Reviews for Philips Hue Connected Bulb - Starter Pack

the hardware is bulletproof and the lights are mind blowingly clever. the colours are amazing. however probably the worst software ever to go with it. have had to re-install the app 4 times this week, only way to make the lights re-connect. rage inducingly frustrating.

so close philips, all you had to do was spend more then 3 minutes developing the app, i am returning my lights to the store today. what a shame. low rating reflects the app not the hardware

The greatest thing to happen to the light bulb since Thomas Edison. Very easy to setup and use. I hope they last long.

I heard Leo Laportte (The Tech Guy) talking about the Apple/Phillips Hue. Without delay, I read about it and the many tech reviews. In short, I purchased one from the Apple Store; drove to my local Apple Store in Madison, MS; installed it in less than 10 minutes; and the family loves it. My only minor problem was I did not have a spare LAN slot on my router (all four already in use. That was easy to solve. My home is "greener" than ever now.

Overall this product is very cool. The colors and app are great and super fun. However, one reason why I bought this product was for the "security" feature they advertise. I wanted a timer to go on at 6pm and off in the morning. Working with their tech support, you have to MANUALLY enable the timer Every day. This is ridiculous.

This is another "great idea" product from a company I admire, however, after setting it all up, I'm a bit disappointed for a few reasons...

1) Price is too high for quality of product. $200 for 3 bulbs and a LAN access point is quite high for adaptive lighting. See my reasoning in point number 2 below:
2) Each bulb only produces 600 lumens. That's not a lot of light per bulb, the equivalent of about a 50 watt traditional light bulb. A 13-watt CFL bulb (60-watt equivalent) bulb on Amazon currently sells for $6.50 and produces 825 lumens. Compared to the standalone hue bulb price of $59, the equivalent CFL is more than 8x cheaper cost and a 38% brighter bulb.
3) The hue iOS app needs a lot of work. The reviews are awful, and the app just isn't very user friendly and well thought out.

For these reasons, I will probably have to return this product. I do like being able to control the on/off state of my light from my iPhone/iPad, but it's just not yet worth the money. Maybe in version 2 it will be worth it, but I would need an updated app and a minimum of 800 lumens (1,100 preferred) to justify buying this.

I never write reviews but after reading the reviews here I was iffy about buying these but went ahead and did so anyways. They are Great. Yes they are pricey, but what from apple isn't? You buying something that is basically one-of-a-kind and that no one else sells. Stop whining. As for the app it is a touch non-user friendly, but for the complaints that I am seeing on here they are lies. There is a color selector (Not just picture matching), its not slow (its your wifi), and people talking about ONLY Apple compatible... Look at your URL. Your on the APPLE STORE. Sorry about the rant to everyone else.

I'm not sure where the reviews about "Not enough light" are coming from. The lights put out more than enough light to fill a room. I have four of them in about a 10 x 10 foot office, and only during the day are the lights on full strength. At night they are always dimmed in one way or another.

For high ceilings, this may be an issue. But for regular rooms they are just fine. Don't be afraid of people who seem to not have enough light. I read all the time for my work--constantly. I do have an elbow spotlamp on my desk for direct reading at night but I always needed that, even with traditional bulbs.

I'm giving this product 5 starts to open, because for an EARLY ADOPTION product it is excellent. We have a solid wifi connection and have none of the delay issues many have reported. A good wifi connection is key. The app and the options really need to be improved over time, but that is expected and I'll amend my review as needed if they don't keep pace.

Finally, they do need to get better about the bases, labeling, and adding zones to groups of bulbs. This product would be a bad mature product if these were not addressed. That said, we're still in the early adoption phase and so far they have heavily exceeded expectations with a beautiful, useful, and imaginative product. Gone are the ugly CF lights and hot incandescent lights that bugged me for years. I can hardly imagine going back to just regular bulbs at this point. It would be like going back to black and white TV.

I can't imagine ever living without these beauty's, they have brought our electricity bill down they have already payed for themselves along with "Nest Thermostat" and their so fun! Dim, control, timers, etc.. You will not regret this purchase.

Just picked Hue up a week ago and we love it. Installation and setup on our devices and iMac was a breeze. The color/lighting combinations are fantastic and endless. We will be expanding from the living room and kitchen into the study and bathroom. Would recommend this to anyone looking to upgrade to LED lighting in the home.

Very easy to set up and initially really cool. At night they are not bright enough to light up a room. They are more of a toy rather than a practical improvement in your living space. I had them in for a week and took them out cause It is silly to have to swap out Hue bulb with real bulbs just so you can see.