Wyze Bulb Color review: a smart bulb that fills your home with color without emptying your wallet

When it was announced, I was really looking forward to working on a Wyze Bulb Color review because finding an LED bulb that offers both colors and tunable whites isn't necessarily difficult, but generally, if you want those colors to be vibrant across the board — it is expensive. Some of the best smart light bulbs cost as much as $50 for a single bulb. This is why checking out what Wyze had to offer in the smart light space, specifically colored bulbs was so enticing.

Wyze is known for making a variety of smart home gadgets for very accessible prices. It makes some of the best security cameras at fractions of the cost for most other brands, especially when considering the Wyze Cam Outdoor. I have been using Wyze's tunable white LED smart bulbs for over a year now, and if Wyze can bring the same low-cost and high-quality to a color smart bulb option — I'm going to be very happy.

Wyze Bulb Color: Price and availability

The Wyze Bulb Color was announced for pre-order on February 16, 2020, at a special price of $34.99 for a four-pack on the Wyze website. Launching two days later, a two-pack of bulbs was available from Amazon for the current price of $26.98. Wyze is selling both a two and a four-pack of the bulbs on its website for $19.99 and $39.99, respectively.

Wyze Bulb Color: What you'll like

I have been integrating various pieces of smart home tech into my home for about five years now. In that time, I have used many different brands of smart lights. After I finally got tired of fighting connectivity issues, multiple apps, and feature parity between the brands, I have mostly settled on the way too expensive Philips Hue ecosystem for most of my lighting.

However, in the last year or so, when I "needed" another smart bulb to add to my setup, I have begun adding in Wyze Bulbs. This is for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that I already use a few of their cameras and other products, so I'm familiar with the companion app. The other reason is likely the most significant, and that's the price. Everything that Wyze offers is at an easily approachable price, and its products have the same or more features as more expensive options.

Now that Wyze has finally brought out some colored smart lights, I can integrate them into areas that I want to add some lighting excitement. All of the Wyze bulbs are hubless, which means you won't need to buy or maintain any additional hardware once you have your bulbs.

The process of adding a new bulb is as simple as screwing it into an E26 lamp socket; that's the most common bulb socket for the United States. From there, you simply power it on, open the Wyze app, then tap on the ➕ symbol. The Wyze app uses easy-to-follow steps to add the device to your Wi-Fi network and organizes it within your app. Once you have your bulb all set up, you can choose an icon to represent it, change its name, add it to a group, and arrange where it is in the app.

The Wyze Bulb Color supports over 16 million colors and a range of tunable whites from 1800K - 6500K, with a max brightness of up to 1100 lumens. Unlike some smart bulbs costing way more money, this one offers excellent saturation for almost all colors. My all-time favorite color bulbs are the LIFX smart lights; however, I have had so many connectivity issues with those bulbs that I just can't use them anymore.

Source: Chris Wedel/Android Central

Using the color wheel in the Wyze app, you can drag the picker to any color and saturation level you choose. The bulbs have had excellent connectivity, so changing the colors is nearly instant as I adjusted them in the app. If you find a color that you really like and plan to use frequently, you can save it as a scene so that you can quickly get back to it when you want to.

If you want to set your Wyze Bulb Color to a more natural light, tap on Temperature to get the tunable whites. Operating in the same fashion as choosing a color, there's a ring of white light temperatures you can scroll through. Just as with colors, if you find a light you really like — you can save it as a scene. With Google Assistant and Alexa integration, you can use your voice to change the light's brightness and colors — you can turn it off or on that way too.

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While setting colors and whites isn't necessarily anything special in the smart light bulb world, the experience is heightened by the additional features offered for the bulbs. By going into the Wyze Bulb Color settings, you can change almost anything you need to for your light as well as get into truly making it smart.

The settings let you easily create schedules for when the light is on or off and even change the color at specific times. If you have other smart home products from Wyze, like its motion sensors, cameras, or contact sensors, you can use those devices as triggers to control that Wyze Bulb Color as well.

Source: Chris Wedel/Android Central

The settings also have an option for Sleep Routines that will let you use the bulb to help wake you up or help you to fall asleep. When enabled, you can set how long the light takes to fade, when to start it, the total brightness and the temperature. The goal of Sleep Routines is to simulate the sunrise or sunset to help with circadian rhythms for more natural sleep patterns.

One of the worst parts of using smart light bulbs is that the switch to that bulb has to always be on to allow you to control the light from your phone or with your voice. This means if the electricity goes out, even for a few seconds, when it comes back on, that smart bulb is on too and usually at full power. The Power Loss Recovery setting for Wyze Bulbs lets you choose what happens when the power comes back on: turn on the light, or maintain the previous state. Philips Hue is the only other bulb I've seen that offers this feature.

Wyze Bulb Color: What you won't like

There is very little to not like about the Wyze Bulb Color smart lights. For the price, it's really hard to be too nitpicky, but as well all know — nothing is perfect, except tacos. I found only two things that could be better with these bulbs — color saturation at high brightness and the addition of some special effects in the app.

Far too often, I have found that most smart bulbs suffer from poor color reproduction, usually in non-primary colors. Although, yellows tend to suffer too. The Wyze Bulb Color handles most of the colors very well — even greens, purples, and teals. Where it can suffer is when you turn the brightness over 80%. The difference isn't major, but some of the saturation will wane when you push the brightness up.

Source: Chris Wedel/Android Central

The only colors that seem to hold onto the vibrance are red and blue; the rest tend to wash out. While I would love to have my light going full blast with the whole gamut that the rainbow offers, I don't find it necessary.

Again, another nitpicking thing I'd like to see offered from the Wyze Bulb Color isn't so much about the bulb as it is the app. Something that is found with other brands is the ability to add effects to the light. Things like making the light look like a candle flickering, cycling colors automatically, or react to music. While these would be fun additions to be able to play with, they aren't deal-breakers.

Wyze Bulb Color: Competition

Wyze Bulb Color checks many boxes in terms of what makes a good smart light bulb, but as mentioned previously, it's not the absolute best. There are benefits to using smart lights that require a hub to connect all of them together. When it comes to those types of systems, Philips Hue is one of the best out there.

Philips Hue hub offers very solid connectivity to your lights, leading to near-instant reactivity when you want to interact with them. The hub also allows for a wide variety of devices that work together. Philips Hue makes everything from light strips, to motion sensors, to switches, and even more types of lights that all work very well together. However, there is a significantly higher price associated with that ecosystem.

As for a smart light bulb that offers excellent color reproduction and won't require additional hardware to use, the LIFX Color A19 bulb is worth consideration. These bulbs operate solely via Wi-Fi, so you'll have one less piece of hardware to set up and maintain with this option. LIFX bulbs are known for their ability to produce vibrant, saturated colors.

I've been able to tune my LIFX bulb to a shade of purplish-blue that mimics a UV blacklight to make for some fun parties. However, the colors aren't the only thing these bulbs can offer. You'll get a full range of tunable whites and an app that has some really fun effects that you can apply to your bulb. The downside is that LIFX bulbs can be pricey per unit and sometimes have connectivity issues.

Wyze Bulb Color: Should you buy it?

You should buy this if ...

• You want a low-cost smart bulb that offers excellent hues and tunable whites.
• You want to utilize automation, routines, and what happens when power is lost.
• To have a bulb that doesn't require a hub.

You shouldn't buy this if...

• You want a bulb that maintains color saturation at full brightness.
• You want your bulb to offer special effects.

In terms of a smart bulb, the Wyze Bulb Color does a whole lot for not a lot of money. For as low as $10 per bulb, you get a smart light that can give a room a bit of flavor with vibrant colors or help transition through the day with proper shades of white. The companion app gives you complete control over the bulb itself as well as automation for it. Unless you need the light to strobe or fully light an entire room in deep red hues, the Wyze Bulb Color is excellent.

4.5 out of 5

There are a ton of smart light bulbs on the market, but not all are worth your money. Like most other products, you don't always get what you pay for. The Wyze Bulb Color does the same thing that most of the company's other products do — give you more features for less money.

From start to finish, this bulb is a delight to use. Setting up the light is quick and easy, and once that is done, it stays connected. With Google Assistant and Alexa integration, you can handle nearly all lighting controls by voice, and if you want to, using the Wyze app, you can automate the light to the point that you won't have to do anything at all.

If you are looking to start or add to your smart home, Wyze offers excellent low-cost products that work well together. Outfitting a home with a lot of smart lights can get very expensive, but you can get very capable lighting set up using the Wyze Bulb Color to take care of almost all of your smart light needs for less.

Wyze Bulb Color

Offering ease of setup without the need for a hub, the Wyze Bulb Color gives you bright saturated colors and tunable whites with up to 1100 lumens. With the Wyze app, you can fully automate your lighting so you can set it and forget it.

• $27 at Amazon
• From $20 at Wyze