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Add to SafariWhen comparing Philips Hue vs Osram Lightify Classic, the Slant community recommends Philips Hue for most people. In the question“What are the best smart bulbs?” Philips Hue is ranked 1st while Osram Lightify Classic is ranked 11th. 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 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).
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.
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).
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 Lacks polish
The app isn't as intuitive as the other higher-end competitors, and lights have a slight delay when turning on.
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.
