Intro
LIFX is a major player in the smart lighting space and offers a great alternative to more expensive hub lighting systems like Philips Hue, while providing a very similar experience. The company was founded in 2012 and has since released a number of innovative products, including the LIFX Color 1100 and the LIFX Beam.
LIFX lights are known for their ability to produce millions of colors at high brightness and their easy-to-set-up experience. The company has also expanded its international presence and now sells products in over 70 countries. LIFX lights are compatible with a variety of voice assistants, including Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple HomeKit.
LIFX’s competitive advantage compared to other players in the market – including Philips Hue – is their color quality: LIFX lights can produce deeper shades and brighter colours that really pop. When LIFX was founded, excellent color quality was one of their primary aims to beat the competition with.
LIFX lights are a great option for people who are looking for a smart lighting system that is both easy to use and is very high quality. The easy set up and relative affordability makes it a great option for adding smart lighting to your home theater.
You can read about how LIFX works or jump to our recommend LIFX products.
How LIFX Works
Unlike some other smart lights that require a hub or a bridge to connect to your Wi-Fi network, LIFX lights are Wi-Fi enabled and can be controlled directly from your smartphone, tablet, or smart speaker. This makes it great for people who want to add just a few lights to their room without having to buy a hub. Using the LIFX mobile or desktop app, you can create scenes, schedules, and automations for your lights.
LIFX lights support various integrations and features that make them ideal for home theaters. For example, you can use LIFX Z TV or LIFX Beam to create a backlight effect behind your TV or screen, which can reduce eye strain and create a dynamic and immersive experience. Additionally, you can use LIFX with popular platforms like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple HomeKit, IFTTT, and more to control your lights with your voice or automate them with other smart devices.
Editor's Note by Roland Jutai: If you still use Harmony to control your home theater then you can also create automations with LIFX based on activities in the harmony app. This is what I do in my own home theater when starting or ending an activity.
Recommended LIFX Products
Our Pick
LIFX Color A19 Style
The LIFX Color bulb is our top pick for LIFX bulbs due to its remarkable versatility, great color quality, high brightness, feature-rich design, and affordable price. It is offered in two distinct brightness levels: 800 and 1100 lumens, equivalent to traditional 60W and 75W light bulbs. Both models are compatible with the standard E26 socket.
These bulbs utilize advanced RGBW LEDs, allowing them to create a spectrum of 16 million colors alongside a white temperature range spanning from 1500K to 9000K. Connecting to your Wi-Fi network, they can sync with the LIFX ecosystem within your household. No hub required!
Also Great Pick
LIFX Color BR30 Style
The LIFX Color BR30 model is classified as an outdoor floodlight by LIFX; however, this classification does not mean it lacks features or cannot be used indoors. It offers 1100 lumens of light, using the same LEDs as the A19 style, which allows it to create a spectrum of 16 million colors, along with a white temperature range spanning from 1500K to 9000K. It has an IP65 rating, which means it can be used outdoors in damp areas. These lights also operate by connecting to your Wi-Fi network and can sync with the LIFX ecosystem within your household. No hub required!
Lightstrip
LIFX Lightstrip Kit
The LIFX Lighstrip is a zone-addressable lightstrip designed for creating accent lighting. It comes in three lengths: 40″ (1m), 80″ (2.2m), and 120″ (3m). Each 40″ (1m) section contains 8 addressable zones, which can be animated using LIFX’s exclusive effects library. This lightstrip offers the same color range as other LIFX color products, providing access to 16 million colors and a white temperature range spanning from 1500K to 9000K. Control of the LIFX Lightstrip is achieved through a Wi-Fi connection and the accompanying app.
You can daisy-chain LED strips for up to 10m (32 feet) to be controlled by one head unit which will allow you to have 80 (!!!) controllable zones. Crazy! And the color quality is simply exceptional, just like the other LIFX products.
Accent Lighting
LIFX Beam Smart Light Bar
The LIFX Beam Smart Bar is a collection of sturdy diffuse light bars that can be mounted to a hard surface. Its LEDs offer the same extensive color range as other LIFX products, granting access to 16 million colors and a white temperature spectrum of 1500K to 9000K.
This customizable set of color-changing bar lights can form various patterns. The starter kit includes six plastic LED bars (300 x 35 x 20mm) and a corner connecting unit for bending the beam. These components easily snap together with strong magnets at both ends. One of the bars can also magnetically attach to a wired power supply. The control of the LIFX Beam is managed through a Wi-Fi connection and the corresponding app.
Best Bundle
LIFX Bedroom Bundle
The LIFX Bedroom bundle offers an excellent entry point into the world of smart lighting, particularly within the LIFX ecosystem. It includes two LIFX 800lm color bulbs and a 40″ lightstrip. All of the lights within this bundle can produce an identical spectrum of colors and whites, making them perfectly suited to be used together as a package.
LIFX Accessories
Light Switch
LIFX Smart Switch
The LIFX Smart Switch is a wired-in wall switch designed to replace a standard non-smart light switch, enabling control over existing non-smart lighting. By grouping switches with other smart lights in the app, you can create automations, effectively transforming regular lights into smart ones. It is available in both single-button and four-button versions, offering black and white options. Most other smart lighting ecosystems do not have this type of switch that is natively supported, making it a standout product.
Other Fun Models from LIFX
Even though these next models might not exactly belong to the home theater category, I believe they are important to mention here because they showcase LIFX’s unique products:
Color E26 (Clean Edition): LIFX Color E26 (Clean Edition) is the same as the standard E26 color bulb except this version adds HEV LEDs that are able to disinfect surfaces. You can program and schedule automatic cleaning sessions.
Color BR30 E26 (Nightvision Edition): This model adds to the features of the color BR30 model. The key difference lies in the addition of infrared lights, designed for nighttime use with infrared cameras. While this bulb is part of their outdoor collection, it is also suitable for indoor use.
Conclusion
I have used LIFX smart lights in the past and find they are excellent products for the cost. Their app has improved over the years to make it more user-friendly and more modern. While they may not have the largest product offering in the smart lighting ecosystem, they do have a large number of third-party integrations that help to make their product offering seem larger than it is. They are a great option if you are looking for accent lighting or mood lighting for your home theater.
Editor’s Note on the LIFX Ecosystem
I use LIFX exclusively in my home – including in the home theater. I invested in LIFX early on because of the color quality that it provides and the fact that it doesn’t require a hub. What I really enjoy is the 100% hands-off experience. I have set up schedules for lights to come on at sunset and change color throughout the evening and night to prepare us for evening TV or for bedtime. They also provide security lighting during the night so you can still see if you need to go out into the common areas. They also work while we are away so people don’t know whether we are in, out or on holiday.
In the home theater, they are controlled by Harmony activities and the Harmony remote so they can come on when starting an activity, turn off when the movie starts and then come on at the end. Since this is all linked to buttons on the remote, it is easy to do. Additionally, there are apps on both the phone and my Apple Watch to control them so they are quite to access.
If you are thinking about whether you should invest in LIFX or one of the competitors, check out our article Smart Lighting for Home Theater.
Leave a Reply