Reviews for Philips Hue Connected Bulb - Starter Pack

Controlling lights from iPad and iPhone is neat. Colors work well. There is a slight learning curve..

I recommend using all the lights on setup, this may have been problem for me since I screwed in only one bulb..

Also I noted when you edit bulb name light flashes while in edit mode.

This would have been a definite 5 star but unfortunately tech support is nonexistent except for email.

320 of 380 people found this useful

I heard about this home automation system yesterday and decided to try out. My review is based on one night of setup and testing the capabilities, but I am impressed. The setup was simple, the automated control was smooth and worked as advertised. Me and a few friends had fun just playing with the lighting combinations. My neighbors probably thought we had a concert going on. Then we realized that there is an online community where you can share your light settings with others and download theirs. This added a new level of interest and amusement for us. I woke this morning to my lights ,set by timer, simulating a sunrise. Simply amazing! I will update his review if I find any negatives, besides the price, but so far the amount of enjoyment and amusement has made the price worth it.

100 of 102 people found this useful

The Philips Hue product gave me this "One more thing" feeling again, getting something that I haven´t expected and genuinely surprised me for it´s innovation and quality.

This product is gorgeous! It just works. It will make your home a bit more comfortable and more enjoyable.

89 of 92 people found this useful

This product was extremely easy to set up and install. It changes the feel of a room pretty quickly. It is pricey, but to be able to control 50 bulbs is pretty awesome. I'm looking forward to our next movie night where I can match the lights to the mood of the movie.

77 of 81 people found this useful

Whoever came up with this is a genius! Basically you put in as many light sources as you want (anything that will take a standard bulb) plug in the base station to your router, then have incredible fun painting your room with light!

I'm telling you this is awesome. Expensive...but awesome.

You can program each light individually, gang some or all of them together, and create amazing light patterns in your home.

The neatest feature, is you can select colors from your own photography! I used a picture of sushi from my honeymoon, and created an amazing light pattern! My wife loved it!

It's also really easy to use multiple iphones / ipads to control it, so everyone in the family can participate!

Seriously, this is expensive, but really worth it if you like having different light patterns in your home.

67 of 70 people found this useful

First, be aware that these bulbs are not for use outdoors or in enclosed light fixtures, even though the website clearly shows the bulb being used in an enclosed lamp. You won't discover these limitations until after you purchased the product and read the materials inside. No mention of this is made on Philips website. Setup was fairly easy for the main kit with 3 bulbs but I found adding another bulb took more time and the hub had difficulty finding the bulb and only did so after I installed it in the same room the hub was in and then I was able to move the bulb to another location. The app is fairly easy to use but needs improvement (ex. you can schedule lights to go on at a certain time but you can't pick specific days..it's 7 days a week or nothing). Hopefully minor things like this will be corrected. As far as selecting colors, you can't pick certain colors like blacks or greys or really dark colors. Biggest complaint is this...your light switch has to always be on for these to work. If you turn on the switch by hand, the lights default to bright white. If you turn the light switch off, the bulbs will not respond to the app. So basically you have to turn on the lights, let them go white, then turn them off with the app if you wish to control them outside of your home or from somewhere in your home away from the switch you use to turn them on at a later time. Also, the lights are not compatible with dimmer switches so every time you manually turn them on, they are BRIGHT WHITE and then you have to adjust the brightness with the app. Trying to adjust brightness with the dimmer only causes the lights to go out. For the cost of these bulbs, you would think these things would be addressed or noted so customers are aware of the limitations before spending the money. That being said, the colors can be fun but I think the novelty will wear off really quickly and it's hard to justify the cost solely based on novelty and especially based on the bulb limitations.

101 of 139 people found this useful

Easy to set up the hardware, but the app which controls the bulbs is a piece of junk. It's overly complex with cutesy scenes which allow you to pluck colors and assign them to bulbs. Big problems with basic functionality: the timers don't work reliably, the app forgets bulbs and color assignments you've made and supposedly saved, and on and on. The product really isn't ready for primetime with an app that's such a piece of garbage.

57 of 59 people found this useful

I tried this product for a few weeks then returned it. The bulbs themselves are very nice, and I had no issues with connectivity. It's the software that is horrible. Actually, it's not so much the implementation of the software (it works) as the conception (dumb idea). Philips has taken what could be a genuinely useful product and turned it into something cute. I really don't want a blue or red light on in my room. I could care less about matching the color of my shirt. I would like useful ability to control the lighting in my home remotely. The software implements that horribly. The timer function is ridiculous - no ability to set a schedule? What idiot decided that all has to be done manually every day? If Philips sorts out the software and implements a better timer / remote functionality, I may buy it again; in the meantime this is just an expensive and not particularly fun toy.

57 of 63 people found this useful

The Philips Hue is incredible. The video that is on the main site shows exactly what these marvels do in all their glory. I do have to contact Philips though as one bulb has malfunctioned OOB. Please don't let that stop you from purchasing as I will be adding more lights soon. The lights are very bright and will be an adequate replacement.

48 of 50 people found this useful

Bought the starter kit today; have connected the bulbs and hub; truly a unique experience that leaves you with a sense of wonder. The app is a good start, though there needs to be a way to save custom light settings one creates manually without needing to point to a picture.

Otherwise, great product!

44 of 46 people found this useful