Reviews for Philips Hue Connected Bulb - Starter Pack

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!

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 rated 2, but it could have been 3, depending on what is most important to you below. I won't rehash what others have written, but here are some bullet points:

Good:

> Very easy set up. There are three steps. Simple. Good Job.
> Well made. The lights and base seem like solid, well-made products.
> Cool factor. Nice customer experience. Nice packaging and presentation. You feel like you're about to experience a whole new thing - and you are.
> The lights work well. They are very responsive to the changes you make in the app (just like some of the videos you have undoubtedly seen).

Needs Improvement:

> Brightness. This is huge for me. The bulbs - even at their brightest - are not bright enough. They are good for ambiance, not not nearly bright enough for my small (170 sq. ft.) bedroom/office, in which I have 2 of the 3 bulbs.
> App UX needs work. After a while you get how to use it, but it needs to be more intuitive and faster. Speed is key. More of a dashboard control for quick and easy settings. I'll bet some good UX folks could come up with the "right way" do this app.

I replaced 3 700 lumen CFLs with 3 Hue 600 Lumen bulbs. The ability to change colors was great but there was not enough light to read comfortably so I am returning them. When they have brighter bulbs I would buy it.

I bought a starter kit and in a few words, I was amazed. However, I went back to the Apple store and bought a second kit because there were no single packs available and thought about having a spare bridge.

The bad news is that found out the bulbs that comes with a starter kit cannot be used with a different bridge from another starter kit. Each bridge holds up to 50 bulbs only if single packs. That makes no sense!!!

Does that mean that if the bridge breaks there is no way to use the bulbs?? Now I am deciding if returning them all, because why would I want these bulbs that last ~ 15 years and if the bridge brake they cannot be used with another bridge.

What's good - easy to install and easy to use. The lights themselves render excellent colours.

What's not - software is very limited, especially in regards to setting timers. There isn't any mechanism to schedule re-occuring scenes (ie - turn on the lights every morning). All you can do is schedule a scene to turn on in the next 24 hours.

Overall - great for setting lighting scenes to meet your every mood. But if you are looking at something to support home automation, the current version of the software (both the website and the ios app) is too limiting.

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.

At its heart, the Hue lighting system is both a fundamentally good idea and has a lot of future potential. That said, in its current form, it feels mostly like a gimmick or party trick at best with some features that allow it some marginal usefulness in specific situations.

First, in high use areas in your home, turning on/off the lights will become a bit of a pain. In order for the Hue lights to work remotely, the physical light 'switch' will need to be left on. Thus, when you leave the room, if you use the switch to turn the lights off, you will not be able to turn them on again using the app. Instead, you'll need to turn the lights off using the app, which is frankly a bit cumbersome and awkward for everyday use (leave room, pause, pull iPhone out, input password, open app, turn lights off, leave room... sheesh).

The light switches will still work for everyday use, but if you happen to have physical dimmers on your light switches, they won't work at all. Dimming the bulbs has to be done via the app itself. Again, cumbersome for quick, everyday use.

As far as changing colors goes, it's pretty cool in theory (we used them for an orange glow during Halloween), but not really useful in practice. Sitting around in blue or purple light is just a bit... weird. Sure, the various 'white' colors are nifty, but again - not a huge deal in practice.

The biggest use I could find in its current iteration is the remote capabilities. Turning on/off my lights while my family is on vacation is nice, but not really a frequent usage model for me. Geo-fencing isn't implemented yet that I could tell and the timers didn't function as I had wanted either.

All-in-all, this is a GREAT idea that just feels too early in its evolution to recommend to the average consumer. Further development, perhaps third party apps, etc. could all evolve the system into something special. For now, I'd recommend saving your money for something that you'll actually use. I bought the starter pack and 3 extra bulbs, played with it for a week, and returned everything without hesitation. I'll be willing to re-purchase it again as it matures with better features, functions, integration, and usability.

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.

pros:
good bulbs, easy setup, works as advertised.
cons:
Was it really necessary to use an additional WiFi router? I hope that thing is safe and is not an open access door to the rest of my network.
I hate the App. Its about light bulbs. Give me some on and off switches on the first page, some color settings on the second page, some timers on the third page and I am happy. Make it easier to keep the light separated (I use them in different rooms). It is unnecessary to rested the settings inside the app anytime the iPhone sleeps. All the vacation photos are nice gadgets but not the main thing to control lights. Nest Thermostats did a way better job with their app.