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For $100, you can get a Nanoleaf Ivy Smarter Kit, which is a two bulb lighting kit that comes with Apple Homekit compatibility, so you can turn the lights on and off using an app.
Or by asking Siri to do it.
Now, it's a very cool looking kit.
Obviously the bulbs are the same design that Nanoleaf has used for a while now, this kind of geometric jigsaw assembly, 3D printed with the diodes on the outside.
Very eye-catching and cool looking.
But the hub that controls the system is also pretty nifty.
It's a dodecahedron.
You'll plug it into your router And I wouldn't mind having this sitting out on the shelf beside it.
Now $100.00 is not inexpensive for a two bulb smart lighting kit.
The closest comparison is probably the Phillips Hue non color changing, white light only starter, Starter kit that has two bulbs, works with Apple Home Kit, comes with the hub, same basic thing, but that costs 80.
It's debatable whether this is worth an extra 20 bucks over that, I think the bulb and the hub both look a lot better, and there's also a neat dimming trick you can do with these that involves manually flicking the switch a couple of times to lock in a low dimming Settings, that's a handy way of getting the light down low if you don't hae your phone on you.
Another nice thing about this kit is that it's compatible with third party bulbs that might not work as well with other systems.
The obvious examples are the [UNKNOWN] LED, and the GE Link LED.
Here they both are with the [UNKNOWN] bulb.
I've got all three paired with that [UNKNOWN] hub.
If I ask Siri to turn all the lights on, they all come on together.
You can also see them in the app and dim them up and down as you need.
Very handy.
Now the whole gist of HomeKit is any HomeKit compatible SmartHome gadgets should all work together, and that's the case with this app.
You can open an Nanoleaf app an see other HomeKit gadgets and control them.
It still feels a bit limited For my taste though, you can't set a timer for instance.
If I want the lights to turn off slowly over 45 minutes, or if I want to set the lights to wake me up at 7 AM.
I cant do that in the app.
Still, I think that Natalie Smarter Kit is a nice addition to the home kit lineup of products and something to keep an eye on as home kit continues to expand.
