Gadgetory

hey I'm seen that's right Chris here with the Cree connected led our editors choice winner in the smart LED category we first reviewed this bulb back in January and liked it quite a bit it got an 8.5 out of 10 work with the wink platform at launch and did quite a nice job on that platform it would turn on and off when you came and when it would turn on and off on a schedule you could control it remotely from the app all that works perfectly but we didn't like that it works just with wink at lunch she wanted more official partners well in the months since we've seen those partners emerge first up with smart things which added official support for cree LED zin last month you can also control it on staples connect now with official support coming in the next month or two and you can control it using the Philips hue bridge so if you've got color changing hue lights and you want a slightly less expensive option to add to your setup these work well when I say less expensive that's exactly what I mean these are $15 lights that's about as cheap as smart lights get fact that's exactly as cheap as smart light let's get Philips hue Lux bulbs cost 30 apiece well can we moe bulbs cost 30 apiece this is one of the few options that's really come down to an accessible price point it ties the GE link LED at 15 but I think this one works a little better with the platforms that we've tested both on may be a little laggy R there on the wink of but you've got other options now which is really important the other options also bring in new features and functionality for instance the Philips hue bridge and the smartthings hub are both IFFT compatible they have if channels so you add V bulb to these hubs you can control it using if you can't do that with wink beyond those connected features this is a very good bulb draws eleven point five watts and puts out 815 lumens of light at 2700 K that's a nice yellowy color temperature and when you turn it on you can barely tell that it's not incandescent it's got that same silhouette and that's the cree 4 flow design at play it's the bulb from last year the dumb version of this bulb that creep it out the same design here with the cree connected LED i think it looks pretty good some people might not like that when the bulbs back off it's got kind of a plasticy look there's no glass but all in all I like this design if you decide to go with a more expensive competitor like Phillip C Lux or Belkin Wemo LEDs you might notice a slight bump in color rendering capabilities maybe a little bit better efficiency but not enough of a jump to justify the price increase those cost twice as much per bulb as decreed bold throughout fitting all homes worth of light you're gonna want something a little more affordable the Cree bulb also does a better job connecting and automating of these platforms than the equally price to GE link LED all in all that adds up to a pretty terrific value the best option that we've seen in the smart lighting category yet and that makes this bulb the winner of our editor's choice thanks for watching check out the rest of our reviews at cnet.com for seen at appliances I'm right