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The life expectancy is notably short, as well, at just 13.7 years—half that of the other bulbs we tested. The 1,200-lumen Ring Solar Floodlight doubles the output of the Ring Floodlight Battery. The floodlight is designed to be mounted on an exterior wall, but since this solar-powered light is wire-free, you can even put it on a tree, as long as it gets plenty of sun. (Ring also sells a hardwired version, if you already have an existing fixture.) We found both models to be bright but overly sensitive to motion and less attractive than any other fixture on our list. I first started testing smart-home devices back when the only smart-home devices were X10. Over the past 15 years, I’ve had my hands on everything from remotes and security cameras to AV receivers and smart light switches.
Nestlé has revamped Lean Cuisine, and Stouffer’s while introducing a more dietary-personalized version, Life Cuisine. Microwave-ready frozen meals demonstrate that for some people even a meal kit is too much effort. The new definition of DIY revolves around the effort we are willing to expend to feel we created something on our own. As we learned in the 1950s, it is about how we define “made from scratch.” Does baking a cake from scratch mean we need to start with the individual ingredients?
Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance Calla Bollard
More than anything, smart lighting is just convenient—you no longer need to worry about entering a dark house, falling near a dark swimming pool, stumbling by the trash cans, or wondering where the edge of the driveway is. A. At The Home Depot, we know our DIYers look for easy-to-install and convenient solutions. Hubspace was created to make the convenience and sustainability benefits of Smart Home products available to anyone with a smart device and an internet connection – with no hub necessary and at an affordable price. Smart Home can be an intimidating space for some customers, Hubspace was designed to simplify the experience and to allow all customers the enjoy the benefits of Smart Home products. Home Depot plans to expand its line of Hubspace products, so it’s safe to assume more smart home devices will be added in the future. We dismissed Array by Hampton BR30 LED Flood Light Bulbs because their light output as measured by a meter was comparatively low—and even the specs list them at 760 lumens, or 440 lumens less than the rating of the Cree bulbs.
Smart devices can make any backyard easier to maintain, more functional, and simply more fun. Rachel Cericola is a senior staff writer at Wirecutter who has been covering smart-home technology since the days of X10. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Wired, Men’s Health, USA Today, and others. She hopes her neighbors read this bio because it would explain why she always has four video doorbells running simultaneously outside her home. Every brand’s category will probably have a different assessment of the extent to which we are willing to do-it-ourselves. Keeping aware and ahead of this evolving definition of do-it-yourself is one of the challenges of brand leadership marketing.
Security and privacy: How our picks compare
The following are the existing product categories that are available with Hubspace. Wirecutter long-term tests all of its picks, including keeping track of hardware and software incidents. Should we find any privacy or security issues with any of our selected models, we’ll report them here and, if necessary, update or alter our recommendations. Philips Hue bulbs are our indoor upgrade pick, and the Philips Hue PAR38 Outdoor White Bulb is a good choice for anyone who has that system. It works with Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple HomeKit, as well as everything under the Hue umbrella, making it perfect for those looking to sync a larger smart-home setup.
The housing disappears in the darkness, leaving just the illuminated portion highlighted. We were able to create colored mixtures to match patio furniture and to add a touch of color to shrubbery, and we can see how it would work to highlight a holiday-season theme. The Ring Solar Pathlight provides light anywhere you need it—and, thanks to an integrated solar panel, it doesn’t need to be connected to power. It offers scheduling, snooze options, and the ability to link with other Ring lights and devices.
Security, privacy, and smart outdoor lighting
For certain situations, we are willing to let someone else do the task for us. For other situations, we are willing to cede the work, such as meal preparation, comparison-shopping for airline or hotel prices, or at-store pick-up.
The Hue Calla Bollard connects to a power supply that supports up to five lights. A. The Hubspace app was designed with the ability to support products from all the aisles of The Home Depot. The device is designed to be hard-wired into your home, and once installed, you can remotely control any device that’s plugged into the outlet. Currently, ceiling fans are the largest product category in the Hubspace lineup, with close to 40 different options available.
Best for lighting up a party
I’ve also written articles for The New York Times, Wired, Woman’s Day, Men’s Health, and USA Today, among others. We asked a Home Depot spokesperson why consumers should use this app to control their smart home products instead of Alexa or Google Home to be sure we weren’t missing something. The Calla Bollard doesn’t have a built-in motion sensor, but Philips Hue does offer a separate outdoor sensor, which you can use to configure your lights to automatically turn on when someone or something walks by. Both Philips and Cree say that customer data isn’t shared at all with third parties for marketing purposes; Ring says that customers can elect to opt out of data sharing in the control center of the Ring app. If you want to make the jump from dull lighting to smart lighting, here are some easy ways to get started. If you’ve shopped online or in-store at Home Depot lately, you may have noticed a new logo popping up on certain products.
Smart outdoor lighting allows you to turn lights on and off from almost anywhere using a smartphone app, as well as to set them to operate automatically based on schedules, motion sensors, or triggers that you program in the app. Just like indoor smart lights, outdoor ones can integrate into a system to work with a variety of other smart devices, such as security cameras, sensors, and alarm systems. The floodlight-style Cree Lighting Connected Max PAR38 is the least expensive outdoor bulb we reviewed, yet it’s also one of the brightest.
Each of these devices comes with a privacy policy that, as you may have experienced, is difficult for the layperson to parse. During our testing, we read each of the privacy policies for our picks, specifically looking for sections that strayed from what we consider to be standard in the category. Inexpensive and easy to use, the Connected Max PAR38 connects to Wi-Fi, has attractive features, and measures as bright as bulbs that cost twice as much. These fans come in a variety of sizes and styles, and you’ll be able to turn them on/off and create automatic schedules for them via your smartphone or voice commands. Many popular Hampton Bay ceiling fans are now available with smart features, which gives you more ways to control their operation. Hubspace is currently available on more than 40 devices at Home Depot, including options for virtually every space in your home.
Smart outdoor lighting takes things to another level by adding automation, remote control, and other convenience features. We found the best outdoor smart bulbs, sconces, path lights, and spotlights for every scenario. Hubspace is currently available on a variety of smart lighting products, including both permanent fixtures and light bulbs.
You can use the smart platform to control Commercial Electric recessed lights, and several other lighting options for both indoors and outdoors. Putting out just 50 and 35 lumens, respectively, the Ring Solar Steplight and the battery-powered Ring Steplight are the least powerful outdoor smart lights we tested. Designed for stairs where you don’t need an intense burst of light, these steplights work great. But they are mainly just for accent lighting and have the same drawbacks as Ring Pathlights, including the inability to stay on at full power continuously. OK, so there’s no hub required and you can control third-party devices from one app, which seems like it would add some convenience if you’ve got a ton of mismatched smart home brands in your collection but don’t want to set up a hub. But there are plenty of smart home products that users can control via the product’s own smart home app.
We looked at all of the smart outdoor lighting options that are currently available by searching online reviews, retailers, and manufacturer websites. Many outdoor lighting devices are similar, so we whittled the group down to what we thought was worth testing based on online feedback, useful features, and price. We also eliminated outdoor lighting fixtures with integrated cameras, since we cover those in our outdoor security cameras guide. If you hate it when outdoor lights remain on all day, you have concerns about home security, or you just want to enhance the look of your yard or garden, smart lighting can be a great all-in-one choice.
