I'm interested in the Phillips Hue lights, but with the price, I just wonder if I'm wasting my money. I'd love to be able to control my lights from my phone and purchase something that will be HomeKit compatible and talk to other devices I purchase in the future, as well as use Siri. I don't need all the changing colors, but would love the schedule part of it and using my phone to cut on and off and check to make sure they are off. In my downstairs, I have probably close to 15 recess light bulbs, so it would cost me a fair amount, and something I'd have to do over time. So my question is, do you guys think the Phillip Hue is worth it for me, or should I look into something else, and if so, what? Thanks!
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Replace lights with Phillips Hue or something else?
- Thread starter hokiepokie07
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I have over a dozen Hue bulbs throughout my house, and I love them, but I don't have any idea if Phillips will adopt HomeKit. They'd be stupid not to, but they seem pretty open to allowing their hub to be accessed by third party apps, so here's hoping they do, along with Nest. Then we'll only have one app to deal with.
i have a fair amount of HUE bulbs and they are great all around. if you dont need the ability to change colors than look at the huelux line, they cost less and are brights for the range it covers
I have this set. I change colours depending on mood and what I'm doing. I also configured them to check my location over GPS so they switch off when I leave home and switch on when they know I'm arriving back. I get an instant message to let me know it works. You can also use IFTTT to extend possibilities.
Give it a go and start with one room. You probably won't regret it. Hue lights operate using Zigbee Light Link which is a published standard and supported by other lights.
ZLL is also supposed to be compatible with Zigbee Home Automation, which is used by others such as WeMo and Osram' Lightify bulbs. I haven't seen much evidence of people using these products interchangeably but in principle at least it's supposed to work.
Technically you'd still be an early adopter, and there's the chance of getting burned, but the API for Hue is incredibly simple and so there is barely any barriers to adding Hue to a more modern or better system in the future.
ZLL is also supposed to be compatible with Zigbee Home Automation, which is used by others such as WeMo and Osram' Lightify bulbs. I haven't seen much evidence of people using these products interchangeably but in principle at least it's supposed to work.
Technically you'd still be an early adopter, and there's the chance of getting burned, but the API for Hue is incredibly simple and so there is barely any barriers to adding Hue to a more modern or better system in the future.
I have been wondering about these lights as well. Similar to you I will need a lot to fill my home, so buying them will defiantly be a process. The fire department came around a few months ago and installed all energy efficient eco lights. These lights suck! They are yellow and dim looking. I cant stand them. They said that they were required to at least install the lights, but we can change them whenever we want. Before they switched out the lights I was using super bright lights. I cant stand a dark and dingy room! Are these Hue lights bright? Not necessarily looking to change colors. Just a bright room.
They can be set to really bright white light to any colour you want and dim them up and down with your phone. You can make them dance to music and also flash like a rock concert.
If we're talking about LED lights, search "pure white vs cool white vs warm white". They probably installed "warm white" lights.
I'm not in the anti-guvment camp, but having the fire dept go around and change lights in people' houses is a reach! Maybe there is more to this story?
I have several LED lights now and they rock. All of them will be changed out in time.
If you are into lighting, check out laser lights for cars. You won't buy a car without them once they are readily available. They are so much safer that their use could be mandated at some point.
I have several LED lights now and they rock. All of them will be changed out in time.
If you are into lighting, check out laser lights for cars. You won't buy a car without them once they are readily available. They are so much safer that their use could be mandated at some point.
if you only need white, id go for the cree connected bulbs, i have a fair amount of hue bulbs and was going to buy some lux bulbs for the areas where color isnt needed and just found out cree bulbs @$15 each will also connect to my philips system. win win, plus they are brighter than hue lux
I have several Cree warm white LED bulbs in 40, 60, and 75 watt equivalent versions as well as Cree BR30's in all my high hats. I have to say I'm very pleased with them.