Connected Bulbs, or Switches?

If you're just getting started in making your home a smart home, there's an important choice you have in front of you, even if you don't realize it yet: Bulbs, or Switches?

At home improvement stores all across the world, you can buy what they call "Connected Lightbulbs." It's their way of breaking you into home automation. What are connected lightbulbs? Essentially, they're standard LED lightbulbs that have wireless chips in them. These chips typically communicate with a "hub" that's connected to your home network, and through that, all of your phones, tablets and computers. You can now send commands to any lightbulbs in your house, telling them to turn on and off, dim, and in some cases change colors. One of the most famous (and expensive) options for connected lightbulbs is the Philips Hue, but there are much cheaper alternatives now. While a Hue bulb can cost $60 each, Cree has connected lightbulbs that are much simpler, and cheaper, only costing $15 per bulb.

The advantage of connected lightbulbs is that they're easy to setup, and require no changes to anything in your home. The light fixture and power outlets stay exactly the same. The disadvantage that most people don't think about, is that you can no longer use your home's built in light switches. Connected lightbulbs need a constant supply of power to stay connected to your home's network, so if you turn them off manually, you can no longer connect to them via your devices, defeating the whole point of home automation. To take full advantage of connected bulbs, you need to always turn them on and off via your phone, tablet, or computer. But it's very easy to accidentally turn off the light switch, and therefore turn off part of your home automation network.

So what's a good alternative? Connected light switches require more work, but can be much more Belkin WeMo Switch. While this does require breaking out the screwdriver to replace an old light switch, it gives you all of the benefits of the connected bulbs without the inconvenience of being unable to use your switches. Unfortunately, switches are more expensive, ranging from $30-$50 each. But bulbs aren't necessarily cheaper. An overhead light fixture might require three or more bulbs to be fully lit, which would require almost $50 worth of lightbulbs. But a whole room can be controlled via a single switch.
elegant. Many companies offer connected light switches, like the

So remember that while connected lightbulbs are temping because of their easy setup and cheap price, the better investment might be connected switches, and the extra work they require.