Best Buy Smart Lights
If you're not familiar with smart lighting, it's basically lighting that you can control via an app on your smartphone, or with your voice via a smart device like Amazon's Echo or Google's Nest devices. A lot of smart bulbs can shine lights in different colors, and you can customize lighting for different moods or routines.
best buy smart lights
A variety of gadgets can help you harness the power of light to support a better sleep cycle. Some let you manage when your lights go on and off. Others give you full control over the hue and intensity of the light to help you establish the best sleep environment.
Pro tip: Scheduling smart lights in your bedroom to wake you up by gradually getting brighter before your alarm goes off can be more advantageous than a morning cup of coffee. Extra points if you set your morning lights to have tones of blue.
Pro tip: Avoid blue light, especially from smartphone and computer screens, two hours before bed. This helps your body produce enough melatonin to fall asleep quickly. Also, program your lights and other devices to shift into a dim, night-friendly mode.
If you want to learn more about smart lighting options that could work with your home, visit a nearby Best Buy store to talk to one of our expert Blue Shirts. Or go to BestBuy.com to check out our Smart Home Buying Guide.
To that end, we'll be continuing to keep track of the best deals following Cyber Monday, so check back regularly for updates as new offers go live. For now, here's a rundown of all the deals that are catching our attention.
I'll be honest, I didn't even realize that Lenovo sold a version of its 4-inch smart display that sits beside a wireless charging dock for your phone, but it's a pretty decent bedside pitch. With built-in Google Assistant voice controls, a simplified screen experience, and no camera whatsoever, this was a pretty likable device to begin with, even before it offered to charge your phone each night.
The newest Nest Thermostat refined the display and shaved off the stainless steel rim to help bring the cost down to $130. Now, for Cyber Monday, Google and major retailers are offering that budget-minded model at a nice additional discount, bringing the cost all the way down to $90. You're still getting all of the same Nest smarts for automated climate control at home -- and it's still a great-looking design, available in four colors (all of which are on sale).
I spent part of my summer testing out some of the latest smart locks on the market, and my favorite of the bunch might have been the Ultraloq U-Bolt Pro. Along with a fingerprint scanner, the deadbolt features physical buttons for coded entry (much better for mittens and rainy days than touchpad controls), as well as a great app for managing access, strong Wi-Fi range and an insanely clever design that sees the entire front face fold down to reveal the keyway. Plus, it's an ANSI grade 1 deadbolt, which means that it's as secure as can be against brute force attacks.
Normally priced at $250 or so, Amazon currently has the Ultraloq U-Bolt Pro marked down to $199 with a further 40 coupon as a Cyber Monday special. It isn't the fanciest version of the lock, which includes its own built-in Wi-Fi radio in addition to Bluetooth -- instead, this one comes with a separate, plug-in Wi-Fi adapter. That's totally fine, because you're still getting everything that makes this an outstanding smart lock at an all-time low price.
It's not the biggest deal of the season, but if you're looking to stock up on color-changing smart bulbs that will work well with Matter, the new universal smart home standard backed by Amazon, Apple, Google, Samsung and countless others, then you'd be smart to go with Nanoleaf. The company's offering up a three-pack of color-changing bulbs for $37 as a Cyber Monday special -- they already work with Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple HomeKit. But on top of that, they also feature built-in support for Thread, a Wi-Fi-based protocol that's a big part of Matter's vision for a more unified smart home experience. In other words, they'll work great with whatever platform you prefer right now, and they'll work great with Matter in the coming years, too.
Among all of them, I'd recommend the two-piece Eero Pro 6E system at its $299 discount price. For the money, you're getting a high-speed mesh system that supports connections over the ultrawide 6GHz band, thanks to Wi-Fi 6E support. Speeds were strong in our tests, as was the system's range, so the two-pack should be enough coverage for most homes (and you can always add a third device later on if needed). At $299, it's priced the same as a two-piece Nest Wifi Pro system, and the Eero Pro 6E outperformed that system by a notable margin in our tests. That, plus strong smart home chops via the built-in Zigbee radio and Thread support, make the Eero Pro 6E an easy router to recommend.
Another great thing about Philips Hue lights is that you can sync them with your computer using the Hue Sync app for PC and Mac. However, you can also sync them with your TV though you will need a Philips Hue Sync Box to do so.
The Sengled Smart LED with Motion Sensor works with Alexa, Google Assistant, and SmartThings. You can get push notifications and trigger other smart home actions when motion is detected using routines, too. However, you'll need to purchase the Sengled Smart Hub, or another compatible smart home hub, to control this bulb.
The Ring Solar Pathlight fixtures offers some of the best smart light bulbs for illuminating your walk from your driveway to your door when it's dark outside. Sengled's similar product might be brighter and less expensive, but Ring's integrates seamlessly with devices like the Ring Video Doorbell 3 Plus and Ring Alarm system. As Ring is owned by Amazon, the Solar Pathlights are also compatible with the Alexa voice assistant, as well as Google Assistant and IFTTT.
The Lifx Mini is one of the best smart light bulbs for smaller fixtures, and not just because it's more compact than the competition. That's because Lifx's app works with Alexa, Google Assistant and HomeKit, and has a great set of features and effects, such as a candle flicker and a strobe, and can sync up to your music or other sounds nearby.
Filament, or "Edison"-style lights are all the rage, as they cast a warm, old-timey glow that's great at setting the mood. Plus they look nicer than traditional LED smart bulbs, and can be paired with exposed lighting fixtures. The TP-Link Kasa Filament WiFi Light Bulb (KL50) are the best smart light bulbs for this purpose; they connect directly to your Wi-Fi (no hub needed), and the Kasa app lets you control them in myriad ways.
Because they all use LEDs, the best smart light bulbs aren't confined to traditional light bulb shapes. Case in point: The Philips Hue Lightstrip. This 80 inch-long strip can display millions of colors, adding a fun accent to cabinets, TVs, or around other pieces of furniture.
You can trim the Philips Hue Lightstrip strip to fit your needs, as well as add up to 40 inches of extensions; adhesive backing makes it easy to stick to a wall or other surface. Like other Philips Hue lights, the LightStrip works with Alexa, HomeKit, Google Assistant, Nest and Samsung SmartThings. However, you'll need to already own a Hue bridge to get these lights to work.
The Govee LED Light Strips are the best smart light bulbs for anyone looking to bring some RGB to their space. Whether you want to revamp your bedroom's aesthetic or illuminate your living area, these light strips are the most affordable light strips that we'd recommend. There are dozens of low-cost light strips available on Amazon, but this is our favorite option.
Though they're not HomeKit compatible, the Govee LED Light Strips work with Alexa and Google Assistant for hands-free voice control. The strips contain a built-in mic that lets the LED lights to sync to your music, while the app has plenty of scheduling and scene features. Like most light strips, these have a wall-safe, adhesive backing, but the pack comes with useful support clips, too.
They're not bulbs per se, but if you want your home to make a statement, the Nanoleaf Shapes is one of the best smart light bulbs out there. The $199 Nanoleaf Shapes light panels are modular hexagon tiles that connect together like custom puzzle pieces, pair to Alexa, Google Assistant or Siri, and provide a healthy dose of chaos to a boring bedroom or work-from-home setup.
We test the best smart light bulbs on a number of criteria, including ease-of-setup, brightness, value and library of features. We compare most bulbs against Philips Hue lights, which are pricey but offer everything you could want out of smart bulbs. Some budget smart bulbs brag that they have a lot to offer, but we only recommend the ones that live up to their claims.
The advent of smart lighting has provided a wealth of new opportunities for tweaking personal health. The right color temperatures and timing can optimize focus during the day and ease sleep schedules at night. Let's dig into the many health factors that smart lighting touches upon.
Philips Hue is a brand most people familiar with the smart lighting scene know and love. It has created a variety of smart lighting options to display in and around the home. Now, the company is expanding its outdoor collection with three new lights: The Inara, the Lucca, and the Resonate.
The Resonate is a black, minimal, rectangular wall light that casts light up and down your home siding. The light beams from the light are shaped in a unique and eye-catching triangular design. The Resonate will be able to display both color and white lights.
You'll typically see smart bulbs categorized by full color, dimmable white, and tunable white (bright white and warm tone options). All the color bulbs we tried have multiple white and warm settings, so if there's any chance you might want to try out colors occasionally, we recommend going with them. If you're buying lighting for an office or other professional space where pink or blue shades would be frowned upon (or you just want the most affordable bulb), we have basic options listed below. 041b061a72