Best Smart Home Trends Complete guide for upgrading to a Smart Home
Smart bulbs are one of the smartest and simplest ways to upgrade the lighting system of your house. It is not just the energy saving aspect but scores of other advantages too that will make you want to make this switch as early as possible. You might be thinking that a lighting system does not impact your everyday life but you are in for a sweet surprise.
Today, the two most popular options for smart lighting available in the market include Lifx and the Philips Hue. They offer you the best and the latest that the smart home industry has to offer. Read on to know how they fare when we compare them on the basis of few crucial points.
Lifx vs Hue: A Quick Comparison
There are few prime reasons that decide the suitability of these smart bulbs for every other household. Let’s find out how these two models perform in each of these domains:
1. Platform Compatibility
Philips Hue might be the first one to offer a dependable app support but Lifx bulbs surely give them a tough competition. Latest Lifx smart bulbs come with an extensive app control interface that lets you control everything ranging from intensity to the brightness of every single smart Lifx bulb throughout your home.
The Lifx bulbs are highly compatible with all the major automation hubs including the Amazon Alexa. This allows you to voice control the entire lighting system of the home, no matter where you are. A lot of time and efforts are saved with the help of this extremely useful feature.
Lifx has also come up with the quite remarkable feature of infrared light emission. This allows the night vision cameras to keep track of everything going on in the surroundings even in pitch dark. This considerably improves the applicability of the Lifx smart bulbs as compared to the Hue version.
The Hue Bridge is compatible with various generic off-brand smart bulbs. This means that you can integrate your new purchase with the old smart bulbs too and create an extensive network throughout your home without any major glitch.
2. Lighting Options
When it comes to the question of brightness, the Lifx smart bulbs are a clear winner. The lumen density of every single Lifx bulb is way more than its Philips Hue counterpart. Hence, if you are planning to go for a brighter look for your homes this festive season then Lifx is the right way to go.
It is not just the brightness but the color consistency of Lifx bulbs is also a lot better as compared to Hue options. The vividness of the colors will leave you mesmerized in case of the Lifx smart bulb options. They are meant to provide a thorough and colorful ambiance no matter where they are ultimately installed.
Take the neon green Lifx bulb version for example. Compare it with the green smart bulbs in the Hue line and you will notice that the latter somehow gives off certain yellow tinge as noticed during various hours of the day. Minute details like these may ruin your whole lighting arrangement and render the whole upgrade useless.
Pick the Lifx smart bulbs every time when you are looking for a reliable and sufficiently bright lighting option. The colors in this range will always stand up to your expectations. And you will never have to regret your color choices, no matter which color of the rainbow you favor more.
3. Hub Requirement
The hubs might seem to be the central unit that enables you to interact and stay connected with all your smart home devices. But sometimes they turn out to be quite an expensive buy. And these times make you wish that there was a more economical option that could be used and monitored without the additional hassle of a hub integration.
For such a purpose, you will definitely want to opt for one of the reliable Lifx models. You can just buy one of these highly efficient bulbs, screw them in and start using them right away. Enjoy total control with the smartphone app without the additional expenditure on a certain hub.
Most of the good quality hubs cost no less than around 60 dollars. You are also tied to only a certain brand while making such kind of long-term investments. This makes it almost impossible for you to make quick switches to a better product when the time arrives. All such constraints might make you pick the easily accessible Lifx bulbs at every turn.
Hubs have to be individually connected to the routers too. This means that you need to add one more exclusive hub to the long list of connection that is already integrated into your home router. If the brand is not compatible with other automation brands present in your house then the wire jumble issues really start getting to you.
4. Smart Home Integration Option
Most of the smart homes nowadays have a centralized home integration system. This is basically a network that allows you to integrate every other smart home automation gadget to your home network. Such an integration allows all your home devices to work in coordination with each other and offer you a far better quality of life.
Philips Hue has the upper hand here since it makes it quite easier for its users to integrate with the smart home system. The Hue smartphone app assists the Amazon Alexa and other similar systems to organize the rooms from the app setting itself. The Lifx users have to follow a longer route since the corresponding app is not that compatible with Alexa.
Hence, with Lifx, you need to first introduce all the bulbs into the system one-by-one. After you are done with this tiring process, you need to group them according to different rooms. This process gets especially cumbersome when you add multiple lighting elements to your home network at once.
5. Smartphone App Support
The Lifx smartphone app interface is as simple and useful as you wish it to be. And that is not all. The aesthetic appeal of the entire interface is pleasing to the eyes too since it has been carefully designed with warm and mood-uplifting shades.
You can change the color and intensity of all the bulbs within seconds. The app control is truly commendable when it comes to the Lifx bulbs. You will actually notice the utility of this app when you have a whole new network of Lifx bulbs brightening up your days.
Top 4 Notable Alternatives
There are a million colors and way more smart lighting options to decorate your sweet home in the most breathtaking way possible. Read on to discover our top suggestions.
1. GE Link Starter Kit
Main Features
- Simply dim the lights whenever you wish to with the help of Amazon Alexa.
- Suitable for daily indoor use and comprises of two A19 LED lamps and a GE Link hub.
- Highly compatible with various popular smartphone apps such as the Wink App, SmartThings Hub, and Amazon Echo.
- Enjoy the elusive wireless smartphone control from around the globe.
Pros
- Easy and smart scheduling of events according to your daily routine.
- Installation and syncing process is as simple as you always wanted it to be.
- Has been proven to consume around 80% less power as compared to other non-energy efficient alternatives.
- High durability makes it a very high probability that they might offer premium service for as many as 22 upcoming years.
Cons
- After a certain amount of time, they demonstrate poor control remotely.
- Humidity develops inside the bulbs after a while that makes them malfunction sooner than later.
The Verdict
If you are planning to give your home lighting system a more permanent makeover this season then the GE Link Starter Kit is perfect for that. You will get to enjoy various advanced features in a very affordable range with a promise of durability.
2. LUCERO Smart Bulb
Main Features
- Smart scheduling lets you keep the burglars at bay even when you are not around.
- Set the sleep and wake up timer to enjoy a different hue in your room suitable for different time frames of the day.
- Bluetooth connectivity makes this bulb quite economical since you don’t need additional hubs and other accessories to monitor and control it.
- Choose from over 16 million colors along with the additional cool and warm white setting.
Pros
- You can sync the lights to your music or even the cardiac rhythm of your body to create a soothing ambiance.
- The no question asked return policy makes it a bankable option when you are planning to make a smart home automation investment.
- You can control every segment of your home lighting with a single tap on your smartphone app.
- The robust built of these bulbs make them perfect for your household.
Cons
- Bluetooth connectivity may give you the spotty connection trouble sometimes.
- Bulbs can be quite heavy so it is better to reinforce the sockets before installing them.
The Verdict
LUCERO Smart Bulb is best new smart home automation toy for your home which will give you plenty of pleasant surprises in terms of its features. The mood lighting and music syncing option surely add a certain novelty factor to it that doesn’t die down very soon.
3. Cree BA19-08027OMF-12CE26-1C100 Dimmable LED Light Bulb
Main Features
- Works perfectly in collaboration with a number of home automation systems including the various ZigBee certified hubs such as Wink, WeMo, Amazon Echo and SmartThings among others.
- Lasts for over 22 years with appropriate usage to treat you with premium service quality.
- Omnidirectional in nature which means that it shines equally bright from all possible directions.
- Control it from anywhere and anytime with the help of the easily accessible smartphone app.
Pros
- Amazon Alexa is perfectly compatible with it such that you can enjoy all the benefits of voice control.
- Dim the lights as per your preference from any corner of your home or even when you are away.
- Create a different light setting for every segment of the day and save it for the entire week or month.
- Very easy to configure and sync it up with your smartphone to control and monitor it from everywhere.
Cons
- Some of the features of this bulb fail to function after a while.
- Does not respond quickly enough if located too far away from the physical location of the hub.
The Verdict
Go for the Cree LED light bulbs if you are looking for a gadget which is bright and highly compatible with a number of available automation devices in the market. You will get to enjoy utmost comfort, security, and facilities with this model no matter where you install it.
4. Flux Bluetooth Smart LED Light Bulb
Main Features
- The music sync option lets you use these bulbs for a variety of purpose.
- Utilize them to make your social gatherings all the more enjoyable by syncing them up with the party music.
- You can also sync them with a soothing music for falling into a relaxing and rejuvenating sleep.
- All the 16 million color options available with this bulb are dimmable.
Pros
- Make good use of the ‘Sunrise’ mode by substituting it for your alarm clock. Wake up to a blissful morning with the gradual brightening of these bulbs to create a more organic morning setting.
- Create interesting color transition sequences and share them with your near and dear ones for that much-appreciated fun moments together.
- Enjoy the rare option of choosing the colors from your favorite picture together to put this color transition scheme to good use.
- Music from your very own smartphone and tablets can become the theme behind the color transition scheme of the smart bulbs in your room.
Cons
- The bulbs are not that much compatible with the Android platform.
- You might require a professional for the proper installation of these bulbs all over your place.
The Verdict
For the latest and the fanciest features, always go with the Flux smart bulbs. You will discover a whole new way of using the lighting system of your house to brighten up your mornings, day-after-day. Easily integrate these bulbs with your favorite songs and snapshots for a memorable effect.
The Best Smart Lighting System
All the smart lighting options discussed above hold their own when it comes to an advanced home lighting experience. But few of them are far more capable when it comes to lighting up your house in a smart and cost-efficient manner. Well, the Lifx bulbs are the clear winner here.
Why?
They are undoubtedly the best smart lighting option compared to all the other alternatives discussed above. Their unparalleled quality and latest features are what you might be looking for when you end up buying them. And you are going to be mighty pleased with your decision every single time!
This brings us to the end of this blog. Let us know how helpful our insights into thin pieces of content has been to your current home automation requirements. We are all ears to hear about your kind suggestions and hope that you give us your valuable feedback in the comment section below. Follow this space for knowing about all big and small innovations happening in the world of smart home automation.
