UNBOXING
The theme that runs through iHaper products that I’ve reviewed thus far, is that the packaging is second to none. It really is luxurious, from the strong card of the box itself to the design and even the dense foam on the inside that holds the bulb in place. I really can’t fault their presentation. It makes other companies, like Hue, really look a bit gaudy in this respect, so top marks. The front simply has the product along with the ‘works with HomeKit’ badge, whilst the rear has basic technical information you might want to see before purchasing. The inside of the box just has the bulb, nicely wedged into a recess inside the aforementioned foam, which also contains one of three instances of the HomeKit code. The rather complete instruction manual, placed inside a small plastic sleeve, is stuck to the inside of the lid of the box.

The manual comes with instructions in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese and Chinese – so pretty well covered, unless you only speak Tongan perhaps… The manual also has another instance of the HomeKit code on the very back. The instructions include not only the setup procedure for getting the bulb working with Apple HomeKit, but also for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant systems, although I believe there’s no Android version of the iHaper app at present, which may not be a bad thing, which I’ll get into later.

THE BULB
Onto the product itself, and outwardly, it looks identical to the iHaper B2 white bulb, with the only difference being the information printed on the back of the bulb’s main body, showing the model number – B1 in this case of course. The shape of the bulb itself is a little different to your typical bulb, and I do like the design, although it may not suit everyone’s tastes or match certain styles of decor. Besides that information, it shows the basic specs, which are the same as some of the information you already see on the back of the container, which are;

• Model: B1A
• Rated power: 5-7W
• Base type: E26
• RGB colour temperature: 455nm – 625nm
• RGB luminous flux: 40-80lm
• white colour temperature: 6000-6500K
• White luminous flux: 470lm
• Expected life: 25,000hrs
• Input: 100-240v, 50/60Hz
• Wifi: 2.4gHz only

The information above does seem a little odd though, as even though it can produce warm and cool whites, the listed 600-6500K colour temperature would suggest it’s only capable of ‘cool’ whites, with ‘daylight’ or neutral whites traditionally sitting between 3100-4500K, and ‘warm’ whites being in the 2000-3000K range. I did find there to be an issue when reproducing whites with this bulb, which I’ll get to shortly though. The body of the bulb has the last of the three instances of the HomeKit code, so you would really have to work hard to lose all three instances.

Setting up the bulb was easy, although, in my tests, I did try to add this after a reset, and the Home app kept saying it was already added. If ever you get this kind of issue, first try resetting the device again (in this case turning it off and on, five times consecutively), and try again. Failing that, you can go into the wifi settings on your iPhone and add the wifi settings to the device manually, and try again, which should work, and did the trick in this instance.

Once your device is in the Home app, it’s really just like any other bulb really, so you have access to the colour and colour temperature options, as well as brightness, so nothing out of the ordinary in that respect. In fact, apart from the shape of the bulb, it really is pretty regular.

COLOUR COMPARISON
I took a few comparison images of the bulb, comparing it to a Philips Hue White and Colour Ambience bulb and while it may in many ways be an unfair comparison, in actual fact as many people see Hue as the standard, it is a good bar to be measured against regardless of whether the bulb is more powerful or not.

These are not tests that are in any way to be considered at a level anywhere near ‘lab conditions’, but they do give you a rough idea of how well the colours in the iHaper stand up against a product that is up to 50% more expensive. Generally, the images show that the Hue bulb has a slight edge in terms of overall brightness, which is a given considering the Hue bulb is rated at approximately 800lm, compared to iHaper’s paltry 470lm output. It is notable that the iHaper does come close to looking as bright as the Hue considering it has around 40% fewer lumens. From these sample colours too, the iHaper does a fairly impressive job of matching the Hue bulb. Due to the shape of the Hue bulb, the colour is more evenly spread against the backdrop of a wall.

Now onto the disappointing part. When it comes to reproducing basic warm, mid or cool whites, it’s a bit of a sad state of affairs with the iHaper;

As you can see in the images above, the Hue does the job of generating cool mid and warm whites as expected. The iHaper on the other hand, is a bit of a disaster, with cool and mid whites coming out with a stronger than expected blue tinge, and the warm white generating a pink-tinged white. These white were all created with the Home app’s colour temperature wheel, and you would expect any bulb with the ability to create whites as well as colours to do a reasonable job. Not so in the case of the iHaper.

However, there is a silver (maybe blue-tinged) lining to this cloud, as warm, cool and daylight whites are possible! I was able to do this, in the case of warm white, by choosing orange, then slowly adjusting the colour to get to what was a comparable warm white. Once I’d got it how I liked it, I saved it as a preset. In theory, the same should be achievable with cool whites too, although I didn’t get that far.

DAY-TO-DAY USE
While some may find the low lumen count a put-off, I have to say I didn’t really notice it being a major issue, at least when it came to using it in our bathroom, and generally, we have the basic Hue warm white bulbs in the house at around 70% most of the time, so it wasn’t a big deal. As one of the family doesn’t like a bright light in the bathroom in the case of a ‘night time’ visit, so the bulb has been ideal for those occasions, where I can set the light to 10% and red. Generally, as you’ve seen already, the colours are really quite good for the most part, although getting a decent warm or cool white takes a bit of adjustment.

In terms of reliability, I had both the colour and white iHaper bulbs in the bathroom and they were mostly reliable, but there were times when even though they showed up in the Home app as connected, they wouldn’t respond to the wireless switch I had set up to turn them on and off. To make sure it wasn’t the fault of the switch, I used a different product, and the results were the same, so sadly, it would appear the issue could be with the iHaper bulbs, although it is strange that both lights wouldn’t respond. Needless to say, lights in a bathroom, with a very small window, need to work every time, so to avoid any issues, I replaced them with two Vocolinc L2 Tuneable white bulbs, which seem to be more reliable with the wireless switch I use to control them. I haven’t abandoned either of the iHaper bulbs though, and now use them where they’re less necessary should they not respond at any point.

As for the iHaper app itself, I have already outlined why I don’t use it in the review for iHaper Desk Lamp, so I won’t repeat it all here, but safe to say it’s not a great app…

CONCLUSION
I would say, the bottom line when it comes to any product is a combination of price, reliability and accessibility. In the case of the iHaper B1, I have to say that while it’s fairly cheap for a colour bulb, there are other alternatives out there if you care to shop around, with equal or more lumens, and in some cases for a better price. iHaper haven’t been in the game long enough for me to judge on how reliable they are, and in this area of technology, they’re definitely not alone when it comes to things becoming unresponsive, so I can’t honestly hold that against them any more than many other companies. In terms of accessibility, they’re available in the US and the EU via Amazon, so they’re not hard to find.

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What we have here, in essence, is a desk lamp…oh, and a flashlight…and a motion sensor.

If a desk lamp with a flashlight and a motion sensor intrigues you, then read on…

UNBOXING
I previously reviewed the iHaper B2 White Smart Bulb, and was actually quite taken aback at the quality of the box, considering the product itself was essentially just a smart light bulb, and they clearly aim to impress with the packaging for the DL1, with the minimalist white carton and silver foil letterpressed name on the front. It’s properly luxurious! The front only really has the lamp and the HomeKit logo on the front, whilst the back give you the lowdown of the product itself, which is as follows;

• Input voltage: DC 5V 2A
• Rated power: 3.2W (16 x 0.2W LED modules)
• Battery capacity: Lamp – 2600mAh / Flashlight – 800mAh
• LED working life: 25,000hrs
• Rang of CCT: 3800-4250K
• Luminous Flux: 80-160lm

All the main parts are made of some sort of metal (except for the central three-way joint) – presumably, aluminium. The parts do feel really well made and have enough heft to not feel lightweight or flimsy. The coating on these parts too has a slightly matt look and feel, with an off-white or even every so slightly pearlescent look to the finish, which only adds to the premium feel. The inside of the box has all the parts of the lamp separated into sections, for easy transportation and assembly, all held in place with foam, along with a manual in English and Mandarin. Those parts are, the base of the lamp, which is sort of like a two-toed duck’s foot, the stem of the lamp, the lamp section that contains the LEDs and the touch-sensitive control, and the aforementioned flashlight, that sort of counterbalances the LED section, albeit only in a visual sense. You also get a USB-C to USB cable to power the device, and three grey half-globe rubber stops, presumably to replace the neon red/orange ones the lamp comes fitted with if they’re a little gauche for your taste. Personally, I like the red/orange-grey look – very Habitat!

INITIAL SETUP/CONSTRUCTION
Putting it all together was fairly simple, with the main stem sitting inside the hole of the base of the lamp. The section with the LEDs and touch-sensitive controls then locks into place with a simple twist, with the flashlight clamping itself into place with a very satisfyingly powerful magnet. Once that’s all done, you only then need to place the USB-C cable into the slot at the base of the stem section, and plug the standard USB end into a powered USB port. Speaking of the USB cable, this is only the second device I’ve got with a USB-C connection (the other being a Mi Air Quality multi-sensor with colour screen), and after having dealt with micro USB leads of one variety or another, USB-C really is a delight by comparison, with no issues of which way round the plug needs to be – essentially just like the Lightning cables for iOS devices. The provided cable also has matching trim to go with the red/orange caps on the lamp.

Once you’ve put the lamp together, there are pretty much two positions for the lamp, with the LED section either being at a 45° or horizontal angle. You can adjust the foot of the lamp to be at any position in between these two positions, by simply adjusting where the hole of the foot sits in relation to the stem, as long as you’re not blocking the USB-C port of course. The section for the USB-C cable is just a plain black strip with a small ridge to let you know the limit at which the base can be angled to, along with the iHper logo and a small red LED to let you know it’s being powered.

MANUAL CONTROLS
Taking a closer look at the other aspects of the light, we can see that to control the light manually, there’s a touch-sensitive strip at the top of the arm containing the LED lights, that’s broken down into an on/off icon and four dots, each of which lights up when activated by touch. So, to increase or decrease the brightness, you can simply press on one of these dots to get straight to a relevant brightness level, or slide your finger up and down the strip to adjust the brightness accordingly. When I say ‘accordingly’ though, that’s a very loose term in this case, as each dot on the touch-sensitive strip doesn’t correspond to equal amounts of brightness levels;

• power icon = off or 5% brightness
• dot 1 = 10% brightness
• dot 2 = 20% brightness
• dot 3 = 50% brightness
• dot 4 = 100% brightness

It’s a little confusing to use at first, as when you slide your finger downwards to reduce brightness, eventually you hit the on/off button, which should be taking you to 5% brightness, however, it instead turns the light off. Personally, I’d prefer to decide separately as to whether I want to turn the light off, as I can simply do that by pressing the on/off button without having to slide my finger across the control, so to me this is a bit of an oversight, albeit a minor one. The light temperature itself is pretty much a mid-white, so not too cool and not too warm, sitting somewhere between 3800-4500K, and it’s not tunable, unlike the Mi Desk Lamp Pro. You can actually get even lower than 5%, via the Home app, and each level from 5-1% does have a distinctive brightness level.

placed in the middle of the lamp, where the stem, the LED section and the flashlight all connect, is a small motion sensor, with an even smaller recess containing a blue LED. The flipside of this section contains a mode/reset button. This button activates/deactivates a special ‘automatic’ mode that illuminates the blue LED and works thus, once activated;

• if you are away for more than 5 minutes the lamp will adjust to the darkest mode automatically (5% brightness). If you are back within 30 minutes, the lamp will readjust back to its original brightness level before you left. If you are away for more than 30 minutes, the lamp will turn off, and will not reactivate on your return until you turn the light on again.

This mode works by using the motion sensor to detect your presence, so assuming you’re using the desk lamp at your desk and you’re also working there, it’ll detect your constant movement and keep at the level you’ve set, only turning down once you’ve either not moved for 5 minutes, or have left to get a coffee or take a restroom break. The motion sensor can be used just like other motion sensors via any HomeKit app, in automations and for triggering other HomeKit devices.

With the lamp part looked at, we now should focus on the flashlight portion. This isn’t actually the first HomeKit product I’ve owned with a built-in flashlight, with that honour going to the Eton Blackout Buddy Connect Charge. The flashlight, which is, of course, detachable, is 14cm/5.5″ long and sits comfortably in the hand. The connector that magnetically (did I mention satisfyingly?) connects to the lamp also contains a recessed on/off button for the torch. The torch has a removable cap, which is part of the overall aesthetic of the lamp, as the other section, with the main LED light, also uses the same cap. It is removable though, and whilst the light is decent enough with the red cap on, once removed, the flashlight is actually quite bright and creates a quite sharp ‘spot’ of light. I don’t have the number on how bright it is in terms of lumens, but it’s more than enough for minor emergency situations. Given that this is detachable, it does contain its own lithium battery, as in fact does the lamp itself, so essentially both can run without mains power. The manual states the lamp can run for approximately 4 hours on a single charge, and also takes 4 hours to fully recharge, although it’s not entirely clear whether this applies to the flashlight too, or indeed whether the lamp relies on the power from both batteries combined to achieve the 4 hours of power free light it claims.

SETUP FOR HOMEKIT
This is a great lamp, but it would be just a lamp (and flashlight) if it weren’t for HomeKit integration. The lamp comes with two instances of the HomeKit code; one in the manual, and one next to the touch-sensitive control panel on the lamp itself. It’s a strange place to have the code, but I guess for many people the top part is actually out of sight for the most part, so no matter. As ever, installation is as simple as adding an accessory by scanning the QR code, assigning it to a room and naming it, so nothing to see in that respect. Once it has been installed, you get two devices – the lamp, that, of course, allows for adjusting the brightness, and the motion sensor, which I previously mentioned can be used just like any other motion sensor. The previously mentioned ‘automatic mode’ for the motion sensor is totally separate from general HomeKit automation, however. Having tested the motion sensor for the past 7-10 days, as part of an automation, I’ll be honest and say it’s not massively fast. It works, but it’s a little on the slow side. As it can be used in automations, it’s not limited to controlling the lamp though, so it’s still a welcome addition nonetheless. The torch is merely an added bonus to the lamp and is not exposed as a separate device in HomeKit, which is a shame, as the Eton device, which I mention in the previous paragraph, does see the nightlight, flashlight and motion sensor, all as separate devices. The lamp itself can still be seen by the Home app even if it’s not connected to mains power, which is great, and generally, the lamp itself has been well behaved, only showing up once with the ‘no response’ issue, which I pretty much take in my stride these days.

Whilst I use the Home app for 95% of the time, it’s always a good idea to download the relevant company’s own apps, if only for checking if there are any firmware updates. In the case of the iHaper app, it’s a fully functional HomeKit app, and it doesn’t look especially ugly which seems to the case for a lot of third-party apps. Unfortunately, every time I’ve tried to either sync this lamp with the cloud (in case I want Google or Alexa integration), it has failed consistently. Not only that but whenever I go to the settings for the lamp to see if there’s a firmware update, it’s constantly stuck in ‘checking’ mode. You really would think, given all the attention to detail they’ve lavished on not only the product but even the packaging, they’d get their app sorted. Alas, it doesn’t seem to be the case. Hopefully they’ll fix this, but for now, I’ll just rely on the lamp as it stands at present.

CONCLUSION
As this is a desk lamp first and foremost, it’s the kind of device that you generally would operate manually much of the time, and so you then have to ask yourself whether paying the extra for HomeKit integration is worth the extra cost. well of course it is!! In all seriousness though, there’s nothing wrong with a bit of automation in your day-to-day items, even if you don’t use them often, and with the addition of the torch and the motion sensor, bundled together with a rather unique design, it had me sold on the first day I saw it late last year. If I had to choose between just one desk lamp – the choice being either the Mi Desk Lamp Pro or the iHaper, then I’d veer towards the more traditional Mi lamp, as it’s not only more adjustable, it also has the option for cool and warm light. That doesn’t detract from the unique and funky design of the iHaper though, and thankfully I don’t have to make that kind of decision, so I’ll keep both.

The post iHaper DL1 Smart Desk Lamp (review) appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

• Siri Voice Control: iHaper smart LED desk lamp is designed for Apple users. Combined with HomeKit smart home system, you can adjust the brightness directly by voice commands, so you can free your hands and concentrate on learning or working.
• Detachable & Multifunctional: Unique branch structure, it can be split into 2 parts for different scenes, the larger “twigs” for table lamps, the 14cm/5.5inch “twigs” can be taken down as emergency flashlights (remove the silicon cover).
• Eye-Protection: Use high-quality LED beads, no stroboscopic, no blue light, providing vision protection for you and your child; 4 brightness levels, support touch control, height adjustment and angle adjustment.
• Energy-Saving: Support human body induction and auto adjustment, it will automatically turn on when you come close, and dim or turn off when you are away for a certain amount of time; 7W, 40W equivalent, it’s energy-saving.
• What You Get: iHaper DL1 smart LED desk lamp, USB-C charging cable, 3 extra silicon covers (red), user manual, 18 months warranty and lifetime technical support.

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You know me right? I love me some good packaging, and whilst iHaper are the ‘new kids on the block’ so to speak, they certainly have spent some time and money on a very decent box. Just as a rough idea, the box is pretty much the kind of quality you only see from a high-end smartphone, it really is both sturdy – to the point of it almost feeling as strong as a real wooden box – and nicely detailed. One had to wonder if they could’ve just not gone so overboard and saved us all some money on the product itself, but I’m not complaining. Apple’s long-standing influence on both product design and associated packaging have clearly had an influence on the packaging, and the product itself, as you can see below.

The product is really held in place with the ultra-firm foam rubber along with one of three examples of the HomeKit code – one on the inside of the box, one on the bulb itself, and one inside the booklet. Speaking of the booklet, they’ve also really gone to town with this, as it’s on nice glossy paper, and has instructions in seven languages – English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, and Mandarin. I’m impressed so far, so it’s two for two.

Now at first glance, the bulb has a really nice, modern shape, and let’s face it, not many companies go out and try to do something different, with only LiFX and Nanoleaf really pushing the curve on design at this time, so I have to say that I do like the shape. The only telltale sign so far that this isn’t really quite the premium product the packaging would have us believe, is the finish of the bulb itself. The join between the diffuser and the main body is a little rough, to be honest, and although I didn’t pay much for the bulb, some things like this should be better. It’s how it performs though ultimately, and once the bulb is hidden under a lampshade or a recess, we’re not going to be near enough to worry about the rough edges – as long as they don’t fall apart of course.

This bulb does stick out from many other smart white bulbs in that it’s set to what iHaper describes as ‘daylight white’, which is approximately between 2800-3000k. This is from the manual, so don’t think that this is a tunable white bulb, as it’s not. It can dim, but it’s set at somewhere between these two numbers. In laypersons’ terms it definitely comes across as cooler than the warm white bulbs by Hue, and for that reason, they ‘appear’ to be brighter, despite the fact they’re almost half the lumens; The iHpaer B2 is rated at 7w, with 470lm, whilst the Hue Warm white is rated at 9w, with 840lm.

This is a low powered bulb essentially, but in all honesty, I’ve found that it seems much brighter. I don’t know how they manage it, or whether my eyesight isn’t what it was, but above are two totally non-scientific comparison shots to give you an idea of what I mean. In the first image, you can see the difference between the colour temperature of the Hue Warm White and the iHaper B2. Personally, I’m not a massive fan of the warm whites, so the B2 definitely has my vote for the temperature it’s set to. It’s cool, but not so much that it looks blue. The second image is for comparison to something with a more similar output capacity, in this case, the LifeSmart Blend Wifi bulb. The Blend is 6w, although I don’t know the lumens it can produce. It’s also worth pointing out that the Blend is a colour bulb, and this is the closest I can get to a similar warm white to the Hue in this case.

Here are the basic specs. for the iHaper B2:

• Input: 100-240V AC, 50/60Hz, 150mA (max.)
• Base Type: E26 (US)/E27 (EU)
• Rated power: 7w
• Colour temperature: 2800 – 3000k
• Luminous flux: 470lm
• Operating temperature: 5°C – 45°C
• Expected LED life: 22.8 years (25,000 hrs)
• Wifi: 802.11 b/g/n, 2.4gHz only
• Suitable for indoor use

Aside from the fact that it’s stuck at a particular colour temperature, it can, of course, be dimmed, and it doesn’t too bad a job of it either (unlike my photography skills, please excuse the unavoidable ‘frequency’ lines).

In terms of overall reliability, I’ve been testing this bulb, along with its sibling, the B1 Colour Smart Bulb, for a few weeks now, and when it comes to connecting, it was all very easy, as we’ve come to usually expect with installing HomeKit devices. Additionally, as I’ve been moving this bulb around in order to take these images after it was installed, I was actually quite impressed at how quickly it would reconnect to the network, and by extension, HomeKit, so I have to say it is once again leaving me quite impressed. While I’ve had it on test in the bathroom, there have been a few occasions where an automation, based on a trigger, hasn’t fired off – Eve motion sensor detects movement > triggers lights to come on. To be fair, this could be the fault of the Eve Sensor, which is two years old now, or it could be HomeKit not sending a signal through, so it’s hard to definitively lay the blame at iHaper.

So for roughly US$20, I can’t really fault it, although you can get the VOCOlinc Tunable White Smart Bulb for only $16.00, so it’s not as competively priced as it may have been even just 6 months ago. That’s the great thing about smart home products now as opposed to a year or so ago, lots of choice.

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