Controlling your lights using your voice may still feel like something out of Back to the Future but getting Alexa controlled lights in your house is actually pretty simple and relatively affordable. In this article we share three options for Alexa controlled lights for your home.
Alexa Controlled Lights with Phillips Hue
Our first choice is the most expensive but also the one we’d recommend the most, the Phillips Hue. Hue have been in the smart home market for a really long time now and alongside their lights working with Alexa devices using the Hue skill they also have an excellent app, HomeKit compatibility for iPhone users and a massive range of lighting including filament style bulbs, spotlight (GU10) bulbs and choices of both white and coloured bulbs.
Philips Hue bulbs are easy to install and can be used without a bridge (but we’d recommend picking up a Hue bridge for the extra functionality) and, if HomeKit compatibility isn’t something you’re bothered by then there’s cheaper Hue-compatible bulbs out there allowing you to use the excellent Hue app and Alexa to control your bulbs whilst spending less.
The only downside of the Philips Hue is the price. The coloured bulbs start at £38 each and the white ones at £14 however, they’re brighter than their competitors and last a really long time whilst also using less electricity than traditional light bulbs (and less than energy saving bulbs).
Alexa Controlled Lights with TUYA
We’ve spoken about TUYA before on Mark’s Tech Blogs because TUYA isn’t a brand of products but an infrastructure used by many budget smart home brands as the app for their devices. This means you can combine different brands all into the same TUYA app (which is also compatible with the Smart Life app).
When looking out for Alexa controlled lights with TUYA compatibility you want to be reading the product descriptions for Smart Life or TUYA. Again, these come in a range of bulb types and can cost as little as just £9 for a coloured bulb making them a much more affordable option.
It’s worth noting that when we’ve tried TUYA compatible smart bulbs before we’ve found that the coloured bulbs aren’t as bright as the Hue bulbs and nor are the white bulbs. They are however energy efficient and work well with Alexa.
Here are our top picks of TUYA bulbs:
Meross Smart Bulbs
Our final pick come in slightly more expensive than the TUYA compatible bulbs but offer great quality and HomeKit compatible Alexa controlled lights for your home. We recently reviewed the Meross smart garage door opener and their products are affordable, well made and easy to use.
Meross offer a smaller range than the other options above but their bulbs are slightly brighter (even with colours) than the cheaper TUYA bulbs and cost around £10 for a coloured bulb. Meross have their own app and Alexa skill both of which are easy to use and work well.
Summary
Jumping into the future with smart lighting and voice control is easy and we’ve shared some great options to get your started. For the person looking to invest for the long run we’d certainly pick the Philips Hue as our favourite but any of the products in this article will help you get Alexa controlled lighting in your budget range.
