Few things affect your mood the way lighting does. Bright and sunny = happy. Overcast and gray = dreary. Pitch black night skies = sleepy. While we can’t control the weather or the natural cycles of the sun throughout the day, we can control the lighting in our house. Well, that is, if we use Philips hue LED lights. Frans recently found out what that means.
Philips hue LED Lighting System
We received the Philips hue LED White and Color Ambiance Starter Kit, which includes three Multicolor LED bulbs and a bridge, from Best Buy to try out. The bridge is the main control device which connects to your home network (physically plugged into your WiFi router) and can control up to 50 bulbs. Once connected, you are able to control the bulbs through an app or the hue website itself for personalized ambient lighting. Also, Siri (iOS) can be used for voice control.
Philips hue LED — See It in Action
The above description might not sound too exciting so let me show you:
Philips hue LED — Pre-Set Lighting Themes
Nice, right?! Each light can be individually adjusted or you can choose from a list of pre-set themes. First thing in the morning Frans turns on the “beach” theme, which has two of the bulbs bright white and the third turn a light purple. Later in the day he’ll cycle through his other favorite themes such as “relax”, “concentrate”, “energize”, “reading”, “ski”, and “cinema.” Colors and brightness are slightly different in each of these and directly change my mood and those of my husband and daughter.
The hue website has a bunch more of these scenes, including some settings created by other users. It’s pretty simple to save custom themes as well. Frans created one called “doggie” that just turns one bulb on very dimly. If we’re out of the house in the evening, we can turn on “doggie” so Speckles isn’t stuck at home in the dark. There’s a free app for iOS called “huemote” which lets us copy an active theme and then we can adjust the brightness and color later.
Philips hue LED — Apps
There are many apps that can do fun stuff with the hue system, some of them interact with music played on your smartphone or a movie you’re watching on your Apple TV. That means you can have the light flicker and change colors for some serious party time! You can also connect hue to apps such as IFTTT to automatically turn off the lights when you leave the house or have them turn on when you get back (using geo-fencing).
We had no idea what to expect when we received this Philips hue system. We haven’t tried syncing hue to music or to movies yet but so far we am enjoying the system. We are actually very happy to be able to change the colors to whatever is needed at that time of day. It really improves my family’s moods.
The Philips hue LED White and Color Ambiance Starter Kit we tested is sold at Best Buy $199.99 with price match guarantee. Individual bulbs start at $14.99 for just white and $59.99 for ones that can do both white and color ambiance. You can also check ideas for a connected home here. We might want to get more bulbs in the future but, for now, this Starter Kit is working out really well.
What would you use Philips hue LED lights for?
The reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free.
