Review: Is the LIFX Light Bulb (Practical?)
We are now in an era were even our light bulbs are beginning to be hooked up with the latest gadgets.
What we have today is the Lifx Smart LED Light Bulb with wifi capabilities. What does all that mean? In layman’s terms, what we are looking at is a light bulb that is connected with your smart phone via an app created by Lifx. Long gone are the days when we would have to sit up from our couch, walk over to the wall and flip the switch. Now we can embrace the life of a couch potato and adjust the light levels straight from our smart phone.
Let’s start talking about the actual bulb. So first of all, the Lifx Bulb is quite simple to install. You install it the same way as you would install your everyday bulb. The only difference is that afterwards you have to download the Lifx app and pair your phone with the light bulb. How long does all this take to do? 3 to 4 minute give or take.
Now why would such an app be useful for the every day person? Let’s look at some of the feature:
- If you are away from home, you can simply open up the app and verify whether or not you left any lights on.
- Want to give your home a sense of light whenever you’re away for an extended period of time, well you can simply open up your app, and select a feature where it will light up your home, and then dim them randomly.
- Every bulb is is built with smoke detection, so if there is smoke in the same room as your bulb, you would be notified on your smart phone.
- There is a GPS feature in the app, which in turn notifies the bulb to go on whenever you approach your home.
Those are some pretty cool features if you ask me. Now obviously the app also gives you the power to control the light intensity and the color of your bulb. I can see the controls for light intensity being a must have, but the color change might just be a novelty. Nevertheless, quite useful.
The million dollar question here is whether or not the Lifx Light Bulb is actually practical. At a price of $49.99 per bulb, this isn’t exactly a cheap alternative to the typical $2-$3 bulb. My answer – not really. I personally cannot imagine changing 40-60 regular bulbs in my own home to the Lifx Bulb because that would cost me between $2,000- $3,000. Let’s not also forget that whenever a product has more technology, there are more opportunities for something to break down quicker.
Is it worth possibly replacing 4-6 bulbs in your home with a Lifx Bulb? I would say yes. I do see the appeal and uses of such a bulb, so I believe picking one or two rooms where you can effectively apply a smart bulb would be an reaosnable idea.
Overall, I like the product, I understand the appeal. It has a place in the market, but until the price per bulb comes down at least 50%, we are not going to see widespread use of the Lifx Bulb.