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Add to SafariWhen comparing Elgato Alvea vs Tik Tech Smart LED Light Bulb, the Slant community recommends Tik Tech Smart LED Light Bulb for most people. In the question“What are the best smart bulbs?” Tik Tech Smart LED Light Bulb is ranked 6th while Elgato Alvea is ranked 10th. The most important reason people chose Tik Tech Smart LED Light Bulb is:
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.
Question Ranking
Pros
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.
Pro No hub needed
These bulbs hook up directly to your iPod/iPhone/iPad, with no need for a physical hub device.
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.
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.
Cons
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
