Y’know I got a set of Sengled Smart LEDs and a set of FEITs as well in the past four years. And I love them when they work. But I have found that every six to eighteen months-ish, they stop working and I have to redo the whole confusing setup again from scratch which takes an hour or more. It really saps some of the joy from these otherwise great lights. Anybody have a similar experience with smart bulbs?
As tempted as I have been by some of the “cheaper” or “less complicated” bulbs, whether it’s Feit, Sengled, or others, I have found that there is generally a certain amount of getting what you paid for. Even with some of the GE Wi-Fi or Bluetooth bulbs, there has been instability, or needed resets. Same goes for a few LifX lights that I tried, just to see how well I got along with the app (It’s fine, but nothing special). They all have positives to them, but I wish that they were more reliable.
On the flip side of the matter, I have been an early adopter of Philips Hue, and watched them mature over the last several years - almost a decade. At this point, while they are not cheap, they have the best support, best quality and stability, and be ability to be properly adopted into any major Smart home platform. They play nicely with Apple HomeKit, Google Home, Amazon Alexa, or the most complex of them - Home Assistant. First party and third party apps (like iConnectHue) do a stellar job at making automation very good for lights, sensors, switches, etc.
Hue is pricy… No two ways about that. And they don’t make every single type of light out there, so they don’t solve all use cases. But out of all of the brands that I’ve been trying over the last decade or so, they’re the one that I keep buying more when I want to “upgrade” another room, or light fixture.
That good to know, thanks! I will keep an eye out for a Hue to try. I feel like I have seen some Hues here on woot in my price range (which is, ahem, the lowest price range) but maybe those were just whites and I am more in it for the colorful bulbs. Anyway, if I see a deal on here I’ll check 'em out. Thanks!