One of my LinearLinc LED lightbulbs died the other night. It still shows in smartthings but it just burnt out. Yeah, I know, an LED bulb burnt out after about a year of use! Anyways, I need a new one so I want to know what bulbs work well with ST?
Do you mean smart bulbs or regular/dumb bulbs?
Sorry, smart bulbs. Dimmable smart bulbs.
Bought a https://shop.smartthings.com/#!/products/osram-led-smart-bulb-rgbw to try and so far really liking it and it’s price point for a RGBW.
White only or RGBW?
Well, it would depend on the price. I have LinearLinc in white and I just purchased some hues colour for the theatre room. Hues are kind of expensive though. Although they do have the white ones also. I guess it really depends on the price and reliability and how well they integrate with smartthings.
The $15 Hue whites are very good bulbs. The Phillips hue bridge by itself is an excellent device, I have had two for over year and never had any problems with them. I use them with the direct echo/Hue integration, with HomeKit, with harmony, with Beecon plus, and they work great.
During that same time the official Hue/SmartThings integration has broken at least five times, and I’m thinking it was more than that.
So while these are my favorite bulbs, I’m a little hesitant to say they work well with SmartThings. They work well most of the time but then the integration goes out occasionally, sometimes for several days. They can continue to be used with echo or harmony or HomeKit through those separate integrations. The problem is always just with SmartThings.
I would still recommend the Hue because there are so many different ways that you can use them. But there are additional changes planned For the SmartThings integration which are supposed to bring more improvements but may have more glitches.
The Cree are also very good bulbs, but you have fewer options with those as far as non-SmartThings integrations, so there’s no real plan B if SmartThings is acting up.
I am using the Cree Connect bulb from Home Depot for $15 with no problems.
Mike
I have a few of the Osram Lightify RGBW bulbs as well as some of their A19 bulbs in Adjustable White temp.
I am very pleased with the bulbs. Haven’t had any issues or problems with them at all.
I’m using 12 wemo bulbs they work great. No additional hub required. Also I use LIFX bulbs for color.
Cree connect bulbs have been working well for me too. I replaced some GE Link bulbs that were super flaky (a known issue).
So basically any of these are working good. Thanks!
Just not, as @marktheknife mentioned, GE links. They have a known firmware issue which is why they are not on the official “works with SmartThings” list. It’s not that every bulb is bad, it’s just that A fairly high percentage of them, maybe 15%, lose contact with the network once or twice a month and then you have to deal with that aggravation. It’s not a huge issue and when they were the cheapest bulbs people went with them anyway. But now that the Crees and the Hue whites are in the same price range there’s no reason to put up with the GE link flakiness.
Do Hue bulbs work on ST?
Yes they do! I went with the hue white for $14.99 cdn. Which is reasonable conaidering the Cree were $19.99. I think I trust the Hue over the Cree. I looked at the hue white ambiance but at $24.99 I didn’t think the difference was really a big deal.
Do you mean connected directly to the hub without the bridge? Some people do that, smartthings support does not recommend it. Among other things, there’s the possibility that the bulb will get shifted to a non-ZLL channel and then you would never be able to connect it to a huge bridge again unless you buy a different device to reset it.
https://support.smartthings.com/hc/en-us/articles/200848024-How-to-connect-Philips-Hue-devices
But basically the Hue whites work just as well as the Hue RGBWs do whether connected to the hue bridge or connected directly.
I have a bunch of the Cree Connected bulbs from Home Depot. They work will with ST and they are just wonderful bulbs too. No bridge required, just connect them straight to ST hub.
But the Cree bulbs where more expensive.
Sorry, I was being sarcastic with all the issues going on. I should have put a .
The Cree connected LED bulbs will most closely resemble an incandescent bulb. Most LED bulbs only cast light away from the base. The Cree bulbs cast light away and also back toward the base. In a lamp, they look just like a normal incandescent bulb. The Crees work with ST with no hub needed and also with Alexa directly. They are available in soft white which is a slightly yellowish light rated at 2700K and in daylight which is a sharp white almost a hint of blue light rated at 5000K. Soft white will resemble incandescent bulbs in color the most.