Are Philips Hue Lights Still Worth it in 2024?
With so many more affordable options to choose from, why should anyone pick Philips Hue smart lights, and are they still worth it?
Introduction
A quick search for smart light bulbs on Amazon reveals literally thousands of options. Prices range from less than $5 to at least $65 for a single smart light bulb, with Philips Hue smart lighting at the most expensive end of the spectrum. With so many more affordable options to choose from, why should anyone pick Philips Hue smart lights, and are they still worth it in 2024?
I have over 100 smart devices in my home, but the devices that I continue to derive the most benefit from are my smart lighting. I love being able to set the color temperature based on time of day, and have my lights turn on and off automatically when I want them too.
From smart bulbs to smart switches, I’ve tried them all across numerous brands, including TP-Link Kasa, Sengled, Sylvania, Cync by GE, LIFX, Lutron, and yes, Philips Hue. And in the process, I’ve come to learn what I really value.
Main Points
When browsing smart light bulbs on Amazon, it’s easy to pass them all off as the same. After using over half a dozen different brands of smart light bulbs for four years, I still believe Philips Hue lighting is worth it to me for four reasons:
- Reliability
- Features
- Compatibility
- Accessories
Reliability: A traditional light bulb is a pretty bulletproof operation — just flick the switch and it works. It’s fast and reliable. If you’ve ever gone to turn on or off a smart light and it didn’t respond, or took several seconds to respond, then you know how frustrating that can be.
With Philips Hue lights, there are two ways to connect and use them: 1) Bluetooth, and 2) Zigbee. The latter option requires use of the Hue Bridge, a small box that connects to your router. This approach creates a Zigbee mesh network, so it’s not reliant on your home WiFi. In my experience, connecting Hue lights to the Hue Bridge has been 100% reliable, and all my lights respond instantly. While other Bluetooth or WiFi-based smart light bulbs, like those from Sengled or TP-Link Kasa, work most of the time, they do not consistently work every time like Philips Hue, or they suffer from occasional latency, meaning there is an annoying delay for them to respond. For me, intermittent reliability and latency are dealbreakers.
Features: But you’re probably not buying smart light bulbs for a more reliable operation than traditional lighting. Chances are you seek additional benefits, like color changing or automations.
Like many brands, Philips Hue offers smart light bulbs that can adjust color temperature from warm to cool, change colors entirely with nearly limitless options, and connect to a hub for home automations, such as making the lights turn on or off, or change colors, based on a trigger like when you enter the room or the doorbell rings. To be honest, Philips Hue doesn’t necessarily stand out here.
However, there are a few features that do. The Hue scene gallery allows you to instantly choose from dozens of pre-configured color scenes for a unique ambiance, from party vibes to something cozy or dreamy. These scenes can be used to in an automation, for example, to set just the right mood in the evening. While scenes are not unique to Hue, their gallery is extensive, and downright easy to use. You can also create a widget to control your lights and scenes directly from the home screen of your iPhone or Apple Watch, which can be very convenient.
Additionally, you can use accessories to seamlessly adjust your lights based on something else going on, such as if a camera, motion, or contact sensor detects movement, it can turn on a light or change its color.
Also, the Hue app is probably the most user-friendly in the category in my experience. It’s super easy to create and organize rooms, select scenes, and create automations.
Compatibility: While you can create automations directly from the Hue app, Philips Hue lights work directly with Amazon, Apple, and Google smart home platforms and voice assistants. Hue lights are also Matter compatible, and integrate with automation software that prioritizes local control, like Home Assistant, for limitless control and automation ideas. For example, I created a motion game for my kids such that if they are completely still, the light is green, but if they move, the light turns red. I also have all my lights dynamically and just their brightness and color temperature based on the sun’s position in the sky, giving me cool, bright lights to energize me during the day, and warm, dim lighting to relax in the evening and reduce eye strain. If you’d like to learn how I did this, leave a comment below.
Accessories: In addition to broad compatibility, one of the things that sets Philips Hue apart is the wide range of accessories. These include contact and indoor/outdoor motion sensors, switches, and in-wall modules that make controlling your Philips Hue lights easier and smarter. I use the Lutron Aurora dimmer switch with most of my Hue bulbs. This way I get the best of both worlds: The convenience and flexibility of controlling my lights with a wall switch, and the ambiance and fun of color temperature and color changing smart bulbs. As a result, I can control my lights and their brightness from a wall switch, app, and voice, or just let an automation do the work for me.
Final Thoughts
I’ve been using Philips Hue smart lighting for about four years, and have slowly grown to 20 Philips Hue smart light bulbs inside and outside my home. The price of these bulbs cannot be ignored — they are expensive, which is why I purchased nearly every one of my bulbs when they were on sale. Still, the cost of Philips Hue lights is a lot, and as a result, I recognize they are not for everyone. But if you want the most reliable smart bulbs with the broadest compatibility plus an ecosystem of accessories to control your lights any way that you can imagine, Philips Hue is a top choice and one that I still think is worth it.
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