Philips HueBridge 2.0 (Works with Alexa), White. Smart Home Lighting System

Although our house is very much a “smart” home, I’m relatively late to the smart bulb party. I’m an immediate convert though. My review below details my own experiences of the Hue bulbs, which require this Hue Hub to function correctly.Over the last year I have slowly been changing as many of the bulbs in the house that I can. I have chose to go with the Philips Hue White Ambiance bulbs as they give the best combination of lighting options against cost that suit our requirements. Although there are a few benefits to the coloured bulbs, I see it more of a gimmick that you’ll quickly get bored of. Plus, not only are they considerably more expensive than the Ambiance bulbs, they’re also much bigger and don’t fit all light fittings quite so well, if at all.So, presently I have 7 GU10s, 4 B22, 4 E27 bulbs and 6 E14 bulbs dotted around the house and have space for several more in the coming months. The elephant in the room with these bulbs is the cost. There’s no getting away from the fact that they are expensive, even if you manage to pick them up on a Lightning Deal. That said, you’re paying for much more than a way of lighting your room. Smart homes are only limited by your imagination, and you can implement some pretty funky routines through the Alexa app if you’re brave enough to delve deeply. Beyond the Hue bulbs I have 12 TP Link smart sockets controlling things like the lights on my two fish tanks, I have 7 Echo dots, 2 Sonos Ones, a Logitech Harmony, Nest thermostat and two Nest smoke detectors. My Denon amp is connected by its HEOS app, and I have a couple of LG TVs with Alexa built in plus another with a Fire HD stick. Five internal IP cameras and 8 external cameras plus my recent addition of a Ring door camera. If thought through, all of these can be interlinked. For example, should the smoke detectors or door bell go off, I can have the Hue light bulbs dim or light up. If a motion sensor is tripped on one of the IP cameras, I can have the Hue bulbs in the patio lights come on.Additionally, even without working with other smart devices, the Philips Hue bulbs offer plenty of things on their own. The ability to gradually lower the light as the night goes on, and likewise gradually bring the light up as your morning routine begins. You can have lights come on as the daylight begins to fade, and set them to many different shades to suit your mood such as reading or night light, through Savanna sunset and white brilliance.You options are many and varied, and if you can look past the initial set-up costs, they can hugely enhance your home.

Have purchased my first Hue light a 2m colour striplight (v4) snd a Hue bridge (v2). This was for my 10 yr old daughter's bedroom and she is very happy and excited.Pros and technicalities:Ovetall Very easy, simple and convenient setup. Easy to integrate with Alexa.Great product from Philips Hue. 5 starsYou Must have downloaded P Hue app (Android, iOS) before installation.1. Plug Hue bridge into power source2. Attach bridge with rj45 cable to your network or router.3. Open app on phone. It automatically detects Bridge, then updates it.4. Beware it takes quite some time to update! (approximately 15 min)5. Attach striplight to power6. Search for Hue lights in app.7. App detects striplight (very easy, first time, no lag, smooth)8. Once integrated, it can be named whatever you like. Jojo, rattle, bindi, we settled for Griffin!App now updates Striplight (expect another 15 min to complete it).9. App integrates with Amazon Echo Alexa seamlessly and works smooth with voice commands.10. You can name the Room and lights in that room, so I guess you can add as many rooms (as you can spend) and lights in each room. (Total 50 with each Bridge as per manual).11. You can set scenes and ask alexa eg: 'turn savana sunset in room 1', Perfect12. You can set routines, timings when light tocome and go with sunset and sunrise etc etcCons and ideas for improvements:1. Slightly less user friendly for complex settings ie setting routines and grouping lights in each room and then the whole house.It could be improved by adding icons instead of too much prose, (like somfy TaHoma app)2. Voice commands for Echo: It wouldn't work if you say 'Set Savanna sunset Scene in Room1', instead you have to be Specific and say 'Turn Savanna sunset in room 1'.3. Setting routines could be simplified: one example is you want lights control to be activated at night time commwncing with sunset and switch off with sunrise. This could be more user friendly in the Hue app as current a bit complex set up.Finally the price of the Hue lights is ridiculously HIGH, you pay a premium, (though no doubt Hue lights are amazing!).Probably it is due to lack of competition but in modern era soon expect other competitors with at par quality of lights and app to get into the ring... can Amazon start making its own colorful lights?!