I’m currently using HA zigbee and hubitat for zwave
Here are the Zigbee color bulbs I’ve tested so far:
Third Reality – Working well for me so far.
Innr – I own a few, but haven’t added them to HA yet.
Sengled – Also working well in my setup.
Eria – Only have one bulb; not a fan of the fact that I can’t update the firmware.
I’m just curious what other folks are using and what your experiences have been. I’m planning to standardize on a single brand soon as I update the rest of the house.
For smart plugs, I’m using the Sonoff S31 Lite Zigbee Smart Plug as repeaters across different floors. I also make sure that my bulbs always have power (i.e., they stay switched on at the source).
I have zigbee in both Hubitat and HA. I find that bulbs perform better for me in Hubitat than HA. That could totally be user error however.
My favorite color bulb by far is the Third Reality bulbs. I have tried several others and every other brand I would find would miss the on command. Like the bulb itself would think it was on and just not accept the command from Hubitat. Logs showed it was sent. Device page showed the change. Bulb nothing. I would have thought it was a pairing issue but it happened with at least 3 brands. Granted I did not use Innr. They were cheaper brands so I will throw that out as a disclaimer .
As for color temperature adjustable bulbs and ones I need to be just a little brighter I love the Inner bulbs.
For just a set temperature daylight bulb for on/off I use Sengled. I have several of those with good results.
I said all that which basically is the same brands you use to say this. Depending on what you want to achieve having one standard brand a cross your entire implementation field may not be what best suits your goals. If so great. I just found out they don't mine.
You may want to search this community about the Sengled bulb issues. Many people have issues with them. For me, the Sengled candelabra bulbs just don't stay connected reliably to Hubitat, but my normal base bulbs are fine. Others have issues even with the those bulbs. They seem to be very sensitive to how the mesh gets built or something, so they can be hit or miss with individual setups. I wouldn't buy too many at first to make sure they work OK with your setup.
Right now the only color bulbs I use are Third Reality and I am happy with them.
Agree with @user2574. I found that the my Sengled bulbs both white and color didn't play well with my Third Reality plugs. They have been working perfectly since I replaced the plugs a couple of years ago. However, they have had no issues with the 2 Third Reality Night Lights that I recently added.
I don't have any color Sengled's but I have 8 of the white bulbs and two of the edison bulbs and they have been rock solid in my setup on Hubitat. Better then my Hue bulbs which constantly lose connectivity to the Hue bridge.
If my count is correct (off the top of my head) I have 15 of the 5000K Sengled Daylight bulbs on my mesh. I have Third Reality plugs all over the house as repeaters. I have had zero issues with the Sengled bulbs staying connected or failing to work properly. These are standard base bulbs. I don't know if it has something to do with the Sengled model. I have ordered both straight from Sengled and from Amazon with no issues of either.
For sale: 12 Sengled bulbs. I bit the bullet and moved to Hue.
11ea E11-G13 2700K
1ea E11-G14 5000K
All reset, all work. Make an offer plus $15 shipping in the US. Will not split up. Prefer Zelle.
I'm using the older Sylvania zigbee for color zigbee bulbs. For me, they just work.
There is a bit of a odd intermediate color when I do some of the holiday color change automations, but it is just for the 1 second or so when the color is changing, and I leave each color for 15 seconds before it changes to another, so not really a big deal.
My basic warm white, standard base bulbs are good, I have six of those, in different places in my house. The Sengled candelabra bulbs are disappointing, because it is hard to find small warm-white Zigbee smart bulbs with a candelabra base, and I have five lamps that use them.
I had to give up on them since they just were not reliable. One lamp I bought an adapter to use a regular Sengled bulb, since a full size bulb would fit. The rest I replaced with a dimmer outlet and I now use dumb candelabra bulbs in those lamps with the dimmer.
I only have a couple from being left over when I attemped to use sengled with HUE before I realized they wouldn't repeat well. when I switched to HA zigbee, I got them out to try. So far no issues. I have both and 3rd , but they are in different rooms
So far they seem to be good for me
So far I have only put Sonoff smart plugs to use as repeaters, I will have to try the 3rd reality plugs. Looks like I am about to standerdize on 3rd reality color bulbs
If I need a super bright bulb, I will use the WIZ wifi bulbs, found one at homedepot that does 2550 lumens !
I tried these years ago, I don't know if it was just me, but those bulbs seemed to get extremely hot compared to other smart zigbee bulbs. I should try them again since moving to HA.
I hear you on this ! I really didn't want to spend the amount of money that HUE charges for them. I tested out a couple candelabra base bulbs.
I have 4 - WIZ wifi candelabra bulbs and you can control them locally. I have had a really good experience with them.
I also have 1 of these
I bought one years ago and never tested it.
I did test GLEDOPTO Smart ZigBee 12W LED Light Bulb Plus Starter Kit, E26 Base RGBCCT Dimmable Bulb, Tunable White 2000K~6500K, 1000LM
I bought it back in 2020, and I still have it , it works like a champ. I haven't re-homed it to HA yet. I still need to do that.
Those bulbs got repurposed after I switched to Sengled for the better white tone, but then both died shortly after. (strange there are three in the picture, I only remember having two)
I used the Sengled Candelabra bulbs without issues on my C7 for over a year, but after migrating to the C8 they just were not the same and would not stay connected.
I've never checked how efficient they are or if they run hot, as they are in outside fixtures. I can confirm they stay connected, which is my main concern. I would think they would generate the same amount of heat no matter which hub was controlling them.
I have never used Sonoff plugs so I can't say but they may work great. When I was first getting into this a year ago I kinda latched on to Third Reality because there products simply worked. I was afraid to rock the boat to much so to say. I put that in the thread about the plugs because someone above said the Third Reality plugs didn't play well with Sengled bulbs. I was trying to say that it truly comes down to experimenting and seeing what works best in your environment because not everything will perform the same for everyone. That makes it hard to really just go out and pick something.
You are doing correct in trying different bulbs and different setups to see what works best for you. Then you can kinda gravitate towards those brands and items to keep things as stable as possible for you. I can say I been using the Third Reality bulbs since about a week after their release date. I honestly don't think you will be disappointed.
On one side note however, unless it is changed, don't try to update their firmware through Hubitat. I tried once several months ago and the bulb just got stuck in a repeating loop of starting the process but never proceeded. I had to shut the hub down to stop it. That may be fixed but honestly they been working great so I never attempted again. If you are going to connect via HA that may not be the case.
Please post your findings because to be honest I have never had good luck with bulbs in HA. I am sure it is something I am doing wrong but I am very interested.
