Dimmable reliable zigbee light bulb NOT a router

Configuration Zigbee
1

I am looking for realiable/tested zigbee light bulbs that are end devices and not routers. Struggle to find anything decent that is not a router and available in UK or aliexpress.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

2

I think your criteria are at odds with each other.

The few end device bulbs I have see in the past were not “reliable”. It seems to me that the main reasons to manufacture and sell such a device is to reduce costs and/or to dupe users who don’t understand what they are buying.

Out of curiosity, why do they need to be end devices only?

3

The only one I know are sengled, but I think these are north american only.

4

I did a large renovation 2 years ago and installed zigbee light switches, presence and smart light bulbs in all rooms. Overall more than 100 zigbee devices. This was a total failure, I used z2m and tried 3 different zigbee sticks, all wi-fi/zigbee channels. Zigbee network was unstable and I was losing connectivity 2-3 times a day. Gave up.

1.5 years later I am trying one last time, this time with zha/zsp and no smart bulbs and so far no issues in the first week. Removed light bulbs because they don’t have permanent power. I want to control dimming in my bedroom if the lights bulbs would be non routers they not affect stability of the whole network

1 Like
5

I have been pretty happy with Sengled (in the US):

  • Color reproduction is good.
  • They are end devices - no repeater.
  • Whenever the power is cut they reset to last on state - they remember the color/brightness, but not the on/off state.

I see they are available in the UK / 230v - however I don’t know if the UK variants perform the same as the US ones.

6

I tried to move from Hue to Sengled and have been really disappointed with their overall brightness. I ended up placing them in locations where I seldom use light.

7

Thanks,
Sengled would have been a good option if they made standard size GU10 zigbee bulbs. I should have mentioned that in the first post.

Any Sengled like but gu10 ?

8

An option if you have GU10 you can use dumb bulbs and install a Zigbee dimmer (either in-wall or rotary). That way you don’t have issue with bulbs being unpowered, and you can control them physically or through HA. It also saves you some money if you have enough bulbs.

9

I now have a mix of: Sengled, Third Reality and Phillips Hue.
There is a big difference in price between them, for the same price I can buy:

  • 1 Hue Bulb - 1600 Lumens
  • 4 Sengled bulbs - 800 Lumens
  • 7 TR bulbs - 800 Lumens

I am not happy with the color reproduction of the TR bulbs (they struggle with yellow - comes out green).

So, I am generally choosing between Sengled and Phillips, I only pay the premium for Hue bulbs when I REALLY need the brightness.

I have found that I can mix them in light stands that take 2 bulbs - typically one bulb throws out most of the light into the room and 1 bulb tends to light up the wall behind, so I use a Hue bulb in the front and a Sengled in the back to add accents.

Note: I didn’t want to pay the premium for Hue bulbs in the 800 Lumen range so I don’t know for sure how similar lumen bulbs stack up across brands.