VOCOlincSmart Light Bulb Works with Apple Homekit, Alexa, Google Home, Dimmable WiFi Smart Bulbs, 850 Lumens, E26 LED Smart Bulb 60 Watt Equivalent, A21, 2200K-7000K RGBW, 9.5W, 3 Pack

So for the past few months I have tried out 4 different brands of smart home devices. I test software for a living, if that means anything to you - I say that because every other smart device I have tried has had some of the worst software/hardware I have ever come across, in my professional career.With HomeKit, it seems like the best thing to do GENERALLY is to buy your devices straight from the apple store. HOWEVER, the options are extremely limited, expensive, or backordered. Your options from Apple are either Nanoleaf (backordered, good luck) or Phillips Hue + Hue hub ($200 for the first four lights + hub). I have tried neither, for these reasons.Some may be tempted to try out Cync (C by GE), JUST DONT, PLEASE. That app, and their hub, is physical evidence that God died a long time ago and hasn't been replaced. Same with FEIT electric (sold at Lowes) which markets their devices as "Siri shortcuts compatible". Garbage.Not only does Vocolinc not require a hub to use with HomeKit, but you don't even need to download their app. You can set these up by connecting them directly to the Apple Home app. I am at about 5 of these bulbs now, and 6 outlets (including the dual outdoor outlet. They all work great, and the colors are brighter and more vibrant than the other options I have tried. The whites are decently bright, but could probably be just a bit brighter. I find myself needing them at 100% all the time I use the whites. Maybe they have a brighter bulb that I have not looked into yet. If you opt to use the vocolinc app anyway, it is a work of art - you dont need to create an account AT ALL. If you set the devices up in HomeKit first, these wonderful folks have designed their app to automatically pull those devices in and have them ready to go the first time you open it. Beautiful.The only real complaint I have is about these bulbs specifically, and I think they have other models that are smaller, but they don't fit inside a lot of decorative fixtures (globes). They are a bit longer than normal bulbs, and most globes I have are not deep enough fit over these bulbs when oriented vertically. So look into the other vocolinc bulbs if you have smaller fixture globes. I think that is my fault, as I should've paid more attention to their size.Lastly, during setup, make sure you disable your 5Ghz radios if you have dual band wifi access points. Do not try and connect these to any 5Ghz network, they just wont work. That is usually the case for most smart bulbs and devices like these. You can re-enable the 5GHz radios in your dual band APs after they are setup, so its not a real issue.Overall, definitley the best option out there I have found for HomeKit.

UPDATE: I think I know why these lights continuously stop responding now - nothing to do with the lights themselves). I noticed that if I keep the Apple Home App closed on my iPhone, the lights seem to work fine, even if I connect my iPhone to my 5GHz Wifi. (The lights only support 2.4GHz).It appears the home app automatically (and without any warning or request for confirmation from the user) tries to connect the lights to whatever network the iPhone is connected to.I usually keep my iPhone connected to my 5GHz network. As a result, if I open the home app (while the iPhone is connected to 5GHz), it forces the lights to connect to the 5GHz network and the lights stop working. Switching the phone back to 2.4GHz network seems to switch the lights back to the 2.4GHz network, and the lights start working again.So, the requirement is that, if I need to open the Home App on my iPhone for any reason, I need to make sure my iPhone is connected to my 2.4GHz network first.This is a really annoying automated feature in the Home App. I will share this info with Apple. At the very least, they should ‘ask’ the user if they agree to switch/change the network config on already connected devices, instead of assuming that the network the iPhone/Home App is connect to is the one all devices should connect to automatically!!!Past review:I have six of these light bulbs. I kept buying them because for the first year, they worked great! For the past six months, I constantly needed to reset them to get them to work, and lately, even if I manage to get them reconnected (which has become REALLY HARD), they work fine for 4-5 days, then stop working. Impossible to get them working properly and consistently with either the Apple Home app or the vendor’s own app. My thinking is that firmware is not updated and causing all kinds of Wi-Fi connectivity issues. I’ve tried all sorts of recommended ‘fixes’ from the vendor, and nothing works. Now, I’m stuck with smart bulbs that are dumber than dumb! They will be headed to the trash!!!!! What a waste of time and money, and massive source of utter frustration!!!!!

Una de las luces vino con fallas, a veces no responde...

Only complain is that they disconnect randomly. Other than that they are good.

It works really well but sometimes it says that they won’t respond but after you reset them they work really well

I bought 6 for my bathroom. First 3, set up was no problem maybe 5 minutes each with updating before moving onto the next. The last 3, it was more like 30 minutes each. They just didn’t want to connect to the app. Adding them to Alexa was fine.Then the real fun began. I would add them to routines and only a few would come on and change to the appropriate color. I spent a few hours with getting them added to 2 routines. 1 was colored lights and the other white. Nothing crazy and static colors no changing or fancy effects. Once I finished I used Alexa to turn them off and left my bathroom. An hour or 2 later 2 lights were on. I didn’t turn them on intentionally but thought maybe I did something?? Later that night ran the routine for the colored lights and again a few weren’t responsive and changing to the right colors. Added wait times in the routine and moved things around so they would come on and then change colors and that seems to resolve the issue. But then I’m the middle of the night some of the lights came back on and I know it wasn’t me.I’m returning these and getting the Amazon Basic ones since I am using with Alexa. They end up being slightly cheaper and hopefully don’t have the same issues. I have Philips Hue bulbs and have never had this happen but they are so expensive. I’m hoping Amazon comes through.

It's a good light. Good app. But one bulb is not sufficient for medium room. Might need 3/4 bulb in the room.

I’ve been using smart lightbulbs for awhile now and have tried many different brands, the ones from VOCOlinc provide excellent functionality for someone who uses other smart home products to set up automations through voice commands and I can confirm they are compatible with apple HomeKit and Amazon Alexa, even at the same time with VOCOlincs free cloud link you can use apple and amazon devices to control these which is great for someone like me who is currently using both.These lightbulbs are physically larger than your standard bulbs and aren’t suitable for damp locations and are not designed to be used in enclosures.initial setup was pretty easy and simple,my only complaints would be about the app, the firmware updates are a bit glitchy and I wish you could group the lightbulbs in a way that lets you control the colour or effects of a group unless I missed how to do that it doesn’t seem like you can, you can only turn them on or off in the in-app groups and would need to use the Amazon app or HomeKit app to group them and control colours and brightness of multiple bulbs at once.All that being said I am happy with these bulbs and would buy more although they are quite expensive but so are most of the good smart bulbs out there.

Decent but the schedule is very finicky to get right, likes to default to the china time zone and takes playing with and a few days to see if it is set right.

Lights provide good lighting with many colour options. Only cons are don't always connect to my google home and the 1 light took about a month before the firmware would successfully update

Utilicé hasta ahora 1 pieza, la puse en una habitación, la potencia que tiene (Lumens) queda algo chica, no tiene mucha potencia como tal y el color, aunque podemos modificarlo "al gusto" tiene una tonalidad muy extraña, si lo comparamos con fotos led (no regulables ni smart) la luz fría y la cálida tienen algo extraño en su tono, nunca pude igualarlo con focos philips ni siquiera acercarme a las tonalidades, pero aparte de ello el foco dejo de funcionar a penas pasado el primer mes, literalmente, de la nada de un día para otro, presionabas el switch (o activabas vía app) y tal cual, encendía una fracción de segundo y se apagaba... nunca lo pude hacer trabajar de nuevo y es una pena porque tengo otros accesorios de la marca que nunca han dado problema pero la atención al cliente de dicha marca es como si fuera nula... existe pero no funciona. Los focos led philips (comunes y corrientes de 800 lumens) que tengo en casa, tienen mas de 6 años funcionando... y este "smart" no paso ni los 2 meses.