PARTY MODE HUE LIGHTS INSTALL
PARTY MODE HUE LIGHTS BLUETOOTH
PARTY MODE HUE LIGHTS PROFESSIONAL

PARTY MODE HUE LIGHTS PROFESSIONAL

Several professional home automation systems, such as Control4, can control Philips Hue.

PARTY MODE HUE LIGHTS BLUETOOTH

Some of the Bluetooth bulbs here cost less than $30, but most are in the $40-$50 range.Īnother benefit of Hue lights over any of the Bluetooth lights is their ability to be integrated into smart home or control systems. A Hue starter kit (gateway + 3 bulbs) costs $200, and additional bulbs are $60. In fact, with some Bluetooth lights I’ve used, if the light loses the Bluetooth signal the bulb automatically returns to white from whatever color it was previously on.Ī major selling point with some of the Bluetooth color-changing smart bulbs is they’re cheaper than Philips Hue bulbs. While 30 feet is the standard stated range, usually if you leave the room and walk down the hall a little, you’ve lost the connection. On the other hand, Bluetooth connections in the home have a very limited range. A Bluetooth connection is a little easier to setup, and since there’s no gateway, you’re not dependent on your home network and don’t need to take up another Ethernet port on your router or switch. With a Bluetooth connection, the phone is wirelessly connected directly to the light bulbs, no network gateway required. Most of the Hue-copycats (and I mean that in the kindest possibly way) use Bluetooth, rather than WiFi and Zigbee. In that setup, technically, the smartphone isn’t directly connected to the lights. The Hue app on your smartphone connects to the gateway via WiFi. The gateway connects wirelessly with Zigbee to your Hue lights.

PARTY MODE HUE LIGHTS INSTALL

In a Philips Hue system (read our complete Philips Hue review here), you first need to install a gateway product to your home network. Philips Hue lights use a combination of WiFi and Zigbee. Most of the non-Hue color-changing LED blubs use Bluetooth as the wireless control method.

So are all these other color-changing bulbs mere copycats or do they offer something different and useful to the smart bulb buying public? Well, that depends. It seems nearly every week we receive a press release about new app-controlled LED light bulbs that can change color. Philips Hue lights are still considered the premium product among smart lights, but no longer is the brand alone in that market. The fact the app allowed for easy customization of colors and a few other fun tweaks made the Philips Hue a fast hit with smart home enthusiasts and newbies alike. Not only could you flick the lights on and off by tapping an iPhone screen, but you could also make the light shine almost any color you wanted. Finally, and most importantly, they changed colors. Second, they were one of the first smartphone controlled lights for DIY users. First, they were LED bulbs at a time when LED was a new thing. When Philips launched the original Hue smart light bulbs, they were revolutionary products for several reasons.

Party mode hue lights