Hive Light Dimmable E27 Screw Smart Bulb-Works with Amazon Alexa,White, 9 W

If you are happy with the Hive ecosystem, then these bulbs are excellent. You don't need to have Hive heating (I don't), but if you haven't got that installed you do need to buy the Hive Hub for the Active Lights to work - have a look at some of the "starter packs" for best value on this. These bulbs are really easy to set up, and once connected to the Hive Hub they can be voice-controlled via Alexa through your Echo or Echo dot. This actually provides a bit more functionality than the Hive smartphone app, as with Alexa you can group bulbs together. In my setup I have 3 uplighters in the lounge, all grouped under one voice action. Similarly, the landing and hallway lights can be controlled individually using the names "hallway" and "landing" but I've also grouped them into one called "stairs". You can therefore simply say "Alexa, stairs on" to turn on both at the same time. I've also grouped every bulb in the house into the group "house" so when you leave home you can say "Alexa, house off" to turn everything off. The lights can also be used with IFTTT to allow even more flexibility - although at the moment, IFTTT triggers can only turn individual lights on or off.Using the Hive smartphone app you can set up schedules for each individual bulb which is very useful when you are away to make the place look occupied, and these timings persist even if you make manual changes until the next timer period. If you don't have an Echo then the control method is via the app, with a simple graphical control for on/off and dimming. There isn't too much flexibility in terms of grouping the bulbs at the moment, though - however given that you can add window/door and motion detectors you can get creative with triggers.The bulbs themselves are solidly made and have a quality feel about them. The light they produce is a pleasant warm white, and they are nice and bright when on full. They can be dimmed in increments of 5%.

My purpose for buying a smart bulb for the lounge was two fold; to be able to turn it off from the sofa (I often find myself far too comfy to want to get up) and to be able to dim it (a much easier solution for me than fitting a dimmer switch). I'm not particularly interested in the other aspects (such as schedules) and I didn't feel there was much use for having multiple colours, hence why I went for the standard bulb.For the lounge or bedroom I think this bulb is just fine, as the warm white is the colour I personally think is best for a room you want to feel homely, however for the kitchen or bathroom I'd probably go for the slightly more expensive bulb that can do bright white light.Setting up the bulb was very straight forward (worth noting I already had the hub setup with the Hive heating). I simply fitted the bulb (as you would a normal bulb) and hit a button on the app to search for new devices. Within a minute it had found the device, I named it accordingly and it was good to go.At full brightness the bulb is more than sufficient for properly lighting a room (even with a light shade) and the dimming works just as expected, with intervals of 10% to choose from (100% - 10%, 5% & off). I haven't personally performed any scheduling with the bulbs so I can't say for sure how well that works, however the interface for setting them up is nothing to complain about.In my setup I do find there is around a one or two second delay for changes I submit via the app to actually happen with the bulb which isn't a problem by any means, but it would be nice if it were a bit smoother.Any visitors in your home who cannot control the bulb via your phone can still turn the light on/off via the light switch (It will come on at full brightness when done via the light switch), however note that if the light switch is off, the bulb cannot be controlled via the Hive app -- the switch must be turned on. However, if this does happen, the Hive app wil quickly pick up that the bulb is back online after you flip the switch.Overall the bulb does exactly what i bought for it without issue and it was certainly worth what I paid for it (~£13 in the sale). I won't be getting thse bulbs to scatter all round the house just yet -- Maybe if Hive release a light switch that controls the Hive bulbs that fits over existing light switches I'd be more interested in putting Hive bulbs everywhere (similar to what Philips Hue have). For now, I'll just be sticking with the one.