Lifx was a pioneer of smart bulbs and their quality shows. So do their prices. They set the pricing bar high and are slowly skimming down to a reasonable price.
But with premium prices come a premium experience and Lifx smart bulb deliver more than the majority of their rivals.
The bulbs are very bright for starters. Peaking at a little under the 1,100 lumens, Lifx are the brightest smart bulbs on the market!
Lifx smart bulbs are also compatible with the major smart hubs and can be operated with iOS, Android, and Windows 10 smartphones. However, Apple Homekit only works with the 3rd generation bulbs so look for the model prefix “LH”.
Bulbs can be set up manually over Wi-Fi by downloading standalone LIFX app or HomeKit hub via iOS Home app. Despite its wide range of setting options, the Lifx app is seamless and intuitive enough for smart home newbies. Phew!
Lifx smart bulbs are all singing-all-dancing. You can schedule the time the lights come on and go off, automate day and dusk settings to energise your room at certain times of day, fade lighting, create and customise scenes or add a prebuilt theme including “blissful” and “spooky”.
Lifx is the closest rival to Philips Hue at the high-end of the smart bulb market. With a sharper brightness and hub-less setup, it’s arguably has the edge over it’s rival. Hue has more bulb style options but Lifx still offer coloured LEDs, dimmable lighting, strips and outdoors.
The Lifx app is intuitive and arguably one of the easiest to navigate. You can also control your lights through a voice assistant or directly from your mobile.
Whilst we would recommend Lifx, if this is your first experience with smart lighting, you may want to opt for one of the less expensive smart lighting systems such as Sylvania, Sengled or Ikea Tradfri.
The reason we recommend trying a cheaper option is so you can determine whether a smart lighting system actually works on your WiFi network. It’s a bit of downer if you shell out for premium smart lights only to find the system is temperamental.
Having said that, Lifx smart bulbs deliver unique experiences you can’t match with competitor bulbs. And with a 22-year life span, it’s not like you’ll need to change your bulbs that often.