Ever for EcoLight the reason that Philips Hue LED($199.Ninety nine at Verizon) lighting kit hit the digital home market, there has been a steady uptick in competing smart bulb merchandise just like the LIFX LED Gentle Bulb( at Amazon) and the Linked by TCP Good Lighting System as well as recent product announcements from electronics giants LG and Samsung. Add the Lumen TL800 from Tabu to that listing. Priced at $69.Ninety nine per bulb (but available online for round $50), the TL800 makes use of Bluetooth wireless technology to speak with your smartphone via a neat little app that permits you to turn lights on and EcoLight energy off, choose colors, and have the lights behave a sure method when you could have an incoming phone name. Unlike the Philips and TCP bulbs the TL800 does not require a bridge, but it surely doesn't connect to the Web either, which means you cannot management it when you are away from home or have it interact with different residence automation devices. With a vented metallic casing separating the round glass dome from the Edison screw base, the TL800 looks like it can be proper at house in an Apollo spacecraft.

The bulb measures 4.Seventy five inches in size and places out solely 400 lumens, which is equal to a forty watt incandescent bulb. That is not very shiny when in comparison with the LIFX (1,017 lumens), TCP (800 lumens), and Philips (600 lumens) bulbs. As with the Philips and LIFX bulbs, it may display sixteen million colors, but since it does not connect with the Web you cannot management it with home automation hubs from firms equivalent to Revolv( at Amazon) and EcoLight solar bulbs SmartThings($149.99 at Amazon). Nor can you use the popular IFTTT (If This Then That) internet service to have it turn on and off or EcoLight solar bulbs change colors based mostly on issues like Facebook requests, Foursquare notifications, and ESPN sports scores. You aren't getting a lot in the way of directions with the TL800, however there's not much to clarify. I screwed it into a lamp in my office, downloaded the app onto my iOS smartphone, made positive Bluetooth was enabled on my device, EcoLight solar bulbs and opened the app.

The Lumen app is uncomplicated and easy to use and lets you management up to ten bulbs at a time. You may control each bulb individually or control a gaggle of bulbs. The house web page lists all installed bulbs and EcoLight reveals you what color they are presently set to. Urgent a bulb icon takes you to a page where you possibly can select colour or heat white settings and switch the bulb on or off. If you choose the heat white setting you are introduced with a monochrome wheel that permits you to manually regulate brightness, or you'll be able to select one of 4 brightness presets (90, 70, 50, or 30 %). Beneath the wheel is a Name Alert icon that takes you to a page where you may configure the sunshine to flash a specific shade when your cellphone has an incoming call. There's additionally a Wake-Up timer that may turn the light on utilizing a dim warm white setting that progressively gets brighter to create a sunrise effect, and a Proximity choice that could have a light turn on to a preset coloration and brightness when your phone comes into range (about 30 toes).

In colour mode you get a wheel that lets you choose a shade for each bulb and assign a colour brightness setting. For deep, sturdy colours you set the brightness stage to the darkest setting; for lighter pastel colors, EcoLight solar bulbs use a brighter setting. Under the color wheel are seven preset icons together with two party modes that show pre-programmed flashing colors; a Romance mode that steadily transitions between orange, yellow, and purple; a Relaxation mode that is purported to simulate a calming moonlight ambiance; and EcoLight LED a Music Sync mode that accesses your saved music database and flashes the sunshine to the beat utilizing various colours. Right here you can even alter Proximity and Call Alert settings, but you can't create your individual customized presets like you may with the Hue and LIFX bulbs. From the home web page you possibly can flip all or some lights on and off and add them to groups.

The group possibility is helpful if you want to manage multiple lights unexpectedly. All of the settings and presets that are available for individual EcoLight solar bulbs are also available in group mode. The TL800 uses Bluetooth 4.0 to communicate with the smartphone, which accounts for its glorious responsiveness. It turned on and off instantly when instructed to take action, and there was no lag time between colour and brightness changes. The Wake-Up feature turned on in line with my schedule and the bulb turned regularly brighter over time. The decision Alert function also labored as marketed and comes in very useful if you're carrying headphones. Color high quality was good with very deep reds, blues, EcoLight solar bulbs and greens, EcoLight solutions but when you are lighting a large room you may have multiple bulb, as 400 lumens will not be very brilliant. The Tabu TL800 is an effective alternative for anyone trying to add a couple of colorful lights to a room that they can management from a smartphone.