Having a hard time justifying the cost of Philips Hue setup

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I’ve thought of a few place around the house that some smart bulbs would be nice to have. I initially narrowed it down to the Lightify and Hue ranges and then based off of posts here, decided that the Hue range would probably be the best choice.

But I"m really having a hard time justifying the costs. A 3rd Gen starter kit with color bulbs is $199 and single color bulbs are $50 each. So if I just wanted to replace the ceiling fan lights in the bedroom with colored bulbs, I’d be out $250 (it has four lights). That just seems a little crazy to me.

How often do you guys actually use the colors and do you think the bulbs are really worth the price? Anyone actually have to replace one because it went bad?

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There are a few discussions in the forums about the uses of colored bulbs. I’ll see if I can find one of those links for you. But the short answer is that in most places you could probably get by with the $15 white bulbs. (It’s the same bridge.)

https://www.amazon.com/Philips-White-Starter-light-bridge/dp/B014H2OZAC

The main reason for using colored bulbs are either just for fun effects, or for notifications. So whether you need them at all is just up to you. :sunglasses:

Found one:

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My boss had to replace a color bulb, but that was because his dog knocked the lamp off the table and the bulb broke.

Outside of that, I’ve never seen a bulb go bad. LED bulbs generally last a long time.

I have 3 color bulbs, 2 Blooms, 2 Lightstrips +1 Lightstrip extension, 4 Lux bulbs (older white only bulbs), and 3 white bulbs.
No issues at all. 3 of the Lux bulbs are in the same fixture together (bathroom wall mounted fixture above the mirror).

I use the colors for if my SHM is triggered; all colored lights go red. It’s a nice intrusion detection. The blooms are used for notifications of texts and package arrivals.

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I did see that $70 2nd Gen white only starter kit. There was a lot of info on the net about the differences between the 2nd and 3rd Gen bulbs, but not much about the hubs. If I got a 2nd Gen hub, what would I be giving up? I know I can still use the “better” 3rd Gen bulbs in it, so that is a plus.

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There’s no third-generation Phillips hue bridge yet. (Note, for technical reasons it’s a “bridge” not a “hub.”)

The first generation Phillips hue bridge was round. The second generation is Square. The only real difference is that the second one will also work with Apple HomeKit. Both work with SmartThings.

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I also find it difficult to justify the Hue cost. At this point, the only Hue that appeals to me is the Bloom. Unfortunately, I can nearly duplicate that with a cheap floor can light and Lightify (or even a $9 IR remote-controlled LED with a smart plug).

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I’ve got coloured and white hue bulbs with a bridge.

If your unsure or just want to test why not get a single white hue bulb and connect directly to ST without buying the hue bridge?

I rarely use the cooour bulbs. I keep them for the holidays.

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I use Hue bulbs and the Hue Dimmer switches. The original switches stay on and the dimmer switches fit on top of or next to the original switch. Someone on the facebook group showed a deep blanking plate that fit over the original switch and then the Hue switch attached to the front of that blanking plate. This allows your to use switches to control the lights on/off/dim and also the app and GH/Alexa etc
I also have some wemo bulbs connected directly to ST but they have the same problem where they are often turned on and off by the switch. I have them tied into my SHM so before going away for weekends, I turn them on at the switch and off in the ST app. Though, sometimes I wonder about providing burglars with good lighting throughout the house :stuck_out_tongue:

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Every single bulb in my house is hue. I think it is worth it, but obviously build up your collection over a period of time!

Not every bulb is £50/$50 one, the bulb in my pantry, loft, outside the front door are £15 white bulbs. I would recommend the £25 ambience bulbs if you don’t need colour in a particular place. Having different white temperatures for morning, evening, and a night is awesome.

Every colour bulb I have does get used for colour too. Every night when watching TV I’ll choose a different coloured scene depending on what the TV programme is. Hue is worth very penny :slight_smile:

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This morning I mapped out my entire house for wall switches, outlets, and light bulbs. I’m working through each room trying to think of what I might like to do with the lighting for that room. So far I’ve came up with several uses for the color bulbs…

Mood lighting in the kid’s rooms… they would think it’s too cool.
Mood lighting in one lamp the wife likes to use.
A notification light in a couple of places.
Holiday lights outside the house.
Some color strips under the kitchen cabinets.
Some lights to flash the Broncos colors when they score (totally a gimmick and I don’t know if I would put the effort into making this happen, but the IFTTT needed for it is what lead me to the Hue choice. lol)

General question, if I connect either the Hue or Lightify bulbs directly to ST (no bridges), can I change the colors on the color bulbs or just turn them on and off?

@JDRoberts thanks for the bridge info and the use case link, some good stuff in there.

Do you know the practical difference in the dimming levels between the two? I believe I read that the 1st Gen did not dim as well/as low as the 2nd Gen… or was that a function of the bulbs? We are not an Apple house (the wife and oldest daughter are… kinda), so HomeKit is not a factor for me.

@brumster Holiday lighting was my main thought for the color bulbs. I’ve got 2 (maybe 3) out door lights that I’d like to color match to the Holidays as well. So do you have color bulbs that you swap in for the holidays, or have you just overtime added color bulbs in those locations?

@anon36505037 would you mind sharing more info on your RBGW micro modules? Do the lights them selves have to be able to support RGB, or does the module make white bulbs colored ones (don’t see how that would be possible). I’ve also debated the bulb vs. switch solution and I agree that in most cases the switch is a better/cheaper route to go. I need to look more into the micro modules as that would give greater flexibility with the switches/brands we would like to use.

@Tino_Race Do the Hue Ambience allow you to select any of the white temperatures in the range, or only a select few? Also, I’ve never personally understood changing lights to match what we are watching. A buddy got one of the TVs with the changing back lighting and I was like “Why?”. For me, I like the viewing area dark and lights coming on, even low, seems like it would distract me. Do you really feel that having “surround lights” make the viewing that much more enjoyable? No sarcasm in that, I truly would like to know.

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I don’t have any hue ambiance bulbs but I understand they give you a continuous range between warm and cool whites.

Generally I’d only dim the lights right down if its a movie. For standard TV I would have normal levels of lighting (like the news or quiz shows). If watching sport its great for turning the lights to the colour of my team. When watching Westworld I use a sunset scene to get the whole Western vibe. When watching the Jungle episode of Planet Earth 2 I set a green scene in the entire room. My favourite quiz show has a blue studio theme so I use the blue scene when watching it. It feels more immersive. Maybe it doesn’t. It I love it!

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I have a lot of hue products. Just had my first one go bad. A lightstrip Plus. Half the strip’s white LED went out randomly. Support is great so far, i sent it into them with a prepaid label and i’m awaiting a new one in the mail hopefully soon. I have BR30’s, A19’s, Lightstrip Plus’s, Blooms, and a couple white only ones for the hallway.

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How long have you been running them… in particular the light strip as I’d be looking at adding this in the not so distant future.

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The Lightstrip Plus that went bad was running for just less than a year, and it’s on A LOT. I have two other lightstrip Plus’s running with no issues almost as long. The others have been running for over a year, maybe two. I use all my Hue products every day, all day…and their great.

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I’ve got the colored #Osram bulbs and they have worked great. And yes I’ve only used them for #HallowThanksmas. Other uses? I have two flanking my garage door but I can’t get the rules to “stack”. “1- When approaching garage door turn blue. 2-Once garage door is closed turn back to white.” Been trying for a long time to figure that out. The lights that give me the most trouble are the GE Wink flood lights. Maybe once a month I have to reset them and re-pair them. I think I’m getting a better a net now since I’m adding more powered devices so time will tell. I also have a few Cree bulbs and at $14 they’re perfect and work really well. Of all the bulbs I’ve never had an issue with my Hue bulbs but the initial price point is a little steep considering the other options.

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I set up 4 color Hue A19 and a lightstrip in my living room and one of the things that I like to do is to set the mood when I watch movies. I use an iOS app called Hue TV that uses the phone’s camera to detect color changes in the movie and then it sets the color of the lights accordingly. So if the scene is bright and colorful, so are my lights. It adds a very interesting aspect and mood lighting while watching the movie. Yes, sometimes, I’m too lazy to set it up but at the very least I still use the color bulbs by setting it to a fixed cool blue color just for movie watching.

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Is there any concerns with mixing and matching the different brands? I was thinking for locations where I don’t need any fancy lighting tricks I could start out using one of the cheaper bulbs and put Hue bulbs where I want things to happen. Then if I have problems with the “cheap” bulbs, I can swap them out to Hue as needed.

On a related note, I was in my local Lowes this afternoon and saw that they had the Lightify lights on sale for about 10% off. I might pick one or two up to play with.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone!

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My use case for the strips would be for under cabinet accent lights, so they would be one for 5 hours a day.

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I bought the Hue A 19 starter kit, and though I’m only using white bulbs with it right now, I wanted to have the ability to play around with the colorful bulbs in the future. @$69 for two bulbs plus the bridge, that comes out to $15 each for the bulbs, and $40 for the bridge. That seems like a reasonable investment for the future to have more options with Hue. It is certainly very well done, the professionalism and high quality of the Hue bulbs and software is very nice.

The newer soft white (2700) Hue A19 bulbs are 840 lumens/9 or 9.5 watts, the previous generation is 800 lumens and a bit more watts usage. I’ve been making sure I get the newer generation because they are the same price and I wanted them to be as bright as possible.

One question that I haven’t seen answered about the Hue adjustable white bulbs (where you can adjust the level from warm 2700 K up to cool 5000 K), was whether they get a lot dimmer at the warm settings. The lumens range from I think a peak of 800 at 4000K down to low as 400 at 2700K. It seems like if you choose a warm setting on those adjustable bulbs you will lose a lot of the ability to light up your space. The non-adjustable A19 soft white 2700K lights are 840 lumens as I noted above.

Based on my experience so far, I think I’d recommend getting the Hue Starter Kit, something to have on the side even if you’re not using color immediately or very much.

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I was going to do a full color replacement but realized the cost was not practical so for my kitchen I have 10 recessed led lights. I used one color hue for my light directly above the sink, hue light strip plus extension for the cabinets all around the top and a ge zwave wave dimmer switch for the other 9 lights so 40 bucks instead of 400. My ceiling fan and light are also on ge zwave switches for home automation. Now my living room is where I put the most.i used 3 br30 for my 3 recccessed lights and 2 lamp bulbs in certain locations. These i find very nice and useful in movie mode situations. With harmony I have setup Netflix to dim all bright lights and turn my br30s to a dim red and my kitchen cabinet strips and one sink like a dim blue. This is a great theater mode and wants I trigger back tv all my lights turn back to normal white. So really decide what and where you need or want color and implement them there but if your just looking for automation or even just slight different Temps then I would consider all your options, there’s many.

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