In the context of the numerous announcements this week, one little thing has unfortunately been somewhat overlooked. However, in case of an emergency, this little thing could be worth its weight in gold for all of us. From October, Philips Hue will finally offer spare parts for its products.
“Lose a power cable in a move? Need new mounts for your Play gradient lightstrip? ” writes Philips Hue on its website. “Find the replacement parts you need to extend the life of your Philips Hue products.”
We have several of their items. I’d recommend all of the ones I’ve tried. Strip below the couch for mood lighting. Bulbs all over (a few we’ve had for about a decade and still going strong). Some bar lights behind the tv lighting. And my partner uses one of the stand alone spotlight ones (I don’t remember the name). I’d rebuy all of the stuff we’ve gotten from them. Our apartment has terrible electrical and we’ve had almost all our bulbs blow that came with it. After being fed up with having to have maintenance visit so often because the ceilings are higher than we can reach, we just use the hue.
I just wish the app was better. They could simplify it a lot. In particular I find it’s kind of a pain to set scenes.
In my last house, I had the hue bridge implemented into homeassistant. All light bulb names and rooms/groups and scenes synced with whatever was established on the hub. Gave me the reliability of the hue hub and the flexibility of homeassistant.
It definitely requires more patience to tinker with and get set up, but I highly recommend anyone who is motivated to give it a try!