do these require an Osram / Sylvania hub or will they pair directly to the Smartthings V2 hub directly ?
these products recommended or not ?
Hi there!
Those devices definitely work with SmartThings directly. You can always check our Works With SmartThings page for an up to date list of supported products.
If you have an Osram hub, you should go ahead and pair it to that first and then update the firmware on the bulbs. Then reset them and pair them to ST. Although there has been rumors ST will eventually be able to update firmware on Zigbee devices…
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There is one point to be aware of which is mentioned on the official support page.
When connected directly to the smartthings hub, the Osram lightify bulbs want to act as a zigbee repeater and pass on messages for other zigbee devices on your account. Normally, that would be a good thing.
However, they appear to have the equivalent of a buffer overflow problem, and if you have a lot of traffic on your network, the lightify bulbs may accept messages to repeat but then drop them so the messages get lost. 
So this can cause some battery operated zigbee devices like motion sensors to appear to be unreachable or misbehaving when actually they are releasing their messages correctly to the network, it’s the bulbs that are dropping them.
This is only going to happen if your network is busy. If the only zigbee devices you have are bulbs, you’re probably going to be OK.
If you have a lot of other mains-powered zigbee devices which can act as alternate repeaters, such as relays, in wall outlets, pocket sockets, etc., you might be OK because those other devices might be picked as the repeaters instead. This will be particularly true if the other devices are using boosted zigbee, as on a zigbee network Signal strength is taken into account when selecting a repeater.
The problem is going to occur when you’re in the middle. Lots of battery operated zigbee devices, some Osram bulbs, but not that many mains powered repeaters that might have a stronger signal than the bulbs.
All of this is why some community members are very happy with the Osram lightify bulbs and others have removed them from the network altogether because they were losing messages from the sensors. It’s just going to come down to exactly how your own network is laid out.
Note: OSRAM LIGHTIFY bulbs have a known firmware issue that can occasionally cause them to fail as ZigBee repeaters. This can potentially cause other ZigBee devices to fail to update and/or respond.
https://support.smartthings.com/hc/en-us/articles/214191863-How-to-connect-OSRAM-LIGHTIFY-Bulbs
@Tyler @vlad @tpmanley @slagle @jody.albritton @Aaron @johnr @Sticks18 @erocm1231 @mitchp
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Great comment @JDRoberts. The older OSRAM firmware also has some additional routing problems that has been fixed in the latest production firmware available now via the LIGHTIFY Hub. However even the latest firmware has the “buffer overflow” problem that @JDRoberts mentioned. In an attempt to keep from hitting that problem we have increased the delay between messages sent by the ZigBee library (zigbee.* function calls in the DTH). It can take a little longer for commands like configure or refresh to finish but it is more likely that all the messages will get through successfully.
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@tpmanley , have you seen the same dropped message issue with any other brand of zigbee bulb attached directly to the ST hub, particularly Cree or Ecolink?
I’ve seen similar problems with GE Link and Wemo. I did not see the problem with Cree in my testing and I haven’t tested Ecolink.
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Tom do you have any news on the ability to update the firmware of osram lightbulbs through ST hub?
It’s in internal beta testing right now.
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Nice, any loose ETA? Days? Weeks? Months?
Any update?
I have issues with an Osram plug (losing messages) and about to purchase a Osram hub, just to update the plugs, in which case it might not even solve the issue.
Ota for Osram would be really helpful, as for other who have Osram bulbs.
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Hi JDRoberts,
It’s been a little over a year since you last posted this, but I run into the exact same situation you posted regarding the mix of zigbee devices that cause the Osram buffer overflow situation.
I was curious as I couldn’t find through any research. Has there been any improvements to firmware or otherwise that can help with this issue?
Currently my V2 hub is on firmware v:000.019.00019
and my bulbs are on v:0x01020492 set up with the default device handler: ZigBee White Color Temperature Bulb.
Thanks!
It’s still happens. There was an Osram firmware update in the last 12 months which was supposed to improve the issue, but didn’t eliminate it entirely. 
I am not sure how I missed this! I was 1 step away from ditching ST because my motion sensors are not working right. I am sucking down battery’s. and the Osram Lightify Bulbs are always dropping out and do weird things. This is my exact problem I am sure. Thank you
Hi all, can anyone help me find out whether I need to purchase a Lightify Gateway or not to avoid the aforementioned issues? I’m UK based so can’t update OTA. I’ve bought an outdoor 5m Smart+ strip, current firmware showing in the IDE is:
0x01020493
Can anyone confirm if this is the latest one? Or do I now need to purchase a Gateway to update?
Many thanks.