Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat value for money Alexa compatible smart bulbs. Very bright, but take a bit to setup.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 January 2021
These colour changing smartbulbs are great value for money. Much cheaper than main brand smart bulbs, such as Hive or Hue, but just as good once setup.
Their brightness is really good and can produce a very white light if needed. Much brighter than other make cheap smart bulbs I've tried. You can change the warmth of the light, as well as the brightness and a full range of colour.
They don't need a hub, and just work via your existing wifi, but do take a bit of time to setup. You need to install their own smart app and then follow the guide to discover and install them. This isn't as straightforward as using main brand bulbs, because you have to experiment to see which version of a protocol is needed to find them, and you have to answer questions about how fast the bulb is flashing in setup mode. It took me a couple of attempts to get the first bulbs working, but once one is setup you know what to select for any more.
Integration with Alexa needs you to install a skill as with any thirdparty product. You then need to make sure you have named the bulbs in it's own app before you go into the Alexa app to search for them. You then just add a new device, select bulb and hopefully it finds them. Once added you utilise them like any other bulbs. You can ask Alexa to dim them, change their colour etc and set on/off timers. The only slight annoyance is when asking Alexa to dim the lights if you say anything less than 50% they turn off. In the app you can adjust them the full 0-100%. So I marked down ease of install just because it is a bit fiddly and time consuming. And not completely straight forward. But it's only needed once and they work perfectly once setup.
If you compare installing these with a Hive bulb, Hive have really streamlined their device install process. Now when you plug a Hive product in the app automatically finds and installs it and just asks you to name it and assign it a room or group. Probably the easiest install of any smart system I've used, but Hive products are a lot more expensive and you need a Hive smart hub, so really only an option if you have Hive central heating.
Would I recommend them? Definitely. If you want smart bulbs these work well once setup and are far cheaper then any main brand bulbs. I got 2 for £16, whereas Hive colour bulbs were £39 each.