LED bulbs are the way to go for a “smarter” smart home. While some bulbs and bulb kits may be a bit of an investment upfront, the cash you’ll save in the long run, combined with many of the great lighting features and added security your home will net, will make your lumens upgrade well worth it.
Whether you want to be able to match your lighting to your mood, use a “daylight” feature, or change colors on the fly, we found bulbs that serve your needs. If you need a multipack to transition from outdated light bulbs, we’ve got you covered. Read on for our favorite LED bulb options of the year.
Cree A19 Bulbs
Best LED bulb
In recent years, Cree has established itself as one of the premier LED bulb manufacturers in the world, creating affordable, effective lighting solutions to replace the energy-sucking incandescent bulbs that plague our poor light sockets. Capable of emitting 815 lumens while consuming just 10 watts of energy, the hyper-efficient A19 standard bulb — rated at 25,000 hours of use — works with all dimming switches, meaning you won’t encounter annoying buzzing sounds or malfunctions when adjusting the brightness of the bulb. It’s also backed by a 10-year warranty and remains incredibly cost-effective.
The Daylight version is 5,000k — which gives off a cooler, bluer light — while the 2,700k “Soft White” is warmer and more yellow. Cree recently revamped its entire lineup of bulbs to improve its color rendering index; these bulbs score 85+ on a scale of 0 to 100, meaning they should more accurately reflect an object’s true colors compared to some lower-scoring LEDs.
Lifx A19 Led Lights
Best color-changing LED bulb
The Lifx A19 LED Light is a color-changing LED bulb that doubles as a smart LED bulb, which makes it too convenient to overlook. The bulb, which Lifx fitted for standard E26/E27 sockets, emits an impressive 75 lumens per watt. It provides saturated and rich colors, and the accompanying mobile app for Android, iOS, and Windows 10 devices also allows users to choose from more than 16 million colors and hues via a simple color wheel.
The Lifx remains one of the few available smart bulbs capable of operating independently of any smart home ecosystem, as the bulb features built-in Wi-Fi. This means it doesn’t require a hub. Furthermore, it integrates with Nest, SmartThings, Google Home, and Alexa for voice control. The app also offers a slew of unique features such as the ability to group bulbs and change their settings simultaneously. The bulb lasts roughly 22 years, though we expect a shorter lifespan if you’re constantly playing with the settings.
Amazon Basics 24-Pack of LED Bulbs
Best multipack of LED bulbs
For about $1 per LED bulb, this multipack provides 24 soft white bulbs. Each bulb has a lifetime of roughly 10,000 hours, which means you can outfit your entire home with LEDs and you won’t have to change the bulbs out for years to come. These bulbs instantly provide 800 lumens of light, so you don’t have to wait for them to warm up. And, they only use 9 watts of energy, so they only cost $1.08 per year to operate (this is based on three hours per day usage at 11 cents per kWh). They come in soft white and daylight, so you can choose the right style and ambiance for your home.
Eufy Lumos Smart Bulb
Best budget smart LED bulb
We had the opportunity to tinker with the 9W Eufy Lumos Smart Bulb recently, and not only is the model a solid budget option — the bulb itself is one of the best LEDs we’ve tested. Like Eufy’s other smart home products, the Lumos Smart Bulb requires a small setup process to connect the bulb to the EufyHome app. Once the bulb is synched, you can easily adjust the brightness from your smartphone or tablet and even set weekly lighting schedules. There is no hub needed either. You simply need the $10 bulb to make your lights smart.
This unit also pairs with Alexa and Google Assistant to add a hands-free voice-activation option for those so inclined. Then you can simply ask your digital assistant to dim the lights or turn them off entirely at the end of the night — because manually flipping a light switch is so last century. The Lumos Smart Bulb will dish out up 800 lumens when set to full brightness and Eufy also offers a tunable LED version for a few extra bones.
Philips Hue Smart Home Starter Kit
Best LED smart home ecosystem
As smart home adoption increases, “smart hubs” keep adding new functionalities and integration with smart devices. Most of these hubs will actually interface with LED smart bulbs, but the Philips Hue family remains the best smart home ecosystem for those looking for complete control.
The base model fits a standard E26 base, emits 800 lumens of light, and consumes a mere 9.5 watts of power. The white LED bulb boasts a rating of 25,000 hours of use and features a dimming setting if combined with the Philips Hue Dimmer Kit. You can choose from a two or four-bulb starter kit. You will get a Hue bridge hub, and two or four white LED Hue bulbs depending on the kit you choose.
You can get more out of your Hue bulbs thanks to the Philips family of products compatible with these smart bulbs. From spotlights to lighting strips, the bridge connects with up to 50 Hue lights at once, and owners control it via an accompanying mobile app for Android and iOS. There are other more affordable options to consider, but the Philips Hue bulbs remain one of the best smart home lighting products on the market thanks to their ease of use and functionalities of the bridge device.
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