HomeKit Hue Bridge Pro

[srl7741]

It's hard to believe it's been 10 years using the now older model Hue Bridge. The new Bridge Pro does look like a pretty big update.

Can't wait to try it out and hopefully eliminate my older Bridges x2. I hope the migration is simple I have a lot of Hue products. The MotionAware™ Use lights as motion sensors will be interesting to see how that works.

Hue Bridge Pro $99
MotionAware FAQ's

 

[erihp]

It's hard to believe it's been 10 years using the now older model Hue Bridge. The new Bridge Pro does look like a pretty big update.

Can't wait to try it out and hopefully eliminate my older Bridges x2. I hope the migration is simple I have a lot of Hue products. The MotionAware™ Use lights as motion sensors will be interesting to see how that works.

Hue Bridge Pro $99
MotionAware FAQ's

Something tells me your migration will be ‘fun’.

Motionaware requires three bulbs in the same room to be functional, and to what degree, who knows. Actual motion and occupancy sensors are cheap and much more accurate.

 

[JulianL]

…
Can't wait to try it out and hopefully eliminate my older Bridges x2. I hope the migration is simple I have a lot of Hue products. …

Hue Bridge Pro $99
MotionAware FAQ's

I’d prepare yourself for at least some effort/pain. From what I’ve read from write-ups of today’s Bridge Pro launch, Philips will have some sort of utility or feature in the main app to migrate from an old bridge to the new pro one but apparently initially the migration assistant will only support the migration of a single old bridge with support to migrate multiple old bridges to a single new pro bridge coming at some later date.

 

[srl7741]

I’d prepare yourself for at least some effort/pain. From what I’ve read from write-ups of today’s Bridge Pro launch, Philips will have some sort of utility or feature in the main app to migrate from an old bridge to the new pro one but apparently initially the migration assistant will only support the migration of a single old bridge with support to migrate multiple old bridges to a single new pro bridge coming at some later date.

Somehow I had a feeling this would happen.......... The only good thing about migrating over is that I'm only dealing with lightbulbs. Blowing it up and starting fresh is a piece of cake. The one sticking point is do I choose the "Matter" option or default back to Hue's version of Zigbee? I've stayed away from using Matter with Hue bulbs thus far.

 

[JulianL]

Somehow I had a feeling this would happen.......... The only good thing about migrating over is that I'm only dealing with lightbulbs. Blowing it up and starting fresh is a piece of cake. The one sticking point is do I choose the "Matter" option or default back to Hue's version of Zigbee? I've stayed away from using Matter with Hue bulbs thus far.

If it was me then firstly I would probably take the “blow it all up and start fresh” approach anyway (it’s what I do with all my new iPhones because it gives me a chance to revisit what apps I have and maybe optimise things) and secondly I might move just a room or two to Matter and see how it goes then decide from there. If the Matter implementation on the latest Hue Bridge is solid then it does seem more future-proof to me.

And it will be me soon. I am a current Hue user but I will definitely be buying the Pro because I’m at the limit of the single bridge I have right now. Even though I could (from what I’ve read) use the migration tool/feature I think I will still follow the strategy I outlined above.

 

[erihp]

You know what they say about fixing things that aint broke!!

... oh wait we're talking about Philips Hue...

 

[srl7741]

If it was me then firstly I would probably take the “blow it all up and start fresh” approach anyway (it’s what I do with all my new iPhones because it gives me a chance to revisit what apps I have and maybe optimise things)

I like this idea for the very same reason. I can always push things over to Matter later if I get bored and feel like messing things up again.

 

[Itinj24]

I ordered three yesterday (currently using 8). I’m going to blow it all up and start fresh. Every light inside and outside my house is Hue.

If you have kids, here’s a little game I play with mine… first one to find the red light wins. Ok, now go find the green light… etc lol. Funny watching them disappear into the different rooms and then yelling, “found it!”

 

[srl7741]

I ordered three yesterday (currently using 8). I’m going to blow it all up and start fresh. Every light inside and outside my house is Hue.

If you have kids, here’s a little game I play with mine… first one to find the red light wins. Ok, now go find the green light… etc lol. Funny watching them disappear into the different rooms and then yelling, “found it!”

It didn't take long to sell out, I hope the shipping isn't delayed and clearly there is a pent up demand for a more robust Hub. I have 94 hue devices and skip over anything new simply due to the hub limits and not wanting to add more hub chaos.

 

[okkibs]

I still have the original round bridge that I use with the hue essentials app and an old Intel-Rosetta2 macOS app that's no longer available today but still works fine to quickly adjust lights straight from the menu bar. Never created an account with Philips and never upgraded anything and it works just as well as I did back in 2014 or so when I had bought the starter set. After all the mandatory changes and account requirements I am sure this "Pro" bridge will brick itself and all the lights in the process the first chance it gets.

 

[ayephoner]

We were given a Hue starter kit last christmas. I hate these products. I have other smart lights in my house that work consistently and easily. Requiring the bridge is just crazy. I had no spare ethernet ports on my router, so I hooked the bridge up to a wifi extender, which caused a lot of issues, but figuring that out took weeks. It seems their customer support doesn't know their product all that well. The only way I could get it to work was to sacrifice one of the other devices I had plugged into my router. I guess I could have bought some splitters or something, but I didn't want to spend more money trying to get 3 light bulbs to work that I don't like anyways. I'll be excited when the bulbs die and I can happily never buy another phillips product... (just my 2 cents)

 

[okkibs]

The bridge makes sense for the zigbee communication but if you buy modern lights they now got Bluetooth built in. Zigbee has the advantage of very reliable connections through many walls. For more ports you can buy any unmanaged 8 port switch. These typically cost anywhere from $20-$35 and once you connect switch and router with a cable you now get 7 free ports on the switch so 6 additional ports in total which should be enough.

 

[ayephoner]

Yeah, like I said, I just didn't want to spend money to make something work that I don't really like and won't be moving forward with using after what I have dies. My router is also in my living room, on an entertainment console/table piece of furniture that already has way too much stuff on/in it.

 

[SpecB]

It's hard to believe it's been 10 years using the now older model Hue Bridge. The new Bridge Pro does look like a pretty big update.

Can't wait to try it out and hopefully eliminate my older Bridges x2. I hope the migration is simple I have a lot of Hue products. The MotionAware™ Use lights as motion sensors will be interesting to see how that works.

Hue Bridge Pro $99
MotionAware FAQ's