Reviews for Philips Hue Connected Bulb - Starter Pack

There are a lot of smart early adopters writing reviews for the HUE. I had the system running with three bulbs within about 15 minutes. The App can be improved but it is functional, very easy (for me) to program, and can be supplemented with the free QuickHue native OS X, Colors for Hue OS X, Magma Hue iOS 6, and others. I don't want to negate fellow reviewer's problems with HUE, but except for the interference issue that may affect connection stability, I believe that HUE is not ready for the general consumer market just yet, but the more technically involved of us appear to have little or no issues other than $60 per bulb. I installed multiple Apps on our iPhone 5 and 4S, and two MacBook Pros in a few minutes.

Wait a couple of months and the App issues will be largely resolved. HOWEVER, many of us that do not work with electronic life expectancy forget that there are 8,760 hours in a year, and a high duty cycle will have the AVERAGE unit failing in a few years (do the math), making them VERY expensive. I'm guessing that this will really be a heat issue. I'm an old analog electronics engineer and without any testing I can tell that I have difficulty holding the base when it runs 'wide open,' which means it is about 160 degrees F (71 degrees C,) not as cool as our intuition might guess. Future fixtures will eventually target the cooling issue, as most are now designed for incandescent bulbs, which have an entirely different set of challenges. HUE CAN be repaired (search for disassembled HUE bulbs) but it is not economically worthwhile at this time. There is also an issue with colorimetry but this will improve in the future.

25 of 33 people found this useful

Purchased starter pack, plus two single bulbs.

Cons:
Turning off the light bulbs with a light switch, and then turning them on will default to bright white light. Prefer you could select the default or have the base station set the last setting when the bulbs connect.

The app does not allow you to directly set a color. You must have a photo with the color you want to select. This was disapointing when you are trying to get a specific HUE. I had to use Photoshop on my Mac to save a photo to my phone with the color palette I wanted.

Pros:
Cool emerging technology that will only get better.

31 of 50 people found this useful

I'm impressed. Build quality looks superb. The bulbs are attractive, and importantly to me, the color rendering index (CRI) is > 90, far better than CFLs. That’s even better than most other LED bulbs. Tomatoes look red, not dull. I was delighted that these bulbs gracefully ramp up to full brightness when power is applied, and no warm up time like CFL. Brightness is indeed comparable to 50W incandescent in my testing, just right for my living room lamps. Color is stable through the entire dimming range.

The iOS software works OK to get started, but leaves me wanting more. I expect it to improve along with 3rd party offerings. Already, I have enjoyed having the lights dim down to a cozy candlelight as my evening winds down, then to wake me up in the early morning with dawn simulation. Tuning the white balance of the lamps for study, reading, or relaxing is great. Other colors are fun, too, perhaps for accents or parties.

Pricing? The main cost of these bulbs is the premium pure color high-efficiency LED chips and individual drivers. Philips did not skimp here. To bring the cost down and brightness up, they'd have to switch to white phosphor LEDs, which would defeat the purpose and reduce light quality. Remember, with each bulb, you are also getting a wireless network dimmer, on-board flash memory, and tunable color. Compare to other home automation kits paired with dimmable LEDs/CFLs.

I hope Philips releases additional bulb formats, i.e. for track lighting and recessed cans. I'd also like to see ZigBee compatible accessories for control, such as wireless wall switches to flesh the system out. It’s great that Philips is using open standards for these bulbs and inviting developers to create new ideas.

12 of 17 people found this useful

Right, firstly the App could do with some work. Mostly intuitive but some basics like setting the timers are very unclear. Tip - you just need to double tap to reset the alarm.

Other than that the product is awesome.

Aside from the geekery of the thing I was most amazed is that almost no perceptible heat comes from the bulb. After an hour or so they are just slightly warm to the touch. They must be incredibly efficient.

But above all this is totally cool. It may be a stretch to pay for them at $60 a bulb but I am sure costs will be recovered over time. But these are LED bulbs with wireless built in, how cool it that???!!!

I find my self laughing every time I turn on and off the lights.

18 of 25 people found this useful

I love these things ... not really sure what all of the complaints are about?! But that's okay, as I've had great luck with my order (starter kit and three extra bulbs)! The colors, the intensity, the mood setting, the movement, the illumination, and the app: all are TOP of the line for me! NO complaints here! Just follow the little wheel on the inside packaging for simple instructions to get 'em fired up!

6 of 7 people found this useful

I jumped at the opportunity to purchase 10 of these bulbs and the accompanying "bridge" to control them. Eagerly set up all of the lights, layer with the fantastic array of color possibilities, set up schedules and then stood back waiting for my lights to come on and off, fading in and out, illuminating this room at this time and another room at another time...and then...reality smashed the dream. The software does not work as advertised. I does not hold the programs. The lights do not come on and off as programmed. The fade in and does not work. It takes forever t login remotely and turn the lights on and off from, whatever place you happen be in. DO NOT BUY THESE LIGHTS UNLESS YOU WANT TO WASTE TIME WITH THEM DAILY!

10 of 22 people found this useful

Overall the product isn't bad but it has 2 big problems:

1 - It doesn't fade in / fade out. Simply switch on or off! To switch lights out and on a timer can do it for less money. The advertisement video clearly shows it, but after several attempts I couldn't do it.

2 - doesn't memorize the alarm, you have to set it each day, again the timer does a better job that this system.

I leave also a suggestion, integration with iCloud to avoid the double work of doing the same light scenes on several devices

10 of 14 people found this useful

Works sometimes... A nice novelty that you should never rely upon. Can't get it to work at all tonight but it is kind of cool the 40-50% of the time it actually connects with your network. Tonight it won't work for me, but when it does, it is almost worth the hundreds of $ I've spend on special bulbs! When it does actually work, when it chooses to on certain days...it is cool thought!

4 of 7 people found this useful

purchased it at the novi apple mall bc it looked so cool, even though they are a few flaws (software only!) there is nothing better then being able to change a room to any color you want as well as the dim. the lights look awesome in the dark!

2 of 4 people found this useful