When comparing Stack Lighting BR30 Downlight vs Cree Connected, the Slant community recommends Stack Lighting BR30 Downlight for most people. In the question“What are the best smart bulbs?” Stack Lighting BR30 Downlight is ranked 4th while Cree Connected is ranked 13th. The most important reason people chose Stack Lighting BR30 Downlight is:
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.
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Pros
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.
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 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.
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.