Philips Hue’s Bridge Professional assessment: higher mild

I’ve been a fan of Philips Hue good lights for the reason that early days. It’s one of many few staples in my ever-changing good residence. Nevertheless, when the Bridge Pro launched late last yearit wasn’t instantly apparent why I ought to improve. The signature characteristic, MotionAware — which turns your lights into movement sensors — is neat, however I have already got movement sensors. Whereas I run two of Hue’s commonplace bridges to accommodate all my lights and equipment, I’m not at a degree the place I want the Professional’s greater machine capability. I like the thought of sooner response instances because of the superior processing energy, however that wasn’t fairly sufficient.

Then in April, SpatialAware arrived. This maps the situation of lights in a room to distribute the colours and tones of Hue’s lighting scenes throughout them extra intelligently. Immediately, my present good lights felt new once more. Whereas MotionAware was the headline characteristic when the Professional launched, it’s SpatialAware that lastly bought me on upgrading.

You don’t want a bridge to manage a Hue mild, however utilizing one unlocks extra superior options, together with dynamic lighting. The Bridge Prowhich launched final September, is quicker and extra highly effective than Hue’s commonplace bridge. Its quad-core processor and 1GB of RAM assist speedier response instances for related units, together with MotionAware and SpatialAware, two options that only work on the Pro.

For those who’re already invested in Hue’s ecosystem, upgrading to the $140 Bridge Pro will be significant. It enables you to add as much as 4 MotionAware zones, which might change the necessity to spend $49 a pop on Hue’s standalone motion sensors. It may deal with greater than 150 lights and 50 equipment — thrice the usual bridge’s restrict — which is helpful for those who’re reaching the restrict in your present setup. And it guarantees to be up to five times faster. The problem is the value, significantly within the US, the place it prices 40 percent more than elsewhere (it’s £89.99 within the UK/EU).

Whereas the interoperability commonplace Matter makes it simpler to combine and match good mild manufacturers, there are nonetheless some good causes to stay with a single model. Proprietary options like dynamic lighting, leisure syncing, and now MotionAware and SpatialAware for Hue, can’t be used once you mix merchandise from a number of producers.

Nonetheless, the usual bridge delivers a lot of the identical expertise for much less cash. When the Pro was $98it was a better determination (and you may nonetheless find it at this price — for now), however at $140, it will get trickier. Right here’s how the Bridge Professional’s headline options carried out in my residence.

MotionAware detects movement by sensing disruptions in Zigbee radio signals between Hue units. Within the app, it really works like Hue’s standalone movement sensors, nevertheless it has particular necessities — and if you might want to purchase new {hardware} to fulfill them, it is likely to be simpler to purchase a movement sensor.

The large requirement is three to 4 Hue lights in a room, and so they need to be powered, so my Hue Table lamp within the bed room was a no-go. I had so as to add an additional powered lamp to check it there. The bulbs can also’t be in a straight line, so my toilet, which has a single vainness mild with 4 Hue bulbs, was out of the image.

With the best lights in place, the app walks you thru leaving the room for a number of seconds to calibrate, then enables you to select what occurs when movement is detected: Flip the lights on and off, group with different sensors to manage them, or ship alerts. The final one is a part of Hue SecureHue’s safety system, and prices $1 a month or $10 a yr. For this assessment, I centered on the free characteristic that controls the lights.

As with Hue’s movement sensors, when a MotionAware zone detects movement, you may select to set off totally different scenes or have the lights activate to no matter setting they have been final on. You too can have them flip off after a interval with out movement.

I arrange MotionAware zones within the most-used areas of my residence the place I might set up sufficient Hue lights: my bed room, mudroom/laundry room, front room, and my daughter’s room. Inside a day, I nixed three of these.

The bedrooms have been a nonstarter, as there is no such thing as a weekend choice within the app. I shut it off after the primary Saturday when the lights turned on at 6AM as a result of I rolled over in mattress. Hue’s {hardware} movement sensors additionally don’t have weekend settings, however there are workarounds — together with adding them to other platforms that assist weekend automations. Third-party assist for MotionAware zones is at the moment sparse, however contains Home Assistant and the paid app iConnectHue.

Within the mudroom/laundry room space, I had extra success. The lights turned on reliably, however solely as soon as I used to be midway down the corridor. This was too late if I used to be passing by means of, however okay if I used to be doing one thing within the space. The structure right here was additionally a difficulty; though I’ve 4 lights, they aren’t in perfect spots and are all on the ceiling. A lightweight nearer every entrance would flip it on sooner, however that isn’t potential in these rooms.

I additionally tried MotionAware in my workplace, organising two lamps and one ceiling mild. It was nice at turning on the lights as I approached my desk, however as a result of it’s motion-sensing relatively than presence-sensing, it stored shutting them off whereas I used to be working. For one thing like an workplace, newer, extra correct mmWave presence sensing is a greater resolution, although Hue doesn’t supply it. I additionally had so as to add an additional movement sensor to catch one nook of the room. This had the benefit of bringing the sensor’s bodily mild sensor into the combo however emphasizes that MotionAware isn’t at all times a stand-alone resolution.

I discovered MotionAware labored finest in my front room, a big, open-plan space that’s at all times been a problem to mild. I dislike overhead lighting, so I arrange a mix of ambient and process lights. On this house, I don’t want the lights to activate immediately, and I really like them to fade gently off if I’m sitting nonetheless for some time. Paired with SpatialAware, the lights within the room now really feel acceptable and welcoming all through the day.

Other than the lounge, I don’t see any cause to interchange my movement sensors with MotionAware. It’s slower and fewer dependable, and it suffers from a failure level Hue customers might be all too conversant in: If somebody turns off the sunshine on the swap, the characteristic received’t work.

However for brand spanking new customers, MotionAware makes extra sense. It’s simple to arrange, because it’s constructed into your bulb/bridge combo; no want to purchase little white packing containers to stay round the home that want their batteries changed periodically.

It’s SpatialAwarethe Bridge Professional’s different flagship characteristic, that’s well worth the improve for those who’re an present Hue consumer. Utilizing the Bridge Professional’s superior processing energy and your telephone’s AR capabilities, the Hue app can map the lights in a room and decide one of the simplest ways to distribute the scene’s colours and results throughout them. After I noticed this in action at CESI used to be impressed. Whereas I wasn’t in a position to re-create something fairly nearly as good because the lodge room demo in my own residence, my lighting is noticeably higher than earlier than.

Up to now, I hardly ever used Hue scenes exterior the core scenes like learn and energize, which simply use tunable white lighting (and for these, you solely want Hue’s white ambient bulbs, not its dearer full-color ones). I simply don’t discover multicolored lighting all that compelling indoors, and after I’ve tried Hue’s extra colourful scenes, I’ve been delay by one bulb being pink or purple and one other being inexperienced or orange. However with SpatialAware, I’ve discovered the scenes match significantly better in my house, extra like they have been designed for it. Many made my front room — the place I’ve bought the most important number of lights — a considerably prettier house.

For instance, with out SpatialAware, choosing a scene similar to Woodland Toadstool would lead to a bizarre show the place one lamp was glowing pink, one other yellow, and the sunshine strip was all orange. With SpatialAware, the colour distribution throughout the bulbs is subtler, and the gradient lighting in my setup (two Wall Washers) supplies the stronger pops of coloration in a extra elegant method. The general impact is extra cohesive and pure. I think that if I had extra gradient lights, it will be even higher.

Some scenes didn’t present a lot distinction, however most have been noticeably higher, to the purpose the place I added a pair to my MotionAware zones, so they arrive on when movement is detected at sure instances of day. My husband got here residence one night time and commented on how good the lounge seemed, and the one factor I’d modified was the lighting.

There’s room for enchancment. Just some scenes have been up to date to assist SpatialAware, and the characteristic doesn’t work with zones — teams that may embody lights in several rooms, similar to Downstairs or Night time Lights. So, if I need the identical scene in my mudroom and front room, that are a part of my downstairs zone within the Hue app, I’ve to set them each individually. And as talked about, the impact is finest in rooms with a whole lot of lights, specifically gradient lights that may show a number of colours directly. All of this will get costly shortly.

I’ve beneficial Hue for years for its high-quality lighting, rock-solid reliability, breadth of merchandise, and robust observe file. Different manufacturers have cheaper bulbs and brighter colours, however most have much less vary, none dim as effectively, and Wi-Fi bulbs aren’t as dependable as a Zigbee mesh.

For those who’re on the lookout for super-bright colours and flashier RGB scenes, Govee, Nanoleaf, or Lifx might higher suit your wants for much less cash. However for reliable on a regular basis lighting, Hue has been and stays the gold commonplace. And the Bridge Professional is the primary improve that’s actually modified how I take advantage of Hue lights — SpatialAware took color-changing scenes from a novelty right into a characteristic I want and now use on daily basis.

For me, that’s the rationale to purchase the Bridge Professional, and for those who’re an present Hue consumer with a home stuffed with lights, I strongly suggest it. However for those who’re simply beginning out with Hue, the usual bridge stays a greater worth, providing entry to all of the core options for beneath $70. Except you’re planning to purchase a bunch of lights up entrance, you received’t see sufficient profit from the Professional’s headline options to justify the additional value.

Images and video by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge