Add to Chrome
Add to Edge
Add to Firefox
Add to Opera
Add to Brave
Add to SafariWhen comparing Philips Hue vs Cree Connected, the Slant community recommends Philips Hue for most people. In the question“What are the best smart bulbs?” Philips Hue is ranked 1st while Cree Connected is ranked 13th. The most important reason people chose Philips Hue is:
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.
Question Ranking
Pros
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pro Cost-effective
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.
Cons
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.
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).
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.
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.
