putting the time in or just stay with Hue app?
 
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