Are cheap smart bulbs any good?
All depends on what you’re screwing into the ceiling, dear reader, but Guru can speak from experience when he says that Innr does a cracking smart bulb, Hue Hub compatible and cheap for a full-colour variety. He has also been impressed with TP-Link’s illuminating output, be it RGB or Edisonstyle. They ape LIFX in working on Wi-Fi alone, which does away with the pesky outlay for a hub, and they’re good looking too – particularly the new generation of Kasa Smart Light Bulb Multicolour.
This is a sample size of just two, but it’s proof there’s good stuff at the lower end. There are numerous white and off-white official Hue bulbs that aren’t that much more expensive in their own right. Those ultra-cheap no-brand bulbs with suspiciously similar remote controls, though? Yeah, GaGu would avoid those given that he prefers to see things at night, preferably not by the light of the flames burning down his home.
Paul Rose