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The research
- Why you should trust usa
- Who should get this
- How we picked and tested
- Security, privacy, and smart LED calorie-free bulbs
- Our selection: Wyze Bulb Color
- Flaws only non dealbreakers
- Runner-upward: Philips Wiz Smart Wi-Fi LED Colour Bulb
- Also great: Meross MSL120 Smart Wi-Fi LED Bulb
- Upgrade pick: Philips Hue White and Colour Ambiance A19 Starter Kit
- A word virtually smart-dwelling house integration
- Sustainability and smart LED light bulbs
- What to wait forward to
- Other skilful smart LED light bulbs
- The contest
- Sources
Why you lot should trust us
I first started testing smart-habitation devices more than 20 years ago, back when the only smart-domicile devices were X10. Since 2016, I've been covering smart-abode gear for Wirecutter, and I've had my hands on everything from in-wall light switches, smart plugs, and h2o-leak sensors to smart video doorbells, indoor security cameras, and security systems. I've too written tech articles for The New York Times, Wired, and Men'south Health, amidst others.
Who should get this
Smart bulbs are for people who desire to add convenience to their lighting system without having to do any actual wiring. All you lot take to do is screw in a light bulb and brand a few taps on your smartphone. They piece of work with in-wall fixtures and standalone lamps, and they come in a variety of sizes for both indoor and outdoor use.
Getting upward to physically flip a light switch is never fun (or easy, if y'all have mobility issues). With smart bulbs, you can easily close off downstairs lights, for example, when you're upstairs tucked in bed—or fifty-fifty in a hotel room 10,000 miles away. You lot tin likewise group smart bulbs so that one tap shuts downwards an entire room or floor. All smart bulbs are hands dimmable through their apps, also, and all of those apps let for scheduling, so you can have unmarried lights or groups of lights turn on and off based on your daily activities or to simulate occupancy when you're abroad from home.
Smart bulbs are also simply plainly fun. Want a softer, warmer light to ease your way into the morn? A color-adjustable bulb or tunable white bulb can exercise that. Want to ready a relaxing mood for music afterwards dinner or choose something festive for a holiday theme? Turn the lights blue, dark-green, or whatever palette yous like. Set in strategic locations, color-adjusting smart bulbs tin be an integral office of your home decor, rather than merely something to hunt the shadows away.
But smart bulbs are only one way to make your lights smart. If you're comfy replacing switches (and you lot're able to brand permanent installations in your home), an in-wall dimmer might exist a better option, particularly if y'all ofttimes have guests who are unfamiliar with phonation- or phone-controlled lighting. Or if yous want more than versatility beyond lighting, you could experiment with plug-in smart outlets and in-wall smart outlets.
How we picked and tested
To select bulbs for testing in this circular, we researched new models released since our last guide update and also looked at whatsoever that were well reviewed by trusted tech publications. We also conducted a word among our staff to see which features were most wanted and used. In selecting and testing, we considered the following criteria:
- App features: Some lighting apps offering only basic on/off and scheduling options; others include special effects, as well as features such equally an Away Mode that randomly turns lights on and off to mimic occupancy.
- Smart-abode compatibility: Smart lights that are integrated with other devices become even more useful, so y'all're likely to employ them more oft. Some systems—such equally Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, and Google Assistant—permit you control the lights with your vox and utilize lights from multiple brands, so y'all're not stuck with one ecosystem. However, there are trade-offs, which we discuss below.
- Brightness: We primarily tested standard (A19-mode) bulbs designed to replace the average 60-watt incandescent lamp bulb, though some bulbs proved to be much brighter. LED bulb specs state their light output in lumens, and that measurement varied widely among the bulbs nosotros sampled. Measuring in lumens is a good starting indicate, simply it doesn't requite you a consummate flick, especially when you're considering real-globe use. Lumens refers to the total amount of low-cal a bulb puts out independent of how the light is distributed, just no LED seedling distributes its light evenly. Ane bulb, for example, may put out one,000 lumens just only in a 1-centimeter-broad beam like a tiny flashlight, whereas another may put out 1,000 lumens distributed over 360 degrees. The amount of useful light that reaches the book on your lap is very different with each of those ii bulbs. In addition, although brightness is important, we likewise looked at how low each bulb could dim before turning completely off.
- Color: While we considered color-adjustable, tunable-white, and plain-white smart bulbs, we institute color-adjustable bulbs to be the about feature-rich. The color-adjustable models also perform all of the same functions (on/off, dimming) every bit regular smart bulbs practice.
- Wireless network: Y'all can control about smart bulbs wirelessly through smartphone apps. Some rely solely on Wi-Fi connections directly from the bulb to the phone, while others connect on a separate wireless network, such as Zigbee, through a gateway or hub that your telephone connects to over Wi-Fi. A mesh network like that tin can be more robust, specially in large homes or where the Wi-Fi signal is weak. Some bulbs use just a Bluetooth connection to the smartphone, which limits how far abroad y'all can be to control the light; information technology may also prevent some types of automation.
- Setup: You can prepare most smart bulbs in only a few minutes. In our testing, we noted whether a bulb required anything out of the ordinary (such equally a hub or gateway), as well as how the companion app worked and whether bulbs had a lag fourth dimension when responding to commands.
- Expandability: Because a home'southward lighting system rarely ends with just a bulb or two, we considered the entire ecosystem the bulbs piece of work within, including additional light styles or accessories that aggrandize the lights' functionality.
Nosotros didn't consider bulbs with added features such as speakers (for playing music), sensors (for smart-home applications), or cameras (for security). Generally, smart bulbs that do double duty don't excel at either task, particularly when lighting isn't their primary purpose.
Later on setting upwardly each bulb, we tested scheduling, colour changes, and special effects (when available). We also tested each bulb with a lite meter to determine its maximum brightness. Because smart bulbs employ an array of LEDs, which are directional in their light output, some bulbs were brighter from the top than from the side. For this reason, nosotros measured brightness from both positions and also when the seedling was dimmed at 50% and x%. Depending on your lite fixture, y'all may prefer a bulb that puts out more low-cal at the top over i that casts it out to the sides. An ideal bulb excels in both directions. You can read more about LED light properties in our guide to the best LED light bulb.
Security, privacy, and smart LED light bulbs
Wirecutter takes security and privacy issues seriously and investigates, as much as possible, how the companies whose products we recommend deal with customer data. Every bit function of our vetting procedure for smart LED light bulbs, we looked at all of the security and data-privacy practices behind our picks. Nosotros also reached out to all of the companies that produce our top picks and had them answer an extensive questionnaire to confirm their stances on bug that we thought should exist of primary business concern for any potential heir-apparent.
Notably, our runner-up, the Philips Wiz Smart Wi-Fi LED Color Bulb, is not bolstered by a few of the security measures backing our other picks, such as required login credentials and encrypted information. With some other categories of smart devices, these omissions might disqualify a product from consideration. In this express example, we determined that using this smart bulb presents a functionally low level of real-globe risk to owners, and that the worst-case scenario would be a hacker potentially having control of a light seedling (a trouble that is easily fixed).
Here are the total results of our survey:
How our picks compare
Is a username and password required?
- Wyze Seedling Color: Yes.
- Philips Wiz Smart Wi-Fi LED Color Bulb: No.
- Meross MSL120: Yes.
- Philips Hue: Yep.
Is two-factor hallmark available and/or required?
- Wyze Seedling Color: Yeah/no.
- Philips Wiz Smart Wi-Fi LED Colour Seedling: No/no.
- Meross MSL120: No/no.
- Philips Hue: No/no.
Is user data encrypted in the deject?
- Wyze Bulb Colour: Yep.
- Philips Wiz Smart Wi-Fi LED Color Bulb: No.
- Meross MSL120: Yep.
- Philips Hue: Aye.
Tin I use this without connecting information technology to the net?
- Wyze Seedling Color: Aye, but app control requires a cloud connexion.
- Philips Wiz Smart Wi-Fi LED Color Bulb: Yeah, merely app command requires a cloud connection.
- Meross MSL120: Yes, if the user's telephone and device are on the aforementioned LAN, you can use local control.
- Philips Hue: Aye.
Practise you share data with tertiary parties?
- Wyze Bulb Color: No.
- Philips Wiz Smart Wi-Fi LED Color Seedling: No.
- Meross MSL120: No.
- Philips Hue: Hue works with various third parties that act as information processors. Still, data is only used internally to meliorate products and services.
Is location data recorded or shared?
- Wyze Bulb Color: No.
- Philips Wiz Smart Wi-Fi LED Color Bulb: Fourth dimension zone is saved for scheduling purposes.
- Meross MSL120: No.
- Philips Hue: No. However, if the Home or Away feature is activated, the Hue bridge will know when y'all're home or away.
Does this device offer power-outage alerts?
- Wyze Bulb Color: No.
- Philips Wiz Smart Wi-Fi LED Color Bulb: No.
- Meross MSL120: No.
- Philips Hue: No.
Wirecutter long-term tests all of its picks, including keeping rails of app, firmware, and policy updates, as well every bit hardware and software incidents. Should whatever privacy or security issues exist found for any of the models nosotros've selected, we'll report that here and, if necessary, update or modify our recommendations.
Our pick: Wyze Bulb Color
Our choice
Wyze Bulb Colour
The all-time smart light bulb
This affordable smart bulb is ane of the brightest we've tested. Information technology doesn't offer special effects, just information technology does provide fantabulous colors and reliable basic features, including remote command, scheduling, and timers.
Ownership Options
Compatible with: Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, IFTTT
Adding smart bulbs to your home isn't the expensive effort information technology used to exist. At around $15 each, the Wyze Bulb Color provides all of the basic features you could want in a smart seedling: It connects to your Wi-Fi network and lets yous control it remotely whenever your phone is continued to the internet, it delivers a bright color palette, and it responds reliably to schedules and timers. Information technology doesn't have all the bells and whistles of some of the other smart bulbs nosotros've tested, such equally the Hue's power to cycle through colors automatically or sync to music, but it is one of the brightest smart bulbs nosotros've tested, and information technology has an app that makes daily employ elementary—and that's exactly the blazon of experience you lot'd want from something like a low-cal bulb.
Most of the smart bulbs we've tested are rated for 800 lumens of brightness, which is equivalent to the brightness of a standard 60-watt light bulb. The Wyze Bulb Color is rated at 1,110 lumens, so it'southward brighter than all the bulbs on our list except the Novostella (which we don't recommend). That extra brightness finer boosts darker areas of a habitation, for task lighting, reading, or merely everyday use. The Wyze Bulb Color also has a good color range and can dim to depression-enough levels for enjoying a dinner political party, watching Goggle box, or fifty-fifty getting ready for bed.
The Wyze Bulb Color responds chop-chop to vocalization commands and button presses in the Wyze app. Both the iOS and Android versions of the app are easy to use, allowing yous to control your bulbs directly from the dashboard or to select them individually to tweak colors and dimming levels. You tin can change colors and white tones past dragging your finger across a colour selector. Yous can also salve custom Color Scenes or Color Temperature Scenes for one-touch access to your favorite settings. Tapping on the Settings icon brings up options for Schedules, Timers, and Automations with other Wyze devices. For case, we created an Automation that turned the seedling red every time someone walked in forepart of the Wyze Cam v3 (one of our outdoor security camera picks).
If you have multiple bulbs, you tin can grouping them together then y'all tin can turn all the bulbs in a room, or on the same level of the house, on and off with a unmarried tap or vox command. (Note that although the Wyze app allows you to grouping color bulbs, you tin can't grouping color bulbs with the tunable Wyze Seedling, which we as well institute to exist bright and easy to use. If y'all want to grouping colour bulbs and white bulbs together, y'all need to employ a third-political party platform like Alexa or Google Assistant.)
The Wyze Seedling Colour also has Slumber Routines that ease your wake-up with gentle lite temperatures, too as a Vacation Mode that randomly turns your bulb on and off to mimic someone being habitation when you're actually away. Another interesting feature is Power Loss Recovery, which allows you to select whether the bulb turns on or returns to its previous state later a power outage.
Flaws simply non dealbreakers
The Wyze Bulb Color is very easy to use but also very bones. It offers no special effects, so you tin't sync the bulb to music or have information technology cycle through colors for holidays or parties. If those features are important to yous, consider another bulb, such as our runner-upwardly from Philips or i of the models in the Other good smart LED light bulbs section.
Runner-upwardly: Philips Wiz Smart Wi-Fi LED Color Bulb
Runner-up
Compatible with: Amazon Alexa, Apple tree Siri Shortcuts, Google Banana, IFTTT, SmartThings
If you're looking for a smart bulb that provides a few more features than our tiptop selection offers, the Philips Wiz Smart Wi-Fi LED Colour Bulb is a slap-up selection. It'south around the same cost as the Wyze, simply information technology includes more Scenes and can wheel through colors to add flair to vacation displays, dwelling house dance parties, and times when y'all're only relaxing at home. It performed reliably throughout our long-term testing, delivering brilliant white low-cal and bold colors. Not to be confused with our upgrade pick, the Philips Hue bulb, the Philips Wiz bulb does not use the Hue app—only it does support integration with a wide array of smart-home platforms, so you can tie it into vocalism commands and link it up with Hue and other smart devices in the dwelling.
The Philips Wiz bulb is rated at 800 lumens of brightness, which is equivalent to the brightness of a standard lx-watt light seedling and fine for everyday utilize. Yous can flip between color bulbs and the Wiz line's less-expensive white bulb in the iOS/Android app, too as group them by room or expanse (Exterior, Upstairs). If yous want to control bulbs individually in the app, but tap the advisable icon and tweak abroad; for case, you can tap Bulb 1 and brand information technology red and and then tap Bulb two to make it dark-green. Our i app gripe is that each icon is unlabeled—you have to tap to see which is which and await at the top of the screen. Tapping an icon doesn't really turn the bulb on or off, merely information technology would exist prissy to know which bulb you're tweaking without the actress step.
The Wiz color bulb is not quite equally vivid as the Wyze, but in our tests it was bright plenty for reading and had a nice range when dimmed. It also responds quickly to colour changes you make by dragging your finger across a color selector.
The Wiz Continued app has several presets to set up a mood (Relax, Focus, Television set Times), or you can wheel through shades such as Fireplace, Political party, Bounding main, Christmas, and many others. Y'all tin can't create automated Scenes that cycle through multiple colors, but you lot can save presets for one-touch access to favorite colors (and nosotros saved a few interesting ones, such as Safety Orange, Dodger Blue, and Electrical Indigo). The app also has settings to match your cyclic rhythm, or y'all can create your ain rhythm, which automatically triggers the light at as many as five customizable points throughout the mean solar day. For instance, yous can choose a Wake-up preset for 6 a.yard., Focus at 11 a.m., your favorite shade of green at v p.m., a Cozy preset at 8 p.m., and a Night Lite setting at 11 p.yard.
In our tests, the Philips Wiz Smart Wi-Fi LED Color Bulb responded quickly to app and voice commands. If y'all all the same want to exist able to moving picture a physical switch, note that in our test group the Philips Wiz was the only Wi-Fi colour bulb with its own optional remote: the Wizmote, which can control bulbs up to fifty feet abroad without Wi-Fi. Similar the Wyze bulb, the Wiz bulb likewise has a Vacation Mode and allows you to fix how you want the seedling to react after a ability outage.
The Philips Wiz Smart Wi-Fi LED Color Bulb is the only 1 of our picks that doesn't require a username or password. Upon signup, the Wiz Connected app generates a random username that is unique to each signup—and you can customize information technology to anything yous want. It's designed to brand setup easy and bearding. Withal, if you want to salve settings and admission the bulb on other devices, you need to connect the app to an Apple, Google, or Facebook account. We recommend doing that considering if the app is deleted, so are all of your schedules and preferences. The Hue app is like, though it requires a username and password for remote access, which yous can add by connecting Hue to Apple tree or Facebook, as well as past creating a unique username and password. We're hoping the Wiz Connected app adds this option in the futurity, merely we don't recall its current design poses any substantial security or privacy risk.
Also great: Meross MSL120 Smart Wi-Fi LED Bulb
Also great
Compatible with: Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Google Banana, IFTTT, SmartThings
The Meross MSL120 Smart Wi-Fi LED Seedling is the most affordable smart color LED bulb that works with Apple tree's HomeKit platform, plus all the other major smart-home platforms—nearly HomeKit-enabled bulbs cost several dollars more (the Yeelight 1S is about $5 more, while the Hue averages more than twice the cost). Although the Meross isn't every bit vivid every bit our superlative two picks and doesn't accept equally good of a temperature range, it performed well in our testing, delivering bright whites and assuming colors. Too, like our top option, information technology doesn't accept any special effects or an Away feature (though you can schedule the latter using HomeKit).
The Meross app is easy to apply, allowing you lot to turn the bulb on and off from the home page. Information technology also gives you a preview of whatsoever action is scheduled next under each bulb's icon. For case, if the bulb is on, the app lists when it'south scheduled to become off; if it's off, the app lists when it will next go on automatically. Meross'southward app offers a color wheel that you can move with your finger, and you can save favorite colors and shades nether the Scenes tab for one-touch access. You need to salve colors if yous want to schedule the MSL120 to turn on to a specific color or dimming level; otherwise, scheduling the seedling to get on at a specific fourth dimension merely brings upwardly the light's previous state. (You can also schedule colors and dimming levels using a third-party platform.)
The Meross MSL120 was most as bright as our runner-up according to our measurements, so it'southward a dainty option for everyday lighting. Information technology also reacted chop-chop to our commands, both in the app and through voice requests via Amazon Alexa, Apple's Siri, and Google Assistant. In our tests we were likewise able to use Alexa to prepare other smart devices to human activity every bit triggers. For case, we created an Alexa Routine then that someday someone rang the Ring Video Doorbell Wired, the Meross bulb would turn on. Although information technology doesn't wheel through colors, sync with music, or fifty-fifty have an Abroad Mode, we think the Meross MSL120 is a reliable, easy, affordable option for HomeKit users (and pretty much anyone else).
Upgrade option: Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance A19 Starter Kit
Upgrade pick
Compatible with: Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant, IFTTT, SmartThings
The Philips Hue line is perfect if you plan to fill a large house with smart bulbs. The Hue ecosystem is vast, with bulb options for indoor and outdoor fixtures, standalone lamps, sconces, path lights, and more. Having then many smart devices tin clutter a Wi-Fi network, but Hue uses wireless Zigbee technology to create a stone-solid organisation that doesn't rely on Wi-Fi. Still, Hue bulbs are expensive—about three times the cost of whatever of our other picks—so we recommend them only if yous already have Hue bulbs, plan to install smart lights throughout the house, or want your lighting system to extend to areas in and effectually your business firm where Wi-Fi is spotty.
You have two main ways to get standard (A19-style) Hue bulbs into your dwelling house lighting setup. Current Philips Hue bulbs piece of work with both Bluetooth and Zigbee wireless. If y'all opt to use Bluetooth, you use the Philips Hue Bluetooth app to plow lights on and off, dim them or change colors, and selection among preset Scenes. Though that's the quicker fashion to bring Hue into your business firm, it'southward limited past the short wireless range of Bluetooth and doesn't include the ability to use automations, even basic ones like Schedules. If you opt instead to use Zigbee wireless, using the Philips Hue app (yeah, it'due south a separate app) you get far more interesting features, including Schedules, special effects, the ability to pair your bulbs with hundreds of third-party apps, and support for Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant, IFTTT, and Samsung SmartThings, among others. (Notation that using Zigbee also requires buying and installing a Philips Hue Bridge, a small-scale box that plugs into your dwelling house Wi-Fi router.)
If you're starting out and want to become straight for the hub, we recommend the Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance A19 Starter Kit. But be aware that many of the kits sold online include older versions of these bulbs; they aren't uniform with Bluetooth, but the older and newer bulbs expect the same and feature the aforementioned brightness, and both kinds work with the Hue hub.
Some other statement for getting a Hue hub is that it enables a robust Zigbee wireless mesh network, which lets all your bulbs share their connectedness with one another and so eliminates many of the bugs that Wi-Fi tin have. The more than Hue bulbs and fixtures yous ain, the stronger the network will be—even in the most remote corners of your firm. (If you already ain an Amazon Echo, information technology has a Zigbee hub congenital in.)
During testing, we plant the Philips Hue bulb to exist noticeably dimmer than our other picks, but it was fine for reading and making our way effectually the house at night. When paired with HomeKit, the Hue bulb was slightly dimmer at total brightness than when we used the Hue app, Alexa, and Google Assistant (come across A word about smart-home integration for boosted data).
In the Hue app, bulbs are grouped by room, and y'all tin control individual bulbs by tapping each of those areas. Having them grouped by room makes it easy to turn off an unabridged area at in one case. The app likewise features more than 30 preset Scenes that reflect unlike moods and settings in the earth, such every bit Tropical Twilight, Palm Beach, and Soho. (You can create your own, also.) Routines, or automated actions, include a wake-up Scene that slowly turns the lights up in the morn, besides as Domicile and Abroad Modes that automatically turn the lights on and off as you enter or leave the house. You tin can import Routines from other apps or create your own custom ones, and the Hue app can pull in color palettes from any photograph yous choose.
In addition to the smart-home support bachelor under the Settings section in the app, Philips has a desktop Hue Sync app that tin sync Hue bulbs with a figurer display; you tin can besides connect them to your dwelling house theater system via the Hue Play HDMI Sync Box. For case, if yous were watching Planet Globe: Blue Planet Ii on your desktop monitor, the app would modify the lighting to roughly lucifer the oceanic blues and greens of the testify. A long and growing list of third-party apps work with Hue lights and expand the system's functionality. Virtually of those apps are costless, and some of them—like our favorite, OnSwitch—support room grouping and include preset color Scenes (which in some cases are in-app purchases).
Aside from a variety of smart-home platforms, Hue also works with several add-on accessories, such every bit the Philips Hue Smart Motility Sensor. It likewise works with the Lutron Aurora, a battery-powered dimmer that installs over your existing switch and can control Hue smart bulbs and fixtures. That eliminates the worry of someone physically turning off the switch and disconnecting your bulbs. The Aurora was easy to install and even easier to use in our tests, but information technology works just with toggle-fashion switches, and at $40 a pop information technology seems too pricey for anyone looking to outfit more than one or 2 switches.
A word almost smart-dwelling house integration
We wholeheartedly approve of mixing and matching smart-home devices and controlling them all using a platform such as Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Google Banana, or Samsung SmartThings. All the same, despite the many benefits of consolidating all your stuff onto a single smart-dwelling platform (including combining devices from several manufacturers under one app, triggering one device using another, and controlling them via phonation commands), you frequently sacrifice the ability to use sure special features that may exist found exclusively on a device's companion app.
For instance, nosotros discovered that Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant aren't always able to properly decipher voice commands to trigger built-in Scenes included in apps, such equally Ocean, Night Light, or St. Patrick's Day. And such options aren't available in every platform's app, so to make use of them you'd accept to keep to use a smart bulb's specific companion app.
Nosotros likewise establish that your called smart-habitation platform can bear on functioning. During our testing, we discovered that integrating bulbs directly with HomeKit using Apple tree'due south Dwelling house app produced dimmer white levels than what we could get in the seedling's app or fifty-fifty when we used the bulbs with Alexa or Google Banana. In addition, voice commands between Alexa and Google Assistant varied—so giving the same command got different results. We will go on to examination each bulb with the various platforms, but nosotros can say now that y'all'll always get the best possible feel using the bulb manufacturer's companion app.
Sustainability and smart LED light bulbs
Many Wirecutter readers are concerned about how the manufacturing, shipping, and normal use of the products we recommend bear on the world. Wirecutter takes that seriously, too, which is why we're looking into the overall sustainability of all of our picks. While our product recommendations are based completely on the criteria outlined in How we picked and tested, we offer the following information to supplement the knowledge of any reader who uses environmental impact as a deciding cistron in their purchases. We besides recognize that the following may not pigment a complete picture of a product's supply chain and overall environmental impact.
Switching to LED lite bulbs is i of the easiest ways to make your domicile markedly more energy efficient. LED light bulbs apply a fraction of the energy that traditional incandescent or halogen bulbs use—as much as 90% less—and even substantially less than energy-efficient models such as CFL bulbs. In addition, the US Section of Energy says that LED bulbs last as much as 30 times longer than incandescents, which means you're putting a lot less waste into landfills. All of our smart-seedling picks are rated to last approximately 22.8 years (based on 3 hours of utilise per day) or 25,000 hours.
Of form, that switch comes at a cost. LED light bulbs are more expensive upwardly front end: Our top standard LED light bulb costs around $7 for a pack of two versus $ane to $3 for near incandescent and CFL bulbs. And smart bulbs cost more upwardly front, sometimes a lot more, than non-smart LED bulbs.
However, smart LED light bulbs offer features that can brand the bulbs final even longer. Scheduling a smart bulb, or pairing it with motion or presence sensors, also saves energy and money while extending the bulb'due south life. Although the toll savings an individual sees may cease up having a more symbolic than monetary effect, since LEDs are so much more efficient already, we think the energy savings in the amass are a worthy goal to pursue.
Currently, LED recycling is striking or miss. Unlike traditional incandescent bulbs and CFLs, LED bulbs contain electronic components that should be recyclable, simply it'due south unclear where to exercise then. We reached out to Batteries Plus, Best Buy, Home Depot, and Lowe's. Batteries Plus appears to exist the merely company that is currently accepting LED bulbs, just not at every shop location, so for now it's best to bank check with your local retailer to encounter if it accepts such bulbs.
What to look forward to
Nosotros will soon review the Wyze Bulb White, a dimmable 800-lumen model that is tunable to tones in a wide temperature range (two,700 Thousand to 6,500 G). Information technology'due south available in a four-pack for a little over $30.
Abode and TP-Link announced new smart bulbs at CES 2022. The new 800-lumen Dwelling house Colour Bulb, available at present in a two-pack for $xxx, is dimmable with a temperature range of 1800-6500K. Information technology uses Bluetooth for setup, but simply operates over Wi-Fi. The Color Seedling works independently, or you manage it remotely through Dwelling house if y'all have an Abode security system and a subscription. Otherwise, you tin can only control the bulb while on your Wi-Fi, or prepare Alexa or Google Assistant to control the seedling.
TP-Link's new bulb is part of its Tapo smart dwelling house line. The TP-Link Tapo L535E Color Seedling won't be available until Q3 2022, but it'll include HomeKit support. We'll update this guide when we learn more.
Other skillful smart LED lite bulbs
Nosotros tested a number of smart LED low-cal bulbs that we don't recommend equally overall picks only that may still be decent purchases depending on your needs.
If you desire more special furnishings: Govee Smart Calorie-free Bulbs are cheap and fun but require some patience. The Govee app is overwhelming to use, but if you lot stick with information technology, yous can discover a variety of special effects (like Candlelight or Heartbeat) that add together an element of fun. You can also create Scenes to bike through custom selected colors. A Camera Color Recognition feature allows you to match your bulb to colors you capture using your smartphone photographic camera.
If you want Thread support: The Nanoleaf Essentials bulb offers a lot of potential for HomeKit users, but to get the full event of this bulb, including Thread wireless support, you demand to pair it with a $100 HomePod Mini. Otherwise, the Nanoleaf seedling delivers bright colors, only nosotros think its companion app could be more user-friendly, and the Meross bulb is a better value overall. We're going to keep testing this 1, and nosotros may reevaluate it one time the Thread platform is more mainstream and useful.
For HomeKit users seeking special furnishings: Our previous also-great pick, the Yeelight Smart LED Color Seedling 1S, is however a good bulb, merely we found the Meross to exist easier to utilize both through the app and via smart-domicile platforms. Likewise, Yeelight has informed us that the 1S is being phased out in favor of the Yeelight Smart LED Bulb W3 (Multicolor). Although that's another adept bulb, it doesn't have HomeKit back up, and our measurements showed that information technology was slightly dimmer than its predecessor.
If y'all want a Hue culling: The Sengled Element Color Plus used to be our budget pick, merely it costs virtually $five more than either of our pinnacle two picks—and that doesn't even include the price of the required Zigbee hub (which could exist an Amazon Echo). If you are looking for colour-changing bulbs, want to lighten the load of your Wi-Fi network, and don't want to spend a ton of money, these bulbs are a nice alternative to the Philips Hue system, though they aren't quite as bright and don't have the aforementioned number of features or smart-domicile partners. Sengled does have a $10 Smart LED Soft White Bulb, just you even so need to pair it with a hub.
The competition
We as well tested a few smart bulbs that worked fine but didn't earn our recommendation because our picks were much better.
We still like our previous runner-up, the Cree Lighting Connected Max Tunable White + Color Seedling. We but institute that some of the newer smart bulbs offered better effulgence, more interesting features, and/or a better user interface. At $x each, though, Cree bulbs are a fine pick.
The LIFX Color A19 is however one of the brightest standard smart bulbs we've tested. Like the Wyze Seedling Color, it's a 75-watt equivalent, merely information technology costs about three times every bit much and and then isn't competitive with our picks.
Nosotros experienced a few connection issues with the Peace by Hampton Total Color A19 LED Smart Wi-Fi Bulb that we didn't run into with any other bulbs we tested. Shorter distances shouldn't exist a problem, but nosotros plant that our picks offered more reliability, included more special features, and delivered a better overall user feel.
The Geeni Prisma Plus doesn't have much Scene functionality, and we found the app to be more than confusing than it should have been for operating a light bulb. The Geeni bulb also failed to measure out as bright or to take every bit much of a range every bit our picks when nosotros tested it using a lite meter.
Nosotros think the Kasa KL125 and Kasa KL130 smart bulbs would be all-time suited to mood lighting considering in our measurements they were the dimmest of all the bulbs we tested—producing most half the output of the Wyze Color Seedling. However, nosotros appreciated the pick to rail free energy and usage and to set the seedling'due south default state when it's turned on from the app or power source.
The Treatlife Smart Wi-Fi LED Bulb measured pretty dim in our light-meter tests. It ranked just slightly above the Kasa bulbs, but those bulbs have a better app (though we don't recommend them, either).
Novostella's Smart LED Color Lite Bulbs are 120-watt-equivalent bulbs, so it's no shock that they ranked among the brightest bulbs nosotros tested. However, they didn't have as good of a range equally our picks when we measured them at dissimilar dimming levels using a light meter. And though the price isn't bad, this bulb doesn't offer any special features over our more affordable top two picks.
Cync, formerly known equally C by GE, just released Cync Straight bulbs. They performed fine in our testing, but we think the app could be more convenient, and the company has rated the bulbs' life expectancy at thirteen.seven years—which is a lot but still nigh ten years less than the expected life span for most smart bulbs nosotros tested. The C past GE bulbs were a budget choice in an earlier version of this guide. These bulbs connect primarily via Bluetooth directly to your phone, which ways they're limited by Bluetooth range. But GE does offer a Wi-Fi gateway, which also makes these bulbs compatible with Amazon Alexa.
We dismissed the Bulbrite Solana Smart LED Bulb because the app is slow and more difficult than it should be for decision-making a smart bulb. You tin can detect many bulbs that are easier to use and take more features for a lower price.
IKEA'due south Trådfri smart LED bulbs come in two configurations: a seedling that connects directly with a wireless remote, and a system that connects through a hub with some proprietary wireless network (that IKEA won't identify) only also works with the same remote. The remote is interesting, and it'south not a bad way to control the bulb if you don't demand any real smart integrations, but the command is imprecise, and the range is expert only within a room. Using the hub doesn't require password setup, which is a security blood-red flag, and the app offers only basic controls and scheduling.
The Ilumi A19 Colour Smart Bulb is a Bluetooth bulb that's bright and capable of rich colors, but given its limited range and toll, you should consider ane of our picks instead.
Sources
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Alex Colon and Angela Moscaritolo, The All-time Smart Low-cal Bulbs for 2021, PCMag , November 4, 2021
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Ry Crist, The best smart bulbs for less than $twenty: Wiz, Wyze, Cree, GE and lots, lots more than, CNET , December three, 2020
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Paul Lamkin, Best smart light bulbs: white, color and budget options, The Ambient , March 11, 2021
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Christopher Zip, Best smart light bulbs for your connected habitation, TechHive , October 22, 2021
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-smart-led-light-bulbs/
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