Lifx Mini smart bulb review: Fun features, tricky setup
Our Verdict
Lifx's mini bulbs are hard to set, only they're easy to integrate into a smart habitation once they're up and running.
For
- No hub required
- Works with Amazon Alexa, Google Banana, Apple tree HomeKit and more
- Includes many smart features
- Fits in small lamps
Against
- Expensive
- Difficult to prepare
Tom'south Guide Verdict
Lifx's mini bulbs are hard to gear up, but they're easy to integrate into a smart home in one case they're up and running.
Pros
- +
No hub required
- +
Works with Amazon Alexa, Google Banana, Apple tree HomeKit and more
- +
Includes many smart features
- +
Fits in small lamps
Cons
- -
Expensive
- -
Hard to set upward
One of the inconveniences of smart bulbs is that they're usually heavier than regular bulbs, and thus often don't fit in smaller lamps and low-cal fixtures.
Enter the Lifx Mini and Lifx Mini Colour bulbs, which look adorable and, at only two.2 inches long, fit in a multifariousness of desk lamps or other small fixtures. At $24.99 and $44.99, respectively, they're slightly pricey, but they're a bright and versatile pick for smart-abode owners, especially HomeKit fans.
They're amongst the all-time HomeKit devices and best smart low-cal bulbs y'all can go.
Lifx bulbs are 1 of the all-time Alexa compatible devices, best Google Dwelling devices and best inexpensive smart abode devices overall, besides, and this Lifx Mini review explains why.
Lifx Mini: Design and set
Lifx's mini bulbs are egg-sized, and significantly smaller and lighter than Lifx'south larger, total-size A19 smart bulbs. Because they're and so pocket-size, they may look a bit strange in larger fixtures, just they should be fine in any desk-bound lamp or table lamp.
A huge plus is that the Lifx Mini bulbs are Wi-Fi-enabled, significant they connect straight to your network without requiring a smart-dwelling house hub as Sengled's Element bulbs and Philips' Hue bulbs do. Withal, connecting them to my network was a difficult task.
Both bulbs' instructions told me that if I screwed in the bulb, turned the light on and downloaded the Lifx app (for Android and iOS), the seedling would connect to my telephone automatically. For both bulbs, this process was not nearly as simple, and took upward of 15 minutes. My phone tried two to three times to find each ane earlier returning error letters. The app found the Mini Color on its third try after I'd turned the bulb on and off dozens of times — something I wouldn't have known to do if I hadn't gear up up a Wi-Fi seedling before.
Even and so, I had to await over 5 minutes for the app to notice my bulb. I had even worse issues with the Mini White; I ended up having to enable the bulb in my Wi-Fi settings and dabble with my phone's network before I could get it set. These were, again, things I knew to do because of my experience in setting upwardly a smart home, but not things I would have figured out how to exercise from the generic error messages I received in the app.
MORE: Calorie-free Bulb Guide
Fortunately, once the bulbs were linked to my phone, integrating them with other smart-habitation ecosystems was a breeze. Apple tree HomeKit integration happens right in the Lifx app and only requires scanning a code that comes with the bulbs, whereas both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant found the device right abroad. Information technology'south one of the best Google Dwelling compatible devices and all-time Alexa compatible devices, pregnant you tin can use your vocalisation to control them once they're paired.
You can also easily sync the device with virtually whatsoever smart-dwelling house ecosystem yous can name, including Nest, Samsung SmartThings, Logitech Harmony, IFTTT, Xfinity, Flic, Yeti, Yonomi and even Microsoft Cortana.
Lifx Mini: App
The Lifx app controls all of Lifx'south smart bulbs. Information technology's piece of cake to navigate and packed with features.
You can easily create schedules for when the lights will plough on and off, and select the brightness, color and fade duration for each. There are likewise a number of preset scenes, which you can customize, combining both the white and colored bulbs.
The app likewise sports a number of very absurd lighting effects. In improver to turning the lights on and off in the Lifx app, you lot can prepare them to flicker like a candle, rotate through pastel colors, flicker out for a spooky effect, strobe and, my personal favorite, pulse and modify color with the beat out of your music.
And given that the bulbs work with whatsoever smart-home ecosystem, you lot tin can easily incorporate them into your routines and scenes. If the Lifx app doesn't accept an advanced feature you want, you lot can connect your bulbs to another app that probably does. The Nest app, for example, has a Home/Away Assist feature that tin can turn the light on or off when sure people come and go.
Lifx Mini: Bulb value
The Mini White is $24.99, which puts information technology among the least expensive of Lifx's bulbs. The Mini Color is more than expensive, at $44.99.
These bulbs are a bit pricier than some competing bulbs, simply, they're still non quite as expensive as the category leading Philips Hue lights.
Sengled'south $10 Element Classic A19 and $thirty Chemical element Colour Plus A19 are more affordable, but both require a smart-abode hub, which can be a lot more expensive if you don't already have information technology, and they aren't uniform with HomeKit.
MORE: Smart Home Guide
TP-Link'due south Smart Bulb, which doesn't crave a hub, is only $19.94, and the company'southward Multicolor A19 is $34.98. Or, you can get Sylvania'due south Smart+ZigBee Total Color A19 for $27.93. None of these bulbs, however, are HomeKit-uniform, and you won't find quite as many features as you will in the Lifx app. For example, TP-Link's Kasa app offers four scenes, while Lifx offers ix scenes and vii furnishings.And even apps like HomeKit and Nest don't have whatever effects equally fun equally the Music Visualizer or the Strobe.
For veteran smart-home owners who value HomeKit integration, the cost increase may be worth information technology. But showtime-time smart-bulb buyers who are happy with Alexa or Google Assistant may want something cheaper.
Lifx Mini: Verdict
The Lifx Mini bulbs are a good option for smart-dwelling owners who take experience setting up smart bulbs and have other smart-home devices installed. The bulbs are easy to integrate with HomeKit, Alexa and Google Assistant, merely they're difficult to gear up. One time yous accept them prepare, however, Lifx's Mini bulbs are bright, offer vivid colors and employ an app that's very easy to control. In particular, they're a great option for lamps and smaller low-cal fixtures that can't suit bulkier smart bulbs.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/us/lifx-mini-smart-bulb,review-5663.html
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