Philips Hue Smart Plug for Hue Smart Lights, Bluetooth & Hue Hub Compatible
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Tim McGrail
> 3 dayHue switches (and devices) are just too expensive. That being said they are very reliable. This switch is the first device from hue that’s actually worth the price. You can actually control 5 lights from one switch. The 4 buttons and the rotary ring can each turn on and off lights separately. There is a little work to figure how to turn on and off a light with a simple alternating short press it by default wants a short press to turn on and a long press to shut off. This is because a second short press (and third and forth) wants to change scenes. It is possible to make it short press on short press off you just have to play with the settings and it not too intuitive. The only other head scratcher is the ring can only be program to one light ( one that has a button programmed to it or a separate 5th light). I figured there would be a setting where the ring would follow whatever light you turned on but no luck. Maybe it will come with a future update. Also there is no way to configure the sensitivity of the ring so it takes too many turns to turn a light fully on and off. Again maybe a future update (are you getting my hints Phillips). Other than these minor downsides the switch is very reliable and convenient and the battery life seems to be good unlike the single button switch for which I must stock up on batteries. I’ll update this if something changes.
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Anthony
> 3 dayWorks well. Sticks to the wall and the remote itself is magnetized, which is a really nice touch. The instructions are a little outdated however, but once I looked them up on hues website setup was very quick.
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Robbie McDonald
> 3 dayMy product was missing a piece so I contacted Phillips Support. They were very responsive and have a terrific warranty program
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Skubidu
> 3 dayIve been a VERY happy owner of the 1st version of this device. I keep it on my refrigerator to control all of the lights in the kitchen. This is due to the fact that the wall switch is in an inconvenient location. When I saw this new version I thought I would update. And while the addition of having a dedicated button for light themes, the omission of dedicated magnets on the base mean that you cannot simply put this new version on a steel surface. To get the same functionality, you would have to remove the base, then the magnets on the remote will work fine. Nice and strong. Caveat, the remote on the old original version was not magnetic and so the base was required. While this post no problem for me as I prefer to have the base remain where it was, the new version allows you to discard the base entirely and simply place the remote on whatever steel structure you have. The benefit there, is a smaller footprint for the switch. I still prefer to have the magnets on the base and be able to pull the remote off, but that is a personal preference. The old switch and base were thicker quality plastic, glossy. The new is matte finish and feels thin and flimsy, but Im sure thats to allow the magnets in the remote to get through to whatever steel surface you may be using. Its a small detail but that just means that I would either have to store the cheap, flimsy, plastic base somewhere or discard it and hope I dont need it in the future. But for those who are using the adhesives on the back to stick on a wall, this is a non-issue for you. The integration was incredibly quick. When I opened the Alexa app on my phone, it had already detected the new device and asked me to configure. The process was quick and painless, select the group, room, or lights and rename. That was it. All in all this is a solid update, I just would prefer that the base was not so light, flimsy, and cheap. All in all, a great quality product and one that I definitely recommend. If Amazon allowed I would give it 4.5 Stars out of 5.
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Lin D
> 3 dayAlmost all the lights in my house are Hue, and are managed by Alexa, turn on... Or ...turn off... Rooms are living room, kitchen, guest room. I have a couple of visitors who cannot turn on or turn off anything. Even when I set up routines like Alexa, good morning. Ive had wifi switches that worked nicely, but when I went to get more, they were no longer made. So when Philips Hue came out with this switch, with the top button a simple on-off, and a pair of buttons for brighter or dimmer, I got a couple. Easy to set up, easy to stick to the wall, and does exactly what I want. Stuck next to the regular light switch, with A SIGN saying Push Top Button For Lights On/Off. So I got several more. Now I dont have to turn regular light switches back on after guests leave. The hardest part was figuring out what scenes to program into the bottom button when there are five options and one room only has three scenes. Yeah, the whole setup was easy.
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Ugali
Greater than one week4 buttons, 1 dial. Each can be used to control a room or zone. Or, they can control one room or zone, using each button/dial to set scenes. I have already installed 4. They are great for zones or rooms that are visible from where you control the dial. I have a dial near my bed to control my bedside lamp, bathroom, sitting room and kichenette. I have another one at my door to control the same 4 zones. I also have 2 in my kitchenette: 1 to control the lights in all 4 zones and the other to control my kitchen equipment. Basically, I can control all lights from any zone using the dial, just like a phone would. If you are bothered by smudges on your switch, avoid the black one. They all work flawlessly!
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Grant B
> 3 dayI use this plug for my Christmas tree lights. It works great I can use my voice to turn the tree lights off and on. Im a little bit trashy so writing this review now in May my Christmas tree is still up and I still turn the lights on every night using voice commands to my Alexa Amazon echo thing that control my array of Philips hue products. Im not sure what I will use this plug for if I ever get around to taking my tree down. at this point its as close to next holiday as as last holiday so I may as well just let it ride and maybe take it down in 2024.
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NorCaliTechie
> 3 dayNot a normal reviewer. But this product is new, I was excited and a major let down. So I thought I would help you save some cash. 1. This module is “Battery Powered”. It does NOT use the power of the existing house wall switch. 2. Battery claims 5 years, so every 5 years you will spend a DAY removing all wall plates/switches and changing batteries. 3. It cost $40. A Phillips Hue wall switch cost $25 (which doubles as a removable magnetic remote) , and does the same thing, and supports dimming, and all Hue features. Far more features your house switch cannot do, even with this $40 module. 4. This Hue switch module will have you bypass your house switch wiring and connect your house wiring together with a provided wire nut, then connect the module to the house wall switch. THAT’S IT! So, save your money and do what I am about to do (after I return these Hue switch modules to Amazon). 1. Remove your house wall switch completely. 2. Connect the house switch wiring together (same as this module requires). 3. Spend $25 + $5 ($30) for a Hue Wall switch and 3D printed switch cover that works with the Hue wall switch. The $25 wall switch also uses a battery that needs replacing every 3 years (I own 4-5 currently). 4. And now, you have a Hue wall switch that looks nice with your “made for Hue 3D printed switch plate cover”. You have the SAME EXACT SOLUTION PHILLIPS IS OFFERING WITH THIS $40 PRODUCT. WOW! Love Hue, I own 20 of the multi-color lights, wall switches, motions sensors, etc. LOVE THEM. But this new “module” is poorly executed. Does NOT use house power (require battery). Required rewiring your house wires to bypass your wall switch. $40!!!!!! Again, the $25 Hue wall switch does the same thing. You can stick it to the wall next to your house switch, or bypass the house switch, and buy a $5 3D printed wall plate that your $25 Hue switch can use, and it supports all Hue features. This module DOES NOT support all Hue features. Sorry Phillips, but this product was LAZY! Try again. Final comment = Phillips Hue claims to be partnered with Lutron. $40? Why not make a replacement switch that can use the house power (no battery)? That would be worth $40, maybe $50. I spent days, weeks, searching for something like this. And this module was the best Phillips could think of????? Phillips, please make your own integrated wall switch, or use your partnership with Lutron to make it for you.
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David Thompson
> 3 dayI wanted to like this product. Unfortunately, Philips switch module has some problems. For background, I have a ton of the Hue products, and I love the Philips Hue brand. But this is one of the rare exceptions where I think they have really missed the mark. Lots of other reviewers have covered the basics, so I wont rehash that information too much. This thing is NOT terrible, which is why I still gave it 3 stars. The switch module isnt too hard to set up, and it USUALLY works as advertised. I think they are on the right track, if they could address a few issues, described below. PROBLEM- Switch does not work reliably. The switch module intermittently fails to respond at all. The lights will not turn on/off, as though the message had never been sent to the hub. I can try again, flipping the switch back and forth, but once it gets stuck like this, the switch module will usually not work correctly for the next 10-20 seconds, no matter how many times you flip the switch. I have isolated the problem, and it is definitely an issue with the switch module- The exact same lights respond immediately when I pull out my phone in frustration, to turn the lights on or off from the app. This same problem DOES fix itself automatically though. When I try to use the same switch later that day, it will usually work, without me having to fix anything myself. As an engineer myself, I tried to do my own troubleshooting first. But I have been unable to figure out a specific pattern, or any likely cause for these intermittent problem. Maybe the switch goes into some sort of sleep mode to save battery power, and doesnt properly wake up? It shouldnt be a range issue. This switch module isnt too far from the hub, certainly much closer than several of my other Hue lights. I suppose it could be a signal/interference problem... but I dont have this same problem with any other smart home stuff in my house. Maybe I have really unlucky timing, and my neighbor is always using their microwave at the exact moment I try to flip my light switch? Maybe my switch covers are secretly made of Faraday cages? PROBLEM- Switch configuration is based on toggles, not state. This is much less severe than the reliability problem above, but is nonetheless still a pretty annoying design flaw. Basically, you can configure the switch to either change scenes or toggle on/off. The problem, is that the Hue Switch module use physical changes of the switch position as a signal back to the Hue hub. Why is that a problem? Because it results in some weird inconsistencies, whenever the switch misses a message (which happens relatively frequently). Sometimes the up position means off, sometimes it means on. I would much rather have the option to configure the switch for something like When I flip the switch to UP, go to scene A. When I flip the switch to DOWN, go to scene B. Instead, you are stuck with When I change the switch, go to the other scene. I understand why they chose the design they did- Handling scenarios where someone else is changing the state of the same light, from the app, or another switch. But it would have been nice to have it as a configuration option. This would be LESS of a problem, if the Switch Module worked more reliably, but it frequently misses switch events. So I like what Philips was trying to do here, but until the reliability problems are resolved, I cant recommend this product. Hopefully these can be addressed in a v2 model.