![]() The bulbs test well, too - I even named them the best smart bulbs for cheapskates in my recent rundown of bargain-priced white-light smart bulbs. Recently, though, the brand has made a sharp pivot towards simple, budget-priced smart bulbs and compatibility with Amazon's AI assistant Alexa is touted as a core feature - enough so that you'll now often find Sengled bulbs bundled with Echo speakers on Amazon's website. Sengled used to specialize in novelty smart lights with built-in speakers, built-in cameras, built-in Wi-Fi extenders, you name it. My recommendation: Start with a single Lifx smart bulb like that Lifx Mini LED bulb pictured above, which you can currently get for $35, then play with the app and integrations a bit to see if you like the Lifx approach. That said, Lifx lights speak Wi-Fi and don't need any extra hub hardware to connect with your router, so buying in is a bit less expensive up front. On the whole, Lifx is only slightly less expensive than Hue - and some of its products, like the Lifx Z light strips and the upcoming multi-color Lifx candelabra bulbs are actually more expensive than their Hue counterparts. No other brand offers anything like that. ![]() You can even buy Lifx Plus bulbs that put out invisible, infrared light at night to help light things up for your night-vision security cameras. ![]() Beyond supporting voice commands via all of the major voice assistants, the Lifx lineup of color-changing light bulbs, light strips and wall tiles come with an excellent app and a smart lighting channel on the free online automation service IFTTT that's notably more advanced than Hue's. The Hue app and Hue's many integrations with third-party services and devices give you all sorts of ways to tinker around with your lights - but for the past several years, Australian start-up Lifx has been building a smart lighting ecosystem that's almost as good. (Disclaimer: CNET may earn a small share of the revenue for any purchases made through the links on this page). And if you really couldn't care less about the colors, and just want a simple, dimmable soft white bulb that you can control with voice commands, worry not - I've got a rundown for those, too. I've tested plenty of them - here are the top picks that belong at the top of your list. And don't even get me started on Hue's overpriced light fixtures, which include the Signe floor lamp.Īll of which is a long-winded way of saying that the smart lighting category has evolved to the point where you've got a lot of alternatives to Philips Hue that are worth considering before you spend hundreds. They don't change colors, but I'd much rather have Ring's motion-activated outdoor lights, most of which cost a fraction of what Hue charges. The new lineup of Philips Hue outdoor lights get even pricier - a single, color-changing Calla pathlight for your garden will cost you about $150, while a trio of color-changing Lily spotlights sells for about $403. The unique, likable Philips Hue Play light bars make great little accent lights for the back of your monitor or TV, but a single-light base kit costs $118, which is almost twice as much as I'd want to pay for it. Prices get even more lopsided when you look at the wider Philips Hue catalog. Watch this: Smart outdoor lighting: Ring vs. Want a cheap Hue alternative that supports Apple HomeKit? The Sylvania Smart Plus LED bulb and the Feit Electric Color-Changing LED Smart Bulb both work with Siri, and you can score either one of those for just $25, too. Same goes for budget brands like Sengled and Eufy, each of which offers a color-changing LED light bulb for $25 that connects directly with your Wi-Fi network and works with Alexa and Google. ![]() Those cost $35 each and, unlike Philips Hue, they don't require a hub at all. Read also: Philips Hue's new Bluetooth bulbs let you skip the Hue Bridgeįor instance, a single color-changing Hue bulb (Hue calls it a " White and Color LED") retails for $50, and though you can usually find it on sale for closer to $60, that's still more than you'll need to spend on other premium-level options such as the Lifx Mini. Read more: The light switch is no longer your smart bulb's worst enemy The problem with all of that? Despite some major strides with the surprisingly affordable Philips Hue White smart light bulbs, the color-changing Hue bulbs are still really, really expensive.
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