Add to Chrome
Add to Edge
Add to Firefox
Add to Opera
Add to Brave
Add to SafariWhen comparing Philips Hue vs Stack Lighting BR30 Downlight, the Slant community recommends Philips Hue for most people. In the question“What are the best smart bulbs?” Philips Hue is ranked 1st while Stack Lighting BR30 Downlight is ranked 4th. 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 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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
