Philips Hue Light Bar Spiel
Philips had multiple IoT lighting products, including generic desk lamps, floor stands, and light bulbs. I wanted to focus specifically on, perhaps not their latest, but quite frankly, the most versatile product I’ve seen yet from Philips Hue. It can stand up right; it can stand sideways; it can be attached to a surface with the stands; it can be attached without.
My first serious conversion over to LED started with light strips. I believe the technical term is a bias lighting and accent lighting. I had several for a TV and around the bed frame. At the time, if I recall correctly, ones I could get my hands on were generic light strips from China. It served its purpose greatly for the time being. It became a problem when I finally needed to uninstall it before moving to a new apartment. There was no easy way to reuse the light strip after the adhesive is damaged, and after the strips were installed again, I could see parts of it weren’t working properly anymore.
Looking back, LED light strip I had was a proof of concept product. You could light the entire backboard of the TV using a single USB charger, and it was maintenance free. The only few downside were its installation was tacky, — it couldn’t do corners — and the LED were hardly presentable on its own. There was also a problem of glaring, if it’s installed at a wrong angle.
Light Bar solves nearly all of aforementioned problems, and as a bonus, IoT is already included. The versatility of Light Bar installation and the Hue platform, should you wish to link it to the TV’s contents, make it a great contender as a bias lighting. For lighting around a room, especially for desks and beds, I’ve actually replaced table lamps and bed frame lights with Light Bars. I personally prefer the simple oval design of Light Bar over a light strip, which was tacky when seen and tricky to set to avoid glaring.
Conclusions: My Go-To IoT LED Lighting Solution
This isn’t a full-blown review of the review, even though I use several Light Bars at the moment. I haven’t tried any other similar products, aside from few from Ikea and generic brands. So far, I found Philips app support and platform to be the most reliable, hence why Hue was my first pick. Light Bar is versatile enough to be installed nearly anywhere. Light Bar is often on sales and discounts, and it can be purchased in double or triple package*, so make a light group for better control. It is more generalized lighting solution that doesn’t automatically become the center piece in a room.
* The power adapter for Light Bar can power up to 3 devices simultaneously.