Hey, what's up? This is Reed. So far, I've done three smart light bulb comparison videos that have covered over 30 bulbs. I'm going to take my favorites out of all of those and compare them head-to-head to find the best of the best. I think you're going to be surprised by some of the results—I know I definitely was. The reason why is that I've never gone this in-depth on a smart light bulb comparison before. Come to think of it, I don't know if anyone has—probably because they have a life, and I don't. I did learn a lot, though, and let me show you what I did to compare them.
Comparison Factors
I created 10 categories that I feel are important when viewing the entire picture of the smart light:
- Brightness: This isn't just how many lumens it is but how bright it is on both cool and warm whites.
- RGB Saturation: This is similar but for colors.
- White Accuracy: This factors in the CRI score and how natural the whites look on the daylight white. Some lights have a higher blue or green tint to them when it should be equal for a pure white.
- Compatibility: You probably want it to work with other brands of smart home devices.
- Reliability: No one wants bulbs going offline when you need the lights on.
- Accessories: These are light switches, motion sensors, and other devices to complement the light.
- Value: This is obvious since price is a big factor.
- Mobile App: How good the mobile app is.
- Special Features: Features like syncing up with your TV screen.
- Power-On State: This allows the bulb to stay off if your power goes off and back on in the middle of the night. Without this, your smart bulbs will turn on after a power outage.
I know that's a lot to take in, and I'm about to go over tons of bulbs, but don't worry—all the info will be linked down below in an article that you can check out afterward. It will include other smart bulbs that I didn't include in this video. Now that that's out of the way, let's look at the first section.
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Inexpensive Wi-Fi Bulbs
These don't require a hub and are affordable. After grading them on 10 different categories, the top one was a 60-watt A19 WiZ bulb. It's only $13 and rates highly across the board, especially with the power-on state. This light was bright on the cooler whites and slightly dimmer when it was warm. It also has fantastic white colors and a CRI score of 90 out of 100. The RGB colors also look good. For the price, it works with SmartThings, and there's even a WiZmote you can buy separately (yes, that's its legitimate name, not what my toddler picks). This can make it more convenient to control the lights, select scenes, and it works without the internet. The WiZ app isn't my favorite, with issues like bulbs not being labeled on the home screen, but the white colors, the price, and power-on state make up for that.
You still may want a different Wi-Fi bulb, so let me quickly go over the runner-ups:
- Govee: Another inexpensive bulb that has great white colors and some unique scenes that you can set in the app, but it's lacking in compatibility and power-on state.
- Cree: Recently released an extremely bright, affordable bulb. Its A21 size is taller. I got it working in the Cree and Smart Life apps as well as Home Assistant, but it does not work with SmartThings. It's the brightest bulb for the least amount of money I've ever tested. It also has accurate white colors with a CRI score of 90.
- TP-Link Kasa: Has a couple of really good bulbs. They work with SmartThings and have the best RGB colors for the price range. The colors have a slight edge over WiZ but not by much. They are just missing the power-on state.
- Wyze: Only had a warm and cool white bulb, which seems accurate and has the power-on state. However, they just announced an RGB bulb that looks promising, but both bulbs lack compatibility.
- Teckin: An inexpensive bulb that works with Smart Life. I've been able to add it to SmartThings and Home Assistant, which is great, but the bulb is not quite accurate or very bright with RGB, especially when you compare it with WiZ.
So, wrapping up the inexpensive bulb section, you can see why WiZ would rank at the top, but they are all great bulbs, and you may choose another based on compatibility with your setup.
Hub Bulbs
These are smart bulbs that need a hub to connect to the internet. The one that ranked the highest was Inovelli's Illumine, which uses Z-Wave. It's really good overall, but the power-on state makes it stand out. This is the only bulb that I know of that connects directly with SmartThings using Z-Wave or Zigbee and has the power-on state. The white accuracy was good, and the colors were brighter than the other bulbs in this section. However, a Z-Wave bulb might not be for you if you have something like the new Echo 4th Gen that uses Zigbee, so let's look at the others:
- Sengled: A popular Zigbee bulb that's very similar to Inovelli's Illumine, but it's missing the power-on state. The colors are also slightly dimmer compared to Inovelli's Illumine.
- EcoSmart: Many of you suggested I take a look at it. You can get them at Home Depot as a pack of two for $10—that's only $5 a bulb. It does not have RGB colors, but you can change the warm and cool whites. It has a CRI score of 90, and the white color might be one of the best out of all the bulbs I tested.
- Nanoleaf: Uses Thread to connect to the HomePod Mini as a border router. It's only $20 and is a good HomeKit-compatible option. Amazing whites that are bright and accurate, but the RGB colors are the least bright compared to all the other bulbs in this video.
- Sengled (Brightest Bulb): The brightest smart bulb I've ever tested. It's missing a lot of features, though—it doesn't have RGB or warm and cool whites, but if you want an extremely bright Zigbee bulb, it's worth a look.
Almost all the bulbs in this section are similar because they are highly reliable compared to Wi-Fi bulbs and have a lot of accessory options. Inovelli's Illumine has the edge with the power-on state. I wish more lights had this feature.
High-End Bulbs
This section has been known to make your wallet—or your significant other—cry. It's the high-end bulbs. I like each of these for a different reason, and you might choose one over the other depending on what you want. They also cost more than the other bulbs, mainly because of compatibility and special features. If you don't need that, consider the less expensive options. After comparing all the 10 factors, Philips Hue came out with the highest score. This surprised me because almost two years ago, I did not think Hue was the best overall. Since then, I've used a lot of smart bulbs, and I've realized that there are other factors than just brightness. That's why I had to wear this shirt—if I'm going to say good things about Philips Hue, then I gotta wear Paul Hibbert's merch.
So, Philips Hue isn't perfect, but here's why I think they have the overall best smart light bulb:
- Highly Compatible: They work with almost every smart home platform out there. They even have a really good API for third-party integration.
- Reliability: Not only do they use Zigbee, but they have their own bridge, so they can have more control in making their lights work well.
- Accessories: Hue has so many accessories like motion sensors, light switches, and a huge range of lights for different areas of your house.
- Special Features: The lights can sync with your TV or computer monitor using their Hue Sync.
- Power-On State: Hue has this feature, which is a big plus.
You will find the weaknesses of Philips Hue where you will find the strengths of LIFX. LIFX lights are brighter—in fact, the colors are the most bright and saturated out of any of the lights I tested. However, LIFX is missing some of the key factors like reliability, accessories, and power-on state, all of which Hue has. So, if you don't care about those things, LIFX might be a great option for you, especially if you want a Wi-Fi bulb that doesn't need a bridge or a hub.
Other high-end bulbs include:
- Novostella: A Wi-Fi bulb that's brighter than LIFX or Hue with decent white accuracy. It's missing the extra bells and whistles, and the colors are not as good as LIFX, but it works with Smart Life and Home Assistant.
- Yeelight: A great light bulb that is highly compatible and has a power-on state. It's not that expensive and has really good RGB colors. It's right there with LIFX and actually brighter with the color green, but the white colors are not that great.
- WiZ (100-watt): Priced well, it's an A21 size, so it's similar to the Cree bulb I showed earlier. It was one of the brightest bulbs I tested, and the colors were also very bright. The whites are good, and it has a CRI score of 90. It works with SmartThings and has a power-on state.
Looking at the chart, Philips Hue isn't the best value or brightness, but it excels everywhere else. You can add different Zigbee bulbs to the Hue bridge, but if they are not Hue, they might not work with Hue Sync or the power-on state, so keep that in mind.
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Filament + Other Bulbs
When it comes to filament bulbs, there's only a couple I want to quickly show you:
- Yeelight and TP-Link Kasa: Both have some that look about the same and function the same as well. Either one is good.
- Philips Hue: Also has a filament bulb that I think looks better with a spiral design, but it does cost twice as much.
This is a newer category for smart bulbs that we'll probably see continue to grow. I tested even more than what I mentioned, but I tried to only include the smart bulbs that I liked the most. If you didn't see a specific bulb, there's probably a reason I didn't include it. Like I said earlier, I put everything in an article linked below, and hopefully, you found this video helpful. If you did, please consider sharing it or subscribing if you haven't already. Thanks for watching, and we'll see you next time!
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