There are all sorts of reasons why you might want to smarten up the outdoor lights inside of your home -- the convenience of automation, for instance, or the novelty appeal of color-changing lights. You have more smart lighting options than ever, largely thanks to the fact that lights like those make a great complement to popular voice assistants like Alexa and Google Assistant. But what about outdoor lighting?
Turns out you've got plenty of options there, too. Whether you want motion-activated lights that sync with your security system, color-changing lights to help decorate your next backyard barbecue or just lights you can control remotely from your phone, there are plenty of products that'll get the job done. Here's a rundown of what's out there: The easiest way for most folks to smarten up their home's outdoor lighting is just to swap the old bulbs out for new ones -- specifically, cloud-connected bulbs with built-in radios that sync with your home network. You'll find the greatest number of affordable options if you choose to go this route, including ones that can connect directly with your phone or router via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.
Bulbs that use a different wireless protocol like Zigbee will require you to connect a hub to your router that can translate the signal. Zigbee-compatible options include the Philips Hue Bridge, the Amazon Echo Plus and smart hubs from names like Wink and SmartThings.
If the bulb you want to smarten up isn't directly exposed to the elements then you should be fine picking whichever bulb you like, but if it's going to have to stand up to rain or snow, then you'll want to stick with weather-rated bulbs wherever possible. Feit makes one such smart bulb, a "HomeBrite"-branded Bluetooth floodlight that sells at Home Depot for about $25. Philips Hue has a weather-rated floodlight available as well -- look for it in a $50 two-pack. Features will vary depending on which bulbs you go with. Some, like the Cree Connected LED and the Sylvania Smart Plus Zigbee LED, will serve as generic lights that you can add to an existing smart home platform, then control remotely or automate to turn on at specific times. The cost for bulbs like those? Typically less than $15 each. Expect to pay more if you want bulbs that connect directly with your home network over Wi-Fi, or that change colors.
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