In the realm of smart lighting, LIFX bulbs are standing out as a formidable contender against Zigbee cohorts like Philips and Gledopto. Ditching the need for a hub, these LIFX bulbs instead establish a direct connection with your Wi-Fi access point. They then buddy up with Home Assistant via local polling. This means that Home Assistant doesn't have to play phone tag with a cloud service every time you want to flip your light switch. The whole operation takes place within your local network, making it not only faster but also usable when your internet decides to take a nap.
Unique features and attractive Black Friday deals on LIFX Smart Bulbs
It's not just the Wi-Fi reliance that sets LIFX bulbs apart from the crowd. They also bring their A-game with distinctive designs and some nifty features that I haven't spotted in any other bulb. And here's the cherry on top: a bunch of LIFX bulbs are going for a steal this Black Friday, with up to 40% off. Grab 'em before they're gone.
LIFX Color A19 for indoor use
The LIFX Color A19 (1100 lumens) is suitable for indoor usage and houses RGBW LEDs, which are capable of producing 550 billion possible colour steps as well as an impressive white range of 1500-9000K. Its industrial design ensures that it illuminates a room evenly, and it also makes the LIFX bulbs installation in exposed fixtures possible.
Next, the LIFX Color A19 (800 lumens), also has a unique, dome-like design among the run off the mill smart bulbs. It produces the same colours and white range as its brighter brethren, albeit at a lower brightness, and also has the same >0.5W power draw at idle.
An outdoor LIFX bulb and one that cleans your bathroom
The LIFX Colour BR30 is suited for both indoor and outdoor usage. It can survive temperatures all the way down to -30 °C (-22 °F) and is IP65 weatherproof rated. On the other end of the spectrum, the LIFX BR30 will survive temperatures of up to 40 °C (104 °F). It features the same bright RGBW LEDs featured on the A19 bulbs.
Perhaps even more interesting than an IP-rated smart bulb is the LIFX Clean A19. As the name suggests, it can clean your kitchen or bathroom. Besides the RGBW LEDs found in all LIFX bulbs mentioned in this article, it has High Energy Visible (HEV) LEDs. The HEV LEDs will harm bacteria, but not your skin or pets. Threeindependentstudies have shown that this sort of light will actually do what LIFX claims.
However, while the HEV LEDs aren't dangerous like UV lights, they haven't been studied nearly as much. And so far, the studies that have been done have focussed on bacteria, not viruses. In a surprisingly consumer-friendly statement, LIFX explicitly stats that “no claim is currently being made that the product is effective in an antiviral capacity of any kind, including on [COVID-19].” If you are not quite sure whether you should trust this bulb or not, I recommend this extensive and well-researched article by The Verge.
