Review: Phillips Hue Lights

So who wants to have to get up to turn off a light switch once you are comfortable on the couch or in your bed.  I know I didn't so I started looking at solutions and found the Philips Hue lighting systems.  Overall I think Philips provides the most options when it comes to starter kits and bulb combination.  While trying to outfit a complete home with Hue lights in one shot is probably out of the question it is something you should be able to do if you start with on of the starter kits and then pick up more bulbs as you can.  

You can check out the full product line by following the link below:

Philips Hue Product List

Let me talk about the things I like about the Hue lights.  First is the set up as it is very easy, I will do a quick walk through of the set up process a little later.  The integration with Google Home and Alexa is also easy to do to provide you with the ability to add voice command.  With voice command you can turn the lights on and off, use the dimming functionality, and change the light colors.  The mobile application is well written and provides an easy way to control lights as well as set up scheduled events.  The last thing I like is using IFTTT to create applets that provide even more functionality, such as allow you to turn the lights on automatically when you get home based on your phones GPS location or having them turn off automatically when you leave.  Oh by the way did I mention that since the lights are LED they will save you money.  I changed out 17 lights and was able to notice the difference in my power bill.  There are a lot of possibilities while the Hue lights are great I do have a few things that I'm not a big fan of.

What things don't I like about the Hue lights?  Well for one they are a bit expensive with a standard A19 white light bulb costing around $14.99 and the color bulbs come in at $49.99.  Just like with any tech the prices usually come down the longer they are on the market and that is the trend I have seen since I bought my first lights.  The other thing that I find a little annoying, but unavoidable is light switches need to be left on in order to control the lights.  My kids are notorious for turn the light switches off and thus removing my ability to control the lights.  Also when the switches are on if you lose power, guess what happens when the power comes back on, all the lights turn on.  Nothing better than losing power in the middle of the night and all of a sudden you are pulled from a deep sleep by bright lights.  In my opinion these things don't out weigh the benefits.

One thing to note is that it is recommended that the Hue lights be used in open enclosures to allow air flow as they bulbs do get a little hot.  So this is also something to think about when deciding where to put them, for me I ended up leaving some glass dome off a couple of lights.  Eventually I think my plan will be to replace some wall switches with smart switches so I can reinstall the domes.

Overall I love these lights and continue to look at some of Philips other Hue lighting options and hope to add them in the future.  Please feel to contact me if you have any questions, but let me go ahead and give a quick walk through of the set up process.

Setting up Hue Lights

Hue lights require a hub to communicate with the individual lights so the first step is setting up the hub.  This is pretty simple, just plug power cable into the hub and plug it into a wall socket.  Next is provide the hub an internet connection by plugging the Ethernet cable into the hub and then connect the other end to your router.

The hub is now ready to be configured within the mobile app that is available for both Android and iOS devices.  Within the application click the gear icon and select Hue bridges.  Click the Plus icon to add the new Bridge and just follow the on screen instructions.

Once the hub is set up the next step is to add the lights.  Just install the lights where you want them in the house and make sure the are on.  Now you can go to the Light setup and hit the Plus icon.  This will start the process of trying to find all the available lights.  Once it finds the lights you can give them a unique name and assign them to a room.  As you can guess by assigning lights to a room it gives you a way to control all the lights for a room with one command.  Once you connect to all the lights check for software updates and update the firmware as required.  That is basically all you need to do to set up your lights.  Now you can explore some of the other options in the app for setting schedules or if you have Google Assistant you can link your lights in the Google Home app so you can ask Google Assistant to control your lights.