Editor Victoria Galligan tried out the Philips Hue smart lighting system – read her review to find out why she’ll never go back to boring bulbs…
The lighting revolution is here – and it’s rainbow-coloured!
I’d seen the adverts for the Philips Hue smart lightbulbs and always thought they looked like a great idea to create the perfect mood lighting.
Setting up the Hue was relatively easy – this pack comes with three bulbs, a Hue ‘Bridge’ device which connects via a wire to your wifi modem, and a dimmer switch which you can stick on a wall. After screwing in two of the bulbs (the types available are B22, E27, GU10 spotlights and E14 for smaller lamps, as well as strip lighting and garden lighting if you’re feeling particularly creative) I installed an app on my phone. After a couple of app updates, I was ready to go. I had to link the Bridge to the app, then name my room and the different lamps.
Then the magic began. I experimented with the colours, first choosing from the 16 million – 
yes that’s right! – different colours available on the Hue colour wheel. The app also has pre-set mood lighting called “Scenes”, so you can choose, for example, a scene called Savannah Sunset where one lamp turns golden and another a rich burnt orange.
Colourful lighting with security benefits
The time settings allow you to pre-program the lights to turn on and off, and the automatic ‘Out of Home Control’ option switches off lights when you leave. In addition I found a great security hack where, if you buy an outdoor motion sensor (£44.99), your indoor lights can be switched on if someone approaches at night – perfect for putting off burglars.
This lighting system is well worth investing in – in addition to creating the perfect ambience, the Hue system is a great security measure for offices, shops and for holiday homes which are left empty for a while. And for outdoor use in a bar or pool area, the possibilities are endless.
See meethue.com to order your Philips Hue smart lightbulbs.
