Smart Bulb vs. Smart Switch: Which is best for you?

Comparing smart bulbs vs. smart switches on five dimensions — functionality, features, control, installation, and cost — to help you decide what is best for you.

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📘 CHAPTERS
00:00 - Introduction
00:46 - Functionality
01:48 - Features
03:16 - Control
04:47 - Installation
06:02 - Cost
07:20 - Recommendations
09:28 - Final Thoughts

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[mikelander]

Brands like Inovelli and Zooz let you configure your switch in smart bulb mode, which keeps power to your bulbs, and uses automation to turn them on/off. This gives you the best of both worlds.

[TheFakeyCakeMaker]

Thanks for this. It semi answers my question. I don't want the bells and whistles, I basically want to be able to stick a wall switch anywhere in the room and control the lights. I don't want the hassle of wiring a new switch (renting). I am hoping smart switches are what i need but can i pair them to a wall switch?

[bestyav]

Thumbs up bro!! Do you provide mentorship, coaching, consulting or anything like that ?

[holohane]

I’ve a spare bedroom that also currently doubles as a storage area. I use a proximity sensor to turn on the lights when I want to get something from storage which switches the smart bulb off again after no motion for a time. When I have guests, I put the house in guest mode and this disables the proximity sensor and allows the bulb to be switched on and off as required using a smart switch.

[lawrencemanning]

I have multiple solutions in my house, but for rooms with simple pendant lights like bedrooms I have smart bulbs with a smart battery powered Ikea dimmer held over the existing “hard” light switch with a printed mount. Sounds a bit DIY but it actually works very well and looks great. The dimmer clips on with a magnet. Ikea make various battery powered dimmers, 2 way or 4 way. The batteries are good for 1 to 2 years. There are lots of advantages:the hard switch is hidden but is available if you pluck off the dimmer; I can cycle power on the bulb without unscrewing it, which is very occasionally useful. Also, I have all the advantages of a smart bulb vs using a dumb bulb with a smart switch. Using the four way remote I can change temp/colour at the switch. The mount that hold the dimmers screw using the existing screws. One other thing I like is it’s trivial to revert to dumb lighting if we ever sell this place.

For the lounge, which has two by three bulb ceiling lights, I went for a Samotech zigbee dimmer with the existing bulbs. I’m very happy with this solution. It even has power monitoring. One maybe overlooked advantage is it is obvious how to use the dimmer to guests as it looks identical to a dumb dimmer.

For the kitchen I pondered a relay solution but went with smart GU10s and more 4 way remotes over the old switches. It works well. Two zigbee groups control about a dozen spots. So far, no drops.

I use a few relays with the old ugly hard switches. One is in my office, which has a 20W/150W very bright “corn” bulb. Basically you can’t, AFAIK, get smart bulbs of that brightness.

Anyway, thanks for making the video. Hope you and the family are doing well!

[MindForgedManacle]

For me, the solution is mostly obvious: If you need to control lots of lights, get a smart switch (or a smart relay, get an electrician). If few, go with a smart bulb.

My only exception to this is the living room, where I was willing to splurge more on the Phillips Hue 1600 lumen color changing bulbs. People are in there more, it felt worth it.

And really, how likely are you to need or even want more than 1 smart bulb in most rooms? Maybe have 1 color changing bulb in some rooms for a quick notification indicator in most rooms.

[ChrisS-oofl]

You don’t have to use one or the other if your smart enough to use custom firmware. You can use a smart bulb and have the switch turn that bulb on and off without cutting power to it by shutting off the relay. It simply sends a command via MQTT or your preferred protocol to Home Assistant that tells the Bulb to turn off/ on / dim/ or change colors. Then if you use a regular bulb, you can simply jump back into the firmware and reactivate the relay control to turn the bulb on and off. Pretty simple

[gjheydon]

I have been investigating this for the last couple of years, and I have come to the conclusion that you should use both. The problem is that most switches do not allow for a detached mode. (Shelly terminology).
Basically smart lights give you heaps of functionality but they do not very well abide with WAF (Wife approval factor), and generally the wife will just flick the switch off and as you said the lights are no better then a dumb light bulb.
Using just a smart switch give you no real advantage over the smart light as it is still the same light and you can't set t for the situation. Also the biggest problem is that most switches do not support smart light bulbs. Also the majority of smart switches just look ugly and usually have writing on it. Definitely not meeting the WAF standard.
I am currently have dump LED downlights which are dying on me so I am looking to replace them all with smart downlights. However this will then cause the problem with them being turned off. So basically I am going to use the Shelly plus 1/2 behind my switches to allow the lights to be turned on and off like normal and also they will look like normal switches. Since the Shelly has detached mode I can keep the smart lights powered on all the time and use Home assistant to detect the switch and turn on the smart light like a cave man. But power will remain on the smrt light. If there is any fine tuning like dimming lights, changing colours this can be done via voice commands to via apps.
The other thing is that I have mutiple lights on switches on the same room, but I generally have to turn on both to get enough light in one of the area. by doing this when I turn on one light I can also turn on a single light from the other area to add the other areas brightness.
I think that most switches have got it wrong, and should allow the physical switch to operate separately from the relay. They should not be connected at the board level. I remember a LTT episode when Linus was trying to get a smart bulb to work behind an expensive switch he has and it just wouldn't do it.

[lock.in_]

Not even trying to be funny, I thought you were harry mack

[ZenHulk]

Neither unless you identify as Millennial dummy or Genz Really lost. SMRT lighting is the only thing that could be considered smart in a home. Power outage everything comes on and was told by a neighbor while on vacation my lights were on for 2 weeks everyone. Plus they loose internet same problem, i have never had a smart bulb that didn't loose connection 40 times a month not a lie. There is nothing smart about them, been coding since 1982, been building robots as a profession since 1992, nothing you're doing is smart, just lines of code.