OHLUX WiFI Smart Bulb

First off, I already have other SmartLife-controlled products, so I didn't have to go through setting that up or learning how all of that worked. I bought 4 of these open-box, just to see if they'd be suitable for replacing the incandescent floodlights I have in my kitchen (8, recessed lights). I was particularly concerned because the light switch in the kitchen is motion-controlled, and I didn't know how these would handle losing power constantly. So, first-off, setup is a little weird, because the pairing process (I think intended to be convenient) doesn't seem to take into account that you might be wanting to do MORE THAN ONE BULB CONNECTED TO THE SAME SWITCH!! The process involves turning the switch off-and-on three times quickly, then the bulb blinks rapidly, in pairing mode. Of course, any bulbs that are connected to that switch and setup already will ALSO go into pairing mode. That might be simple enough if you could setup a bunch of bulbs in the app at once, but it only handles on at a time. I wound up leaving the switch on, and then rapidly screwing-and-unscrewing the bulb just enough to turn it on and off, by itself. [For my second set of four bulbs, my solution was to use a separate conventional lamp (removed the shade and everything) and then pair them on at-a-time (and number them, so I know which I was putting where). ALSO: never had an issue connecting with my wifi network that has 2.4 and 5Ghz on the same SSID-- for some reason, some stupid 2.4-only devices choke on this.] So, first off, whatever setting the bulb has STAYS in the bulb-- so, when the switch is turned off, the bulbs don't forget their color, brightness, WIFI info, etc. Also, when the power first comes on, it may take a few seconds or so before they reconnect to WIFI (i.e., if you try to give them a command immediately like color or brightness, they may not get it-- annoying if, say, 7/8 bulbs turn red, and the last one stays white. Just issue the command again.) Secondly, in terms of brightness, these are easily as bright as the incandescents they replaced (80w?), AND (the reason I kept using incandescents) when you turn the color temperature down, the color is almost a perfect match for the warmth. The LEDs that are inside (at least, if they're similar to other LED kits) have the expected RGB set, so you can make all kinds of colors, but ALSO have two white LEDs, one being conventional cool LED colored, and the other being a warm white (WW) LED. So, between the RGB set and the W set, you can make all temperatures of white light, AND pretty much any color that RGB LEDs can make too (don't expect a full-spectrum of Pantone matches, but fine for most purposes). Also, the lights turn on almost as quickly as an incandescent, so the switch has been zero problem. I don't love the SmartLife software. It's actually very nicely designed and works pretty well within itself, but considering how you would integrate with other systems (the way you'd make groups or scenes, for example) is pretty annoying, and it doesn't do anything too fancy out-of-the-box (like programming animations between lights or something). Still, compared to bigger-named/more-expensive products, I'd say these compare very, very favorably.

Colors are fine, brightness is fine, build quality is fine, actual „smart“ features for properly integrating these light bulbs into your home network is “very” limited. The app to manage the bulbs „per se“ is ok, but the limiting factors which make this product practically unusable for a range of use-cases are these: - setting up multiple bulbs in one room takes its sweet time, especially when trying to link them with the app at the same time; prone for error and becomes a real issue due to the next limitation - when turning off the power completely via e.g. a light switch, the bulbs (at least for multiple ones in the same room) take minutes to reconnect to the WiFi, “if” they even reconnect at all. Until then, they constantly turn off for a blink of an eye every few seconds and that can become very irritating, not to mention the loss of remote control for the time being. Left the room after a while, some recovered after 15-20 minutes, some did not, can happen to any bulb. Even worse, they can also lose their settings completely, go back to “init” phase (constantly blinking) and have to be set up again to fix this. The AP is less then 5 meters away, so that should not be an issue. So, if you want to add one (single) of these bulbs to a single room and “never” turn off the power, you “might” be good. Otherwise, rather check other vendors. Given the four bulbs all acted the same, at least with the firmware they come with, I’d say they are close to being useless as smart bulbs, as “turning off the light switch” I still consider being a regular use-case, whether on purpose or by accident, not even mentioning a power-loss. If there even is an updated firmware available, I do not know and after all the hassle those bulbs caused, I also do not really care. Swapping them for sure. Note I know what I’m doing in this matter, technically and practically, as I’ve already bought and installed multiple other smart bulbs and actually know what happens behind the scenes. For anyone considering these bulbs, check your use-case and don’t waste your time if possible.

I tried a kickstarter company for LED bulbs several years ago, but they ended up only being bluetooth mesh and the promised Alexa integration never appeared. I tried some IFTTT but their app just didn't work right. Since then I've replaced all bulbs in the house other than the last 8 in my vaulted kitchen ceilings with other brands, and I used these for the ones in the kitchen now. The first requirement even before Alexa integration was Smart Life app compatibility. I have been getting rid of things that used other proprietary apps and replacing them with smart life compatible things. I don't want to remember what bulb is under what program. So got these, and pre-programmed them one at a time in a socket I could reach easily to turn things on and off repeatedly to get them to go into discovery mode. All but one went to the easy "fast blink" mode and were found by smart life within seconds. One ended up in slow blink mode, so I had to join its wireless network, and then smart life found it right away after that. All work great, nice lumen level. Integration with Alexa was instantaneous since I already had the skill for so many of the other smart devices in my house using the Smart Life app. I created a "Kitchen" group in Alexa and can now just say "Turn on kitchen" and all the lights are on at once. Change color, brightness, all works flawlessly with the Echo. Price was good, and as long as I don't have them start to die quickly, I'll be very happy with these.