Smart bulb recomendation

Hardware
1

Hello,
I had purchased some Linkind WiFi bulbs (the RGBTW ones), assuming they would work with Home Assistant but they didn’t. I couldn’t find a way to connect to Home Assistant, and the threads I found on the topic were showing someone dissecting the bulbs, so that was less than encouraging! LOL

Right now I only have a Zigbee dongle and of course WiFi. Would be willing to buy another dongle if necessary. Can someone recommend good bulbs to use?

I’d prefer not to invest in the Phillips Hue system if possible

I’d like a bulb for the front porch (weatherproof, medium brightness)

Living room (Bright, adjustable white temp, color would be a plus)

Kitchen (Bright, adjustable white temp, color would be nice, runs in an inclosed globe fixture)

Like I said, would prefer not to invest in Hue, hoping to find some decent more generic LED lights that play nice with Home Assistant.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

2

You can buy a zigbee or esphome smart bulb if you insist on having smart bulbs. Have a ton of solutions on aliexpress.
ihmo it is the one of the worst or maybe the worst options you can buy for smart home.
They play well for lamp that sits in the corner but for main light this is not a good idea.
Smart bulb needs constant power so your light switch must be on always or the bulb will disconnect it self from network.
They also don’t play well with smart switches.
Better invest in something else.

3

It really depends on how you have your smart home setup. I’ve had a lot of luck with innr bulbs and LIFX bulbs. LIFX has outdoor lights. Like ddaniel said, smart switches are a better option if its possible and you just need simple on and off. There are a lot of great zigbee color lights out there. If its a zigbee bulb it should work with Home Assistant. The only reason I still have anything Philips Hue is because I like Lutron Aurora Smart Bulb Dimmer Switch for Philips Hue Smart Bulbs (Z3-1BRL-WH-L0). It needs the hue hub to work and cover light switches so they cannot be turned off and basically turns the light switch into a dimmer switch and can be used in home assistant to trigger automations. I’ve had them for years and think I’ve only change the battery one time. I wish there was a different zigbee or zwave dimmer switch thing that could cover my light switch like this. I’d remove all my hue products if that was the case to have one less hub.

4

Thanks for the suggestions, I guess I have a mixed use scenario.

My outdoor porch lights I just need on/off/dim so I can set a schedule and brightness, the switches can always stay on, no problem. I am guessing a Zigbee bulb would be best here. I can’t put smart switches in these locations because they have 2 or 3 mini switches in a single switch box right now. I don’t think they make 2 or 3 switch smart switches in a single switch package???

My kitchen has 2 switches in a single box, right now I have a Lutron Maestro LED+ Dual Dimmer and Switch there which I like quite a lot. I would put a dual smart switch dimmer there if I can find one?

My last scenario is a wall lamp. I would like a wall plug dimmer that Home Assistant can control that I can plug a lamp into?

Thanks for any product recomendations you can make…

5

I can’t agree with the “smart bulbs bad” advice. Plenty of good applications for them, especially in situations where you can’t or don’t want to wire in a new switch. Renting? Moving? Just swap regular bulbs and be on your way. Great for pull-chain lights in storage/utility spaces, just add a wireless switch by the door or an open/close sensor for an automatic closet light. Also nice where a smart switch can’t work in some older wiring setups – no neutral, no problem.

But anyway . . .

What smart bulbs are available where you live will vary, of course. I’m in the US, so YMMV. I’ve used innr Zigbee bulbs, and they look nice and are reasonably priced compared to Hue. I also have some Ikea Tradfri smart bulbs. They work fine with Zigbee and are low cost. They do have an issue of flashing the previous color/temperature/brightness setting when being turned on. If you never changed that setting, it wouldn’t be a problem, of course. The Ikea RGB bulbs also can’t manage a real green.

You mean like a wall wart you plug the lamp into? I’ve got a couple of these in my house, and I have no complaints:

This one is for North American plugs/voltage, I don’t know if they have other version.

6

Orein matter bulbs have worked well for me

7

I use the Zigbee Third Reality Bulbs. I like their color and brightness as well as their ability to be a good Zigbee router. I have had no problems with them and they have been 100% reliable. I also tried the Aqara bulbs. Though these a bit more expensive, I can only give them about a 95% reliability rating. This may be because I pair them through the Aqara hub using Zigbee, but I have had them go offline before.

8

2/3 smart switches in a single gang are quite common. I’ve seen switches which support more than that, but it depends on the switch format your country uses

9

I have a lot of Third Reality devices in my house. They are my go to for motion, door contacts, and outlet switch thingiers. I've been considering changing my LIFX bulbs to Third Reality bulbs. It's not really in the budget at the moment, since I have a lot of them.

10

I couldn't agree more. The "smart bulbs are stupid" thing always feels very elitist. In my office, I have 6 lights that hang from the ceiling and all connect to the same switch. I have automations where one light will turn red if my basement slider is opened, all lights flash green when my wife comes home, the lights on the right side of the room can be dimmed and the ones on the left can be off for a softer look, etc. You can't do that with a smart switch. Yes, I keep the switch constantly on, it's a real nothing burger. In my basement, I have the same thing - one switch, 3 outdoor lights. At Christmas time, I have them come on in the evening, two red, one green. This switch isn't as obscure so I put a cover that prevents the switch from sliding down - it's practically invisible. My issue with smart bulbs is that Home Assistant updates breaks Matter things a couple times a year and my bulbs fall into that category. If I could source great Z-wave bulbs, I'd probably switch all of mine out.

11

Are there smart bulbs that don’t require zwave or zigbee and integrate with HA? I need two flood lights.

12

Matter bulbs.

13

Do they use a radio frequency or do the matter bulbs become an iot device when connected to wifi?

14

There are wifi bulbs also. Search around "smart bulb wifi" and you can find a ton of those.

However wIth wifi bulbs, the "integrate with HA" part of the equation becomes shaky. Is there other smart bulb that ships with ESPHome...? I can think of Kauf and Athom.

15

Matter uses standard WiFi and requires IPv6.

Connection with HA requires the HA Matter app

Devices pair to HA using Bluetooth and HA app.

16

This is true but not the whole. On top of Matter over WiFi, there is also Matter over Thread, which also supports IPv6 so that's why.

17

I recommended a specific product that does not use thread.

But yeah. If using matter best check the docs. I find bulbs are consistently WiFi. And aren’t all thread specific devices just listed as thread?

18

Matter over Thread devices should have both Matter and Thread logos, just like Matter over Wi-Fi should have both Matter and WiFi logos. The tricky part is probably that not everyone using the same logo for wifi...

Didn't IKEA just release a bunch of light bulbs (and sensors and buttons) that are Matter over Thread... a couple of months ago? They have bulbs at different lumens, and 1600 lm smart bulbs especially are super rare.

Not all Thread devices support Matter, either. There were devices started as Thread (which is a bit more on top IEEE 802.15.4 mesh) at launch, but Matter was not ready at the time, so what do the manufacturers do? They promised they will support Matter vis firmware upgrade. (Nanoleaf? Aqura? Eve?)
And then it comes down to whether the manufacturers would actually follow through and release the FW that would properly / fully support Matter.

====
@rogerx2100 - If I were you, there would be a couple of approaches I can consider:

  1. Go with Wi-Fi bulbs but pay very close attention on whether you can actually own and control your own bulbs locally. So ESPHome bulbs would be ideal, many many else to choose from, but then bulb quality becomes hit or miss. Someone here has mentioned that with Matter over WiFi bulbs you would still need internet upon commissioning the bulbs in the very beginning, also make sure you have ipv6 multicast support throughout.
  2. Get another dongle for the Thread radio (note that some of the zigbee dongles can be repurposed for Thread radio also), or use Apple HomePod / Apple TV / SmartThings / Eero / Google Nest Max ... as the Thread border router, and then use HA as the brain of the Matter. And if you go Thread as the radio layer, I probably would choose IKEA bulbs, which comes with different formats and specs and applications.
  3. I know you said you do not want Philips Hue, but hear me out: The majority (if not all) of the Hue bulbs use zigbee, which you already have. So Hue bulbs could still an option and you do not need any Hue hub - you would not get locked in by Hue - you buy Hue bulbs for their light performance, not for the Hue system.
  4. And in the case where you don’t absolutely need color control, smart switch with dumb bulbs could still be a consideration. Especially when cost being a concern, I would recommend you review need vs want. And for smart switches I probably would recommend either Inovelli or Lutron (Caseta or RA)

Wait, did someone asked which country you are from? With different electric grid setups out there, obviously some of the bulbs would not be available everywhere in the world.