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Add to SafariWhen comparing Cree Connected vs MagicLightSmart LED Light Bulb, the Slant community recommends MagicLightSmart LED Light Bulb for most people. In the question“What are the best smart bulbs?” MagicLightSmart LED Light Bulb is ranked 12th while Cree Connected is ranked 13th. The most important reason people chose MagicLightSmart LED Light Bulb is:
You can select up to 5 bulbs to be part of a group, and a single bulb can be part of multiple different groups. This lets you manage the bulbs room by room, which is much easier than changing each bulb individually.
Question Ranking
Pros
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.
Pro Easy bulb managing
You can select up to 5 bulbs to be part of a group, and a single bulb can be part of multiple different groups. This lets you manage the bulbs room by room, which is much easier than changing each bulb individually.
Pro Lighting modes for any occasion
Through the app, you have access to many lighting modes. From 'disco' which pulses in-beat with the music to timers and configurable color pallets to even selecting a color by using your phone's camera and looking at an object, these lights seem to have it all.
Pro Control the lights from anywhere
Because they use Wi-Fi, these bulbs can be controlled from anywhere as long as you have an internet connection. That means that you can turn your lights on from work if you are expecting a delivery, you can turn them on while you're on vacation to deter buglers and more. Also, it's convenient. You can turn your lights on at home when you leave from work, or by tapping your phone to a NFC tag (if you use third party software and set it up beforehand).
Pro Great at reproducing all colors
Instead of a typical RGB setup, this uses RGBW LEDs. That is, there is a red LED, a green LED, a blue LED, as well as a regular white LED. This allows for more natural whites - regular RGB bulbs try to mix a white color by turning all 3 LEDs on but depending on where you are standing you may be closer to the red LED, so the light will look a bit reddish. The dedicated white LED solves any potential issues.
Cons
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.
Con No en mass controls
At most, you can adjust 5 bulbs at a time (if they are in the same group). That means that at night, you may have to go through the app and turn off 5-6 different rooms. There is no universal 'off' button to turn all the lights off, or change them all at once.
Con RGB or white
This bulb has a dedicated white LED, however you cannot use the white LED and turn on another LED to give it a splash of color - its either in RGB mode or pure white. You can attempt to re-create white using the RGB LEDs, and customize the color that way, however it is not possible to use all 4 LEDs at once.
