Bargain OSRAM B22 Colour and White Zigbee bulbs under £14

[pinnocchio]

There's a load of these on Amazon at the moment.

The reviews aren't great and I have no personal experience of them, but I managed to order half a dozen about 20 minutes ago when they were £14 each for new ones.

Amazon.co.uk: Buying Choices: Osram Lightify Smart Home Connected Warm White to Day Light Colour Changing LED Light Bulb, RGB, B22d, 10 W, 2700 - 6500 K

Of course as it's Amazon if there's any problems there's no problem backing them.

I'd be interested to hear anyones experience of these Osrams here (I'm in try lots of things out mode at the moment).

 

[Jamie]

What do you plan on using them with, being ZigBee they require a hub of some sort.

If it's a Hue bridge I fear you may be disappointed, at least according to this guide to compatibility.

Supported lights and devices | iConnectHue

Although my gut feeling are any issues would surely be solvable in firmware so that situation may be better now. It'll be interesting to hear your experience.

Interestingly I've tried most of the other options that work with Hue (IKEA and innr) and without exceptions the 3rd party isn't quite as good as a genuine Hue bulb in one way or another

 

[pinnocchio]

I don't believe what they publish on the 'official' ConnectHue site as they have a vested interest in stopping people trying other bulbs, I am using a Hue hub.

I've got a Colour IKEA currently plugged in that is acceptable as a direct replacement for the Hue's, however from a price viewpoint there's no advantage as they insist on selling it with the remote for £35.

I have put some ambiencesque Ikea GU10s in the kitchen and honestly there's no difference in real terms. However pairing a non hue zigbee device is a PITA so I bought some adapters for a lamp so I can pair by the Hub and then install in the target socket.

I will say that the Ikea app is a POS as far as I'm concerned.

Pairing the Hub with any non Philips zigbee device is a lot easier if you use the Hue Essentials app and the Touchlink option therein.

 

[Jamie]

Iconnecthue is a third party app, no reason I'm aware of for them to have a vested interest in selling Hue bulbs. In fact some of the 3rd party developers are even adding extra functionality to help 3rd party bulbs work better in a Hue ecosystem.

I've found d that page to be pretty spot on myself with the alternatives I have tried.

 

[pinnocchio]

OK, received them today and no problems connecting to the Hue Bridge.

I was lucky in that the software on them is up to date as I'd managed to get an Osram gateway elsewhere and it's a pig in a poke to get it setup so far.

However using the bulb reset (5 cycles of 5 seconds on followed by 5 seconds off - bulb flashes once to confirm reset) and using the Touchlink option in the Hue Essentials app with the Hue Bridge next to the bulb the connection was easy and worked first time.

I'm quite impressed with the bulb so far, colour saturation and temperature control is almost as good as the current generation of Hues, except on the green it's a little 'washed out'.

Response time once connected to the Hue Bridge is the same as the Hues, coming on, switching off and adjusting either colour or temperature.

If you've got a need for a slightly cheaper option bulb where you don't need a strong green I'd recommend so far, with one proviso, there's been reports of a higher failure rate of the Osrams then the Hues so only purchase from a reputable seller where you know you can rely on the warranty.

Of course YMMV, but I'm certain I'll happily use these in place of Hues in some, but not all my colour bulb locations.