Philips Hue Outdoor Strip Lights review

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Philips Hue Outdoor Light Strip review
Phillips Hue has expanded its popular line of indoor smart lightning to the outdoors. Previously I reviewed their spotlights and bollard lights, now I have my hands on their flexible LED light strip. I'll talk about where you can use them, how easy they are to set up and install, and what you can do with them when it comes to smart connectivity.
I noticed two things about this kit right away. The light strips themselves are fat and bulky. This is not the same as the indoor light strips which you can basically run flat along any surface. These are about an inch wide and half an inch thick. Think more like rubber tubing then a light strip.
Part of the challenge of installing these will be to tuck them away in a spot where they’re not going to be obtrusive, or catch the toe of your shoe, as they would on a stair.
The other thing, is that it is all one length and does not appear to be trimmable. That means I’m going to need to find an area where I can secure the lights all in one run. A bit of a challenge.
This light strip is available in two separate lengths, a 6.5 foot/2 m link, and a 16.4 foot/5 m length. You’ll want to choose appropriately, because they cannot be trimmed, and they also don’t support being connected to extensions, or to eachother, by the looks.
How to install Philips Hue Outdoor Light Strip
Connecting to Wi-Fi
Setting this light up is as simple as setting up all the other lights in the huge Hue family. A simple matter of downloading the Phillips hue app, signing up for an account or signing into your existing account then choosing Settings, Light Set up, Add Light. The app will search for your lights, provided they’re plugged in, and should find them in under a minute. The app found my new Philips Hue outdoor light strip right away and promptly added it to the app for me. From there, you can assign your lights to a room or a grouping. As I already have several Phillips hue outdoor lights I added the light strip to my outdoor lighting group.
Placement of light strip
If you don't own your home, and aren't in a position where you want to drill the clips in for a more permanent installation, you can easily slip this light strip along a wall, garden, or clip it to a railing or eaves. I ran it along the side of my deck behind some furniture to provide ambient deck lighting. Next I tried coiling it up underneath some furniture.
I really wanted it to get wrapped around the front of my deck to create a lovely sharp line of beautiful colored lightning that would also light out main entrance, but the way my deck is built, there's no real place to clip the lights where are they wouldn't become a tripping hazard because of their size.
The end, I decided to forgo the permanent installation using the plastic clips and just run the lighting along the lines of my deck and leave it at that. It looks great, and I don't know if that anyone would know that it wasn't permanently installed if they didn't get up really close and take a look. I suppose in theory that because there's nothing holding these lights down, someone could come along and unplug them and run away with them, but that's a chance I'll take for right now.
Will they survive a Calgary, Canada winter? I installed the Hue spotlights and bollards last fall and I can say they ran all winter long, despite a cold snap of -25°C for about a month. I fully expect the light strip will perform just as admirably. The Philips Hue outdoor light strip puts out 1650 lumens. A 100 w bulb by comparison puts out about 1600 lumens. So they're bright, and I found them quite bright outdoors in dark areas. They provided more than ample illumination for my needs.
Overall I think Philips Hue has another winner when it comes to outdoor lighting. These lights give you a tonne of flexibility, pun intended, they’re easy to install and control, and they look great. If they have a downside, it’s that they’re more like rubber tubing than light strips, and that limits where they can be installed in some cases.
I can definitely recommend these for your outdoor lighting needs. The Philips Hue Outdoor Light Strip costs about $110CAD for the shorter 2m length and $199CAD for the 5m length. You can get them from places like Best Buy or Amazon.

[@nickodevoe]

Extremely well made video, researched, clear and concise. Thank you, great content.

[@mzhou05]

Like your voice as well

[@timr3255]

Great video Erin!! I love Phillips hue lights I have in my house ☺️ loved the video

[@ErinLawrenceTV]

Thanks very much!

[@teddibrown3342]

do you possibly know the radius for connecting wifi, cause my deck is almost 30 feet from my modem?

[@10OF9OFBORG]

Awesome Erin! It’s looks very bright. As long it’s doesn’t looks like a runway for the airplane though. 😉😆👍🏻

[@lindsie7388]

Hi Erin, where can I find the serial number of the lightstrip? is it on the RF box?

[@albertoadalis5338]

Can be connected in the same line with another?

[@95SLE]

TY I am building a new bridge over my pond and will use the outdoor light strip but will probably use an outdoor sensor for on and off.

[@ErinLawrenceTV]

Great idea!

[@hailyluno]

Hi, what specific app do I use?

[@VaughnCampbell]

I am from saskatoon, you answered my question about the cold weather.

[@ErinLawrenceTV]

😀

[@tahminanazmi1438]

I’m from Saskatoon too, did you buy them? Can you please give me updates

[@bbuggediffy]

Good review, cheers and thanks from Norway.

[@ErinLawrenceTV]

Thanks for watching!

[@bostourn]

Good review. I’m putting these INDOOR because I like the Strip design but i don’t want o be able to see the individual chips

[@ErinLawrenceTV]

Neat idea!

[@Thunder777m]

What about the electrical connection??

[@alexmwny1170]

Would a double-sided adhesive tape be able to hold the weight of the strip on a metal handrail?

[@ErinLawrenceTV]

Hhhmmmmm. I don’t think so. You also have an issue were any type of weather or moisture would ruin the adhesion of the tape.

[@julielitchen7541]

I love this! Esp under your patio furniture

[@Starwarsgames66]

How do you trim them? If I wanted to put them on my stairs outside coming down from my deck, can you trim them?

[@ErinLawrenceTV]

I touched on that in the video. You cannot trim these ones.

[@stigmsr1]

Nice review. Since I can't daisy chain them I guess they won't work for my application. With a handheld router, you could recess the lights around the border of your deck easily so they don't trip anyone.

[@ErinLawrenceTV]

Oh! Great idea!! Thanks for the suggestion!

[@tolbiii]

Thank you for the review. Where you get that phone case tho?

[@ErinLawrenceTV]

Felony Case.

[@AbuZainab]

Thanks for the video. You mentioned something about a Philips Hue Bridge. What is that? Is that not included with the strip?

[@ErinLawrenceTV]

Correct. The bridge is what lets your wifi talk to the lights. It’s purchased as part of a starter kit or on its own.

[@seanhigham5322]

Hey Erin - great video and review, thanks. I'm just renovating my outdoor area and considering a 5m strip to run under the handrail of my steps, so this was really useful, especially knowing that they come as more of a tube than a strip. Cheers from New Zealand. (PS: I would have been visiting Calgary in March if it hadn't have been for Covid!)

[@ErinLawrenceTV]

Hi Sean. Thanks for the compliment. Sorry you’ll miss out on Alberta. Hopefully next year.

[@rome3489]

Wow Erin. What do you do for work? You are very well spoken. Great video!

[@ErinLawrenceTV]

Thank you! Used to be a TV producer!

[@HereWeTow]

Great video - thanks for sharing. 😊👍

[@ErinLawrenceTV]

Thank you 😊

[@ivkremer]

3:05 the best part of the video.

[@SirCarterIV]

Great video. can you connect more than one together?

[@ErinLawrenceTV]

Good question… I thought I covered that in the video, but the answer is no.

[@loo2yoo]

Would love these for under my stair overhang, but these are impractical if the can't be cut or daisy chained. Anyone have another solution/product for that?

[@deadpoolpower6890]

If I put it near my wooden furniture, does it take fire or it's safe?

[@ErinLawrenceTV]

It’s safe.

[@pentalfakos]

Hey Erin. Is the power bracket actually weatherproof? THanks in advance :)

[@ErinLawrenceTV]

Yes. It’s been just fine for me for a long time.

[@pentalfakos]

@@ErinLawrenceTV thanks a lot for your reply. It helps a lot :-)

[@officialmigueln8925]

I’ll be using these under my sectional and bed

[@reewinder3174]

Doh! When she said "Ok Google".....my Google hub heard and turned all our lights on lol.

[@ErinLawrenceTV]

Oh dear!

[@jonasengdahl5182]

Would you recomend this product to be installed under the roof like an ”invicible” outdoor light?

[@ErinLawrenceTV]

Sure! And send photos if you do.

[@prabeeshsidhu]

Sadly they’ve discounted these lights. I tried to purchase the final few I could locate in near by hardware stores but they refused to sell them to me. They said there was a stop order on this product due to a recall.

[@smurfette1016]

Hmm, just bought these today at home depot

[@OhSidney]

A year later and the Philips app still has the same problem with the routines not working properly.

[@ErinLawrenceTV]

:(

[@071949]

Hi Erin, I am an apartment dweller so this item would not be something I would purchase. Do think it would be cool for a homeowner to make their house stand out from others on block. Esp cool if you had friends coming over after dark; would make your place easy to find!

[@ErinLawrenceTV]

Definitely! I quite like these!

[@raaaabert]

Great review Erin, really informative. I have 2 stupid questions ;-) 1. Is the power pack/transformer completely weather proof? 2. I assume the Hue Bridge controller is inside the house, within Bluetooth range of the lights? Cheers

[@ErinLawrenceTV]

No stupid questions! Those are valid questions. Yes the controller is weather proof. I actually have had it buried by snow for months and it’s fine. And yes the bridge is inside the house. But near an outside wall. It uses wifi not Bluetooth.

[@drew6317]

@@ErinLawrenceTV and @Robet Y, just to clarify: The Hue bridge communicates with Hue lights and accessories (remotes & motion sensors) via Zigbee Light Link, not Wifi or Bluetooth. The bridge gets its Wi-Fi connection from your existing router or access points(s).

[@J-ce3oi]

are you having problems with routines inside the house? If not I suspect this is a communications issues with the hub and you should try and get the hub closer :)

[@ErinLawrenceTV]

Thanks for the tips!

[@PierrePocs]

Great video but this just turned on my hole house and garden with that ”hey google comand ’ 😂

[@ErinLawrenceTV]

Oh no!

[@tmccle]

I finally bought the bridge. Now I can’t get them to connect.

[@josephj6521]

How far is your closest light to your bridge? I don’t have the set up, but after extensive searching, I accidentally found out you need to be within 10 metres from your bridge to the closest light.

[@partytoy1]

homedepot have a new version of these, forgot the brand name

[@ErinLawrenceTV]

Ohhhh. Iiiinteresting!!

[@jacinthabellairs7028]

do they need to be plugged into a power source?

[@ErinLawrenceTV]

Hello Jacintha. Yes they run off AC power.

[@thomashoward4238]

@@ErinLawrenceTV Hi Erin, what are the dimensions of the control box / transformer? I am trying to figure out if I could fit the wire and control box inside a aluminium box rafter on a glass veranda and get an electrician to hard wire the cable into an existing outdoor lighting circuit that powers some outdoor wall sconce lights.

[@electrology]

beautiful

[@Lorcan666]

Good review. A small critism Please mute wake words if you can.

[@royce3k]

i put these up in my room

[@ChrisCookPrime]

they are fat because they include the diffuser

[@noahnguyen7583]

Bulls