Battle Of The Smart Lights! Who Rules Australia For Smart Lighting?

Smart Lights are a no brainer. They bring convenience, style, save energy & last forever (well 22.5 years is kinda forever). The heavyweights are LIFX, Philips Hue, TP-Link & Sengled. Who is best and why? Live vivid 365 days a year with the 4 leading Smart Home brands below.

• LIFX are an Australian company!
• No hub required, so there is a cost saving.
• Superior products e.g their A19 is in a class of its own. It’s the equivalent of 15W brighter than Philips' top product. It delivers over 1100 lumens from just 11 Watts! Equivalent to a traditional 75W incandescent bulb. It also has a feature where it allows for night vision of surrounding cameras, even when it's off.
• Depth of colour: We run the bulbs against each other in our smart showroom. The LIFX colours seem to be more accurate in Green, Aqua and Orange.
• Has some unique products in Australia, like the BEAM & TILE.

We asked Marc Alexander, LIFX's Chief Technology and Product Officer about what makes LIFX so great:

"LIFX customers can enjoy one of the brightest lights in the smart home industry, with up to 1100 lumens to light up any space." 

See all LIFX Smart Lights

• Philips Hue has a bridge, which is extra cost, but Philips say makes it safer and less hackable. You physically have to press a button on the Hue Bridge to tether and connect devices. That's a great feature in the fight against security compromises.
• Has its own native motion sensor, for easy setup. LIFX does not!
• You probably already have a tonne of Philips stuff in your house, including regular light bulbs.
• Some cool smart lighting products like the Philips Go light bowl.
• Market Share: Philips may have as high as 70% of Australian market share, so you can rest easy knowing it's a great product that works with the maximum amount of 3rd party integrations like IFTTT, and has a strong community.
• Widely available in more retail stores than other Smart Light Bulbs.

Philips ANZ Consumer Channel Marketing Manager Sam Dearden had this to say about what makes Philips great:

"Philips Hue is the world and Australia’s leading smart lighting system for your home. Easy to install, Hue offers the broadest range of products, from bulbs, to lightstrips, downlights and table lamps, as well as simple intuitive controls including wireless dimmer switches and motion sensors. 

This is all made possible using the powerful Hue bridge that plugs into your wifi router, allowing for regular software improvements and updates, as well as providing an additional layer of security in accessing your smart lights and smart home. To register a device to your Hue system you have to physically access and press the button on the bridge, so security concerns are minimal."

See all Philips Hue Smart Lights

• TP-Link are a cool brand that most techies are already very comfortable with.
• Has bayonet and edison adapter in the box. Perfect for gifting.
• We have found colours to be very accurate in our showroom. Even requests like 'Hey Google, change the light to salmon' seem to be spot on.
• Have lots of IOT relevant products beyond lighting e.g smart cameras and smart switches. They are a multi-category brand, so you may want to get in bed with them for your entire smart home. Their products are all great.
• KASA app is ok but a little clunky, and less fancy.

See all TP-Link Smart Lights

• It's all about form factor with Sengled. They have floodlights that are also cameras, and downlights and globes that are also Bluetooth speakers. Truly innovative!
• Value for money! Sengled is generally the most affordable of the top 4 brands.
• All Sengled products are "DIY retrofit" which means you can avoid expensive installation costs.
• They are both a brand and a lighting manufacturer for other brands. They make smart lights for themselves, but their Chinese factory also pumps out globes for many of your other favourite Smart Home Light makers. They know what they are doing.
• Green, green, green and we're not talking about a colour changing bulb. Each Sengled Element range purchase is part of their #OneBulbOneTreemovement. For every Element bulb you buy, Sengled will plant a tree. 
• The only true halogen replacement Smart Downlight! 70mm-90mm cut out (Typical Halogen downlight size) 850 Lumen.
• Sengled's tablet and mobile app for monitoring and recording video is great and offers 7 days free cloud storage. Also, achieve energy usage monitoring from the Sengled app (see how much energy you’re using and saving)

We were keen to know what made Sengled the best choice for Australian Smart Home lighting, so we asked Martin Price, Business Development Manager at Sengled Australia. Having worked in Lighting for 17 years, he's extremely knowledgeable and has some unique perspective on the industry:

"Light scheduling, energy monitoring and added security are just some of the benefits of Sengled Element, The world’s most affordable smart lighting system. Element’s system allows you to control your home lighting, easily through your phone or tablet and even with Google Home or Amazon Alexa. The Sengled Element range includes Bulbs, Exterior Floodlight bulbs with built in sensor and a market leading 850 lumen downlight that easily replaces your existing halogen or LED downlight! The Element Hub connects via WIFI or ethernet cable to your WIFI router and allows up to 64 Element devices to be connected. The Hub creates a mesh network so all your lights work seamlessly together no matter where you are in the world."

See all Sengled Smart Lights

Nimbull Smart Home is constantly assessing the performance of Australian compliant Smart Home Light Bulbs in our showroom, including lesser known brands like Vivator & Zibreo. Contact us today with any questions or for a showroom tour.