15 best alternatives to MagicLightSmart LED Light Bulb as of 2018 - Slant

Philips Hue

Top Pro

Wide range of colors

The Hue app comes with default color pallets, but you can take control and customize the colors any way you want. The bulbs support up to 16 million different colors covering all areas of the spectrum. See More

Top Con

Bulbs aren't super bright

The first gen bulbs (what are available right now) have a maximum brightness of 600 lumens - similar brightness to a 50-watt bulb. The second gen bulbs will have an increase to 800 lumens, which is in-line with the amount of light that 60-watt bulbs produces - however these aren't available quite yet. See More

Top Pro

Supports IFTTT recipes

There are many fun IFTTT App Recipes that you can sync with your phone and Websites. If THIS happens then do THAT to the lights, i.e. IF your team scores a touchdown(ESPN), THEN turn the lights the color of your team. See More

Top Con

Requires a central hub

The Hue bulbs need to be connected to a hub which needs to be wired into your router. This adds another device to the mix, and also increases the cost (it's $60 on its own, but it is also included in some of the bundles). See More

Top Pro

Tons of utility and customization

Philips has released the Hue API, allowing individual developers to create their own apps that utilize the Hue bulbs. These apps are often more robust than Philips' own app, letting lights change color in sync with music, flickering whenever you get a tweet, or can change colors to reflect the stock market. The possibilities are nearly endless. See More

Top Con

Some colors can be difficult to create

Blue tones tend to come out purplish, and green tones tend to be more yellowy than they should be. See More

Top Pro

Compatible with Philips Ambilight TV

If you have a Philips Ambilight TV, you can hook your Hue lightbulbs up with the TV and the bulbs will change color with what is on the screen, making for a very immersive experience. See More

Top Pro

Cost-effective

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Lifx

Top Con

App lacks features

The app doesn't allow for light scheduling or custom color cycles. See More

Top Pro

Very bright

While few other SmartBulbs get as bright as a regular 60 watt bulb, the Lifx gets even brighter. Instead of just using it for accent lighting, these smart bulbs are some of the only ones that can effectively be used as a primary lighting source. See More

Top Con

High brightness washes out colors

The colored RGB lights can only achieve 50% brightness on their own; after 50% white LEDs are also turned on to achieve a very high total brightness. However, mixing white light with colored light will dilute the colors so that red light at 70% brightness will look more washed out than red light at 50% brightness. See More

Top Pro

Simple setup

As soon as they are plugged in, the lights will turn on and start broadcasting a Wi-Fi signal. To pair it to your phone, just connect to that Wi-Fi signal. After you connect, you're done and can switch back to your home Wi-Fi. See More

Top Con

Heavier, and warmer than other LED lights

To achieve their high brightness, the Lifx need more diodes than other LED bulbs, which means that they get hotter. To help deal with the heat, there are more heat sinks which adds the weight (they weigh 10.4 ounces each). Despite the heat sinks though, they still run a bit warmer than other LED bulbs. See More

Top Pro

Third-party integrations

The bulbs can hook into the Nest Thermostat, Nest Smoke Detector, as well as IFTTT (If This Then That - a popular automation app based on 'recipes'). See More

Top Pro

Different bulb options

The Color 1000 comes in two variants - one is a compact A19 size, while the other is a BR30 size. The A19 produces 1055 lumens (equivalent to a 75W bulb), while the BR30 produces 970 lumens (equivalent to a 70W bulb). See More

Top Pro

No hub required

The bulbs connect straight to the phone, meaning there's no need for a hub which reduces the upfront installation cost. See More

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Ion Audio Sound Shine

Top Con

Limited to 2 speakers

While you can have virtually endless numbers of Ion Shines hooked up at once, only 2 can play audio at once. It would be really handy if you could connect more up, as their sound would compound making it seem louder and richer. See More

Top Pro

Rich, stereo audio

Ion is traditionally an audio company, so it isn't really surprising that they managed to create a product that offers good audio quality. These won't provide the same boom as dedicated speakers, but they'll do the job for most tasks. It should also be noted that these don't need a wall plug - all the power they require can be taken from any regular light socket. See More

Top Con

No automation

Top Pro

Easy to use app

The app is very basic - you can control the brightness for the bulbs or turn them on and off. See More

Top Con

White light only

While the lights are dimmable from your smartphone, most smart bulbs offer a RGB LED which lets you illuminate your room/house with different colors and shades of white. These lights only have 1 shade of white, and can be dimmed. See More

Top Pro

Simple setup

There's no hub required, and the bulbs pair easily directly to your phone. The process isn't any harder than pairing a bluetooth speaker. See More

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Belkin WeMo

Top Con

Requires the WeMo Link hub

The bulbs are connected through the WeMo Link which is a central hub, which then connects to your phone. It adds cost to the setup, but thankfully you only need 1 to control a large collection of WeMo Links. This hub doesn't have any wired connections - it plugs into any ordinary wall power outlet. See More

Top Pro

Very configurable lighting options

In addition to basic timers and schedules, you can set the lights to dim over a set amount of time - from 1 minute to an hour - which can help get into and out of bed. The lights are also able to begin turning on with the sunrise (through IFTTT) See More

Top Con

Limited connectivity

There is no option for a remote control or web-based control. See More

Top Pro

Configurable recipies

Thanks to IFTTT (If This Then That - phone app for automation based on triggers) support, you can build your own custom recipes that suit you. There are also plenty of already created recipes from other users that you could use as well. See More

Top Pro

Compatible with multiple smart bulb ecosystems

Of course its compatible with WeMo's ecosystem, but it is also compatible with SmartThings and Revolv. This allows for more options down the road, and the ability to mix different bulbs in a single setup. See More

Top Pro

Good color rendering

The WeMo beast out virtually all of its competition when it comes to color rendering - the ability to accurately reproduce colors. It really only suffers when attempting to produce a vibrant, true red. See More

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Stack Lighting BR30 Downlight

Top Pro

Self automated

Equipped with a motion sensor to automatically turn on the light when somebody walks in, as well as an ambient light sensor to determine how bright the light needs to be, the BR30 are some of the smartest bulbs out there. They are currently some of the only bulbs that work on their own without needing to be controlled by a phone or remote. See More

Top Con

Requires a hub

The hub needs to be plugged directly into your router, adding one more thing cluttering the likely already busy area. This also means that you have little choice in the placement of the hub, while other systems have a wireless hub that can be plugged into a wall socket in a closet or somewhere else where it will be hidden from sight. See More

Top Pro

Custom programming

These lights are compatible with IFTTT (If This Then That) - a powerful automation tool that lets you use recipes from the community or create your own from thousands of triggers and actions. See More

Top Con

Limited colors

These lights are limited to color temperatures - they don't offer full RGB coloring. They can do shades of blue and yellowish as well as bright white, but no deep blues, reds, greens or other colors. See More

Top Pro

Easy to use presets

The app is where you can make changes to the lights. While they aren't RGB, they do have adjustable color temperature as well as an automatic mode which uses a blue-ish hue in the morning, and a warmer hue closer to evening. You can also manually set the color temperature if you prefer. You can schedule alarms, as well as 'night mode'. If the bulbs detect motion while in night mode, they will illuminate dimly (around 5% brightness) instead of blindingly bright. See More

Top Con

Learning feature needs some work

These lights have a hard time adapting to certain activities. For example, if you are reading and being fairly still, the lights will think that the room is empty and turn off automatically. Because of the learning ability, in the future sometimes the lights will think you are reading and stay on even if the room is empty. It's a tricky situation, but it could be fixed through future updates. See More

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Tik Tech Smart LED Light Bulb

Top Pro

Affordable

At just $10, these don't cost much more than a regular lightbulb. They offer RGB lighting, there's no need to pay for a hub, and offer scheduling options as well. This is a fully featured smart bulb for half - or even a quarter the price of the competition. See More

Top Con

A bit dim

At 600 lumens, these bulbs are 25% dimmer than most other bulbs. This will make illuminating rooms - the primary function of light bulbs - a bit more difficult although not impossible. The bulbs may not be sufficiently bright to simply replace existing bulbs...you may need to add an extra lamp or lighting fixture to provide the same amount of light or deal with a slightly dimmer room. See More

Top Pro

Basic setup

Because there's no hub to hook up, the setup process is simple. Just pair the bulbs with your phone, and you can connect up to 32 bulbs. Giving access to family/friends is easy too - as long as you both are on the same Wi-Fi. See More

Top Con

Unintuitive app

While the app contains everything needed to make the most of the smart bulbs, it places features inside menus where you wouldn't expect to look. For example, one of the sections is called "Lab" where you can find the Colorful, Game, Music, and Night Light settings. The timer button is a different color, is located below the other buttons, and has a square outline. There you can find the expected settings suitable for a timer section. See More

Top Con

Limited range

Bluetooth has its benefits, although it only has a short range. You need to physically be near the bulbs in order to change their settings, while other Wi-Fi bulbs (or bluetooth bulbs connected to a Wi-Fi hub) let you control your lights from around the world as long as you have an internet connection. See More

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Nyrius smart LED bulbs

Top Pro

Music synchronization

'Rhythm' is the feature which lets your Nyrius bulbs react to music - changing color with the beat. It works fairly well, although it uses your phone's microphone to do so which means that voices or other loud noises can affect it. See More

Top Con

Dim lights

These bulbs only produce 490 lumens - equivalent to 40-watt bulbs. They aren't bright enough to light up a room on their own, and unless you have multiple in one room they will only effectively be used as accent lighting See More

Top Pro

Doesn't require a centralized hub

Nyrius smart LED bulbs connect directly to your phone without the need for a centralized hub. This reduces the cost of the system. See More

Top Con

8 bulb limit

While other systems can handle up to 50 bulbs, the Nyrius app can only manage 8 bulbs. The bulbs aren't too bright either, so you will be limited to 2...maybe 3 rooms before you'll have to look for another smart bulb option. See More

Top Con

Limited to bluetooth range

The Nyrius bulbs use bluetooth, which is limited to around 100 feet. This means that you can't change the lights over WiFi when you are away from the house. See More

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Elgato Alvea

Top Con

Very dim light

The 430 lumens brightness of the Elgato Alvea is almost as bright as a 40-watt bulb, but not quite. These lights will be very expensive to use as primary light sources, as you'll need many of them to sufficiently light up a room. They are really only cost-effective as accent lighting. See More

Top Pro

Easy-to-use app

The app isn't confusing at all. It gives you 9 dynamic lighting options to choose from, such as magic hour (simulates a sunset), northern glow (simulates the northern lights), and cozy flames (simulates fire). Each of these has an option to adjust the intensity, although instead of just adjusting the time it takes to move from one color to the next it also changes the colors. For example, the Cozy Flames turn green-ish instead of the regular red with yellow and orange bursts. See More

Top Con

Limited coloring options

While most smart bulbs let you pick from a color picker, for solid colors the Elgato Alvea has 7 to choose from (blue, green, orange, purple, red, white, yellow). Each shade is then adjustable in both brightness and shade, however it would have been much easier to just use a color palette like most other smart bulbs. Also, while the nine dynamic lighting options are easy, they are the only dynamic lighting you can achieve. You can't set up your own dynamic color palette. See More

Top Pro

No hub needed

These bulbs hook up directly to your iPod/iPhone/iPad, with no need for a physical hub device. See More

Top Con

No Android support

Unfortunately, Elgato Alvea doesn't support any Android devices. It only works with iPhone (4S or later), iPod (5th gen) iPad (3rd gen or newer), or Apple Watch. See More

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Ilumi

Top Con

Limited to bluetooth range

The Ilumi bulbs only use bluetooth (no WiFi), but they work together through a mesh network so that if you are within bluetooth range of one of them, you are in range with all of them. Range is said to be about 150 feet away from the outermost bulb. See More

Top Pro

Different bulbs available

There are 3 bulbs that are part of Ilumi's lineup - the regular A19 LED bulb which replaces a regular 60-watt bulb, BR30 Flood LED bulb which offers more light ideal for track or recessed lighting, as well as an Outdoor Flood LED which is similar to the indoor flood light, but it has been treated to be weatherproof. See More

Top Con

Slow response

Two headlining features of the Ilumi are slow to react - Music Sync should change the color of the bulbs along with any music that is playing, however it lags behind and doesn't respond well. The same can be said for the Torch Mode which is supposed to turn on your lights when it senses your phone is near. See More

Top Pro

Selective integration

The Ilumi works with Google's Nest Thermostat as well as IFTTT (If This Then That - an app and web service that lets you automate actions based on variables...it works like coding, without needing to know how to code). This allows for cool things like flashing the bulbs when you receive a call or text, turning on the bulbs when they sense your phone is near, etc. Ilumi is also planning on opening its software to developers in the near future, allowing for even more unique uses, however that hasn't happened yet. See More

Top Con

Very expensive

$60 per bulb is very expensive, even for smart bulbs. They are energy efficient, and also rated up to 20 years of lifetime which can help justify the cost a bit. See More

Top Pro

No central hub needed

Each bulb hooks directly up with your smartphone, removing the need for any central hub. See More

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Osram Lightify Classic

Top Pro

Choice of hardware

Linked above is the classic bulb style, but Osram offers a few different products that fall into its Lightify family of products. These include an RGB flexible strip of LEDs (really cool desk/counter/home theatre accent lighting), and two other cheaper bulbs that don't offer RGB lighting (one has adjustable color temperature, the other doesn't). See More

Top Con

Lacks polish

The app isn't as intuitive as the other higher-end competitors, and lights have a slight delay when turning on. See More

Top Pro

Access to 2 major ecosystems

These bulbs aren't attached to their own proprietary ecosystem - they are built to be compatible with Wink and WeMo which are already established ecosystems which allow for third party automation as well as other features. See More

Top Con

Short lifespan

While virtually every other smart bulb is rated at 25,000 hours, the Osram Lightify is only rated at 20,000 hours. While it isn't certain these lights will clunk out before the others, it seems more likely. See More

Top Pro

Very efficient

While any LED will be more efficient than incandescent bulbs, the Osram Lightify is one of the most efficient smart bulbs currently available, providing 89 lumens per watt (beating WeMo at 87, Philips Hue at 81, and GE Link at 78). See More

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Cree Connected

Top Pro

Inexpensive

At just $15, this is one of the most inexpensive smart bulbs available. It's great not only as a first step into smart bulbs, but also as an inexpensive addition into a Philips Hue or other compatible bulb system. See More

Top Con

Below average color rendering

The colors that the Cree connected provides are just below average for smart bulbs. At 80% of the spectrum, they fall behind the GE Link (90%), Belkin WeMo (88%), and Osram (81%) but a hair ahead of the Philips Hue (79%). See More

Top Pro

Many options for automation

Robots is an easy to use automation tool that lets you take control and create your own recipes for your bulbs to follow (flash blue when you receive a text, flash red when the door opens, etc). Shortcuts are also supported - you can setup a cluster of lights to all enter a pre-determined mode with the touch of a single button. Also supported is scheduled lighting - you can have the lights dim near bedtime, and start to illuminate in the morning to help ease the sleep process. See More

Top Con

Hub required

You will need a hub, but at least you can pick your choice of hardware from cheap solutions ($30) that just control the lights to $50+ systems that can be the brains for your whole connected house. See More

Top Pro

Compatible with many ecosystems

At launch it was only compatible with Wink, but since then has added Staples Connect, SmartThings, and Philips Hue Bridge support. This allows for a wide range of hardware (at varying prices), as well as your choice of ecosystem. See More

Top Con

Poor lightswitch dimming

As with all smart bulbs with in-app dimming, dimming from a lightswitch provides less than optimal results. The two dimming systems both try to take control, which results in flickering and some buzzing. See More

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GE Link

Top Pro

Easy lighting management

Once you get the Wink App working, controls for the bulbs are simple. Whether you are modifying one bulb at a time, or grouping them to adjust many all at once, the controls are simple and work fairly well. Automating bulbs is just as easy - from basic scheduling (turn on in the morning, off when you go to bed for example) to recognizing when your phone is near and turn on by themselves. If you want to go deeper, you can use the Robots feature, which allows you to craft your own automation recipe and dip into external triggers. See More

Top Con

Buggy software

Between installing, registering, and connecting, the setup process is very slow and buggy. Even once connected, changing the colors or settings takes longer and appears more choppy than competing bulbs. Updates can fail to install properly multiple times in a row (even with restarting your phone and unscrewing the bulbs). See More

Top Pro

Great color range

These bulbs can manage to display 90% of the color index - more than any current RGB LED bulb. It scores very well in all colors, expect pure red (about 60%) and pure blue (about 74%). Different shades of these colors all perform well. See More

Top Con

Hub required

To access any smart features, you will require a hub. There are different hubs available, with more to come. Currently there is the Link Hub ($30) which will handle lighting, or the Wink Hub ($50) will be able to work the lights as well as other smart home systems. There's also the coming-soon Wink Relay ($300) which will have a touchscreen and act as a wall mounted smart hub. See More

Top Pro

Compatible with many products

The GE Link is part of Wink's smart home platform standard, and are compatible with other products that utilize Wink (Honeywell, Dropcam, Philips Hue and more). See More

Top Con

Inefficient compared to other RGB bulbs

The GE Link requires 12 watts to produce 800 lumens - the TCP LEDs and Belkin WeMo provide the same lumens at 11 watts and 9.5 watts, respectively, and the Philips Hue provides 750 lumens using only 9 watts. The GE Link is one of the most inefficient RGB LEDs available, however it is still many times more efficient than incandescent bulbs. See More

Top Con

Limited dimming

While other Smart LED bulbs can dim right down to 0.5% of their total brightness, the GE Link will only go down to 10.2% brightness before it turns off. While this is still fairly dim, it would be nice to have an even larger range to make transitioning to bedtime more effective. See More

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Mipow BTL 100C Playbulb Color

Top Pro

Easy lighting options

On the homepage of the app is a color selector wheel, as well as a color saturation slider and buttons to get to lighting effects (including a mode which pulses the light along to the music its playing). It is easy to use with virtually no leaning curve See More

Top Con

Slow, unresponsive app

The app could use a lot of work. For such an expensive bulb, the app really should work better than it does. See More

Top Pro

Included speaker

While the speaker is tinny, its nice that it is included, adding more options for audio at home. See More

Top Con

Very dim

At just 200 lumens of brightness (most smart bulbs provide 800 lumens), this is only good for accent lighting. You won't be able to effectively light a room, even with a few of these bulbs. See More

Top Con

Directional lighting

To make room for the speaker, the bright areas of the bulb are cut off. Light will shine above and below the speaker, making for an awkward looking lighting effect (light shines up and down, but it doesn't surround the bulb as is typical of smart bulbs). See More

Top Con

May not work in all lighting fixtures

Because of its heft and bulk, it may not fit into some lighting fixtures. It is 5.1x3.1x3.1" and weighs 8.8oz (half a pound). Smaller flexible desk lamps might not be able to hold that weight, or fit the bulb. Even larger appliances may not be able to house it, depending on the specific appliance. See More

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Oort SmartLED bulb

Top Con

Very dim light

180 lumens won't do much good in terms of lighting (for comparison, regular bulbs produce about 800 lumens - the Oort bulb provides less brightness than the typical refrigerator light). This is really only effective as a supplement to an existing lighting solution as mood lighting, and not a regular bulb replacement. See More

Top Pro

Lighting effects included

There are a number of preset modes, such as a sleep timer, a snore mode (breathing effect), and a flashing effect. Dimming is smooth as well, which is good to hear as some other bulbs seem to find this tricky sometimes. See More

Top Con

Very short range

With a range of only 12m, don't expect to control your lights from far away. The good news is that the bulbs work together in a 'mesh' configuration, meaning that as long as you are within range of one bulb (and the other bulbs are in range of each other as well), you can control all the bulbs. See More

Top Pro

No hub required

While many smart bulbs require a hub to connect, the Oort bulbs connect directly with your phone which not only makes the initial setup easier, but also less costly (as you don't need to buy the hub). See More

Top Con

Poor color reproduction

The colors this bulb produces don't look saturated, and there isn't a very wide range of colors (about 20 noticeably different colors). See More

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