Yeelight is a Xiaomi-backed lightning manufacturer that makes some of the best LED smart bulbs you can buy today. Yeelight's differentiation comes from the fact that its products are very affordable: the brand routinely delivers bulbs that are identical in quality to Hue smart bulbs for around half the cost.
I've used Yeelight smart bulbs for the better part of four years, and they continue to hold up just fine. The brand is now launching its latest LED bulb, dubbed the M2, and the standout feature is Seamless Setup. The bulb is the latest addition to Google's protocol for setting up smart devices with the Google Home app.
The Yeelight M2 bulb is easy to set up, and doesn't need a hub to work.
With Seamless Setup, it takes just over a minute to set up the Yeelight M2 with Google Home. Just insert the bulb into a socket (it uses the standard E27 socket), power it up, and open the Google Home app on your phone. You should see a prompt that says, "setup new smart light."
Follow the on-screen instructions to set up the light bulb, and you can then use a Google Assistant-enabled device like the Nest Audio or Nest Hub to control the lighting. You'll also find plenty of options in the Google Home app. You can easily change the color of the bulb, adjust the brightness, and add it to light groups with other smart lights.
The M2 has a few upgrades over the first-gen Yeelight LED bulb. It now delivers 1000 lumens of light (up from 800), and lasts up to 15,000 hours of use. I use over a dozen Yeelight bulbs throughout the house, and the added luminance of the M2 was immediately noticeable. The 8W bulb goes from 1700K to 6500K, and like all Yeelight bulbs, the M2 does not need a dedicated hub — it works as a standalone option, making it that much more enticing.
The Yeelight M2 will make its debut in the U.S. in the coming weeks, and it will retail in the country for $29. That's still considerably less than what you'd pay for a Hue bulb, so if you are looking to invest in a budget smart bulb, the M2 may just be the ideal option.
Yeelight M2 LED Smart Bulb
The M2 delivers exciting upgrades over the first-gen Yeelight bulbs. It goes up to 1000 lumens, is easy to set up with Google, and the fact that you don't need a hub makes it a great budget option.
