Smart lighting is one of the most simple ways to make your home smart. Combine a handful of smart bulbs with a budget Google or Alexa device and you can turn your lights on or off (or dim them) by just using your voice. However, more often than not smart bulbs look…well…like light bulbs.
Enter smart filament bulbs.
It doesn’t matter where you turn at the moment, every hipster bar has plenty of exposed brickwork, piping and filament bulbs. The world of smart bulbs is slowly providing a few options for those who want to combine the beauty of filament bulbs with smart home automation.
Here we share our top picks for smart filament bulbs.
Philips Hue White Filament Bulbs
When you think of smart bulbs Philips Hue is usually the brand that comes to mind. They’re well established, eco friendly and work well with a whole variety of systems.
The Philips Hue White Filament Bulb launch just under 2 years ago and provides a retro look in a smart bulb. You can pick them up with E27 and bayonet (B22) fittings and they look awesome. They come in regular shaped and globe style giving you a variety of choices you can mix and match.
Pro’s
- Bluetooth and Wireless Compatible
- Plenty bright enough
- Nice warm white
- Compatible with Google’s Assistant, Amazon’s Alexa and Siri
- Homekit Compatible
- Great app
Con’s
- Pricier choice
Innr Smart Filament Bulbs
Innr might be a less well-known company but their smart bulbs are making waves and are compatible with Samsung SmartThings as well as Hue meaning you can pretty much link them into whatever smart lighting eco system you already have.
Innr’s bulbs also come with a variety of fittings and are gold with a traditional filament style look. As with Hue they’re super energy efficient as well. These bulbs are stunning and certainly the best looking out of those in this article.
Pro’s
- Compatible with Philips Hue and Samsung Smarthings and Amazon Alexa (bridge required for Hue use)
- Voice control with Alexa and Google
- Look incredible!
- Half the price of Hue bulbs!
Con’s
- No HomeKit or Siri support
Nedis Wifi Smart LED Bulb
Our third and final option (trust us, there are more choices out there but they’re not good choices!) is the WiFi smart bulb from NEDIS.
NEDIS make a variety of filament bulbs that work with E27 fittings and they have a mix of shape options which is great for mixing and matching. They start at £13 and work up to £19 depending on the shape you go for. These bulbs look amazing and equally work with a variety of existing eco systems.
Much like many budget smart home devices they use the TUYA network which means you could add these into your existing TUYA app and get these to work with systems such as TECKIN and Hey, I’m Home. This also means they work with IFTTT, Alexa, Google Home and Siri Shortcuts.
Pro’s
- Compatible with lots of existing systems
- Can be added to existing TUYA apps
- Look great with a variety of shapes
Con’s
- No HomeKit support and don’t work with systems like Philips Hue or Samsung SmartThings.
Which Filament Smart bulb to choose?
In our opinion any one of these three is a great choice but if you’re starting from scratch then the NEDIS let’s you tap into a whole variety of other budget smarthome tech thanks to its use of the TUYA network however if you’re looking to invest we’d certainly favour Philips Hue for it’s functionality.
