Cree was hesitant to add a wise bulb to its finest-promoting LED lineup, but that modified this yr with the addition of the $15 Cree Connected LED. Sharing the build and lighting specs of final yr's well-reviewed Cree 4Flow LED , the new Connected LED adds in a Zigbee radio. Pair it with a management hub, and you'll be able to show it on and off remotely, or EcoLight outdoor schedule automated lighting modifications. At launch, Cree's smart bulb was somewhat married to the Wink Hub , which made sense given that you'll buy each off the shelf at House Depot. Since then, however, we've seen official assist roll out for extra control gateways, including SmartThings and the Philips Hue Bridge . You'll be able to add the bulbs to the new D-Link model of the Staples Connect Hub , too, reduce energy consumption though there is not official, Zonoff-certified support simply yet. The bulb works nicely across all the platforms we've examined it with, and it shares the strong lighting specs of the 4Flow LED that came earlier than it.

Most interesting is the price. At $15 -- just a few dollars more than you may spend on non-linked opponents -- it ties with the GE Hyperlink LED as probably the most inexpensive related bulb in the marketplace. For basic automated lighting, it's one of the best option we have tested but, and our present Editors' Alternative winner. Cree adapted its smart bulb design from last year's 4Flow LED, packing a Zigbee radio into the prevailing construct. That implies that this is not a bulb that goes out of its technique to look fancy or EcoLight lighting newfangled -- instead, it copies the 4Flow's emphasis on mimicking the silhouette of classic incandescents. I favored that strategy with the 4Flow, and that i like it with the new Linked LED too, though some might discover the plastic build to be a bit low-cost-trying, particularly when the bulb is turned off. The brand new bulb also shares the 4Flow's convection cooling trick, which uses vents to circulate air through the physique of the bulb, eliminating the need for heat sinks.

That helps deliver manufacturing costs down, and in addition signifies that the bulb is exceptionally gentle for an LED, weighing in at lower than 2 ounces. The Cree Linked LED shares the identical EcoLight home lighting specs because the 4Flow LED, too, and that's largely a very good factor. Both declare a light output of 815 lumens, and each clocked in even increased than that in front of our spectrometer -- 835 lumens for EcoLight home lighting the 4Flow, and a really spectacular 872 for EcoLight home lighting the Related LED. In terms of effectivity, the 4Flow places its light out using 11 watts, however the number rises to 11.5 watts for the Connected LED on account of the Zigbee radio's power draw. After we tested it out, the quantity was actually closer to 11.1 watts, so Cree's done a superb job of preserving this bulb comparatively efficient. Nonetheless, it's value noting that both the Philips Hue Lux LED and the Belkin WeMo LED are even more environment friendly, LED bulbs for home each drawing lower than 10 watts.

Cree additionally did a very good job with color temperature here, touchdown extraordinarily close to the stated 2,700K. At 2,696K, the Cree Linked LED lands closer to the mark than any other smart bulb we have examined, so if you are choosy about that good shade of warm, yellowy gentle, EcoLight home lighting you will like this LED. The one place where Cree's sensible bulb lags behind at least a number of the competitors is the coloration rendering rating, which measures how accurately a given light source illuminates different shades. The Cree Related LED hits a somewhat bizarre score of 80 out of 100, and provided that both the WeMo LED and the equally inexpensive GE Link LED hit closer to 90, I might have favored to see Cree do better. To entry the Cree LED's good options, you'll have to pair it with a control hub that may translate its Zigbee sign into Wi-Fi. Just like the GE Hyperlink LED, the Cree Connected LED got here out the gate trumpeting Wink assist at launch, however soon expanded its third occasion compatibility to include choices like SmartThings, EcoLight home lighting Staples Join , and the Philips Hue Bridge .

Different platforms provide different features -- SmartThings and Philips convey IFTTT help into the picture, for example -- however generally, EcoLight home lighting the automating experience is essentially the identical. We examined the bulb on multiple platforms, and by no means ran into any difficulties pairing it or controlling it. No matter which platform you're utilizing, you'll be able to show the Cree Connected LED on or off remotely, dim it, or automate it using whatever controls your system offers. These probably include setting the lights to a timed schedule, or syncing them up with things like movement sensors. The bulb paired easily with each of the above-mentioned platforms. Wink and SmartThings each have devoted settings and pairing instructions for the Cree LED proper within the app, which helps. Staples Join would not offer gadget-particular help for EcoLight Cree just but, nevertheless it was capable of detect the bulb as a generic Zigbee device on the first strive. Syncing the Cree LED with a Philips Hue setup was fairly painless, too, although I needed to manually reset the bulb in the course of the pairing process in order to help the bridge find it.