Is Philips Hue RIPPING you off?

 

Let's face the elephant in the room, Philips Hue lights are absolutely otherworldly expensive. There is no way around it, with an entry price starting at hundreds of dollars. I recently have "invested" into a decent Philips hue setup, and while my wallet is hurting, my eyes are left sparkling!

Here is a rundown of my setup: 

Hue Bridge

2 Hue Play Light Bars

Hue Gradient Table Lamp

I have 3 lights in total, and for those 3 lights I spent about $300. Looking back on it, $100 per light is an awful lot. However, the features that are packed in is what makes it worth the Hue tax. 

We have the Hue hub which gives us full access to the Hue app and Apple HomeKit, so I can program my Hue lights into scenes and automations with all of my existing HomeKit devices (See my Nanoleaf lights). I also have used the desktop app to mirror my screen, and while normal use just displays my wallpaper through the lights, watching movies or video with the mirroring turned on is truly an immersive experience. 

The lights themselves are very high quality, as expected of Philips. The build quality is A+, and the lights themselves are very bright, enough to illuminate my room by themselves. I will say, the Play Bars carry the brunt of the light output. The $200 Hue Gradient table lamp is not as bright as I would hope, especially with lighter colors like orange and yellow. For darker colors, the table lamp diffuses the light along the wall adequately. 

As far as the title is concerned, YES Philips Hue is expensive! But I will not go as far to say you are getting ripped off. Most of the price is for the software development around the lights, as cheaper lights often yield deplorable software experiences. If you have the cash, I would recommend going for Hue lights as the quality is nearly unparalleled.

To score the best prices, be sure to check out my affiliate links below! Any purchase made will go on to help me run this blog! I especially recommend the Light bars + Hue Bridge linked here, it's a really great deal on Amazon that essentially gets you the Hue Bridge for free!