LEDVANCE Introduces New HomeKit-Enabled Sylvania Smart+ Filament Light Bulb

[MacRumors]

LEDVANCE today announced the launch of a new HomeKit-enabled Sylvania Smart+ Soft White A19 Filament Bulb, the first filament bulb to come equipped with HomeKit.

Filament bulbs are often preferred to standard bulbs in lights where the design of the bulb itself is featured. The new Sylvania bulb allows customers who are looking for a retro filament bulb to get that look without sacrificing smart functionality.

The Sylvania Smart+ Soft White A19 Filament Bulb provides up to 650 lumens of 2700K light, equivalent to a 40W bulb, and it can be dimmed.

Sylvania's HomeKit-enabled light bulbs work with the Home app and can integrate with other HomeKit-enabled products. They also respond to Siri commands and can be added to scenes and other automations.

The new Sylvania Smart+ Soft White A19 Filament Bulb can be pre-ordered on Amazon.com for $31.99 starting today, with orders set to ship out in the spring of 2018.

LEDVANCE's Sylvania Smart+ Indoor Flex Strip Full Color ($59.99) and the Soft White A19 Bulb ($25.99), both of which feature HomeKit support, are also now available for purchase on Amazon.

Article Link: LEDVANCE Introduces New HomeKit-Enabled Sylvania Smart+ Filament Light Bulb

 

[Blackstick]

Love LED lighting but man it's expensive to get good lumens out of it.

 

[anthonyondre]

Crazy-expensive considering it will burn out. Makes much more sense to replace the wall switch with a HomeKit switch and use a $3 IKEA retro-bulb. My still working X-10 wall switches lasted 10 years and now being replaced with HomeKit. Bulbs never last that long.

 

[RightMACatU]

Got me a $4 timer at Ikea and I never have to manually manage my $1 lightbulb

 

[adamjackson]

Why are we releasing new filament bulbs? Less efficient, ugly and for some reason really expensive.

I've been full LED for 2 years in every light in the house except the oven light. can't imagine going back.

 

[Hagrid]

Crazy-expensive considering it will burn out. Makes much more sense to replace the wall switch with a HomeKit switch and use a $3 IKEA retro-bulb. My still working X-10 wall switches lasted 10 years and now being replaced with HomeKit. Bulbs never last that long.

Ah.. X-10, now that brings back some memories. I had quite a collection of those devices

 

[richie510]

I have found that Homekit wall switches are the way to go for most lights (a socket switch in some cases), but a smart bulb makes the most sense for my wife and I on our bedside table lamps. This allows individual brightness and color management (I wake up to a blue light, and use a soft color at night).

Also, these filament or "Edison" bulbs look really good when they are either exposed, or only behind a colorless clear glass cover. They provide extremely soft light and are more of an ambiance thing than a utilitarian thing. On this specific example, that big white chunk with the brand and "smart +" does sort of take away from the whole retro thing these bulbs are trying to accomplish.

 

[Dominicanyor]

This really sucks big time. Apple focus on working with wink hubs and other switches.

 

[rek89]

Why are we releasing new filament bulbs? Less efficient, ugly and for some reason really expensive.

I've been full LED for 2 years in every light in the house except the oven light. can't imagine going back.

Uhhh... They are LED?

 

[tigres]

oh, a 25 dollar lightbulb. I can do my house for like 800$!

joy
/s

 

[ajguckian]

I keep waiting for the costs of these things, specifically the hue line, to come down into something I can stomach. It has to happen at some point, right?

 

[vipergts2207]

This really sucks big time. Apple focus on working with wink hubs and other switches.

Please tell me you realize that Apple didn’t create these light bulbs. And Apple is not going to work with anything outside of HomeKit.

 

[ceriess]

Why are we releasing new filament bulbs? Less efficient, ugly and for some reason really expensive.

I agree that they are expensive, but I won't put funky modern looking LED bulbs (like Hue) in my antique lamps or chandeliers. They look preposterous. These bulbs were made for people like me that live in an old house who want it to keep looking like an old house. If they are going into a fixture where the bulb could not be seen, I am Hue all the way.

 

[Blackstick]

I've been full LED for 2 years in every light in the house except the oven light. can't imagine going back.

What do you do for kitchen, garage, desk/task lighting? I get the lumens I need for bedrooms/living room/dining room/family room from LED, but I'm having a challenge getting enough light in task areas from LED tech...

 

[Vasilioskn]

That bulb is quite ugly

 

[iMerik]

I just want nice, outdoor BR30 flood bulbs that work with Homekit without needing a hub and allow me to change a wide spectrum of colors of different holidays.

 

[ActionableMango]

Why are we releasing new filament bulbs? Less efficient, ugly and for some reason really expensive.

LED filament bulbs are purposely designed to look like incandescent filament bulbs because they look more appropriate in retro-style home decor where the bulb is exposed.

You might think they are ugly, but that is a matter of personal taste.

Of course for installations where the bulb is concealed behind a diffuser or sealed inside of an enclosure you won't be able to see the LED filament, so any LED bulb will do as long as you get the right color temperature.

 

[CarlJ]

Why are we releasing new filament bulbs? Less efficient, ugly and for some reason really expensive.

I've been full LED for 2 years in every light in the house except the oven light. can't imagine going back.

Really? Tells us more of this wondrous new LED technology.

Oh, I mean, these are LED bulbs, with LEDs carefully arranged in the bulb to look like old-fashioned incandescent filament bulbs. Purely for aesthetics. LED technology, so not less efficient. Expensive because it's more work than making regular LED bulbs, and they're trendy. Ugly, well that's up to the individual, clearly many like them, or they wouldn't be trendy.

 

[adamjackson]

LED filament bulbs are purposely designed to look like incandescent filament bulbs because they look more appropriate in retro-style home decor where the bulb is exposed.

You might think they are ugly, but that is a matter of personal taste.



Of course for installations where the bulb is concealed behind a diffuser or sealed inside of an enclosure you won't be able to see the LED filament, so any LED bulb will do as long as you get the right color temperature.

My block list is getting full today. This look like hipster bulbs or something you'd put in a 1920s home. No thanks.

 

[vipergts2207]

I think these faux filament bulbs do look pretty neat, but I opted for Hue so I can change the color temperature.

 

[adamjackson]

What do you do for kitchen, garage, desk/task lighting? I get the lumens I need for bedrooms/living room/dining room/family room from LED, but I'm having a challenge getting enough light in task areas from LED tech...

I haven't had that issue. We completely gutted our home this year and went all LED on everything. There's not a dark part of the entire house. desk lamps, range light, recessed Hue bulbs through out the house, LED panels in the wash room, really bright LED motion lights outside that light up the entire yard. I can turn every light in the house on and use 200 watts.

 

[vipergts2207]

My block list is getting full today. This look like hipster bulbs or something you'd put in a 1920s home. No thanks.

You probably wouldn’t have to add so many people to your block list if they didn’t have to correct your speaking from ignorance.

 

[ActionableMango]

I'm astonished that someone would block me based on my polite reply explaining that there are different personal tastes when it comes to lighting styles. I responded to what I thought it was a genuine question and took the time to illustrate my answer with pictures as examples.

 

[Blackstick]

We completely gutted our home this year and went all LED on everything. There's not a dark part of the entire house. desk lamps, range light, recessed Hue bulbs through out the house, LED panels in the wash room, really bright LED motion lights outside that light up the entire yard. I can turn every light in the house on and use 200 watts.

Give me some SKUs or model #s Moving into a new house next week with a bunch of old bulbs and fixtures to replace/modernize. Hue bulbs aren't anything to write home about if you're not recessing 20 of em, they cap out about 600 lumens each... I'm talking 4-6000 for a kitchen that a fluorescent box can push with 4 T8 bulbs, I don't see any LED equivalent.

 

[H3LL5P4WN]

LED filament bulbs are purposely designed to look like incandescent filament bulbs because they look more appropriate in retro-style home decor where the bulb is exposed.

You might think they are ugly, but that is a matter of personal taste.

Of course for installations where the bulb is concealed behind a diffuser or sealed inside of an enclosure you won't be able to see the LED filament, so any LED bulb will do as long as you get the right color temperature.

Really? Tells us more of this wondrous new LED technology.

Oh, I mean, these are LED bulbs, with LEDs carefully arranged in the bulb to look like old-fashioned incandescent filament bulbs. Purely for aesthetics. LED technology, so not less efficient. Expensive because it's more work than making regular LED bulbs, and they're trendy. Ugly, well that's up to the individual, clearly many like them, or they wouldn't be trendy.

So these are LED then? If so, I'm on board. I just need to find a good place to put them; I love the Edison-style bulbs.