Do you use smart bulbs in your home?

I have these weird switches on my walls that turn the lights on and off. I just slap my hand on them and the lights come on. No password required.

Me: *buys a Philips hue bulb* 1 day later Linus: RIPOFF

I’ve never ever had an issue with Hue. It works every time. By comparison, I’ve worked with other smart bulbs integrating into other systems… and those occasionally have issues that require I delete, re-find and install, and then rebuild all the routines involved. And Hue can often be purchased at discount; just last week, I got a pair of Hue strips on sale for $20 less per strip than usual. So this is less about ‘ripoff’, and more about “you get what you pay for”.

Man, this really needs an update. Hue has Global settings now for a some time already and all the 3rd party support for Hue plus the sync features make it worth it way more. Also Hue are on sale often, I only buy them at half price.

yeelight have gone up 30%, thanks linus

Linus discovered that chinese knockoffs cost less? mind blown

like the features, setup was difficult for some of my devices (August Door lock, kzfaq.infoUgkxhB5YOMNj04GuoAosExygP4cH-dKeb4aB Bose speaker)... but all switches and outlets (5), thermostat, tankless water heater. Unfortunately all I can do is turn on/off Bose. It doesn't support volume or changing channels, but I believe that is due to the particular speaker I have.... Worth getting if you already have other devices to use it with... I don't sit around and ask Alexa questions much so that doesn't really matter to me....

have my hue connected to my pc. goddamn do the flashbangs look real **.**

I have my hue lights, connected to my Razer PC app, and having the lights change as you play games is pretty amazing,

It's nice to see that the "rgb" lights in the backround are in the correct order.

Honestly the HUE platform is great and the light quality and integration with other platforms is super dope as well. It is premium but I have replaced all my lights in the house and the connectivity is nice.

I'd be interested in seeing an update on this one. I use the basic Phillips Wiz bulbs, I think I paid maybe $10-$15 each a few months ago, w/ no hub required. Not as bright, but gets the job done for me using just an app and Wifi.

You forgot the TRÅDFRI line from IKEA, similar prices to Yeelight AND HomeKit integration. And much better support from popular home automation software suites.

Yee.

One thing that is awesome about Yeelight is that it has a developer mode with exposed API so you can write an app to control it in your local network. For example, you can sync your Windows theme colour with your light.

Inspecting hackability would have been interesting. Hue has an easy to use API for control from computers. Especially control via Raspberry Pis or microcontrollers is interesting as they offer a wide range of sensors.

An unknown difference is security. We keep adding devices to our home network and it’s nearly impossible to know which of these is the most secure. You should do a video on securing your home network from “IOT” devices.

5:02 why is Linus's WiFi named _no u_ lmao

Under the hood, Yeelight runs on the Tuya platform , thats basicly an open invitation into your digital life for the Chinese government.

Four years later and I'm totally sick of all wifi switches and plugs. They constantly disappear from my network. From kasa to lifx. WiFi was an easy choice, but not a smart one. In contrast, my lutron switches have never disappeared in the same timeframe. Not once. I'm switching to hubs and not looking back. More security and reliability goes a long way for a few extra bucks.

3:43 The corners are cut off on the phone, seriously Linus!

Yeelight also has an ecosystem of motion sensors and stuff.

might be old but i think the best option when you pick your smart home equipment is pick your ecosystem first so you can control everything with one app in the end so you do not have 20 apps and some equipment that only works with your phones Bluetooth. best to pick stuff that can work together with something like your assistant of choice.

1:50 oof. Right in the tech tips.

As a security focused person by profession and hobby, the fact that the YeeLight bulbs require an account for *local* connections to the phone is a HUGE red flag for me. Allowing it for convenience is fine in its own right, but there is zero excuse to ship a product and require the end user to make an online account for a device that will almost never need a connection to the open web. Think about it - this is in your home, permanently installed to the socket - are we going to start requiring accounts before we can use our "Smart Toaster?" Of course not. That would be ridiculous. In addition to that, the fact that the product comes from China, and that the devices themselves are so much cheaper than the competition (sort of, I'll get to that), really makes my hairs stand on end. Requiring an account at all suggests that they need API keys to perform basic functions, even if the connection from the phone to the bulbs are *mostly* local. If this is true, it ultimately means they're constantly phoning home. Huge no-no. I've worked on developing products like this, and you can actually set up a sort of "cloud hub" to serve the purpose of the physical hub like the hue bridge. I think that's what they're doing here - likely with the same server software I worked with. Mind you, this approach is STUPID, and certainly not the kind of architecture I would design and ship in a product, but it does exist. This begs a few questions: 1. Where is the main server? In China? How much latency would that cause? How much info on home networks could potentially be sniffed and sent to the Chinese government? You can learn a LOT about a network by simply being connected to it. 2. What happens when my internet gets knocked out? Do my bulbs work? 3. What happens when they discontinue their cloud service? 4. What the hell is this thing *doing* on the network? How "chatty" is it? This isn't the first time I've seen LTT glaze over very glaring concerns like this. It's as though not a single one of your writers or editors know a thing about basic home network security - I wouldn't trust this thing on my network, and yet you're not only recommending it to us, but going further and saying the main competing product is a "ripoff." Did you even do any security tests on this thing? I doubt it, since you'd have mentioned it if you had. You typically get what you pay for with IoT products, and the security of these products certainly follow the same rule. I'm sure I'm not the only member of your audience who would like to get more security insight into gadgets like this, especially if you're going to recommend people to put this on a home network, where the most sensitive of people's data is. While it would be very "tinfoil hat" of me to suggest that EVERY device like this would be intentionally malicious, stuff like this tends to be inherently insecure. It could very well be "punching holes" in your network, or be vulnerable to an exploit that leaves the rest of your network at risk. If you're reading this, please consider hiring a consultant or writer with a heavy security background. Someone who knows what they are doing and can quickly research and/or pentest devices like this before they show up on the channel - someone who would be horrified that this video was produced and released as it currently is. I would like to see more security-minded product tests and data in the future. Back to the pricing. The only prices you seem to quote in your video is the AliExpress ones, which doesn't at all account for overseas shipping costs. Yes, stuff from China will be cheaper, but the customer either fronts the bill for the shipping, or pays no shipping and has to wait 2 weeks to a month to receive the product. That's unrealistic. Meanwhile, on Amazon, the price for a colored bulb is $30. Still cheaper than Hue, but not by much. Why? Shipping and storage costs to stock and ship the product from the U.S. and Canada. You didn't even cover this at all, likely to give false credence to your whole "pHilIpS hUe Is a RiPoFf!!1!1!1" nonsense. At that price point, if Hue is a ripoff, so are the YeeLights. I'm overall pretty disappointed in this video. To call Hue lights a "ripoff" and completely glaze over everything I've mentioned is entirely uncharacteristic of the LTT I've been following for years. I've always known you guys to have a little more integrity than this. I hope this isn't the beginning of a never ending downward trend in quality. I very much look forward to your videos, and I love everything LTT has done and accomplished over the years. You guys are awesome. I hope I haven't come off as someone who wants to see you fail - I don't. All the best.

I guess you could say it's a HUEge ripoff

Everything is a ripoff when you compare the price to Chinese knockoffs.

I'd love a smart bulb round-up like they did with wireless earbuds. I've been using C by GE stuff and while the Android app acts weird and requires an account, the hardware is excellent for the price.

As an electrician who understands how color temperatures work, I have to say that LIFX's displaying of the color temp is a huge pro for me. I can't stand when I can't enter a color value directly and have to use that ridiculous touch map.

Yee... Light?

I have the same bulbs I bought over 4 years ago. I haven't bought a single CFC or filament bulb in 4 years since I had my Hue. Moreover, it's really easy to write your own manager that interacts with the Hue Hub using a Rest interface. That means it can easily be integrated with custom home systems using something as simple as an Arduino.

You should check the price of yeelights right now. More expensive than Phillips 😂

where is the color comparison between the different lights??? this should have been in the video! is one of the most important points...

I didn't know Kanye made light bulbs

I love my Hue lights. I have them in nearly every fixture. It is great to be able to control everything from an app. I know knock-off lamps have quality and reliability problems. I've not had any lamps fail since converting my old leds three years ago. You should do an update on this.

"Cheap Chinese Yee light requires an account" Hue it is then. Huehuehuehue.

Yee Yee 🤠. I want to be able to walk into my house, scream “YEE YEE” and have my house light up like the grizwalds house in Christmas vacation.

Best moment in this video 01:49

I know this video is a bit old, but how could you ignore Philips Hue's Sync app on PC? Sync your lights up to your movies and games? It's honestly the most immersive way to watch movies/play games.

As a lighting professional I have to caution you, Linus. There are other factors than just efficiency and promised lifetime that is just a promise either from a reputable company or not. Three of which are very important for your kids eyes: Flicker index(mainly a problem while dimmed), the blue peak issue, that affects your night sleep and color rendering index CRI, (or nowadays we have CQS for LEDs or even TM-30. There is alot of knowledge about these available on Asensetek website, it is a really good light diagnostics device that connects to your phone. Don't be fooled by Chinese marketing. Hue can also connect to Logitech Harmony One set. Also, Philips lamps really outlive any promises they give. Others sadly struggle to stay in one piece after half of the promised time. In every two years there is the worlds largest lighting fair at Frankfurt. At that fair, Chinese have their own houses, and last time there was thousands of manufacturers, each having their own smart home system with bulbs and stuff.

what about third party Philips hue compatible bulbs? Innr or IKEA bulbs are a great example

2 years later and Still a solid video thank u linus and production for ur service o7

I have been using smart bulbs in my apartment for a couple years now, and had several brands until last month. I had LIFX and a couple value brands from Amazon. It was fine until I had to change my router password and had to reprogram all 21 of my bulbs. If was frustrating enough that I bought Hue lights to replace all of the bulbs. To save some money, I went with all white bulbs since the functionality of the RGB was never utilized on the LIFX bulbs. The software compatibility is what is now a high priority and Phillips Hue works pretty well with Alexa for voice control. After spending 450 bucks, lighting has been finished and I am pretty satisfied.

Smart lightbulb? Nah man, just install a clapper

Do check ikea trådfri as well. Not expensive and homekit support

Would love to see an updated version of this with more brands like the Govee and Kasa smart bulbs.

Whenever I want to add some color in my living room I just drop my disco ball from the ceiling. Weird dancing is optional

4:45 How can you mess up an iPhone THAT bad? The screen recording is not even on a notched iPhone.

You skipped IKEA. I love their setup! Cheaper than Philips, yet still no account required. And they'll work with all three major voice assistants.

I have 8 Hue color bulbs, 1 White Bulb, a Motion Sensor, a Switch, and a HueGo. I LOVE the whole architecture. Got the bundle on Xmas for $140 which included the hub. Had had them for over 3 years and still love them.

Gotta say, as a Belgian myself I like that you put Eddy Wally's "wauw" in there xD.

You know what else is a ripoff a cheap circumcision.

YEETLight

We use Kasa bulbs for our outdoor lights. It's nice to have an auto schedule for the dogs since the switch is inside the detached garage. Plus you can change colors for the holidays. Not bad for $16 before our utility rebates.

Recently bought the Hue HUB, should’ve done that much sooner. Anything else is actually crap. More and more brands start to sell compatible Hue products, yes all Zigbee, but the “Friend of Hue” gives guarantee it will work. Now I convert my house slowly from a unknown brand to Hue compatible light bulbs etc etc…

IKEA Tradfri also uses ZigBee and are interchangeable with hue. IKEA also have motion sensors that link well.

>Phillip's Hue is a ripoff >works with RAZER It all makes sense now.

Great (and funny) video! My house has many hue lights and the hue bridge, but I'm looking to add more lights that are more affordable. Can you give me a short synopsis on the prospects of mixing my Hue system with a bunch of new Yee lights?

5:40 That has changed as of current, You can now add "Zones" that combine lights from multiple rooms. (for ex "whole house zone" you can put all lights in and make scenes that occur with the whole house, or "just my lamps" scene eat.)

How does a company this big and popular miss the most blatant points to cover in EVERY video. In this video how do you not compare the colour quality output for all the bulbs. Sure yeelight might be cheaper but if your white is not white and blue is not blue then what's the point? That was just an example and I'm not saying Yeelight is bad, I honestly don't know but how does that not get covered?

I really dont see the appeal of smart lights. On the other hand, I would love to see you review *smart* radiator *thermostats* . You know, when I want to heat the bathroom up before I spend an unnecessarily long time there because of my smartphone :P

Can we get an update video to this? The landscape on this has changed alot in just 2 years, and I would love to hear your new opinions on it.

PS with that Hue app, cant you make a setup with all those lights in the same group. It does need an extra group, but will allow you to controlled multiple areas

Me: Wait, where was the bit about the spons- Linus: *SURPRISE SPONSOR WITH NO TRANSITION*

I’ve used Philips Hue with HomeKit for awhile now and there’s no turning back. The fact I can run automation and use my phone to turn my lights on before I get home is great. Is it expensive? Yeah probably. Do I care? Absolutely not.

With HUE the hub and zigbee is a pretty cool thing, that avoid overloading your router with tons of bulbs connected and there are many more advantages like reach that is determined by the mesh network that the lamps end up creating.

I've got full house setup with Tapo/TP link coloured dimmable bulbs and lighting strips. Full house done for less than £250. Mobile phone software is really only used for one time setup as I've setup all scenes, moods and routines with IFTTT and Alexa. Exterior lights switch on automatically when one of our phones enters within 100 yard range of home if it's near or after sunset. My co-worker tried to do the same with Philips Hue and ran into limitations on the number of aplets his hub could manage.

I just ordered a clapper on Amazon for $17

0:19 This. It' still true today. I won a Google Home and was looking for stuff I could use it for. "Smart lights? Why not?" I thought. Well, looking at the price, I see why.

It’s so cool how far we’ve come in only three years; I just bought two LED lightbulbs from Philips for only $30. They don’t need a hub, they don’t need an account, and it works over WiFi.

Personally I use the govee ecosystem and it’s really cheap and offers independent control, white support and a microphone for crazy lights and it has its own themes with diy lights customization. It has stuff like Alexa strip lights normal light,bulbs and water proof car strips. And they also sell more obscure things like thermostats etc. but I really enjoy them!

No mention of colour quality, variability of bulb styles, the enhanced security aspects of having a single hub, alternative very well supported apps and regular offers on bulbs. The Hue system can be expensive but if bought carefully the cost is much lower than you think. Also you can install a PC app that will adjust lights based on video output on the PC screen.

Nowhere do we talk about CRI or color rendering index of the 3 systems (at least for the "W" in RGBW). this is the real "quality" control of those lights.

Question - I have a single lamp I use to light my full bedroom with a standard bulb. It works great, and provides good light for the entire room. Will one Yeelight provide equal lighting to a bog standard bulb, and light my full room, or is that Hue territory with bulbs that emit all around?

You should review the Philips Hue Play Box, and also compare it to the Philips Hue software on PC. You have to configure “entertainment areas” that can consist of up to 10 hue brand lights. They will reported sync with Chroma Studio on Razer Brand Accessories, and the technology has seemingly come a long way since it’s first introduction. You can also set up rooms and zones for general lighting control (ex. upstairs, downstairs, bedrooms, etc.)

"Ralated to Xiaomi" Alright everyone, looks like Linus is trying to sell us some cheap microphones that happen to glow

Phillips Hue isn't cheap, but the system is very reliable and easy to setup/manage in my experience (i have loads of hue kit). Once you have smart home stuff e.g. lights controlled via app or voice assistance like an amazon echo or google home you'll wonder why you didn't get it before. The colored hue bulbs are quite pricey, but the regular white dimmable bulbs are under £20.

The thing is, Hue builds on decades of lighting experience. The colours and quality are above many of the others. That, and since I switched to Hue they haven't disconnected once!

My cheap alternative smart lights always disconnect and have to be reconnected and i have no nerves for That. Is it better with Hue?

Automatic subtitles think you're speaking in Dutch 🤔🤔🤔

Teacher: Why are you laughing? Me: nothing Also me, thinking: *YEETLIGHT*

The Kasa/TP Link bulbs are an awesome alternative. They are often on sale for like $15-$20 each and don’t need a hub, just a WiFi connection. App works well, Google/Alexa compatible, consistent and bright. I use the scheduled lighting every day to turn all my lights on with my alarm to help me wake up. Lights turn off automatically twice a day just in case I leave them on. I’ve bought a few over the last 2-3 years and love them. Solid recommend.

I have the Yeelight bulb and I will say I had a lot of problems with the yeelight app, especially with Amazon Alexa. I would recommend using the Mi Home app and setting up the light there, it is SO much easier!

xiaomi and xiaomi owned companies have an overwhelmingly comprehensive consumer programable devices (smart home) ecosystem; however, they are only focusing on Chinese market as of now. As a result, UI is only intuitive for Chinese consumers. Translation to English and Alexa support is really just a cherry on top.

why Why WHYYYY ????!!!! did you have to put a notch in your virtual smartphone!!!!??? WHY!??!! 😠😭 😂

I came back to this after testing every other brand. Hue by far was the easiest to setup and use. Every other brand always ended in frustration and headaches.

I like that you kept in the throw blooper as if to say, "We COULD reshoot this, _but you think I'm trusting them after that?"_

how about just turning your lights on/off with a switch on the wall?

What about Ikea's wireless light bulbs?

this damn video made me want to watch 'yee' again, which in effect sucked me into going through the entire 'important videos' playlist i have no regrets

My yeelight colour bulb is going on 3 years old and still works great thank you very much.

thumbs up for the nads shot alone

I got the hue lights because they're the leaders on the market. So many apps only have integration with hue lights and no other lights. Sleep as android and flux is two examples. I also use Tasker and have the Autohue app as a plugin and it works really well. Because of this the lights are worth it in my opinion. And I kind of view it as future proofing. Phillips is a big company that ensures quality in their product and if somethings not working you got warranty and support. It cost a bit of money upfront but now I don't have to spend anything on bulbs for a long time. Just my two cents

The only reason why I use Philips Hue is that it has Hue Sync. Show me another company that does that and I'll switch in an instant. Also, Philips Hue has zones now, for global scenes.

Every time youtube tries to make me rewatch this I wonder what a 2021 version of this video would be like.

yee

It would be really important to look at the "quality" of the light (wavelength distribution, CRI). Light has a crucial influence on the human psyche, so of what use is it to save some money now to suffer from eye strain and/or emotional disorders?

Every light test should always include high detail spectral distribution graph. For example, i1 Pro (or original the Eye-One Pro spectrometer) with open source drivers (Argyll CMS) can create spectral measurements with 3.3 nm spacing. The single CRI (or Ra) measurement fails to capture lots of details about the quality of the light.

Hi we have Hue and it is expensive but there are 3rd party manufacturers which are a bit cheaper, the hub as i understood it took the burden off your router. Its very stable and easy to use and the PIR and remotes are great its very simple to add and change. There is one thing that is still an issue is the wall switch all these things need permanent power on, so if like me you had switches and dimmers you still sometimes reach for the light switch. This was very hard to memory muscle not to switch off your lights at the wall. There are some 'friends of hue' that make switches but they are very expensive (kinetic) and not like the switches we have which match the power sockets, brushed nickel, satin this or polished that, very limited ranges and companies. We noticed that each light is a seperate device, so, as we did recently, we replaced the lamps in a chandelier, but unlike a single lamp side light which you might describe as 'TV Room lamp' the chandelier has 5 lamps and i need to find out if i can group these into single 'TV room chandelier' . I've tried internet direct lamps and due to 2.4 and 5.0 router signals they are less than reliable as they seem to get confused and drop out. My partner is disabled and these have been a fantastic help, in that if a door is opened the lights come on using a tiny PIR with a magnet and or screw fixing and if you've forgotten to turn off the phone can do it, so you don't have to use the stair lift to go there and manually do it....But this has to be reliable and the Hue is very stable so it is the one we chose ... Personally i wouldn't retrofit the whole house straight away you need to start with want you want to do and then discover what else you need and change areas in incremental steps. These lights change the way you use lights a lot and you need to think about how you will and want to operate the lights and how having these will change the way you do it now, unless you buy new wall switches you can't just go turn them on at the wall (You need a compatible light switch) we use a voice assistant (Google) and the app as the cost of the light switches and the lack of options was a major factor so seriously you don't need switches but you need to think about and plan the change ... maybe if you were building your new house yes but if you are retro fitting, bit by bit is best IMHO and it not so painful money wise but you need to really think about it. Great videos as always thanks