The Nanoleaf Essentials A19 uses Thread for low latency, with improved connection reliability and range, with a compatible border router. With Thread’s improved reliability, you’ll never be left in the dark. Stepping up from Bluetooth to this upgraded technology means no more dropped connections. With one compatible border router (for example, Apple HomePod mini) for all your Thread-enabled products, you’ll no longer be burdened with multiple hubs. Want to use Bluetooth? The Essentials A19 supports it too.

Custom schedules help you to wake up naturally to sunrise colours or set other automations in the Nanoleaf App, HomeKit or Google Home. with up to 1100lm, the A19 is able to produce the brightest white lighting, with extended temperature range from the coolest to warmest whites.

Features

• 16M+ colors & tunable whites
• Brightness control
• Control with app or voice

Specifications

The post Nanoleaf Essentials A19 Light Bulb appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

Before we start looking at this new product, Yeelight and HomeKit News have teamed up to offer a giveaway of one each these bulbs, so if you fancy trying your luck, click on the link below to enter the giveaway competition. Good luck!

https://cutt.ly/hdERyo3

PACKAGING

I’m honestly not sure if these bulbs are made of glass (probably not when I think about it), but even so, the packaging is decent enough to protect the bulb. On the front is the image all by itself, which is the result of the long shadow cast by Apple’s design department, for sure. The front lists Google Assistant, Apple HomeKit, and SmartThings as compatible platforms, but I’m informed that the bulb should also work with Amazon Alexa, IFTTT, and of course the Yeelight and Mi Home apps, which share login details.

The side of the box has some basic specs, along with a few features, although to be honest, with most bulbs, there’s not a lot of difference between any of them, with the exception of being capable of either colour, colour temperature or fixed at warm white, which this bulb is.

LISTED SPECS:

• Luminous flux: 700lm
• Rated power: 6W
• Rate input: 120V @ 60Hz (for the US version)
• Lamp fitting: E26
• Colour temperature: 2700K
• Connectivity: Wifi 2.4GHz
• Size: 60 x 60 x 116mm / 2.36 x 2.36 x 4.57in (my measurements had the bulb height at 110mm / 4.33in)

So as this is a WiFi bulb, unlike the Hue equivalent, there’s no requirement for a hub. Although I don’t have the A19 version of the Hue Filament bulb, I personally prefer to have the Hue Bridge for my bulbs, which are nearly all Hue now, but I can easily see why some people would prefer to not use a hub in certain circumstances, and with Filament bulbs probably confined to a few bulbs, in a specific area, for visually pleasing purposes, having a few bulbs on WiFi isn’t going to be a big deal. Of course, the latest versions of Hue lights all come with Zigbee and Bluetooth connectivity, but as you may be aware, if you go down the Bluetooth route with Hue bulbs (if you don’t have the Bridge), then there’s going to be no HomeKit connectivity at all.

THE BULB

The bulb itself is fairly non-descript in many ways, save for the fact that the housing for the filaments is clear and not any form of diffusion for the light. In fact, unlike the Hue equivalent, the glass isn’t at all tinted, so the filaments themselves do all the work of creating the warm white light. The base of the light is reasonably small compared to many smart lights you tend to see, including Yeelight’s own colour and tunable white bulbs, and the base also serves as the place for the permanently printed HomeKit code.

Now that manufacturers have mastered (to a degree) the art of making LEDs look like filaments, there’s all manner of patterns out there. The A19 goes with four straight strips, set at slight angles, so that they cross each others’ path to a small extent, giving you an ‘X’ at certain positions. The company’s ST64, which we review separately, has the same four strips pointing vertically, but going inwards towards the top. By contrast, Hue has gone for something a bit more adventurous, with what I can only describe as something akin to strands of DNA or orange peel! I’ll be honest, and say that the Hue filaments win in this respect, but it’s also fair to say that it’s not something you will notice so much when the bulb is at 100% brightness, and of course, it’s all down to personal taste.

THE YEELIGHT FILAMENT BULB IN THE HOME AND YEELIGHT APPS

Adding the Yeelight bulb is easy, due to the fact it comes with a standard HomeKit code, however, if you plan on using any of the presets available in the Yeelight app, or want any future firmware updates, you should add the bulb to the Yeelight app first, then add it to HomeKit after, using the option to do so within the Yeelight app itself.

As the bulb isn’t capable of either colour or a change in colour temperature, being fixed at warm white, in the Home app you get your single tile to represent the bulb, and a slider, coloured yellow to drive home the point that it’s set to one temperature. The slider only controls brightness for this very reason, so beyond controlling the levels, there’s not much else to control.

By contrast, whilst the Yeelight app can’t do any more with the bulb in terms of basic brightness control, it does offer a few preset lighting conditions, which for the most part are simply set brightness levels essentially, with some labelled as such (50% Bright, 25% Bright etc). Two presets that could be handy are the Flash Notify option and the Candle Flicker option. The former simply allows the bulb to flash for a set amount, whilst the latter option allows the light’s brightness to fluctuate, thereby attempting to imitate a flickering candle. These presets don’t get exposed to HomeKit unfortunately, but you can still trigger these presets, either via an automation in the Yeelight app or by creating a scene with the presets, which can then be converted into a Siri Shortcut, so at least you can trigger these presets with your voice.

DIMMING CAPABILITIES

The Yeelight A19 Filament is capable of dimming, which is of no surprise, but when compared to the Hue equivalent, the Hue can ‘officially’ go as low as 5%, with the Hue a19 only able to get as low as 10%. What I did find is that even though the A19 was able to get as low as 5%, in the test you can see in the video for this product, I seemed to get as low as 1%, even though there’s no mention of it being capable of this.

In my testing, it would seem that between 100% and 50% it’s harder to tell a massive difference in brightness levels, but once past that, it becomes more apparent. Regarding getting to 1%, I’m not sure how this occurred, and whether it’s something I could replicate again (I’ve since given the bulb to someone as a gift), but even at 5% it goes further than the Hue A19, and is brighter too, with the Hue filament topping out at 530lm/550lm (US/EU), compared to the Yeelight A19 providing 700lm. Whether that extra 150lm or so makes a massive difference, I’m not sure, but it’s there all the same.

OVERALL EXPERIENCE

Whilst I’m a fan of Hue products and find them pretty reliable, it doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate other bulbs and manufacturers. Yeelight have been doing some great products for a while now, especially when it comes to lamps, albeit under the Mi brand at times, and the bulbs are no exception. Until recently I had Yeelight tunable white bulbs in the hanging counter lamps of our kitchen, and they were rock solid. Admittedly, their LED Strip light hasn’t been as reliable, but I’m going to put that down to an issue with communication between the Yeelight app and HomeKit, and as the A19 is a fully-fledged HomeKit device, you can omit the Yeelight app altogether if you so wish. I’ve had these bulbs for the past two weeks, and although they’ve not been on ‘active duty’ as such, they have been set up in a test environment, with regular automations turning them on and off at specific times, as well as setting a door sensor to trigger them for random times. In that time, I checked their status to see if they’d gone offline, which if you’re a HomeKit user, you may find yourself doing many times throughout the course of the day – Which I blame on the early versions of iOS13. Still, in the two weeks, there were zero instances of a ‘No Response’. Of course, two weeks is probably less than the ideal amount of time to truly test a product, but in my experience thus far, devices with connection issues, tend to reveal themselves very soon. Thankfully it doesn’t seem to be the case at all with the A19.

I think if you’ve not gone into the Hue side of things, or maybe have, but want a couple of cheaper Wifi Filament bulbs for a specific area, you could do a lot worse than the Yeelight offering. I do already have ST19 (pear-shaped) filament bulbs from Hue, and I love the design of them, so they’re already in place, and as such there’s no room for any more filaments at this time. Would I have bought these before I had the ST19s from Hue? Probably, but mostly due to the extra lumens that the A19 gives. I’ve had complaints about the brightness, or lack thereof from the Hue ST19s, which push out just 530lm, so these would probably have done the job, had I not already bought the Hues. If you’ve not tried any Yeelight products before, I’d urge you to at least have a look at their website, as they do make some really nice products, of which the A19 is one.

The post Yeelight A19 Filament Smart Bulb (review) appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

Before we start looking at this new product, Yeelight and HomeKit News have teamed up to offer a giveaway of one each these bulbs, so if you fancy trying your luck, click on the link below to enter the giveaway competition. Good luck!

https://cutt.ly/hdERyo3

PACKAGING

The ST64 is quite large, and therefore so is the box, but it follows the same design rules of their other products, with a clean simple image of the bulb on the front, along with three of the systems it’s compatible with; namely Google Home, Apple HomeKit, and Samsung SmartThings. I believe it’s also compatible with other systems as well, including Amazon Alexa, but as this is a HomeKit site, I’ll leave that for others to worry about.

As with the A19 we reviewed, the side of the box lists a few features, all of which are fairly standard, with the other side of the box simply listing some legal text and specifications;

• Model: YLDP23YL
• Luminous flux: 500lm
• Rated power: 6W
• Lamp holder: E27
• Rated input: 220-240V @ 50/60Hz
• Colour temperature: 2000K
• Connectivity: WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
• Size: 64 x 64 x 158mm / 2.52 x 2.52 x 6.22in

As you can see, at present this bulb is only designed for regions that use 220-240V, like Europe, China, The Philippines etc, although there are plenty of instances where these types of products are actually also compatible with 110-120V regions. Sadly this is not the case here, having tested it in a 110-120V situation. Luckily I have a voltage converter to allow me to test it at 220-240V, so that didn’t stop me.

Yeelight have done a great job of protecting the product, with a foam insert to not only protect it from impacts, but also keep it all firmly in place, so it won’t start rolling around in the box. This is especially important now that many shops are online and deliver, rather than you being able to pick something like this off the shelf.

THE BULB

The ST64’s four filaments are vertically arranged but going inward from bottom to top, which is also the case with another version of the Yeelight A19 (not the one we reviewed). Compared the Hue versions I currently have the layout of the filaments is a bit pedestrian, but to be fair, you’re unlikely to be looking at it that much, and even if the bulbs are on show, once they’re on at 100%, I don’t think your eyes would take staring at them for too long anyway.

As with the A19 Filament, the ST64 has a HomeKit code printed on the base, so it can’t be peeled off and subsequently lost. As with many of Yeelight’s bulbs, this uses WiFi only, so no hub is required. The Hue equivalent can also function without a hub, just using Bluetooth, but then that stops them from being exposed to HomeKit, as well as limiting you to just ten bulbs. So, if you don’t already have a Hue Bridge, these could be of some interest to you.

The bulb has slightly fewer lumens compared to the Hue version, with the Yeelight coming in at 500lm, compared to the Hue’s 530lm, although I doubt very much the 30 extra lumens will make a noticeable difference. The Yeelight option is larger, however, so unless you have these in a hanging lamp or something open it may be too large. Aside from that, the shape is basically the same, which does conjure up the Victorian period a lot more than say the A19.

THE YEELIGHT ST64 FILAMENT BULB IN THE HOME AND YEELIGHT APPS

Adding the Yeelight ST64 is a doddle, due to it being a standard HomeKit product with its own code, however, if you plan on using any of the presets available in the Yeelight app, or want any future firmware updates, you should add the bulb to the Yeelight app first, then add it to HomeKit after, using the option to do so within the Yeelight app itself.

As the bulb isn’t capable of either colour or a change in colour temperature, being fixed at warm white, in the Home app you get your single tile to represent the bulb, and a slider, coloured yellow to drive home the point that it’s set to one temperature. The slider only controls brightness for this very reason, so beyond controlling the levels, there’s not much else to control.

One thing that is a little strange, is that the ST64 isn’t currently listed in the Yeelight as a separate device. However, you can still add it, and it’ll still be ‘discovered’ by the Yeelight app by simply selecting the ‘Filament bulb’ option, which depicts an A19 in this case.

Whilst the Yeelight app can’t do any more with the bulb in terms of basic brightness control, it does offer a few preset lighting conditions, which for the most part are simple preset brightness levels essentially, with some labelled as such (50% Bright, 25% Bright etc). Two presets that could be handy are the Flash Notify option and the Candle Flicker option. The former simply allows the bulb to flash for a set amount, whilst the latter option allows the light’s brightness to fluctuate, thereby attempting to imitate a flickering candle. These presets don’t get exposed to HomeKit unfortunately, but you can still trigger these presets, either via an automation in the Yeelight app or by creating a scene with the presets, which can then be converted into a Siri Shortcut, so at least you can trigger these presets with your voice.

DIMMING CAPABILITIES

The Yeelight ST64 Filament is capable of dimming, but it can go as low as 5%, with the Hue ST19 only capable of 10% at its lowest. As I also found with my tests on the Yeelight A19, it would seem that between 100% and 50% it’s harder to tell any major difference in brightness levels, but from 50% down to 10%, it becomes more apparent. 10% and 5% don’t look very different in terms of brightness either.

OVERALL EXPERIENCE

I’m a fan of both Yeelight products and Hue, so in some senses, it’s hard to make a choice. Right now, however, Yeelight reigns when it comes to desk lamps and bedside lamps in my home, with Hue being the workhorse for most of the basic lighting needs. This also includes the ST19s from Hue that I have in the kitchen. If Hue didn’t make filament bulbs, I’d certainly be buying the Yeelight ones, for both the price point and the design. Even though companies like Sylvania do their own versions, they are Bluetooth, which at this time simply doesn’t work for me. I’ve stuck with Hue do to limitations with my current WiFi setup, which, with the number of bulbs in my home, could quite easily overload the network, which is why Hue and its associated bridge is essential in my case. As I’ve stated in the review for the A19 filament, Yeelight bulbs have been very solid in my experience, and on that basis, if you’re not in the Hue camp already, these are a great and cost-effective offering.

Full disclosure: Yeelight provided HomeKit News with the Yeelight ST64 Filament Bulb for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was made or requested and has in no way influenced our opinion of this product.

The post Yeelight ST64 Filament Smart Bulb (review) appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

• Brand: Yeelight
• Material: ABS
• Power: 5W(downlight/spotlight)
• Luminous flux: downlight–350lm; spotlight–300lm
• Colour temperature range: 2700K – 6500K
• Opening size: 70 – 80mm
• Luminous angle: 24º
• Rated input: 220V 50Hz
• Size:93*73.5mm

The post Yeelight M2 Spotlight Bluetooth Mesh Smart Bulb appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

• Brand: Yeelight
• Material: ABS
• Power: 5W(downlight/spotlight)
• Luminous flux: downlight–350lm; spotlight–300lm
• Color temperature range: 2700K – 6500K
• Opening size: 70 – 80mm
• Luminous angle: 70º
• Rated input: 220V 50Hz
• Size:93*73.5mm

The post Yeelight M2 Downlight Bluetooth Mesh Smart Bulb appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

• Product Name: Yeelight Color Temperature Bulb M2
• Product model: YLDP26YL
• Product size: 43x112mm
• Screw model: E27
• Power: 4W
• Standby power: 0.5W
• Luminous flux: 450lm
• Colour temperature range: 2700K-6500K
• Brightness range: 5%-100%
• Colour rendering index: Ra80

The post Yeelight M2 E27 Bluetooth Mesh Smart Bulb appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

• Product model: YLSD04YL
• Material: ABS
• Power: 5W
• Luminous flux: 400lm
• Colour temperature range: 2700K – 6500K
• Opening size: 70 – 80mm
• Luminous angle: 30 degrees
• Rotation angle: -30 – 30 degrees
• Brightness range: 5 – 100 per cent
• Rated input: 220V 50Hz

The post Yeelight Bluetooth Mesh Spotlight appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

• Product model: YLSD01YL
• Material: ABS
• Power: 4W
• Luminous flux: 300lm
• Colour temperature range: 2700K – 6500K
• Opening size: 70 – 80mm
• Luminous angle: 120 degrees
• Brightness range: 5 – 100 per cent
• Rated input: 220V 50Hz

The post Yeelight Bluetooth Mesh Downlight appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

• Product model: YLDP09YL
• Material: plastic + aluminum
• Power: 3.5W
• Luminous flux: 250lm
• Colour temperature range: 2700K – 6500K
• Lamp Specifications: E14
• Brightness range: 5 – 100 per cent
• Rated input: 220V 50Hz

The post Yeelight Bluetooth Mesh E14 Smart Bulb appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

• Product model: YLDP10YL
• Material: plastic + aluminum
• Power: 6W
• Luminous flux: 500lm
• Colour temperature range: 2700K – 6500K
• Lamp Specifications: E27
• Brightness range: 5 – 100 per cent
• Rated input: 220V 50Hz

The post Yeelight Bluetooth Mesh E27 Smart Bulb appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.