Reviews for Philips Hue Connected Bulb - Starter Pack

Yes, they are expensive, not as bright as one may like and the app has room for improvement. But its also a fantastic new concept not available anywhere else. I wired the living room with 10 lights and use a 3rd party app (Ambify) to make them pulse to music. The effect is awesome and great every time there is a party or a playdate in the house.

I was really looking forward to using these. The bridge kept recycling and rebooting and would not keep a consistent connection so could not control lights. Seems this product is not ready for ther masses yet. Returning for a refund.

Not a problem at all. My house is super complex electronically. I have used home automation for 20 or so years. From X10) to ZWAVE . Many 2.4 devices with Zwave internet remote locks. It all works. If I was willing to replace all my new Lprize bulbs - it would really add to the lighting environment in my home. I will be happy with 3 or so bulbs for now. The price of the individual bulbs needs to be around $30.00 for it to become a success. This system uses the Zigbee protocol.

There is another plus in that the internet control is free -- there is no monthly charge as is the case with many other systems - Philips does not charge for this. My 6 year old grandchild was able to access the more advanced featured of the app within 5 minutes of use on my Ipad without any adult help. It has great potential for advanced home or office lighting.

I bought a 3 bulb starter pack a few days ago and it worked great.
However, I since went back to the Apple store to buy three additional light bulbs and none of these bulbs are recognized by the system. I tried resetting the hue brigade/remote and even when putting one of the new bulb in a socket that previsouly worked the new bulb is not recognized. I tried placing the new bulb very close to the bridge. Tried re-installing the iphone app (one never knows...). All of this to no avail. I now have three very expensive ($50 each) light bulbs that are useless. This system is NOT ready for primetime and is buggy. I recommend that everyone stay away from this and do not get tempted in spending the considerable amount of money.
The Hue system is just not working!

Fantastic! Put the first three bulbs into recessed lighting and fell in love. Easy set up, yea, the app could do more, but so relaxing! immediately bought ten more bulbs, I own an A-Frame home and this was a true delight. Read the reviews and was seriously concerned about brightness, not a problem at all! i actually had to dim some of the pre-sets. i cant wait until the rest arrive!

i just receved my Starterkit (3 Bulp) and plus 3 Bulps extra.
after setup HUE it is finding just the 3 extra Bulp but not the 3 Bulp's from starter kit.
after 3 times reseting the bridge no better result.
until yet no answer from the philips....

I got the starter pack and immediately popped them in. No issues with setup on either my local lan or remote access. Used multiple iOS devices without any issues. The light is very pleasing. Another 100-200 lumens would be very welcome, but they're good for accent lighting.

A few nits or feature requests that are probably easy to add to the app down the road:

- ability to set a regular schedule. I haven't tested this yet, but the website indicates that you can only schedule up to 24 hours out, then you have to set it again. Makes an alarm a bit difficult.

- A default setting other than white.

- Grouping is a bit confusing. An interface more akin to the way Sonos handles multiple speakers would be better.

- The ability to do other gradual dimming or lighting in intervals other than 3 and 9 minutes.

- The ability to define favorite colors to jump to when creating a lighting scheme or recipe. I realize recipes save state, but there i expect there will be times when I want to manually just move between a preset palette.

- Alerts when a light has been left on for longer than a certain threshold during a certain window. (e.g. why is this light on when the sun rose two hours ago?)

On the hardware side, a few more wishlist items:

- More lightbulb sizes! I want these in sconces and fans!

- A wall switch replacement that keeps the power on, but signals the shut off instead.

Admittedly I was a skeptic about the value of Hue when it first appeared on the Apple Store shelves. At first it just seemed like another overpriced App Enabled accessory to line the shelves for consumers obsessed with the latest iOS device.

But a couple persistent co-workers convinced me to take a closer look at Hue and I began to realize Hue was more than a cut above the clutter of other accessories. Hue actually impacted my day to day life!

Like other home automation accessories I can set my lights on a timer or turn them on for security before I arrived home at night. But Hue took it a step further. I can customize my bedroom lighting to relax my tired eyes after a long day or energize me in the morning. As my mood changed I experimented with more light patterns.

Overall its one of the best purchases I've made in a long time and worth the price. It will change the way you see light in your home.

The bulbs are fantastic. Every color you could dream of. And the multi light settings are super cool. Overall system has great great potential. But the app is quite poorly designed. In the future this can only get better and better.

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