Here’s the Deal

Lifx vs Cree Connected

6 0

0 0

When comparing Lifx vs Cree Connected, the Slant community recommends Lifx for most people. In the question“What are the best smart bulbs?” Lifx is ranked 2nd while Cree Connected is ranked 13th. The most important reason people chose Lifx is:

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.

Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking

Common Questions

What are the best smart bulbs?

Pros

Pro
Very bright

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.

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').

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

Ad
Cons

Con
App lacks features

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

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.

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.

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%).

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.

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.