So I just received my package of Philips Hue bulbs - anyone using these bulbs?

[AndyD]

I'm a bit hesitant to keep them because it is essentially just light bulbs.  I like the idea of automating the control of the lights but not sure if the starting price of $200 makes sense for this.  Wondering what others think about their purchase

[+LogicalApex MVC]

$200 for a light bulb!? You can't be serious...

 

What does it bring to the table to justify that high of a cost?

[Dick Montage]

Yeah, they are awesome.  I have already gone with a different tech, but had I not, I'd have been all over Hue.

 

Take a look at some of the cool cookups in https://ifttt.com/

[AndyD]

$200 for a light bulb!? You can't be serious...

 

What does it bring to the table to justify that high of a cost?

 

http://meethue.com/

 

It's actually for 3 bulbs and the base.  It's wirelessly controlled and supports a bunch of colors.  Like Nik pointed out, you can use IFTTT recipes

 

Nik, what did you end up with?

[vcfan]

these are pretty cool. where do you get them locally?

[AndyD]

I just ordered them from Best Buy

[+LogicalApex MVC]

http://meethue.com/

 

It's actually for 3 bulbs and the base.  It's wirelessly controlled and supports a bunch of colors.  Like Nik pointed out, you can use IFTTT recipes

 

Nik, what did you end up with?

So about $67/bulb. That is still insane...

 

I thought I was paying a ton of money when I outfitted my house with over 60 Philips LED bulbs at ~$20/bulb. This is more than 3x that. Wow...

[AndyD]

I don't think $20 / bulb is all that much considering they should last a really long time ( and save on energy cost ).  I'm not sure if the $67 is worth it.  I do have 45 days to return them though so I may mess around and think about it.

[PNWDweller]

After looking at some of the recipes on the IFTTT site, I am impressed with what you can do with those bulbs.  :)

 

Personally, I would be using a set up like what you have as "indicator" bulbs like others are doing.  I can see some uses in my world for alerts being sent from my server, site or whatnot for starters.   Maybe activate a bulb based on a NFC tag sending a SMS to the controller (if possible), in a certain color when arriving at a location.   You can do this all of course with your phone or computer, but to see it in a non-digital appearing form (even though it is digital mostly), would be pretty sweet.

[Jeston Veteran]

I didn't get Hue, instead I got LIFX. While most of their promised features are still MIA from the apps, they are trying to have most of them completed by the end of Q1. By the looks of it, they promise to add just about everything available to the Hue at ifttt, i.e. automated on/off, blinking for notifications, turning on when in range, etc. I paid about $450 for 6 bulbs last March and just received them about 3 weeks ago. Having a blast so far.

 

One thing that sets them apart from Hue is their stance on modding. They're putting out an API for any dev to do just about whatever they want, so I expect the feature list to explode. There are already groups that have mostly reverse engineered the API and have come out with apps for the PC. I have a batch script set to run at certain times to turn certain bulbs on/off and change colors. Can't wait to be able to do things like add them into my Logitech universal remote so when I press "Watch a movie" it automatically dims the lights or whatever.

 

While the bulbs are expensive, having all these features to play with as well as not having to buy regular bulbs for years to come will offset the price for sure. I'm sure you'll be happy with your Hue bulbs for mostly the same reasons.