Home Alone is more than a popular Christmas movie, it’s also a great guide on how we can trick burglars into believing that we’re in our house, even when we’re not. While home security and smart homes have advanced since the movies premiere in November of 1990, there is still a need for looking like we’re home even if we aren’t. One great method of tricking people is by installing smart lights. Here is our list of the best smart lights, and what you can use them for.
What is a Smart Light?
A smart light is technology that was designed for energy efficiency, security and user convenience. Smart lights have high efficiency features and automated controls that make adjustments based on different conditions. Those conditions include occupancy or daylight availability.
Control your smart lights through your phone or through platforms like Amazon Alexa, Siri, or Google Home. You can dim your lights or even change the color depending on which smart bulb you buy. Turning on your lights can be as easy as saying, “Hey Alexa, set living room lights to 30%.”
The best part of smart lights- they aren’t as expensive as you’d think. There are some LED smart bulbs that are $7 a piece. With their energy efficiency, these bulbs will save you money in the long run.
Here is a list of some of the best smart lights to trick people into believing you’re home, even if you’re on vacation.
Philips Hue
Price: $9.99+
The Philips Hue smart lights can come as bulbs, light strips, and lamps. There are accessories that can work with it, including smart buttons, motion sensors, and a hub. These bulbs can adjust by temperature, brightness and color.
These smart lights will work with a smartphone, the hub, or with the Amazon Alexa and Amazon Echo. Therefore, you can control your lightbulbs when you aren’t at home. This can be helpful when on vacation or if you prefer walking into a well-lit home. This lightbulb enhances your everyday life. These lights can gently wake you up in the morning, or give you soft light when you’re ready to slow your day down.
The great thing about the Philips Hue is their dimming features. They have a dimming curve which drops the light faster in the top half of the dimmable range. Therefore, a 70% dim setting is actually only using 50% of the total brightness output. This is just one of the features that makes the Philips Hue one of the best smart lights on the market.
Kasa
Price: $16.99+
The Kasa smart light is a multicolor lightbulb with a wide range of colors, brightness and dimming capabilities.You can choose a light for anything, or for any mood. Unlike the Philips Hue, this smart bulb does not require or work with a hub, instead it just needs to connect to your Wi-Fi.
Once this lightbulb has been set up with your Wi-Fi it can be controlled from anywhere through their smartphone app. (Note: the WiFi must have at least a 2.4 GigaHertz Wi-Fi connection.)
The set up is quick and easy and done in three quick steps.
- Download the Kasa Smart app
- Follow the in-app instructions
- Enjoy!
Since this is controlled through the app, rest assured that you can control your lightbulbs from wherever you are. It also works through Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant or Microsoft Cortana. Your voice assistant can adjust your lights, brightness and color.
Wyze
Price: $7.99+
The Wyze bulb is the cheapest on the list, but don’t count this one out. This is one of the best smart lights for bright, white lights. These lights are packed with white-light color temperature settings and from a warm, candle-light feel at 2,700kilowatt (k) to a whiter daylight tones closer to 6,000k.
There is a built-in WiFi radio built into each bulb, so there is no need for a hub or other hardware to plug into your router. Instead, you can use these lightbulbs with your Alexa, Google Assistant, or If This Than That (IFTTT). Set up for these lightbulbs is exceptionally easy.
- Screw the lightbulbs in
- Turn on the lights
- Pair them with the Wyze mobile app
- Enjoy!
Buy The Best Smart Lights This Holiday Season
Having smart lights can give that appearance that you’re home, or give you a warm, bright home to walk into. Integrating this piece of smart home technology can enhance your daily life at home. For more DIY smart home gadgets to add to your household, read our list of recommendations here.
ONIT has helped families add smart security for decades. We offer services and installation to help make your house a smart home. Contact us today online or call at 1-833-433-0331.