Reviews for Philips Hue Connected Bulb - Single Pack

Very cool product. App could use some tweaking to make it a bit easier to use as there was a bit of a learning curve. All in all, set up was very easy (less than 3 minutes). I have the starter pack and 2 additional bulbs. I'll be ordering 10 more today to set up more rooms. Groups are a bit of a pain to set up as you have to create a scene and from what I can figure out so far can only set up colors in a group from an existing photo. Colors can be adjusted on an individual light but won't save unless in a scene. Could be I need to spend even more time on the app. Fade function didn't work in my first few trials but again I expect this to be me just taking more time to figure everything out. I also haven't been able to get a group programmed on my iphone to appear on the home ipad for others to use. Not sure if there's a way but will be a pain to set them up on multiple devices. Only a 2 year warranty even though they say the light is good for 15. Having stated all the learning issues, it's a very cool product, easy to get started and in my opinion completely replaces a crestron type lighting system. It is expensive but much less than a home lighting system would be. I will continue to hopefully replace every bulb in the house as various sizes are hopefully released.

159 of 166 people found this useful

This product is unreal. I've been reading about it over the last few months thinking it was cool, but never planned to buy it. Then I started reading how tough it is to get, and positive reviews started rolling in so I was lucky enough to pick up the last one at my Apple Store...Setting up was as easy as any Apple product, literally 2-3 minutes. The App is incredibly easy and intuitive, you name your bulbs as you assign them to wherever...You can tilt the phone sideways to activate the App to control each bulb individually or use it in portrait and choose a "Scene" like Beach lighting, Concentrate, Sunset, Pencils, Greece....tons of preset mood lighting, or you can choose an existing picture you love and create lighting based on it!! INCREDIBLE. MUST GET.

114 of 114 people found this useful

I set up a system with 7 bulbs today. It works nicely plugged into the AirPort, controlled well from an iPhone 5 and iPad 3 - both on WiFi and 4G.

All in all, I like it so far!

63 of 64 people found this useful

I am very happy with his new product - it's a brilliant idea. bright LED lighting that is controllable from your iPhone/ipad with the ability to change colors.

Don't let some of the initial negative reviewers influence you. It's so amazing to be able to control the hue of a light over a huge range of colors. I use them in my color grading studio because they go to 6500K. No other LED light that I know runs up that high in the spectrum. The set up was quick and easy right out of the box. No fuss and no hassle. You have to download the app and familiarize yourself with it but that doesn't take long. The app is a LOT of fun to play with because you can use your finger to glide around the screen causing your lights to change colors. There are a ton of presets. It's like I like in a new home. Can't wait for the first party to show folks this.

44 of 46 people found this useful

I purchased one dozen single pack Hue light bulbs after falling in love with the starter kit. Much to my dismay, only half of the light bulbs "worked". Sure, they lit up, but they were not recognizable by the Philips Hue Hub. When they work - they are wonderful, but I wish that half of mine had not been DOA!

18 of 21 people found this useful

First off, this is a really fun and amazing product -- and this is definitely the future of lighting. The ability to load a photograph and change the color of the room with that photograph remotely is nothing short of amazing. Everything works as advertised, but I agree with some of the criticism regarding the included FREE app. I would have given this five stars if the app had been fully thought-out. But hey, it's version 1.0 -- there's plenty of room and time to improve -- and I'm hopeful they will. There looks to be some fun 3rd party apps for the Hue system, but I've only tried the Disco one, which is ok (nothing mind-blowing).

Set-up time was about 10-15 minutes -- I just put the bulbs in, turned the lights on, hooked up the bridge to my Wi-Fi router and followed the directions (you must push a button on the bridge at the prompt). It's pretty simple.

I think the Hue App needs the following:
- Ability to organize lights by room

- Easier method of instantly changing individual light colors (the interface requires that you turn the device sideways to switch to a color picker)

- Better pre-set management -- my kids have already created dozens of photo pre-sets and I'd really like to keep them separate from my own (more sophisticated) color preferences. If you hold your finger down on an icon, it jiggles like other icons in the iOS -- but it is very difficult to re-arrange and organize and there are no folders.

- Overall, the interface could use some expert UI design work -- the hierarchy of information is a bit muddled and frustrating at first. I know there is always a learning curve to new apps, etc. -- but this app is a bit awkward.

- The scheduling interface is blah -- could be much better.

- One crit about the lights themselves: It seems to be difficult to get a perfect, rich blue -- it tends to go toward cool white or purple -- I haven't been able to achieve a perfect blue. Perhaps this could be remedied if we had access to actual color numeric values in the app? RGB = 0, 0, 255 for example.

Otherwise, we are having immense fun with these lights. They really do change the mood instantly, and it's very useful for things like reading, concentrating, relaxing, etc.

Yes, a bit pricey, but you will have a blast. I hope to replace all of the lights in our house with these over time.

13 of 16 people found this useful

Some say you cannot adjust individual lights (different themes) or set schedules on individual lights. This is incorrect. Just tap the theme, hit the pencil tip on the left. This lets you choose the individual bulbs and schedule for those.

Other systems allow you to turn on/off and dim but these let you choose the exact color. it is very nice to be able to tune the white with soft color to give the rooms a very comfortable feel when you are watching tv, etc... The bright white is excellent for reading when needed.

Just install the bulb, press find new bulbs. The bulb will flash so you know which one you are working with then you can give it a descriptive name. Now it is ready to use.

11 of 12 people found this useful

I don't usually write reviews on techie products, but rarely does a product come out that has such a WOW factor. We purchased these for the simple reason that we wanted to control our house lighting remotely, the color thing was interesting, but not a factor in our purchase.

WOW, this product has simply changed our house entirely. The hues are so interesting and warm, the atmosphere these lights create can simply not be duplicated by any other means that doesn't cost thousands of dollars in custom lighting.

The devices installed seamlessly, the applications are absolutely bug free and work intuitively. The ability to create scenes is nothing short of amazing.

From the packaging, to the install to the creating a hue account online, this is one class product. My only advice is to count up the number of bulbs in your house and bite the bullet and order then with your initial purchase. We had them installed about 10 minutes before we went online and purchased more.

WOW

12 of 17 people found this useful

I just love it, I had problems with the extra bulbs and had to reset them with the living colors remote but now is smooth sailing. I use everything, the colors, timers, scenes, make my own you name it. Like the ipad, I didn't know I couldn't live without it until I had it.

7 of 8 people found this useful

I'd previously rated the starter pack 3 stars because of difficulties getting started with the iOS app. Now that I've customized recipes to my liking and gotten them syncing with the hub, it works reasonably well. The app still needs lots of work -- but the potential of the hardware is so great it's worth it.

My other concern is with the light output of the bulbs -- only equivalent to about a 50w incandescent bulb. I've found that with a two-way bulb adapter, I can use two Hue bulbs in some floor lamps, which results in a really pleasing amount of light. I now have 5 bulbs in 3 lamps for a 100 sq. foot home office.

5 of 5 people found this useful