Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus
Shine brightly in any space.
The Hue Lightstrip Plus looks like any other lightstrip you may buy, and tries to be as unobtrusive as possible with its design. The strip itself consists of tiny LED lights grouped together in certain sections, covered by a thick transparent plastic. At the back is an adhesive backing that lets you stick the lights to pretty much any flat surface.
A neat trick about Hue Lightstrip Plus is that they can also be cut to a shorter length, if required. There are specially marked areas on the strip where you can cut them, so as long as you’re only cutting on these lines, you can then reattach the cut strips later by using a special clip that clamps down on the two halves. Philips only includes one such clip in the box, and it’s important to note that this reattachment ability will only work with newer lightstrips. Should you require even more length, you can easily attach extension strips which slot into small ports at each end.
At the other end of the Hue Lightstrip Plus you have a small connector box that the lights plug into. This in turn connects to a longer power cord which ends in a fairly chunky power adapter. The connector box also has adhesive on the back of it, so you can easily hide it away. Hiding the cabling might be a different challenge, so be mindful of where you install this as you’ll end with a trail of visible white cable.
There might be a slight bit of confusion when it comes to the companion app – there are two available for download. One is exclusively for controlling the lights via Bluetooth, while the other is only usable if you’re pairing the Hue Lightstrip Plus with a Hue Bridge. We downloaded the Bluetoothonly app at first, and it easily detected our newly installed lights.
In terms of colour and brightness, the Hue Lightstrip Plus has a colour temperature range of 2,000-6,500K, with a maximum brightness of 1600 lumens. There
A neat trick about Hue Lightstrip Plus is that they can also be cut to a shorter length, if required.
are quick presets in the app to switch the lighting to modes such as reading, nighttime, or just lightly illuminate an area such as the floor.
Control via the app is quite user-friendly, and you can set up some limited automation such as waking up to the lights gradually increasing in brightness, or set a timer when they can turn off. The lights also integrate with Google Home and Amazon Alexa, so once linked you’ll be able to control them without reaching for your phone. Apple HomeKit support is only available if you’ve connected the lights to a Hue Bridge.
The Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus are a clean way to add accent lighting to any surface, and offer a fantastic range of brightness and colours to choose from. Pairing them with a Hue Bridge will unlock their true value, but even on their own they still are a great addition to any space.
Nick Rego