Cree was hesitant to add a sensible bulb to its greatest-selling LED lineup, however that changed this year with the addition of the $15 Cree Linked LED. Sharing the construct and lighting specs of last yr's well-reviewed Cree 4Flow LED , the brand new Connected LED adds in a Zigbee radio. Pair it with a control hub, EcoLight energy and EcoLight energy you'll be in a position to show it on and off remotely, or schedule automated lighting adjustments. At launch, Cree's sensible bulb was considerably married to the Wink Hub , which made sense given that you'll buy each off the shelf at Residence Depot. Since then, nevertheless, we've seen official support roll out for additional control gateways, together with SmartThings and the Philips Hue Bridge . You'll be able to add the bulbs to the new D-Hyperlink model of the Staples Join Hub , too, although there is not official, Zonoff-certified help just but. The bulb works properly throughout all of the platforms we have examined it with, and it shares the robust lighting specs of the 4Flow LED that came before it.

Most appealing is the price. At $15 -- just some dollars greater than you'll spend on non-connected opponents -- it ties with the GE Link LED as essentially the most cheap linked bulb on the market. For basic automated lighting, EcoLight energy it is the very best possibility we have tested yet, and our current Editors' Alternative winner. Cree tailored its sensible bulb design from final yr's 4Flow LED, packing a Zigbee radio into the prevailing build. That means that this is not a bulb that goes out of its strategy to look fancy or newfangled -- as a substitute, it copies the 4Flow's emphasis on mimicking the silhouette of basic incandescents. I favored that strategy with the 4Flow, EcoLight outdoor and that i prefer it with the brand new Linked LED too, though some would possibly discover the plastic construct to be a bit cheap-trying, especially when the bulb is turned off. The brand new bulb also shares the 4Flow's convection cooling trick, which makes use of vents to circulate air by the body of the bulb, eliminating the need for EcoLight outdoor heat sinks.

That helps carry manufacturing costs down, EcoLight energy and in addition signifies that the bulb is exceptionally gentle for an LED, weighing in at less than 2 ounces. The Cree Related LED shares the identical lighting specs because the 4Flow LED, too, and that is largely an excellent factor. Both claim a mild output of 815 lumens, and each clocked in even greater than that in front of our spectrometer -- 835 lumens for the 4Flow, and a really impressive 872 for the Connected LED. In terms of efficiency, the 4Flow places its mild out using 11 watts, but the quantity rises to 11.5 watts for the Connected LED on account of the Zigbee radio's power draw. Once we examined it out, the number was really nearer to 11.1 watts, so Cree's done an excellent job of conserving this bulb relatively efficient. Still, it's price noting that each the Philips Hue Lux LED and the Belkin WeMo LED are much more environment friendly, every one drawing lower than 10 watts.

Cree also did an excellent job with shade temperature right here, touchdown extremely close to the acknowledged 2,700K. At 2,696K, the Cree Related LED lands nearer to the mark than some other good bulb we have tested, so if you are picky about that perfect shade of heat, yellowy light, you will like this LED. The one place the place Cree's sensible bulb lags behind no less than a number of the competition is the shade rendering rating, which measures how precisely a given mild supply illuminates totally different shades. The Cree Linked LED hits a reasonably abnormal score of eighty out of 100, and provided that each the WeMo LED and the equally cheap GE Hyperlink LED hit closer to 90, I would have preferred to see Cree do higher. To entry the Cree LED's sensible options, you'll need to pair it with a control hub that can translate its Zigbee signal into Wi-Fi. Like the GE Link LED, the Cree Related LED got here out the gate trumpeting Wink support at launch, however quickly expanded its third celebration compatibility to include options like SmartThings, Staples Connect , EcoLight dimmable and LED bulbs for home the Philips Hue Bridge .

Completely different platforms supply different features -- SmartThings and Philips convey IFTTT help into the picture, EcoLight energy as an illustration -- but usually, the automating expertise is largely the identical. We tested the bulb on multiple platforms, and by no means ran into any difficulties pairing it or controlling it. Regardless of which platform you're using, EcoLight energy you may be ready to turn the Cree Linked LED on or off remotely, EcoLight energy dim it, or automate it using whatever controls your system gives. These likely embody setting the lights to a timed schedule, or syncing them up with issues like movement sensors. The bulb paired easily with every of the above-mentioned platforms. Wink and SmartThings each have devoted settings and pairing directions for the Cree LED proper within the app, which helps. Staples Join doesn't supply machine-specific assist for Cree just but, but it was able to detect the bulb as a generic Zigbee gadget on the first attempt. Syncing the Cree LED with a Philips Hue setup was fairly painless, too, although I wanted to manually reset the bulb through the pairing process in order to assist the bridge discover it.