

Here’s what you should do: Hue White Ambiance smart bulbs go on sale all the time. If you think they’re too expensive, you’re not alone. However, if you want a completely seamless lighting experience that matches every mood, you can’t go wrong with Philips Hue White Ambiance. If you have cool white light bulbs from a different manufacturer or simply don’t care about color temperatures, you’ll be delighted with Philips Hue White. In fact, most of the standard light bulbs you buy are warm white and not cool white. Philips Hue White isn’t bad by any means. The experience is simply too good to go back. I focus much better under the more suitable Hue White Ambiance. In all honesty, I can’t imagine returning to the old warm white bulb over my desk. You won’t have complete control over your lighting setup, and you’ll have to resort to manually flicking switches to reach the optimal color temperature and brightness. The second option is to stick to the Hue White bulbs and buy some cool white bulbs from another brand (or even the non-smart Philips cool white bulbs). I got an incredible deal on ten Hue White Ambiance bulbs and moved all my lights to the Hue Bridge. I pretty much changed my whole home lighting setup on Cyber Monday. The first option is to simply wait for a huge sale or buy the Hue White Ambiance bulbs one by one. However, if you’re a budget-conscious person like me, then you have two options. If you don’t mind the hefty price tag, you won’t be disappointed with the Hue White Ambiance. Whichever lumen output you choose, you’ll find Philips Hue White and White Ambiance available. This is equivalent to a 100W incandescent bulb! The high lumen 17W LED bulbs are Philips’ brightest bulbs yet, with a lumen output reaching 1600. The medium lumen 10.5W LED bulbs take brightness up a notch, with a lumen output reaching 1100. With more and more people shifting to higher lumen output, you’ll most likely find a better deal on Philips medium lumen smart bulbs. Although still largely functional, competitors like LIFX offer significantly brighter bulbs (1100 lumens) that come at a more affordable price point. The base lumen is the standard 10W Philips smart bulb and produces 800 lumens. Whichever Hue light bulb you buy, you should avoid the base lumen light bulb and go for the medium or high lumen option. The Hue White bulbs are roughly half the price of the Hue White Ambiance. The only issue you’re going to have with Philips Hue White Ambiance is the price (don’t get me started on the Hue Color Ambiance at $50 each!). Is the White Ambiance Worth the Extra Cost? This becomes an issue if you buy bulbs from another company because you won’t have that “seamless” control over your house lighting like before.

However, you can’t rely on the soft, warm white all the time, and you’ll have to buy cool white bulbs to balance it out. The light presets in the app are now indispensable to me, and I use Alexa to control the light setting around my house.ĭon’t get me wrong this was all possible with the Philips Hue White bulbs on their own. Once your whole house becomes equipped with these smart bulbs, the entire experience becomes seamless. It wasn’t until I bought the Philips Hue White Ambiance that I realized what I was missing. When the warm light became overbearing, I used to turn them off and turn on some cool white bulbs instead.

I bought the Philips Hue White smart bulbs and was completely satisfied with them. However, its limitations will start to surface when you need a little bit of cool daylight in your house. This will work just fine in settings where you’re reading a book, going to sleep, or having a relaxing evening. The Hue White Ambiance not only gives you complete control over the white color temperature but also gives you light scene presets to choose from. This means that the warm light bulbs alone will feel out of place at times. Cool white represents the colors as they really are and is much better suited for practical applications. These are times when you want to be alert and focused, not relaxed. You’ll find how valuable the Hue White Ambiance bulbs are when you’re working at your desk, getting ready to go out in the morning, or cooking in the kitchen. The most you can do with the Hue White bulb is to dim the 2700K warm light when it’s too bright. So, does Philips Hue White offer the same features? Unfortunately not. Perfect for evenings and right before you sleep. They’re meant to make you relaxed and at ease. The “Read” and “Relax” presets are on the warmer side of the white light. The “Concentrate” preset takes the color temperature all the way up to 6500K, allowing you extreme focus over the task you have at hand.

Some of the various scenes within the Hue app
