Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
68,152
38,926



As a followup to its Swarovski Shine fitness tracker, Misfit today announced its new Bolt wirelessly-connected light bulb. Similar to the Philips Hue, the $50 Bolt light bulb allows users to adjust the light intensity and color of the bulb using an iOS device.

misfit-bolt.jpeg
The Bolt light bulb is powered by CREE LED technology, providing the equivalent of a standard 60-watt light bulb. It connects directly to a smartphone via the Misfit and Misfit Home app or even a Misfit Flash activity tracker without the need for a hub or additional configuration. It also integrates with the Shine fitness wearable and Beddit sleep tracker to provide a simulated sunrise automatically during the morning wake-up hours.

The Bolt connected light bulb is available for pre-order from Misfit's website, with pricing set at $50 for a single bulb or $130 for a three-pack. Shipping is expected in mid-February.

Article Link: CES 2015: Misfit Introduces Connected, Color-Changing 'Bolt' Light Bulb
 
Yet another Proprietary bulb - no thanks.

Unless it's a standard I am not interested. Hue uses Zigbee Light Link so you can connect a number of other products to it and integrate it into a home automation setup. ( Or course they don't advertise this fact... )

Why is it that no one seems to be able to make a decent Zigbee Smart switch / Dimmer.

I need a Zigbee Light link dimmer that I can connect to my existing Halogen / LED downlights that cost £1-3 each.. I don't need Each single bulb to be controllable... just rooms/zones. then these will show up in the Hue app as a extended light.
 
This is $10 cheaper per bulb than Hue, and no hub is needed.

For the Hue, your first 3 bulbs is $200. For this, it's $130.
For Hue, 6 bulbs is $380. For this, it's $260.

It looks like this beats Hue senseless on a price front.
 
Notice it says it works with "iOS devices" but does not say it works with Homekit.

Better price than Hue, but proprietary and no HomeKit = no deal.
 
Colors

I wonder if it handles the "greens" and "yellows" better than HUE. Philps HUE sucks on these colors...
 
Too expensive... still.

Have yet to see a "color changing" bulb approach the brightness that they claim. If this had an actual 60W worth of white output I would consider it just a tad over priced.
 
Last edited:
I used to think these color changing lightbulbs were kinda dumb at first, but an art professor of mine had used them in a demonstration and they are actually really cool and vivid.
 
I wonder if it handles the "greens" and "yellows" better than HUE. Philps HUE sucks on these colors...

it depend which Hue products youre talking about -- the lamp bulbs dont, but thats because they arent RGB-based, instead taking a route that makes them exceptional at mimicking incandescent warm-white lighting. the Hue Strips are RGB diodes, and can do greens very well, but are not able to accurately reproduce warm white.

this is why when you control either in the software they have different spectrums of available color.

me, i want my lamp bulbs to be best suited for warm whites. i use the Strips for party lights (green, red, blue, etc)...
 
Why 60W equivalent though? That's too dim. If I was going to blow $50 on a light bulb, it should at least be bright enough to use.
 
My concern with these type of bulbs is how poorly the reproduce blue.

The Hue does a terrible job of making blue, which is odd given than it is one of the three primary light colors, and the color of a blue LED.

When someone fixes that problem, I'll be all over it.
 
I wonder if it handles the "greens" and "yellows" better than HUE. Philps HUE sucks on these colors...

Love my hue lights, but yeah the green is way off. Thank goodness I don't want green light in my house. Also, I want homekit integration. Neither my hue or this have that so not good.
 
Individual or grouped lights

From the article, it appears that each bulb appears individually and is managed individually on the smart device.

There are definite advantages to having a hub and being able to group bulbs (up to 50 per hub using the philips hue system.)
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.