Suggested alternative to Philips Hue?

[XboxMySocks]

I've been looking around and while I'm willing to shell out a pretty similar price for the Hue, it won't ship for 4 months... NOT exactly what I needed in time for Christmas. Any help? I would LOVE LIFx but it's not even beginning to be produced, so that is again, no help.

[sraber]

I have not found any alternatives but I suggest you put in your order and wait for them to ship. I put in an order online with the ship date of 1 to 2 months and had them delivered in 2 weeks.
I will say they have met my expectations and I am putting in another order. I love them.

[XboxMySocks]

Originally Posted by sraber

I have not found any alternatives but I suggest you put in your order and wait for them to ship. I put in an order online with the ship date of 1 to 2 months and had them delivered in 2 weeks.
I will say they have met my expectations and I am putting in another order. I love them.

Awesome bit of info. Thank you

[burritolove]

are you close to an apple store. the 2 i frequent in NJ both have ample stock of the hue set and single bulbs

[jessica.]

I just went to their website and this is awesome! I never knew about this product but I like it a lot. Sorry I'm of no help otherwise.

[sraber]

Originally Posted by jessica.

I just went to their website and this is awesome! I never knew about this product but I like it a lot. Sorry I'm of no help otherwise.

They really are awesome. My apple store also has the starter packs but no singles. The word from my apple sales guy is that they had to stop the employee discount program on the Hue. Too many sales to the staff and none left for the customers.

[nuckinfutz]

We'll see if Lifx ships soon enough. It's the Hue minus the need to hook a gateway device to your router.

http://lifx.co

Look for Greenwave to make some "waves" next year as well.

http://www.greenwavereality.com

[sraber]

Originally Posted by nuckinfutz

We'll see if Lifx ships soon enough. It's the Hue minus the need to hook a gateway device to your router.

http://lifx.co

Look for Greenwave to make some "waves" next year as well.

http://www.greenwavereality.com

Nice, competition and sales will bring the price down.
The engineers have come a long way from the X10 stuff.

[nuckinfutz]

Originally Posted by sraber

Nice, competition and sales will bring the price down.
The engineers have come a long way from the X10 stuff.

Yup. By years end I could have smartphone control of:


Nest Thermostat - controlling HVAC

Hue or Lifx - controlling lighting

Lockitron - controlling door locks

Cool thing is that both the Nest and Hue support Zigbee so it's feasible that they will eventually tie into Zigbee based networks for even more automation.

[XboxMySocks]

Cool info guys. I'm guessing our Apple store will have some in stock... If not, might see about begging users here to pick up a set and ship it to me

[jessica.]

Originally Posted by sraber

They really are awesome. My apple store also has the starter packs but no singles. The word from my apple sales guy is that they had to stop the employee discount program on the Hue. Too many sales to the staff and none left for the customers.

Apple shouldn't allow discounts on things like this or they should at the very least reduce the discount. Either way, it is a neat product. Single bulbs are $60. that will give a whole new meaning to yelling at folks who leave lights on when they're not in the room!

Originally Posted by nuckinfutz

We'll see if Lifx ships soon enough. It's the Hue minus the need to hook a gateway device to your router.

http://lifx.co

Look for Greenwave to make some "waves" next year as well.

http://www.greenwavereality.com

I wonder how that works then. I'll have to check out the link you provided.

[XboxMySocks]

Originally Posted by jessica.

Apple shouldn't allow discounts on things like this or they should at the very least reduce the discount. Either way, it is a neat product. Single bulbs are $60. that will give a whole new meaning to yelling at folks who leave lights on when they're not in the room!



I wonder how that works then. I'll have to check out the link you provided.

Actually if you use I believe it's $177 a year on incandescent, equivalent to ~$66 on CFL, these LED's would only use $21 worth of hydro.

[TheSpeaker]

Originally Posted by sraber

I have not found any alternatives but I suggest you put in your order and wait for them to ship. I put in an order online with the ship date of 1 to 2 months and had them delivered in 2 weeks.
I will say they have met my expectations and I am putting in another order. I love them.

Check your local stores. When I picked mine up, they said that even though the Apple Store site says 4 months, they get regular shipments every few days.

[sraber]

Originally Posted by XboxMySocks

Actually if you use I believe it's $177 a year on incandescent, equivalent to ~$66 on CFL, these LED's would only use $21 worth of hydro.

I have dimmers on all my incandescent lights but often leave my rooms dark to save electricity. With the 8.5 watts max the Hue's pull I have no problem leaving these beautiful lamps on. These have really improved my environment.

[XboxMySocks]

Originally Posted by sraber

I have dimmers on all my incandescent lights but often leave my rooms dark to save electricity. With the 8.5 watts max the Hue's pull I have no problem leaving these beautiful lamps on. These have really improved my environment.

Hah, really cool info man thanks for sharing! Still kinda hoping to get these

[XboxMySocks]

Just thought I'd chime in again.

Got the Hue. Incredible system.

The app is slightly less complex than I'd like it (very basic and no way to set general fading moods which would be so nice) but otherwise it is incredible. The setup is horrendously easy. Plug it all in, press a button, done.

The greens are slightly whiter (and less deep) than I'd wish, and browns are a bit more subdued as well, but the rest of the colours (especially purple, red, and blue) are absolutely gorgeously rich and amazing for setting the mood of a room. The Light Recipes are pretty nice too.

[sraber]

Originally Posted by XboxMySocks

Just thought I'd chime in again.

Got the Hue. Incredible system.

The app is slightly less complex than I'd like it (very basic and no way to set general fading moods which would be so nice) but otherwise it is incredible. The setup is horrendously easy. Plug it all in, press a button, done.

The greens are slightly whiter (and less deep) than I'd wish, and browns are a bit more subdued as well, but the rest of the colours (especially purple, red, and blue) are absolutely gorgeously rich and amazing for setting the mood of a room. The Light Recipes are pretty nice too.

I agree with your estimation and have settled on the colors of the Deep Sea environment. I also enjoy them all day long.

[XboxMySocks]

Originally Posted by sraber

I agree with your estimation and have settled on the colors of the Deep Sea environment. I also enjoy them all day long.

Yeah. I have my settings as the primary colours, as well as 2 mood lights and normal lighting, the blue is one of my favourites.

[calderone]

I just picked up a Hue myself, the app is horrible.

I started playing around with the RESTful calls to the hub, thinking I may just write my own app. Have to decide if I want it to be native or web-based, I am thinking web-based for portability.

Fun stuff though, really liking it so far.

[Ifti]

How long are the actual lights supposed to last??