[MUSIC]
AMCNet's Rhett Chris here with a review of the Philips Hue Lux LED and this is a white light only counterpart to the Philips Hue LEDs that have been around for a few years now.
Those bulbs have color changing smarts built in, very high novelty factor, you can make 'em blue and purple and green, this bulb doesn't have those color changing smarts, it only puts out white light at right around 2,700 k.
But it does have the smarts built right in.
It has Zigbee, it can connect with the Hugh bridge, you can control it through the app, automate it, schedule it, use it with Ift, so it is a very appealing smart light, just not one that has the novelty factor.
The upside to throwing those color-changing smarts to the curb is that the bulb costs a lot less.
And in this case, it's half the price of the original Philips Hue.
That Hue Kit, you get three bulbs for $200, or a single bulb for $60.
This one is $100 for a two-bulb kit, or $30 per bulb.
It's a lot more affordable.
If you are intrigued by Philips Hue, but don't like that high price tag, you might like this as an entry point that's a little more accessible and affordable.
Now, on the smart side of things, I like this bulb a lot.
The.
Ift integration is direct facile to you, it has it's own channel, you don't need a separate hub, you don't need a separate system, you can just buy this bulb and start using Ift with it.
That's really cool.
It's also got a great app, the Fill 2 app has been around for a couple of years now, and they have had some time to polish it, and to make it a really nice user experience, plus you've had third-party apps blossom that do cool things with your Fill2 lighting, you can find some creative usages for this bulb that you probably won't find with the competition.
However on the light bulb side of things, the Philips hue lux left me a little less impressed.
It puts out 750 lumens worth of light and that is a nice step up from the original hue bulbs which put out 600 lumens.
But it's still not where you want it.
It's still not 800 lumens or more which is what you want for a 60 watt replacement.
The big problem though is that the power draw is much higher than they state.
On this bulb here, you'll see it says nine watts but if you do the math, multiplying the amps by the voltage there.
You'll actually get a power draw of 18 watts.
And we confirmed that with our testing equipment in the lab as an 18 watt bulb at full power.
That is not great for an LED.
That's gives it an efficiency rating about 42 lumens per watt.
The Duel Two and the TCP LEDs are both over 70 lumens per watt.
And a standard LED should really aim for 80.
So, that only the half of goods you want.
Still, all and all this is a very good bulb.
It's more efficient than any incandescent.
So, you're just upgrading from that to a smart lighting setup.
It might be an attractive option.
So, look out for, for TCP bulbs and upcoming GE link LED that even look more affordable.
It might be worth the consideration as well.
For Cnet, I'm Mike Chris.
