Philips Hue has the
Philips Hue Starter Kit: Bridge + 2x 800-Lumen 60W A19 E26 Smart Light Bulbs (White & Color Ambiance, 562918) for
$49.99 w/ promo code
KIT49.
Shipping is free on $50+ orders.
Thanks to Staff Member
TenseManatee7799 for finding this deal.
About this item:
- Add ambient color to any room with the Philips Hue White and color ambiance starter kit. Connect to the included Hue Bridge to take advantage of endless list of features. Control via the App or voice. As bright as a 60 W bulb.
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If you don't care much for the Hue system, or avoid it because of the cost, a bridge can come handy if you need to reset bulbs to use outside of the Hue ecosystem. While it is a good idea to have a Hue bridge around as backup, consider that the Hue app can accomplish the same goal for free.
The good thing about Hue, a 6 year bulb and one bought yesterday will 100% match in color outputted. It's a pricy but consistent product.
This starter pack is a very good deal. Beware, you will go down a rabbit hole
They are expensive as an add-on but the other cheap items aren't useful. Think of it as $6 off the bulb price.
But part of why I was comfortable spending so much for so many bulbs was that I'd bought the propaganda that LED bulbs last twenty years. That just wasn't true—they lasted longer than most bulbs, but their color reproduction would get worse, and eventually they'd fail.
Granted, because I thought they were supposed to last so long, and because they're so cheap to operate, I used them a lot. I'd run them all day long and sometimes all night (in night light mode). It was great! But it was expensive.
Anyway, I moved to a bigger place, and rather than buy a bunch of new hue bulbs, I decided to look for the highest quality (most incandescent-like) bulbs I could find. I tried a bunch and eventually settled on GE Sun-filled bulbs. I miss playing with hue, but the light quality is truly superior, and almost two years in I haven't had a single bulb fail.
But they also have their downsides. There are only two form factors, neither of which is small: just BR30 (can light) and A21 (like a too-long standard bulb). The bulbs are ugly—lots of which plastic, not great for exposed fixtures. There's only one brightness for each bulb (in both cases, somewhat brighter than a standard bulb, so not good if you need something less bright and don't have dimmer). And most stores don't stock them.
Tl;dr hue is fun but the light quality doesn't compare to some other bulbs that are cheaper and more reliable. Someone needs to make a hue-like bulb with more incandescent-like color reproduction.
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