Philips Hue Long Term Review - Should you buy it?

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★★ Contents ★★
00:00 - My Setup
01:00 - Why Hue
02:37 - Competitors
03:41 - Should you Buy
05:10 - Should NOT buy
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[@kingkobra1956]

Excellent video, well done. I agree with all your points. I've been using Hue for years but only their white bulb. Ive just recently immersed myself into mood lighting and my first purchase was the Hue 1600 lumen color bulb and it was totally off the reservation expensive. I have my lighting perfectly set up now. It was expensive but I dont mind paying for what I like and the cost adds up quickly, but the results are totally worth the cost.

[@SmartHomeMakers]

I agree Micheal! Each year I tend to expand my hue collection!

[@MAMDAVEM]

Great Advice Geo, my experience has been virtually identical. I have kept all my philips Hue devices (40 in total, including bulbs, wall switches, motion detectors) co-ordinated by the Philips Hue hub even although I am a Homeassistant fanboy. They are rock solid and I have experienced no issues. Yes they are expensive and if I had my time again I would do things differently. One of the most useful Hue devices I have is the exterior motion detector, this switches on some indoor lights and my exterior security lights on motion detection. I don't think there are many (any?) outdoor rated zigbee motion detectors available other than the Hue one.

[@SmartHomeMakers]

Thanks Dave! Never tried the Hue outdoor devices before, not many alternatives out there!

[@zigomatic]

Philips Hue is one of my best choice for light and with sensor motion, you get temperature, lux info, no pir issue. If HA is down, it's still manageable locally. I reach the limit of devices for one bridge

[@SmartHomeMakers]

Indeed Rudy, I agree with you!

[@WoottonRivers]

Great video. If you connect your Phillips hue dimmer switches directly to Home Assistant you can get more out of them. You can use them to control anything, there is more functionality and you even get the battery status. I like the motion sensors but wish I could extend their range. I think there's a way to do this but I don't know how.

[@SmartHomeMakers]

Good point! I might try this in the future :)

[@zigomatic]

For extend the range, just buy more devices.

[@WoottonRivers]

@@zigomatic Sorry, when I said 'range' I meant the distance at which it can detect motion not its ability to communicate with other ZigBee devices.

[@zigomatic]

@@WoottonRivers There is no way to extend the range, for big room, I put 2 of them + use the algortihm available on the hue labs. The range is +- 7m max

[@ansomeBob]

Like you, I have bought loads of Philips kit, far too much ;-) I no longer use the hub because I have Home Assistant and a DeConz stick. But I recently had a Philips colour bulb fail on me, out of warranty and can't justify the cost anymore. Presently I am replacing many of my wall switches with Aqara (no neutral) rockers, well impressed with them. Keep up the good work.

[@SmartHomeMakers]

Bad luck on the Philips Hue bulb, nice one on the Aqara switch, I got a Aqara with neutral for the future! Thanks for your comments!

[@zigomatic]

Keep bridge Philips and put deconz on another range of network. Both work well

[@ronm6585]

Thank you.

[@SmartHomeMakers]

You're welcome!

[@robertaccess]

Good video, but what automations do you have? I have: auto on/off based of motion sensor, with a manual button (in HA) to disable them to turning off (automations will restore after midnight) and a party button who disable lights to turn ON and OFF completely (one time the kids want to play on projector and lights turns on). Those are mine but I know you have good ones, please share. Also can you make a video on how you use your smart speakers? I have about seven of them from a couple of years, but the one with display just show photos, and the others play radio one a month (useless I think).

[@SmartHomeMakers]

Hi Robert! In Philips Hue I use the motion on/off, in home assistant I use the bulbs with other sensors and many automations. Like movie night, when TV is playing at night then turn lights off. What help do you need with smart speakers?

[@robertaccess]

@@SmartHomeMakers Just asking to share your lights automations and speakers use ideas, I know you have good one. I've been inspired on some of your video like "How to Automate a Vacuum Robot | Home Assistant"... and many others....

[@katefarah]

Unrelated question 🙋🏼‍♀️…. What video camera are you using? Lens specs? Settings and what frame rate? Your video quality is flawless!

[@SmartHomeMakers]

Hi Kate! Sony zv1! You should have a link in the description with my gear :)

[@RobinDeBecker]

I am not really into the hype of using smart bulbs. My intention is to make the switches smart, in order to keep the light switches functional for my wife. Besides that, I still am looking for a good alternative for the Philips Hue Sync to create an Ambilight effect for my tv. At this moment I have not yet found an alternative for 49" televisions. This I am planning to realize with smart bulbs, but still looking for good advice.

[@SmartHomeMakers]

I heard about hypervision if I'm not wrong for the ambient light effect :)

[@RobinDeBecker]

@@SmartHomeMakers , I also have heard about hyperion, but am unaware if I will be able to create it. A lot of ways to create it

[@reviewassistant6891]

Few things you didn't mention, Im a tight guy in some aspects and tried hard to go for cheaper alternatives and realised that it just ain't worth it and I'll tell you why Bulbs, the only expection in my opinion is if you want color bulbs, me personally I leave color to light strips, but Hue color are just too pricey but I only need ambient ones which I pickup for £12 each on sale. You can go cheap and maybe get some for £7, the saving here ain't that great, and what do you get in return? Firstly I've found that the cheaper bulbs are intended to work with lets say Tuya or sonoff as an example and some may ''work'' with other systems there is some rogue code making them bit hit and miss, whereas hue's code is less funny and solid, basically whatever you pair them too there less likely to lose connectoin or be slow unlike cheaper ones Secondly dimness, hue's go dimmer then any other i've seen, I love this for night time Thirdly fade in and out, cheaper bulbs just cut out and in, once your use to fade cheap bulbs are annoying fourthly, I've messed with deconz and zha in homeassistant and at somepoint over tinkering crap I end up breaking everything or something doesn't work great, I walk in a room and somehting doesn't work and I get annoyed. Hue hub is rock solid its seperate to my host machine (HA) and it just always works, Home assistant has a sick API with HA so its pretty instantaneous anyway. my motto is if Hue do the product then i'll just pay it, saving pennys now will cost you pounds later, if you cheap out your be buying more later Plugs for me are the only expection, Ikea and tuya zigbee plugs are pretty dumb, on and off, you can't go wrong with them over hues at £7 vs £20 I go for the cheaper ones and pair with my hue hub. I currently have no ethernet on my hue hub and everything works, couldnt say the same about deconz/z2a/ect Motion sensors - cheap ones have a blind spot where once they sense they stpo sensing for a minute, they are useless at turning lights off in short periods, ie hallways if you walk past its likely going to stay on for 3 minutes, whereas hue it can turn off in a minute (hue will detect if you walk through and reset the minute where cheaper ones dont').. cheaper ones do this because they useless have a cell battery and need to preserve battery, I prefer AAA, they also have temp and light sensor which cheaper ones often don't or not accurate. Hue Essentials- with this app I have automations that if I did them in HA they would work but wouldn't be as quick thats for sure, hue app is crap but this app does everything I wanted to do within HA. Hue is expensive but if you slowly get deals then its not go cheap then next time you want more you notice its not sold anymore and you house is full of diffrent stuff that works diffrently and doesnt work together well and uses diffrent batteries and break and sometimes don#t work, you might be on top of it today but in 6 months you will have a new hobby and wish you just bought something that would work. Rant over, not a hue diehard, most products are ripoff, but not all

[@SmartHomeMakers]

Thanks for your comment! I agree that with Hue you pay what you get for! I love stability and reliability !

[@AndrewRaves]

I spent 700 in 10 min :)

[@SmartHomeMakers]

Expensive day!

[@mikewa2]

Don’t believe all the biased opinions they are as xrap as all the others not worth the money. Just not upto the job

[@SmartHomeMakers]

Why do you think that?