FabianIn Thursday’s big Hue leak, Philips Hue already hinted that new light bulbs would be coming onto the market. These are not only supposed to consume 40 percent less energy, but also display better white tones and colors and be particularly dimmable. But that’s not all Philips Hue has in store when it comes to light bulbs.
Two weeks ago, I announced that the Hue Essentials product line could be expanded. As Smartlights has now revealed, light bulbs with GU10, E27, and B22 bases are in the works. This also matches the information I have.
The Hue Essential light bulbs compared to the previous lights
First, I would like to take a look at the most important technical details with you. Let’s start with the GU10 spots, which not only feature “Hue Essential” lettering, but also look completely different from the previous GU10 spots from Philips Hue. The packaging will also differ significantly from previous Hue products.
The White and Color Ambiance GU10 spotlights in the Hue Essential series achieve a brightness of 345 lumens in standard white at 2,700 Kelvin. By comparison, the current GU10 generation achieves only slightly more at 350 lumens, while the old GU10 generation lags significantly behind at 230 lumens. The color temperature can be adjusted from 2,200 to 6,500 Kelvin, so the Hue Essential GU10 spots cannot display quite as warm a light.
The situation is very similar with the E27 bulbs in the Hue Essential series. These also “only” achieve 2,200 Kelvin. The light output at 2,700 Kelvin will be 806 lumens, which is roughly on par with the colorful 1100 bulbs. What is also already visible is that the Hue Essential series brings back the round form factor of the “old” Hue White.
Cheaper, but how much cheaper?
Philips Hue will offer the Essential series individually and also in “value packs,” i.e., starter sets with the white Hue Bridge instead of the new Hue Bridge Pro, with several bulbs and accessories. Unfortunately, I can’t say yet how cheap (or inexpensive) all this will be.
Hue Essential smart bulb
$24.99 / €24.99
Hue Essential smart spot
from €24.99
Current GU10s are 400 lumen. 350 was the previous model (and 250 before that).
The current spots have 400lm at 4000k. I used standard white with 2700k in my article.
I don’t even see how that’s true since there are 400 lumen white bulbs, but in any case the Essentials bulbs here are colour so what’s the point in comparing them to white bulbs? Check the SmartLights article, they have it correct with a little comparison table.
Could be worth a try. I certainly always recommend against their competitor Govee, who have the worst support known to man (even when they clearly make mistakes and send the wrong products). I avoid Govee like the plague.