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The best smart LED light bulbs
By Grant Clauser This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here. We considered more than 20 smart-light-bulb systems and then spent eight weeks testing 10 contenders, confounding a family of four by constantly changing how their lights worked. After all that, we determined that the Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance A19 is the best all-around smart LED bulb. Hue lets you change your lighting color easily and does everything other smart light bulbs do, and it's also part of a larger product and app ecosystem, allowing for more flexibility and creativity than any other smart bulb we tested. Plus, it's compatible with the widest variety of smart-home systems, including Apple's HomeKit, Samsung's SmartThings hub, Amazon's Alexa, and Google Home. It's not the cheapest bulb we tested, but its reliable performance and wide compatibility make it a solid choice for any smart-home enthusiast or newbie.
Philips Hue digital lighting system will be exclusive to Apple Stores
Did you ever think that you'd be able to purchase light bulbs at an Apple Store? Well, starting tomorrow, the Philips Hue web-enabled smart bulb will be available only in Apple Stores. Like the Greenwave Reality smart LED bulbs covered by TUAW's Mike Rose last week, the Philips Hue system can be controlled from your favorite iOS device. Not only can you turn the bulbs on and off, but as the name suggests, you can adjust the color and intensity of the light. All of that is done through a free iOS app, available now. That app even allows you to match lighting to a color from any one of the photos found in your Photo Library. The bulbs aren't cheap -- a starter pack goes for US$199, including three LED bulbs and a special Wi-Fi controller. Additional bulbs cost $59 each. But the benefits are pretty incredible, using about 80 percent less power and having a bulb lifetime estimated at 15 years or 15,000 burning hours. Check out the new use for your iOS device as a light-bulb controller in the video below, or visit the Philips Hue website for more information.
Philips hue: the 'world's smartest' LED lightbulb that saves you time during Red Alerts
Historically, altering the lighting color of a room required draping a gossamer-thin cloth over a lamp or buying a new bulb from the store. Philips has sought to solve that most taxing of first-world problems with the hue, a smartphone-controlled LED bulb that can cycle through shades at your whim. As well as block colors, you can use photos to create palette and can control the units even when away from home. It'll be an Apple Store exclusive from October 30th, with individual units setting you back $59 (£49, €59) and three-bulb introduction pack with a wireless bridge for $199 (£179, €199). If that seems a little steep, just console yourself in the knowledge that it's a thousand times more useful than other lighting devices we've seen this year.
INSTEON says apps are better than switches with networked LED bulbs
We'll spare you the puns and meme references here. (Besides, how many Xzibit jokes can you take?) INSTEON has decided that simply saving you money on your electric bill isn't enough anymore. If you're going to cough up nearly $30 for an LED lightbulb, there better be some value added features. So, the company stuck a proprietary dual-band wireless receiver inside each of its eco-friendly lights allowing them to connect to a home automation system. There is a dedicated remote you could buy, but why bother when there's an app available for both Android and iOS that lets you turn on, off and dim the lights from the comfort of your touch screen. You can even create custom "scenes" for preset lighting levels. Unlike most remote lighting solutions, though, all the necessary hardware is built into the bulbs themselves. In fact, each one acts as a signal repeater, passing along instructions both wirelessly and though the powerlines to make sure ever corner of your home is covered. For more check out the PR and video after the break.
GE's 27-watt LED replacement for 100-watt incandescent bulbs set to light up our lives next year
As if you didn't already have enough reason to be pumped for this week's Lightfair trade show in Vegas -- GE is talking up its new 27-watt Energy Smart LED bulb that can product enough power (1,600-plus lumens) to replace a standard 100-watt incandescent bulb. The bulb, which joins 13-watt and 9-watt LED bulbs (replacements for 60- and 40-watt incandescents, respectively) offers up 25,000 hours of life, which should give you roughly 22.8 years, assuming you use it about three hours a day. It'll be hitting the U.S. and Canada in the first half of next year for an undetermined price. Check the illuminating press release after the break.
Philips wins DOE's $10 million L Prize for 60W incandescent killer
Put your pig-tail light bulb aversions aside, because Philips has just won the DOE's $10 million L Prize Competition for the creation of a decidedly non-curlicue 60W equivalent LED lighting solution. The company was named the first winner in the 60W replacement bulb category at a Washington DC event, yesterday. It's taken three years to find a winner that could meet the high standards set forth by the DOE, specifically "ensuring that performance, quality, lifetime, cost, and availability meet expectations for widespread adoption and mass manufacturing." Requirements further stipulated that the 60W incandescent killer use less than 10 watts of power, and provide energy savings of 83 percent. If Americans replaced all of their 60W incandescents with Philips' little winner, the DOE estimates savings of $3.9 billion in a single year. The bulb is expected to hit shelves as soon as early 2012. Full PR after the break.
Vizio, your favorite low-cost TV leader introduces... a light bulb (video)
It's a busy week for Vizio. The budget TV manufacturer flaunted its flashy new tablet in front of our cameras yesterday, and had us hopping across town this afternoon for a chance to go hands-on with its latest entrant into a mysterious brand-new product category (for Vizio, at least). Reps were mum on details, so we had no choice but to return to the CEA LineShows in NYC to see what was up. We walked around the booth, looking for signs of that Vizio Android phone we saw at CES, only to find co-founder Ken Lowe cradling the new goods: a line of light bulbs. We laughed. Then asked to see the real product that Vizio insisted would be worth the trip. Nope, that was it: a LED light bulb -- four of them, in fact, arranged in height-order on a chrome bathroom vanity fixture. Lowe then proceeded to introduce his product as he has any other, so we hit record. They're bright, round, and standards-compliant, and will be coming to a screw-in fixture near you in Q3. How much? "A Vizio price."%Gallery-126935%
Philips EnduraLED A21 bulb offers bright light for big bucks
If the expected price tag for Philips' latest LED light bulb is any indication, a brighter tomorrow won't come cheap. The "75W replacement," known as the EnudraLED A21, apparently reduces energy by 80 percent, lasts 25 times longer than its conventional counterpart, and is expected to cost between $40 and $45. Given that's significantly less expensive than the outfit's 60W equivalent, but for us regular folks, that's not exactly a drop in the bucket. However, if you're picking up what Philips is laying down, the bulb -- which uses a mere 17 watts of electricity to beam 1,100 lumens -- could save the US 5,220 megawatts of electricity and $630,000,000 annually (if we all switch over tomorrow). That certainly sounds good, but somehow we doubt a $45 light bulb is going to be the incandescent killer. Full PR after the break.
Cree shows off 'no-compromise' LED replacement for 60-watt incandescent bulbs
Compact fluorescent (or CFL) bulbs may currently be the dominant alternative to traditional incandescent light bulbs, but there's still a strong contingent betting on LEDs as the true long term replacement. One of the major players in that camp is Cree, which recently teamed up with TESS and Dean Kamen's FIRST organization to have kids distribute LED light bulbs like Girl Scout cookies (seriously), and is now showing off what is says is the "first no-compromise replacement for a 60-watt incandescent bulb." That bulb is dimmable, and emits a "beautiful, warm, incandescent-like color of 2700 K," while delivering more than 800 lumens and consuming less than 10 watts (meeting the Energy Star requirements for a 60-watt standard LED replacement bulb). Unfortunately, there's one big catch -- the bulb is still just a prototype, and Cree says it hasn't yet decided how it will bring it to market, or how much it might cost. Head on past the break for a quick video demonstration.
Dean Kamen unveils revamped bionic arm and water machine, LED light bulb powered by Cree
Segway inventor Dean Kamen just stole the show at TEDMED 2010, with both a far-reaching lecture on how technology can save the developing world, and a peek at his latest projects. We'll spare you the wave of guilt for now and get right to the cool stuff, like the latest rendition of his Luke prosthetic arm and Slingshot water machine. Dean admitted he's having difficulty finding companies interested in manufacturing the former, but it's looking snazzier than when it last grabbed Stephen Colbert, with components like this shoulder piece printed out of titanium in a custom 3D printer, and it's slated to look like this. The Slingshot's seeing even more action, as Dean and company have pulled it out of the ugly box into these svelte tubes, and finally has a distribution deal (with Coca-Cola, of all companies) to bring the clean-water-from-any-source machines to developing countries in trials early next year. Last but not least, the man's got a product you might be able to afford for your home. In the quest for an item for his FIRST young engineers to sell -- a la Girl Scout cookies -- he tapped LED manufacturer Cree to produce an 450 lumen light bulb that draws just 7 watts and will retail for about $25 door-to-door. In case you're wondering, that's cheaper and more efficient than most any lamp we've seen before. Dean says they've already produced several hundred thousand of the bulbs thanks to a surprise $3 million investment from Google, and plan to have them in the hands of every FIRST kid soon. Keep on fighting the good fight, Dean. %Gallery-106215%
Lite-On's Mobile Lamp LED bulb works even when the power is out
We hate to break it to you, but those LED light bulbs that are shaped like traditional light bulbs? It's all a lie. LEDs are naturally pretty small things, and while there might be dozens scattered about inside a bulb there's still plenty of empty space in there meant only to make the things about the same size as a good ol' incandescent. Lite-On, however, has found something to make use of that space: batteries. The company's Mobile Lamp bulb can stay on for up to two hours even after the power is turned off, effectively turning it into a flashlight. To switch the bulb on or off you simply touch the copper part while something conductive makes contact with the metal part on the bottom, which could be a lamp socket or just a finger, as shown in the brief video after the break. The bulbs are due to be out sometime next year and should be hugely popular in areas with unreliable power -- or with an abnormally high rate of magicians per-capita.
Philips' new LED light bulbs are brighter, more efficient, not cheap
Philips' Master LED bulbs may well have been forgotten in the US -- as far as we can tell, they never showed up for that hot date last July -- but it's hard to be miffed when the company's new bulbs, dubbed EnduraLED, are four times as bright. Due in the fourth quarter of the year, the 60W equivalent at left sucks down only 12 watts of electricity but emits a reported 806 lumens of soft white light -- a ratio green enough to save the world, Philips claims, if only you'll buy in. Problem is, people's generosity typically depends on price, and a company rep told us we'll shell out around $60 per bulb when the shiny silver socketables ship. Mind you, that's just an initial figure, but until we hear different we'll be going to Home Depot for our lighting needs, thank you very much. Press release after the break.
The Home Depot takes LED lighting mainstream with $20 bulbs
Slowly but surely, LED light bulbs have been getting brighter and more efficient, but price has always been a major factor staying their adoption. Back in 2007, a single 308 lumen bulb cost $65, and the more things changed, the more they've stayed the same. Now, out of the blue, The Home Depot has stepped forward with a cost-effective alternative. For $20, the new EcoSmart LED bulb promises a 429 lumen, 40W equivalent with a 50,000 hour expected lifetime, making it cheaper and nearly as powerful as the 450 lumen, $40-50 design industry heavyweight GE unveiled last month. Best of all, it's already available for purchase (though backordered) at our source link. Honestly, we're starting to wonder what the catch is. PR after the break.
Study says LEDs are about as efficient as compact fluorescents, all things considered
As we've seen with the slight resurgence of new and improved incandescent light bulbs, the amount of energy used to actually light up the bulb isn't necessarily the whole measure of energy efficiency. There's also the small matter of producing the bulb, shipping it around the world, and eventually disposing of it. With that in mind, the Siemens Corporate Technology Centre for Eco Innovations conducted a study that compared regular compact fluorescents to LED lamps -- using one 25,000-hour LED lamp as a constant, compared to 2.5 10,000-hour compact fluorescents (and 25 1,000-hour incandescents). While it's still holding back on some of the finer details, the group did apparently find that LEDs are no more or no less energy efficient than compact fluorescents when the entire lifecycle of the bulb is taken into account, although it is quick to point out that LEDs should eventually win out as they become more efficient to produce.
Incandescent bulbs making a comeback, GE still launching new LED lights
On the eve of Christmas 2007, quite a few obituaries for incandescent light bulbs were penned. News was slow, time was short and Congress had just outlined a new energy plan that would essentially force these energy-wasting bulbs out by 2012. Now, however, legions of scientists are racing the clock to develop new incandescents that will still meet the upcoming guidelines, with a Deposition Sciences technology paving the way for a post-2012 model from Philips. Without drowning you in technobabble, let's just say that said tech has seen 50 percent efficiency gains in the lab, which is more than enough to please even the most outspoken tree hugger in Washington. In related news, GE has issued two more LED light bulbs: the 7-watt Energy Smart LED PAR20 and 10-watt LED PAR30. Both of 'em are aimed more at commercial customers than at actual homes, but you'll be hard pressed to find a better option for lighting up your makeshift basketball court.Read - Incandescent bulbs stage comebackRead - GE Energy Smart bulbs
Philips Master LED light bulb set for US release in July
Philips has been hitting us with some out-there lighting concepts lately, but the company's Master LED light bulb is actually already on sale in Europe and is set to brighten up Stateside lives around July. The 40W-equivalent bulbs should run between $50 and $70, and expected lifetime is set at 45,000 hours -- just slightly more than a CFL's 10,000 or a standard bulb's 750 hours. The Master is certainly a damn sight nicer looking than the other mutant LED bulbs we've seen, but we'll see if consumers are ready to jump on another more-expensive-upfront lighting tech so soon after CFLs have hit the mainstream.[Via Core77]
EarthLED EvoLux R LED light bulb lets you choose your lumens
The folks at Advanced Lumonics sure seem confident in their new EarthLED EvoLux R LED light bulb, with them even going so far as to flatly declare it the "world's most advanced light bulb." Helping it earn that self-proclaimed distinction is the 13 watt LED at the heart of the bulb, which provides the equivalent output of a 100 watt incandescent bulb, and its EvoDim feature, which will let switch between three different output settings (250, 750, and 950 lumens) without a special dimmer switch. Of course, all those light bulb bragging rights don't come cheap, with each bulb setting you back a hefty $100, although the company promises that'll work out to less than $6 per year by the time the bulb finally gives up. If that's a bit too much for you, you can also get non-dimmable versions $80.
