Color Changing LIFX Bulbs

Product Description

LIFX (A19) Wi-Fi smart LED light bulb, adjustable, multicolor, dimmable, no hub required, works with Alexa. With LIFX, how your bulb connects is important, so all of our WiFi technology is built right into each individual bulb - no hub required. Works with Nest.

Features

• Works with Amazon Alexa to support dimming, shades of white, and color settings through voice control (Alexa device sold separately)
• 16 million colors and warm to cool whites. LED life-span - 22.8 years (based on 3hrs/day)
• Easy to set up, built in wifi - no hub required
• Bright - equivalent to 75W bulb. Beam Angle: 135 degrees.Voltage Range:AC 100-240V 50/60 Hz
• Works with Alexa, Apple HomeKit and Google Assistant.Temperature:2500K to 9000K.Wi-Fi Router Requirement:802.11b,g,n standards compliant
• Note: Kindly refer attached manual for guidance on installation

Top Reviews

Easy to connect
by Aiden (5 out of 5 stars)
December 23, 2018

I was a little hesitant on buying one, since I felt that it was more a fad or for pre college kids sorta deal. Until I started using smart functions on Google Assistant (Alexa from Amazon) can also be used i'll describe my set up, which should be the same or similar to Alexa..
*highest brightness and *has built in WIFI. No Hub needed.

Set up was easy: screw the bulb in, turn it on like a normal bulb, download the app and 'connect bulb'. After that it ask you to name the bulb, in my situation I used 'lamp' than it pairs and ready to use. It uses 2.4ghz signal, which is good on distance than 5ghz. Considering that it sends a basic signal 'off and on' its not clogging your WIFI like streaming film would be. After going threw the set up, it will ask you for WiFi password etc If you change the name of your network, you have to set it up over again, since its a new network.

Shutting off you can use the app but in my set up. I use Google Home or my smartphone , only use the main app for some functions.. By adding the bulb to my Google home, it controls everything without going to a specific app and you can use voice : 'turn on lamp, off, change lamp color (insert a color) etc'. The official LIFX app does have themes, colors and you can see/turn the bulb brightness up or down or color suggestions and save to favorites even make home widget for android. Its also helpful on finding out names for example: I like daylight light, but the shade I like is 'cool daylight'. It does come in handy when you want a specific tone.

The benefit of using it will with Google home IF you don't have Alexa, you can have all 'smart items' listed like a command center and set it into a room and see all smart items instead of going into every app. This has pushed me into adding 3 ceiling fans that are smart and use both Alexa and Google Assistant in the same way as the bulb. But can be automated on a schedule, similar to the bulb. I plan on replacing all their bulbs with LIFX.

The main LIFX app is useful for creating themes and syncing multiple bulbs in various colors like 'Christmas, bright, cheerful etc' it cycles threw various colors creating a mood if you have more than 1 bulb.

Using Google Assistant, similar to Alexa, you can say : Dim lamp to 30% etc its useful using voice than having to go to the stock app for everything. You also can be away from the house, outside of your WIFI and send the command turn lamp lights on/off when going home or pulling up to the house.

PROS: VERY BRIGHT, Easy to use and connect, various colors, themes, sound themes, create a combination of colors or preset, can be dimmed. Has a day light schedule that can be made custom color that can turn on and off by-itself. You can also set it to turn on every day at a specif time, and off.

CONS: Haven't found any. I will update the review once I add more bulbs into the set up and see how they all work in unison. I may have to figure out a naming scheme for multiple bulbs

WARNING: Have a decent internet connection and make sure it can reach where the bulbs are set up. I think some are having connection issues because they're to far from the WIFI. Mine are all centralized. If you have a large home, invest in range extenders , mesh system or a decent WIFI setup. I plan on adding bulbs outside eventually.

UPDATE: 1/10/2019

Using a total of 5 light bulbs, 2 per ceiling fan and 1 for the floor lamp. Will be adding more. I found it easier when using 2 bulbs, like in my set up for a ceiling fan to just name them both the same: In my case (fan light 1 and fan light 2)There are 2 bulbs per fan, so the commands controls both lights on the fan itself. Making it easier than calling out 4 different bulb by name, plus the floor lamp bulb. Also figured out you can use gemstone colors like: Amber, ruby, turquoise, emerald, sapphire etc but no exotic combination like (quartz which is various colors or saying 'sapphire red'. It defaults to sapphire blue. You can use gold and silver but not diamond or Onyx (black). You can control all bulbs by saying 'living room lights or change all lights to (insert color)' after setting all of them in the same room with Google assistant. Make sure to name them the same in the LIFX App AND Google home so voice commands are the same name.
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Easy setup and can be operated in isolated WiFi if desired
by c7epy83y5j (5 out of 5 stars)
December 9, 2016

This is a review after day 1. I would like to clarify one config issue that was not clear to me from the product description and LIFX website. You do not have to operate the bulb in the same network as your smart phone or tablet. I have an Internet of things (IoT) wifi that is separate from my normal WiFi. All you need to do is connect the bulb to the IoT WiFi and then temporarily switch your phone to the IoT WiFi and claim the bulb to your LIFX cloud account. Then you can switch back your phone to your normal network and still control the bulb from your phone. Technically it means you control the bulb remotely all the time instead of via the local WiFi. The result is the same: you have full control over your bulb from your phone. Only downside: should you loose your external internet connection you cannot control the bulb locally. But I think a separate IoT WiFi is a good trade off if you are generally concerned about the security of IoT devices. The setup was quick and painless. While I will operate the bulb mostly in one fixed setting, I love the fact that light wise I can do almost anything I want: from cold whites to warm whites to almost any color you can think of at any brightness I want. This bulb also proofs to me that smart lights should not have to rely on a hub. LIFX,'s decision to use the cloud as hub seems right to me. One word of caution: I look at smart bulbs as a complement to non smart light solutions. I would not rely on all lights in my place being smart to avoid sitting in the dark should the smart bulbs ever get compromised. Last but least a complaint: some of the Nest integrations with the Nest cam require a Nest cam subscription even though I don't really see why those features could not be implemented without a subscription. Overall still a great product.
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Light bulb 2.1
by Dustin Taylor (5 out of 5 stars)
August 7, 2019

Technology has came a long way to get where it is now; and that's having these very light bulbs. Want soft, warm light? sure. Want delicate blues? okay. What about Royal purple with a splash of red, using a separate bulb? Yeah, yeah, these will do that.

Integration: Alexa, Cortana, whoever you've decided for your smart hub, connecting these won't be an issue as long as you have the appropriate apps/software.

Longevity: Though expensive, you're looking at a long term investment with these. Lasting for years, withe ability to customize at any time.
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Waste of money. 2 bulbs, both died after a month.
by KKRAJCA (1 out of 5 stars)
October 1, 2017

We ordered this bulb and on arrival it would not keep constant light in a regular socket. It would turn on and off at random times. We put it in a different socket and it appeared to work as expected for about month and then began turning on and off a random times. It eventually would not turn on at all. Luckily we were able to exchange this for a different bulb.

The new bulb arrived and it appeared to be working correctly. Again after about a month it began to turn on and off at random times and lose connection to our Wifi. I unscrewed it overnight and it seemed to work the next day. A few days later it began having the same problem and has now lost complete connection and will not even turn on. We are past our return date so it seems we are stuck with a non-functioning $50 light bulb. We can't even use it just to get light. I do not recommend this product to anyone.
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Decent, if you have the time a patients to deal with any duds you might receive
by Operational Necessity (4 out of 5 stars)
June 30, 2017

I have 24 of these connected through a Netgear R8500 router. Most of them are the A19. I agree - 24 is excessive. I have these just in table and floor lamps. I always have them in various colors and dimmed to around 25%. For me, they are mood lighting only.

Pros:

Great mood lighting

Make and save your own themes

Dimmable (but don't use with a dimmer switch)

Rich colors

Some cool pre-canned effects, i.e. Flicker, Color Cycle, Spooky, etc. (these are customizable)

consume very little power

I like the simple app

No hub needed

Convenient to turn on and off all lights in the house at once.

Geo fence. Lights will come on for you, or the kids, just by pulling into the driveway. Safety feature.

Keep your phone by your bed. If you hear a bump in the night you can very quickly turn on any light, room full of lights or all lights.

At 25% power, in color mode, they are burning less that a watt each.

I like that you can turn the I.R. mode off. With I.R. on, below around 9 watts your power consumption will jump from 0.5 watts to 7.6 watts. Even when you believe the light are off - they aren't really. They are giving off I.R. light and burning 7.6 watts each.

Grouping lights by room and by house.

Great for entertaining. You can put up some soothing, cozy colors. They really set the atmosphere - when you have enough of them.

Decorate your room, or house, with light. Best with white or off-white walls.

Cons:

They are heavy. I can see the horizontal arms, under the lamp shades, holding the sockets sagging under the weight. Most light sockets were designed for an incident bulb that weighs next to nothing. These Lifx bulbs replaced normal 40 watt equivalent or 4 watts LED bulbs that also weighed next to nothing.

They can often loose connection, although I haven't noticed as much of that lately.

I probably returned at least a dozen that would never connect or stay connected even after bulb resets. (Turn on and off 5 times)

They get pretty hot for an LED bulb. The 4 watt bulbs barely got warm and that's good for your AC.

For best signal the router manual says: "Place the router away from large glass surfaces." If your light bulb is enclosed in a ceiling fixture, chances are it's behind glass. But that's not why mine are only in table and floor lamps. Also not due to the builder-grade ceiling lights with weak, flimsy assembly between the socket and the light fixture. Although if I tried installing one in a ceiling fixture - that might become a reason.

When you turn on a light switch, your probably doing it because you need light. My Lifx light would come on set to Red or Blue, etc. at 25% power. This does not work if you turned on the light to look for something. So you have to go find your phone and open the app, set it to White, turn up the brightness. That's not convenient. So ceiling lights are for actual light and table and floor lamps are for mood lighting.

With the weird shape, they won't work with every fixture. They barely fit under some of the Tiffany shades. Some of the shades had to be raised a small amount to accommodate the squared off corners.

If you have a lot. They take up a lot of spots on your router.

The BR30 version doesn't not completely turn off unless you cut the power. Once your eyes adjust to the dark room, you'll see a very faint glow - even through a translucent lamp shade. It's very dim and not a big deal but it is definitely not fully off.

The A19s are all in Tiffany lamps with cut glass shades - so they are behind glass, mostly. Something the router manual says to avoid. The BR30s are in floor lamps with either Alabaster style or cut glass shades. Again, behind glass.

The metal arms on the table lamp sockets are metal tubular steel and built solid - yet because these arms are horizontal I can see the arms sagging under the weight. Some of the bulbs are sort of peeking out from under these shades - not so with the LED bulbs that were in these lamps. The socket on one arm actually broke under the weight. I have yet to try and fix that.

All things considered, the excellent mood lighting and safety features out weighs the cons - but not by very much. Could be 5 stars with better connections and lower cost. See graph for power consumption by color and brightness.
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So close..
by Person (3 out of 5 stars)
February 15, 2017

03/19/2017 UPDATE

Currently downgrading my review a bit, sadly. I still really like these lights, when the work! But so far I've found that of the four bulbs I have, at least one will lose connection to the network and need to be power cycled each week. (Note: I have a strong and reliable WIFI signal in the areas where they are located.) The bigger problem is I've just had a bulb completely die on me. It won't respond at all to any efforts at a full reset. So out of four bulbs, all of them periodically lose connection and have to be manually reset, and one has altogether died. All of this is in the span of having these bulbs for just over a month or so.

ORIGINAL REVIEW

I am so glad I have these! I got a 4-pack and now want to deck out my entire place with them, so we'll see how long I can resist the urge to do that..

I had my eye on the Phillips Hue for a number of years, but never made the plunge because the bulbs weren't bright enough and the hub seemed to be a hassle. These LIFX bulbs address both of those issues very nicely and have been a great addition to my home. Setup was very easy and I haven't had any technical problems with them to date other than *occasionally* a bulb will lose connection to the wireless network, in which case I have to power cycle the fixture in question.

Keep in mind, though, that they only connect via a 2.2GHz wireless network. This works fine for me because I have a dual-band router so I have the bulbs all on the 2.2Ghz network, and then run all of my other devices on 5GHz. I don't need to have my phone connected via 2.2GHz because once you're connected to the LIFX cloud, you can control the bulbs from your phone regardless of which network you are on.

I think the app could be improved a bit to allow for more fine-tuned programming of "scenes," but overall it is very intuitive and easy to use. The bulb was *slightly* larger than the LED bulb it was replacing in one of my lamps, so I had to buy a new lamp harp, but that was an easy change.

I'll update this review if I start to have issues with them, but so far it's been smooth sailing.
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Works most of the time + possible diagnosis on the problem people are having
by Terry Neusbaum (1 out of 5 stars)
December 20, 2017

I'm updating my review of these lights as I've now had them for a number of months. I'm lowering my review to 1 star. Why? Because they regularly fail to connect to our network even after upgrading our network, putting the lights on their very own wifi network, it is almost daily that one or more of them needs to be power cycled to get them back online. We actually have 29 bulbs ( a mix of a19s, a30s, the minis, and the strips), so we went all in. When you have as many as we have, failing every day or so becomes very frustrating. If you only had a few bulbs, the mean time to failure would be much greater and it wouldn't be as frustrating.

So to summarize, great quality lights, terrible wifi implementation, so much so that they might as well be controlled from the bulb itself.
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I've purchased quite a few of these bulbs (perhaps 20, believe it or not) taking advantage of recent sales. I purchased some of these, as well as some of the BR30s (which are a bit larger in circumference, and more concentrated, meaning the BR30s are better as a flood while the A19 are better as a regular bulb). I was able to get them all online and they *mostly* stay connected most of the time, but at the same time I believe the reviews that you are seeing saying people are having trouble getting them connected and keeping them connected at all. I think the issue is that because they are bulbs, and get a bit hotter than the typical device that you have on a network (e.g., a laptop, smart phone, etc.) and their wifi radio signals are a bit weaker than normal. Hence, when you have a wifi hotspot that is weak at times (or at locations in a house), you'll have trouble keeping them connected. In our house, we have two access points, located at very different spots in the house so that we get great coverage everywhere, and this might be why it is working (mostly) for us. The other thing I notice is that is is very time dependent - during the day on weekdays, the lights work perfectly and very reliably. On weeknights (and in particular on Fri/Sat night) the lights become less reliable (we have quite a few neighboring wifi networks in our neighborhood, and during those times the radio environment probably becomes more hostile to weak wifi signals). What happens during those times is that some of the lights don't respond for a few minutes, but then eventually recover after a few minutes (a problem that never happens during weekday days).

My guess is that the reviewers who are having problems have an even more hostile (i.e., crowded) wifi environment than what we have and perhaps also poorer wifi coverage than what we have. The only way to know for certain if the lights will work reliably for you is to try them out unfortunately.

Regarding the lights themselves, when they work, they work fantastically. The colors are superb, and it is great to have all of the different varieties and themes of colors for different times of the day, and the app (on the iphone at least) is good. We have decided to keep all of our lights (and will probably get more), but then at the same time we are planning to further upgrade our wifi equipment (and make it more hostile for our neighbors, it's an arms race :-).

Part of me feels like all of the smart devices in the home are using a solution that is a patch over existing old fashioned infrastructure. We have electric power (and hence wired cable) going to every one of these devices. It would be much better to have a universal wired in-home standard for both power and data, and a standard universal plug that could serve power + data within the home (and a bulb socket that did the same). If such infrastructure existed and was pervasive (certainly technologically possible today) it would work much better (although this would not be logistically cost effective and so we are stuck using wifi for our smart home devices unfortunately). I suppose this is, however, not the worst problem in the world.
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Please don't pay any attention to the negative reviews.
by Tim (5 out of 5 stars)
November 3, 2018

Update on January 9th: I now have a 3rd A19 and I'm loving it. As with the other two A19s I bought, setup was extremely easy. I see other customers reporting problems, but this is now three A19s in a row that I bought and set up individually with absolutely no issues. I don't know why I'm not having any issues, but so far my experience has been 5-star all the way. I wish I had tons of money because now I want to replace every single light in my home with these.
***Original Review***

To start with, installation is extremely easy. Follow the steps below. *DON'T TURN YOUR NEW LIFX LIGHTS ON UNTIL STEP 3*
1. Install the LIFX app
2. ***THIS STEP IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT*** Switch to your 2.4 GHz network (or you can switch to the 2.4 GHz before you install the app, it doesn't matter).
3. Turn on your new LIFX light(s) using the light switch.
4. Look at the LIFX app. You are guided through the installation of your lights. It's extremely easy. I would love to detail the process but there's almost nothing to say. Installation is a breeze.
5. ***ANOTHER IMPORTANT THING*** After installation is complete, switch back to your 5 GHz network. Yep, you don't have to stay on your 2.4 GHz network after you're done installing your new LIFX light(s).
6. Enjoy!

I mean, really, that's all there is to it. At this point, the lights should just work and give you no problems whatsoever. However, if you *DO* experience any problems, then restart your router. *NOT* restarting the router is the one thing that is causing people to have problems with their smart lights after installation (or *during*). Routers are computers too, and so just like any computer, they need to be restarted regularly - usually after connecting new devices. Sure, some routers are better than others and so they don't need to be restarted as often, but *ALL* routers still need to be restarted on a regular basis, whether that's weekly or monthly or just a few times per year.

If you experience issues controlling these lights with Apple HomeKit (using "Hey Siri"), then don't blame LIFX. Any issues you have when using "Hey Siri" are Apple's fault. For example, you might ask, "Hey Siri, make the lights orange" (or any color), but instead of getting the color you asked for, the lights turn off. For some reason, they aren't actually OFF, but they are instead set to 0% brightness. So, just ask for whatever brightness level you want, like 100%. If you continue having issues at this point, like maybe Siri will claim one of your lights failed or is experiencing a problem, then you should ask Siri to turn the lights off and then ask Siri to turn the lights back on. Or, you can go into the Home app and manually turn the lights off and back on from there instead of asking Siri to do it.

If one day you end up losing all ability to control one or more of your lights, then restart the router. You will encounter this at some point, and I'm here to tell you that this isn't a problem with the LIFX lights. It's a problem with the technology in general. It affects all smart lights on the market. This technology just isn't completely matured yet.

I haven't seen any negative reviews posted since the firmware update yet that *DON'T* have an easy solution, such as restarting the router. Yet, unfortunately, people post a negative review not knowing that there's a simple solution to the problem(s) they're experiencing. So, please don't pay attention to them. I've had my LIFX lights for 34 days now, and so far I haven't had any issues that didn't have a super easy and super simple solution. Whenever I have any sort of issue controlling my lights with "Hey Siri", I try the following:
1. "Hey Siri, set the lights to 100" (or whatever brightness level I want at the time)
2. If that fails, I ask Siri to turn the lights off and back on again.
3. If that fails, I restart my iPhone (it's the only thing I use to control my lights).
4. If that doesn't fix the control issues, I restart the router. I have only had to restart my router *one time* so far in the 34 days of daily use of these lights. Usually, all I have to do is just tell Siri to set the brightness to something OTHER than 0% and then they are fine. It's a strange bug, but it's not a big deal, and it's certainly not a good reason for me to say anything bad about these lights, especially since it's just an issue with Apple HomeKit and it has nothing to do with the LIFX app or the lights.

So, I have absolutely NO regrets buying these lights! If I had known how much I'd like them, I would've gladly paid a lot more for them, knowing it would be worth every penny.

Here's why you should get these instead of some other brand's smart lights:
- The LIFX smart lights can be brighter than any other smart light on the market. They can produce up to 1100 lumens! Compare that to the average maximum brightness of 800 lumens of other smart lights. Interestingly, the LIFX Mini lights produce a maximum brightness of 800 lumens. The brightest smart lights from other manufacturers is only 800 lumens. This is because other manufacturers use vastly inferior-quality parts that make up the "guts" of the smart lights, resulting in a much lower heat tolerance (and also an inferior color quality).
- The LIFX lights don't require (or use) a hub. If you buy just 1 light, then you'll have everything you need.
- The colors they produce are absolutely amazing. If you don't believe me, look at reviews on YouTube. You will find people who have compared these to the other leading smart lights on the market and found the LIFX lights to produce better colors. It's just my opinion that the colors are *amazing*. They all seem very true and accurate, and very pleasing to look at.
- There's no such thing as a "Starter Kit" for LIFX, and you don't need one! If you want just 1 light, you can buy just 1 and you'll have everything you'll need.
- They have the best app. Again, check YouTube reviews of these lights!
- These produce more light per watt. That means they are the most efficient smart lights on the market. At their maximum brightness of 1100 lumens, they only consume 11W. By comparison, the competing Philips Hue light can only produce 800 lumens, and it requires 10W to do so. 1100 lumens is a 75W equivalent, and 800 lumens is a 60W equivalent.
- The best CRI of the LIFX lights is 85 (I assume this is when you're using white, which is also 3500K). Philips Hue's best CRI appears to only be 80. I personally don't care much about CRI, but I know many people do, so there you go.
- LIFX smart lights work with Google Home, Alexa, and Apple HomeKit.
- In my experience so far, LIFX has fantastic customer service and support. I feel like I'm treated as a family member. They feel like a very small, down-to-earth family-owned business. Why did I contact them? I just wanted to ask them about the issues controlling the lights with "Hey Siri". I wanted to see if they were aware of it, and unfortunately, no one has yet reported this issue to them. They said they will attempt to find a way to fix this issue even though it's really all on Apple HomeKit's end.

So yeah, I highly, highly, highly recommend the LIFX A19 lights! They have quite noticeably improved my quality of life.
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Used to be good...now they don't work...
by William Egan (1 out of 5 stars)
September 28, 2017

I ordered three of these. Also use WEMO switches in my home. LIFX worked great, nice colors, good control with the app, limited integration with Alexa. Major major problem started last week when the lights all prompted me for an update. Updated them, and the app and all of a sudden, they did not work any longer on my network. I removed them, started all over like a new installation - still a problem. Opened a ticket, waited a few days and got back a 28 page document about how to address.... which still does not work. Apparently they re-did the network protocols of these lights to function with Apple Home Kit and now they wont work. I'm still troubleshooting with them, but its a long process that is not leading anywhere good. I will return them.
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Very Good Compact Smart Bulb with seamless Alexa Integration
by Farhan K (4 out of 5 stars)
December 9, 2016

UPDATE 07/17/2017:

I'd thought I'd a quick update on how the smart bulb is holding up since approx 9 Months when I wrote the original review :
- A recent firmware update has made the blub's WiFi much more stable and responsive. No more random disconnects
- The smart bulb is now natively integrated with Alexa i.e you no longer have to say the keyword "Ask LIFX", instead you can now ask Alexa naturally for eg "Alexa, set living room brightness to 50%"
- Google Assistant is now supported
- An update to the Andriod/iOS app has improved the layout a lot and made it easy to use and understand

ORIGINAL REVIEW BELOW:
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When I first received my package with the Lifx Smart bulb I opened it half expecting it to be dead on arrival - thats because it was freely rolling in the shipping box without any air cushions added - however to my relief the Lifx smart bulb is packaged extremely well in a hard cylindrical tube suspended by a foam cushion which should make survive the harshest of shipping conditions. Tragedy averted! Another thing that struck me was the compact size of this bulb - I was expecting it be larger with all its features, WiFi and a 1100 lumen/75 Watt equivalent brightness rating - however its not much larger than a standard 800 lumen LED bulb and a hair bit smaller than a standard 75 Watt equivalent CFL bulb , this means that it should be able to fit in almost all lamp and ceiling fixtures where you can fit a regular CFL lamp

CONSTRUCTION & BUILD QUALITY:
- The lamp is surprisingly compact for all the features and brightness rating making is compatible with most lamp fixtures (see the comparison in video)
- The base of the lamp is made of metal for heat dissipation which also makes the bulb feel quite heavy for its size. The weight might be a bit too much for gooseneck type lamps
- The lamp features a flat disc type of glowing surface instead of the more traditional globe type surfaces of most other lamps. This effects its light distribution and perceived brightness ( I'll elaborate it more a bit further on)
- The bulb can only use the 2.4 Ghz WiFi band for connecting to your network and in my opinion is a good thing as it gives the flexibility of installing the bulb a greater range from your router. A modern router should be able to bridge your 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands anyway for network visibility.

INITIAL SETUP, MOBILE APP & OPERATION:

Check my video for the initial WiFi Setup process, mobile app operation and Alexa Integration . I've indexed the video timestamps in case you'd like to jump straight to a particular section

The initial setup process can be a bit cumbersome and here are a couple of steps that can make the setup process a bit simpler (also covered in my video):
- Switch the WiFi network on your phone to the 2.4 Ghz band during setup
- When you plug in the bulb for the first time, it can take upto 30~40 seconds for it to broadcast its WiFi signal & become visible to the App
- You'll have to create a LIFX account when you open the app for the first time
- The way the setup process works its the App will disconnect the phone from your home's WiFi and connect it the Bulb's own broadcast WiFi Network, transfer your Home WiFi credentials to the Bulb, reconnect your phone back the the Home WiFi and do a firmware update on the bulb. This process can be a bit slow or the transition from one phase to another may not be smoothly managed by the Mobile app. It its best to be a bit patient and you may have to switch the WiFi networks manually between the Bulb and your home network (the app will ask to do so if necessary )
- The app can organize the various smart bulbs into three hierarchies : Home (Top Level) > Room > Individual bulb. If personally feel thats one level too much to manage and customize and just Room> Individual bulb would have sufficed like what TP-Link offers
- The app allows you to control the brightness & hue of the lamp from very warm yellows to bright blueish white either with set preset temperatures or anything in between for that perfect shade YOU want
- There are two separate sections sections where you can control the color of the lamp one of which gives you a more traditional color wheel where you can customize any color your want across the spectrum and then there is another section called 'Scenes' where the colors can be adjusted according to preset scenes. For example there is a 'Santa Scene' which makes the lamp color Red. Duh !
- Whats conspicuously missing from the app though is any sort of scheduling ability turn on or off the lamps and preset times
- The app allows you to add cool effects to your bulb like a candle flicker , strobe or cycle through various colors as well

ALEXA INTEGRATION:
- Integrating the LIFX Bulb is another two step process i.e it requires you to enable TWO separate skills on the Alexa App to take advantage of all its features :
- (1) The "LIFX Optimized for Smart Home" skill allows you to turn On/Off the blub and control its brightness . This is a Native Alexa App which means you can say the commands in any figure of speech without any special keywords: For Example "Alexa, Turn on the Bedroom Lights" or "Alexa, Set Bedroom lights to 50% brightness"
- (2) The second skill that you need to enable is called "LIFX". This is a Non-Native Alexa skill which allows you to control the Color of the smart bulb and requires you to say a preset keyword "Ask LIFX" . For Example "Alexa, Ask LIFX to set the Bedroom lights to Purple"
- Once you enable both these skills by authenticating with your LIFX account which you created, the rest of the process is simple and you just have to ask Alexa to 'Discover Devices' (See video)

THE GOOD:
- Very compact size for a dimmable, color Smart bulb which makes it compatible with a wide variety of fixtures
- The color temperatures can be adjusted to your preference from warm daylight tones to cool blues
- The colors are vivid and you have an almost infinite palette to choose from
- Supports more smart home systems than any other bulb that I've seen - It works with Alexa, Nest , Google, SmartThings, IFTTT etc
- Voice control with Alexa is simple, straightforward and easy to setup
- Packaged very well which should survive the harshest of shipping conditions

THE NOT SO GOOD:
- Because of the relatively smaller flat illuminated surface area of the bulb compared to a globe bulb , its light distribution is not as widespread as compared to a traditional globe surface.
- This impacts the perceived brightness of the bulb - To my eyes it does not seem significantly brighter than a standard 800 Lumen LED Bulb. I've included a picture of them side by side for you to decide - hope it comes across in the picture
- The software App for this bulb needs more work , its is poorly organized and overcrowded with too many sections and yet it is missing basic functionality like scheduling the bulbs. The software, on occasion, is also prone to disconnection requiring you to restart the app or turn off and On the WiFi on your phone
- Some of the advertised integrations like Google was not fully working at the time of writing this review and were "Under Work"

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Overall the the LIFX smart bulb is a solid platform for a Smart lighting solution with deep integrations with popular smart home systems and while ~$50 is not cheap , but if you compare it to other similar smart bulbs like the TP-Link LB130 or Philips Hue its actually brighter and is a better value for money option which works great with Amazon's Alexa. The only issue I had had was with the somewhat clunky App which can and hopefully will be fixed via future software updates. I will be purchasing a few more of these bulbs to complete my living room setup.

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