Review: LIFX Colour 1000 Smart Lightbulb
The Internet of Things is a freight train which isn’t gonna stop. If you don’t have a household object connected to your phone, then you are just not a cool dude. LIFX are more than aware of this lifestyle choice, and have released their Colour 1000 variant of their LIFX smartbulb. Not only is it a good looking light, its also compatible with Nest, SmartThings, Harmony, Scout Alarm & Flic, it has IFTTT recipes and can even be synced with the sun rising.
You can order these bulbs from LIFX with either a E26, E27 and B22 connection, which means no need to buy an adapter. The look of the LIFX bulb is becoming more common, with the flat top and short body. The wattage used at its full brightness is only 11-watts, even with less energy I still found it brighter than the Philip Hues.
As you can tell by the name the LIFX Colour 1000, produces 1000 lumens of light. This is a jump for the original LIFX bulb which only came in at 956 lumens, with a low price, less energy and more light I was blown away when I plugged it in.
The LIFX bulb is incredibly bright and just one could quite happily fill a living room with light. We use two in the living room together, so the wife can have a bit more light if needed, whilst I can watch movies in darkness.
I found the app for the LIFX bulb to be the best app I have used for a smart bulb. Commonly I have found that this is always where the bulb experience drops, as there is a lack of effort put into the app. Though the LIFX android app was a joy to use, it has a material design, with a coloured status bar and smooth animations.
Syncing was a breeze and meant that the bulbs were connected to my phone, and then to the wifi connection in the house. This means no need for Bluetooth, as soon as you are in the network you have control over the bulbs.
The options and combinations for the LIFX bulbs are endless. It is compatible with Nest, SmartThings, Harmony, Scout Alarm, Flic, Google voice and it has IFTTT recipes. A couple of things I did with the bulbs were:
- Set the bulbs to turn on with my alarm in the mornings
- Turn off when I leave the wifi connection
- Turn on gradually with the sun rise
- Turn off when I say “OK Google, Illuminate”
The best thing for me was the absolute ease I experienced doing all of these. I had no need to go onto a forum, or look anything up, the app ran me through all the basic steps and allowed me to set up the bulbs.
Stats for nerds:
- Item Weight – 381 g
- Product Dimensions – 9.5 x 8.5 x 16.2 cm
- Style – Bayonet Cap
- Material – Plastic
- Fixture Features – Dimmable light source
- Power and Plug Description – Electricity, female plug
- Type of Bulb – LED
- EU Energy Efficiency Label – A+
- Luminous Flux – 1055 lumen
- Wattage – 11 watts
- Lamp Power Factor – 11
At £59.99 these are on par with other bulbs in the same range. Though unlike a 750 lumen Philips hue, you don’t need to by a bride and set up an entire connection with that. You can buy a LIFX Colour 1000 and be setup and ready to go in 3 mins. Adding additional bulbs is easy but not essential.