I have been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free.
I’ve been wanting to get Philips Hue Lights since the first time I saw them. I’ve had them for a few weeks now, and I’m so excited about the possibilities of Hue lights to make my house more automated and efficient.
I got a Philips Hue White and Ambiance Starter Kit as well as a Go light, and I’m very impressed by them. These lights are connected to the Internet by the bridge that comes with the kit, and this opens up a whole new world of possibilities.
Philips Hue Lights are connected lights that can display any color you can imagine. The Hue Go light is a portable light that can be taken anywhere with you. It has a three hour battery life and is designed to withstand humidity. It’s not waterproof, but it is very durable. It also puts out a lot of light and connects with the Hue Bridge to complement the starter kit.
Here are some of my favorite ways to use Hue Lights:
- Adjust the brightness based on the time of day: With my smartphone (ios or Android), I have set my Philips Hue lights to reflect certain scenes based on the time of day. When we want to just relax at night, we set them to a warmer color so they don’t overpower us. There are also settings for energize or reading, which allows us to control what the space in our house looks like based on the color of the lights.
- Timers: Our kids have to read for 20 minutes each day for school, so I set the timer to make the lights flash when their 20 minutes are up. They love this feature.
- Remote access: If sign up with Philips online, you can remotely turn your lights on or off. This works great if you are out and about and forgot to leave a light on. You just sign into the app and can turn the light on so it’s waiting for you when you get home. Works with Apple HomeKit (iOS users) so you can control your lights with Siri voice control on your iPhone. Turns your existing hue lights into HomeKit controllable lights and discover exciting new use cases through 3rd party homekit apps that also control door locks thermostats and more.
- Geofencing: You can also program the lights to automatically turn on or off to certain settings when you arrive by setting up geofencing. This feature works with your smart phone’s GPS to know when you are within range and will either turn on or off the lights depending on your preferences.
The Hue lights also work great with the new Netgear exclusive router – the NETGEAR – Nighthawk DST AC1900. This AC1900 router lets you enjoy a reliable wireless network. Beamforming technology delivers a concentrated signal straight to your connected devices, and three detachable antennas strengthen the signal even more. Plus, you can plug the included Dead Spot Terminator (DST) adapter into an electric outlet to broadcast a secondary signal to fill in dead zones in your network.*
Overall, the Philips Hue Lights make life easier by automating many things. Plus they’re just plain fun. I didn’t even mention how you can turn your living room into a dance party with the lights moving to the music. I’m just getting started with my Hue Lights, but I’m sure there are plenty other uses I will find for them.