You might think light bulbs are a commodity, and to many, they are. Still, they’re not all alike. Some have smart home features, some are super efficient, some change color, and some even have Wi-Fi! This week we’re looking at five of the best light bulbs to save you money around the house, or customize the lighting to your mood, based on your nominations.
Earlier in the week we asked you which light bulbs were the best. You gave us plenty of nominees and tons of options to choose from, but we only have room for your top five. Here they are, in no particular order:
LIFX Original LED Bulb
LIFX does more than just light up your home—although it definitely does that. A Kickstarter success story, the bulbs are just part of a smart home package that gives you complete control over the intensity, color, and type of lighting in your home. The LIFX Original is a 17W LED bulb that supports multiple fittings, 16 million colors and works with services like IFTTT and other smart home appliances like the Nest thermostat and Nest Protect. It’s Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enabled, and can be controlled via your smartphone, either individually, one bulb at a time, or if you have multiple you can program entire rooms or zones with specific types of lighting. For example, you can set your bathroom to soothing, dimmer light, and your office with brighter, more energetic lighting if you prefer. They don’t come cheap though. Each one will set you back just shy of $100, although you can buy packs of multiple bulbs at a discount.
Those of you who nominated the LIFX noted that it’s incredibly versatile, and since you can control the lighting in your home from your smartphone at any time, you can have the lights up in your home before you open the door, program different areas of your home to suit your tastes, and that the mobile apps are available for both iOS and Android, which is a nice perk. You praised it for supporting so many colors, and the fact that you can set timers and set lighting “programs” so the lighting in your home adapts to you over the course of the day. Many of you noted they’re pricey, but you can grab a sale if you shop smart. You can read more in its nomination thread here.
Cree 60W Soft White LED Bulb
Cree got a lot of love in the nominations round, largely because their bulbs are energy efficient, dimmable, bright as all getout, and still relatively affordable. A four-pack will set you back $35 at Amazon, and you’ll get the equivalent of 60W of lighting for only about 9.5W spent on powering them. It looks like a normal bulb, so you don’t have something that won’t fit normal sockets, lamps, or other fixtures. Plus they’re dimmable, so you can use them in fixtures where you have dimmers connected—always a nice bonus. It lights instantly with power, so no warm-up time required. If you’re not looking for tons of bells and whistles, these are a great buy—they’re affordable, bright, get the job done, and are incredibly energy efficient—especially if you want to try LEDs but don’t know where to start for a basic, simple bulb.
Those of you who nominated the Cree 60W replacement pointed out all of these features, but also explained that they’re specifically durable. You said that you have these in fixtures that get banged around a lot and take a lot of punishment, and they stand up like champs over the long haul. You also called out the fact that the Cree bulbs support “Cree Connect,” which supports Z-Wave and allows for compatibility with smart home systems like SmartThings. You can read more in its nomination thread here or here.
BeOn Home Smart LED Bulbs
BeOn’s line of smart home LED light bulbs are great lighting, sure, but they’re really designed to improve your home safety and security. While other smart bulbs focus on customization, these are designed to make it more difficult for outsiders to see if you’re away from home, and to provide backup and safety lighting in case of an emergency. They have all of the basic features you’d expect, they’re 60W equivalents at 800 lumens, dimmable, and they still work with your normal fixtures and switches, even if you use the BeOn apps to program lighting schedules and turn your lights on or off remotely. Each BeOn bulb has backup power, so even in the event of a power outage or emergency you’ll have some lighting, and if your other home safety appliances—like a smoke detector or carbon monoxide detector—goes off, the lights will respond as well so you can see your way out of the house. The lights even learn your behaviors, and continue to light rooms like you would if you were home when you’re away on vacation. The dining room will light up at dinner time, the bedroom will light up and the living room will go dark around late evening, and so on. They’re not cheap though—a three bulb system is $249 direct.
Those of you who nominated the BeOn smart bulbs pointed to many of those safety feature, namely that they’re great for making sure your home is safe and secure even when you’re not there. They can even light up when the doorbell rings, whether you’re home or not, so someone at the door has to wonder whether you’re home and just not answering the door, or not home at all. You praised them for learning your lighting habits in real time, which makes for a great burglar deterrent without the need to manually set up timers on lamps and switches. You also praised the backup lighting, and the fact that the lights all come to life if the smoke alarm goes off is a great feature that we hope you’ll never need. Read more in its nomination thread here.
Philips 454900 60W Slimstyle LED Bulb
Philips’ 60W Slimstyle LED bulbs have a unique design. They still fit in all of the standard sockets and fixtures, but instead of being fully round, they’re kind of flat. They may put some people off, but once they’re in the fixture you probably won’t notice it. Plus, they’re dirt cheap. The 60W equivalent daylight bulbs are $14 for a two-pack at Amazon, which makes them great entry points for LED bulbs if you’re thinking about buying some. They get you that 60W equivalent on 10.5W of power, and are rated for close to 23 years of life under normal conditions. Plus, they’re dimmable, so they can go in your favorite dimmable lamp or room fixture.
In the nomination thread, you praised them for their natural-looking light, although some of you pointed out that the unique design means they’re best in enclosed fixtures, since they give off a little more light on the flat sides than the side of the bulbs. That can be a plus or a minus depending on where your lighting is in your room. Either way though, most of you praised the bulbs for being affordable, no-frills lighting that won’t cost you an arm and a leg. You can read more in the nomination thread here.
GE Reveal 60W LED Bulb
GE’s Reveal lighting system is actually a series of light bulbs in different form factors and brightnesses, but most of you settled in on the 60W standard A19 bulb because of its affordability and versatility. It’s a 60w equivalent bulb that only uses 11W of power, will set you back about 10 bucks, and is rated for use in damp environments, indoors and outdoors. GE holds the Reveal series up on its natural, bright lighting and their durability and long life. The company also claims that their Reveal bulbs actually make your lighting better, bringing out colors and patterns you wouldn’t see with traditional incandescent bulbs, and offering more nuanced lighting than other harsher LED bulbs. Plus, they’re available in a myriad color temperatures, fixtures, and styles. You can get soft white, bright white, and daylight bulbs in the Reveal series, and even in this 60W model, so you have plenty to choose from depending on where you plan to put the light, and the type of light you like.
Those of you who nominated the GE Reveal series also echoed some of those sentiments—especially that whatever GE does to those bulbs to make colors come alive, it actually works and it’s not just marketing fluff. You praised the lights for being natural and bright, but also really transforming the room you have them in, and for lasting near-forever. One of you pointed out that you’ve owned LED bulbs from multiple companies and manufacturers, including some of the others here, but these are your overall favorites. You also praised them for being readily available at just about any retailer (so you don’t have to order through some obscure, specialty store), and for their durability, that they’re sturdy enough to take a few drops and falls, too. Read more in the nominations threads here and here.
Now that you’ve seen the top five, it’s time to put them to an all-out vote to decide the winner.
No honorable mentions this week, since the nominees dropped off pretty quickly after these. Still, there were other options in the call for contenders thread to explore, so if you’re looking for something else, make sure to head back there for more suggestions.
Have something to say about one of the contenders? Want to make the case for your personal favorite, even if it wasn’t included in the list? Remember, the top five are based on your most popular nominations from the call for contenders thread from earlier in the week. Don’t just complain about the top five, let us know what your preferred alternative is—and make your case for it—in the discussions below.
The Hive Five is based on reader nominations. As with most Hive Five posts, if your favorite was left out, it didn’t get the nominations required in the call for contenders post to make the top five. We understand it’s a bit of a popularity contest. Have a suggestion for the Hive Five? Send us an email at [email protected]!
Title photo by Diego Elio Pettenò.