I need a recommendation for reliable zigbee RGBW bulbs for a Hubitat setup in my daughters home. I currently use a combination of Hue & Sengled bulbs in my home but don't want the expense of Hue in hers. I purchased two of the newer Sengled Bulbs RGBW bulbs ( E21-N1EA) but for some reason the new models seem VERY sensitive to interference. For example she has a fan light fixture that we wanted to populate two Sengled bulbs in, but they interfere with EACH OTHER. Separate them and they are happy, put them in the same fixture and neither work. I have had a good experience with the older Sengled bulbs in my home but these newer ones suck. Getting them to pair properly requires them to be right next to the hub otherwise they partially pair. I had the same problem in my home with the new ones. Anyway my thought was to try another brand. Recommendations?
It seems like lots of people here use Sengled without problem, so it's possible you have another issue. Unlike most mains-powered Zigbee devices, these are not repeaters (or "routers"), so you need to make sure you have a good mesh network in place with other devices that are. That could be part of the "interference" issue. I'm still a fan of Hue myself and don't use Sengled for other reasons (I don't think they do warmer color temperatures very well, they sometimes change CT when dimming, and their startLevelChange() will go all the way and turn the bulb off--or on). For reliability, I'm still a fan of Hue (with a Hue Bridge, not directly paired), though I certainly understand concerns about price. If you don't need color, the White bulbs and White Ambiance (color temperature) bulbs are cheaper, and many products have a 2-for-1 or BOGO sale going on for another day or so if that's helpful.
For other alternatives...maybe Innr? They work directly with Hubitat but can also be paired to Hue, and I've had good experiences with their color and CT. They have multi-packs that can bring the price down quite a bit (so does Hue), but I'm not sure exactly what range you're looking for. I'd stay away from Ikea unless they implemented HS color their newer bulbs or the "Advanced..." drivers work better with XY color (I haven't tried recently), as cheap as some of them may be. Perhaps others will have more ideas.
I agree with your choice of Hue, thats my bulb of choice in my home but even in multipacks they are pricey. The Sengled Zigbee bulbs are around $15-$17 each where Hue is usually around $45-$50 each. As far as the mesh, the bulbs are literally 10' from the hub in the same room. they work individually in other rooms separated by walls and distance just fine. They just don't like to be close to one another (maybe its because they are siblings in the same pack LOL). I may look at the Innr bulbs.
I wouldn't count on proximity alone as a guarantee that Zigbee range will reach, since you never know what obstacles might be in the way of the bulb and the hub signal--even if it's another bulb nearby. 
Not saying that's the issue, but it may be worth considering if you're already happy enough with Sengled. Otherwise, hopefully one of the other options is appealing! Others, again, may have more ideas than me.
I am torn on Sengled lately. They used to seem fine but lately I've been having issues. I'm not sure if it's the bulbs fault or not for errors and such but I also lost about 10 percent of them in 1 year. That's not a very good reliability record.
I have no idea what to recommend now. I'm afraid of bulbs that act as repeaters, as it seems now and again I have to turn them off and back on for whatever reason for Hubitat to control them. Maybe I would recommend Kasa (native Hubitat wifi support).
Does treatlife work natively with Hubitat? Their cheap and for some reason I thought they were supported.
Anyways does anybody else want to chime in on the whole mesh nonsense with bulbs and what you do. I am aware of using Hue bulbs on their own mesh with their own Hub, that seems unacceptable to me due to price. OP isn't the only one scratching their head regarding bulbs.
I purchased 4 INNR bulbs and so far I am happy with them. They paired with no problem. I paired two directly to Hubitat and two to My Hue Hub for testing. They all work flawlessly so far, seem very reliable. The only negative that I can find is that in some colors they don't seem as bright as Hue or Sengled bulbs but they are acceptable. They are a bit more expensive than the Sengled bulbs but cheaper than Hue. I reset them to factory after testing and relocated them to my daughters home and they are working fine. It is disappointing that Sengled has changed their product for the worse. I have several Sengled Bulbs (older model) that has performed great. The newer models are the ones that seems to have issues. Thanks everyone for the assistance and comments.
