When comparing Stack Lighting BR30 Downlight vs Mipow BTL 100C Playbulb Color, 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 Mipow BTL 100C Playbulb Color is ranked 15th. 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 Easy lighting options
On the homepage of the app is a color selector wheel, as well as a color saturation slider and buttons to get to lighting effects (including a mode which pulses the light along to the music its playing). It is easy to use with virtually no leaning curve
Pro Included speaker
While the speaker is tinny, its nice that it is included, adding more options for audio at home.
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 Slow, unresponsive app
The app could use a lot of work. For such an expensive bulb, the app really should work better than it does.
Con Very dim
At just 200 lumens of brightness (most smart bulbs provide 800 lumens), this is only good for accent lighting. You won't be able to effectively light a room, even with a few of these bulbs.
Con Directional lighting
To make room for the speaker, the bright areas of the bulb are cut off. Light will shine above and below the speaker, making for an awkward looking lighting effect (light shines up and down, but it doesn't surround the bulb as is typical of smart bulbs).
Con May not work in all lighting fixtures
Because of its heft and bulk, it may not fit into some lighting fixtures. It is 5.1x3.1x3.1" and weighs 8.8oz (half a pound). Smaller flexible desk lamps might not be able to hold that weight, or fit the bulb. Even larger appliances may not be able to house it, depending on the specific appliance.