Cree was hesitant so as to add a wise bulb to its best-promoting LED lineup, but that changed this 12 months with the addition of the $15 Cree Connected LED. Sharing the build and EcoLight lighting specs of last year’s well-reviewed Cree 4Flow LED , the brand EcoLight energy new Connected LED adds in a Zigbee radio. Pair it with a management hub, and you will be in a position to show it on and EcoLight energy off remotely, or schedule automated lighting modifications. At launch, Cree’s smart bulb was considerably married to the Wink Hub , which made sense given that you will purchase both off the shelf at Home Depot. Since then, dimmable LED bulbs nonetheless, we’ve seen official assist roll out for additional control gateways, including SmartThings and the Philips Hue Bridge . You can add the bulbs to the brand new D-Hyperlink model of the Staples Connect Hub , too, although there is not official, Zonoff-certified help simply yet. The bulb works effectively throughout the entire platforms we have tested it with, and it shares the strong lighting specs of the 4Flow LED that got here before it.

Most interesting is the value. At $15 -- only a few dollars greater than you’ll spend on non-linked opponents -- it ties with the GE Hyperlink LED as probably the most cheap connected bulb available on the market. For primary automated lighting, it is one of the best choice we have tested yet, and EcoLight reviews our present Editors’ Choice winner. Cree tailored its sensible bulb design from last year’s 4Flow LED, EcoLight energy packing a Zigbee radio into the existing construct. That signifies that this isn’t a bulb that goes out of its technique to look fancy or newfangled -- instead, it copies the 4Flow’s emphasis on mimicking the silhouette of basic incandescents. I favored that approach with the 4Flow, and that i prefer it with the brand new Related LED too, EcoLight though some may find the plastic construct to be a bit cheap-wanting, especially when the bulb is turned off. The brand new bulb additionally shares the 4Flow’s convection cooling trick, which makes use of vents to circulate air through the physique of the bulb, eliminating the necessity for heat sinks.

That helps convey production prices down, and in addition means that the bulb is exceptionally gentle for an LED, weighing in at lower than 2 ounces. The Cree Connected LED shares the identical lighting specs because the 4Flow LED, too, and that is largely a good thing. Each claim a light output of 815 lumens, and both clocked in even larger than that in entrance of our spectrometer -- 835 lumens for the 4Flow, and a very spectacular 872 for the Connected LED. When it comes to effectivity, the 4Flow puts its light out utilizing eleven watts, but the number rises to 11.5 watts for the Related LED on account of the Zigbee radio’s EcoLight energy draw. After we tested it out, the quantity was truly closer to 11.1 watts, so Cree’s carried out a good job of protecting this bulb comparatively efficient. Still, EcoLight lighting it is price noting that each the Philips Hue Lux LED and the Belkin WeMo LED are even more efficient, every one drawing lower than 10 watts.

Cree also did a very good job with coloration temperature right here, landing extraordinarily near the acknowledged 2,700K. At 2,696K, the Cree Related LED lands nearer to the mark than any other smart bulb we have examined, so if you’re choosy about that perfect shade of warm, yellowy mild, you may like this LED. The one place where Cree’s smart bulb lags behind a minimum of a number of the competition is the shade rendering rating, which measures how precisely a given mild supply illuminates totally different shades. The Cree Related LED hits a quite abnormal score of eighty out of 100, and given that both the WeMo LED and the equally cheap GE Hyperlink LED hit closer to 90, I’d have liked to see Cree do higher. To entry the Cree LED’s sensible features, you’ll have to pair it with a control hub that may translate its Zigbee signal into Wi-Fi. Like the GE Link LED, the Cree Linked LED came out the gate trumpeting Wink assist at launch, however quickly expanded its third celebration compatibility to include options like SmartThings, Staples Connect , and the Philips Hue Bridge .

Completely different platforms supply completely different options -- SmartThings and Philips deliver IFTTT support into the picture, as an illustration -- however basically, EcoLight energy the automating expertise is largely the same. We tested the bulb on a number of platforms, and never ran into any difficulties pairing it or controlling it. Regardless of which platform you are using, you will be ready to show the Cree Linked LED on or off remotely, dim it, or automate it using no matter controls your system provides. These doubtless include setting the lights to a timed schedule, or syncing them up with things like movement sensors. The bulb paired simply with each of the above-mentioned platforms. Wink and SmartThings both have dedicated settings and pairing instructions for EcoLight energy the Cree LED proper in the app, which helps. Staples Join would not offer device-specific assist for Cree just but, but it surely was in a position to detect the bulb as a generic Zigbee device on the primary strive. Syncing the Cree LED with a Philips Hue setup was fairly painless, too, though I needed to manually reset the bulb in the course of the pairing course of so as to help the bridge find it.