FabianIn the meanwhile, there are numerous manufacturers and suppliers who, thanks to the ZigBee standard, bring lamps onto the market that can be coupled relatively easily with the Philips Hue Bridge. This is also the case with the smart lamps from Hornbach, which are marketed under the name Flair Viyu. In November, three new light bulbs came onto the market, including a filament bulb.
The bulb with the standard form factor and E27 base looks very similar to the original from Philips Hue at first glance. But as always, the devil is in the detail – because in the end there are some crucial differences.
These are the differences between Philips Hue and Flair Viyu
Because even though the price of just under 20 euros is on a par, from a purely technical point of view Hornbach offers significantly more options. While the filament lamps of Philips Hue have a fixed colour temperature of warm white 2,100 Kelvin, the so-called “tunable white” is integrated in Flair Viyu. This means that the colour temperature can be freely adjusted.
On paper, the range is between 2,700 and 4,000 Kelvin. This means that not quite as warm a white can be produced, but also significantly cooler white tones. In the end, every user can choose exactly the setting that suits him or her.
In terms of maximum brightness, Philips Hue is ahead. Here, up to 550 lumens are achieved – and that at a warm 2,100 Kelvin. With the Flair Viyu lamp, the maximum brightness is 510 lumens – but only if you choose a setting in which both LED strips for warm white and cool white shades shine as brightly as possible.
What positively surprised me in any case, and which is not the case with every ZigBee lamp, is that the filament lamp from Flair Viyu can also be dimmed relatively far and is on a par with the Hue lamp.
What I don't like so much is that the black base is made of shiny plastic and has writing all around it – this has been skilfully erased from the official product images. On the other hand, the glass is not printed, as is the case with Philips Hue.
If you are looking for a filament light with adjustable colour temperatures and can live with the fact that this third-party product does not support Apple HomeKit, you are well served by the Flair Viyu model for only 19.95 euros.
Note: This article contains affiliate links. We receive a commission for purchases via these links, which we use to finance this blog. The purchase price remains unchanged for you.
