Got my Philips Hue lights

[jonjanisch]

I bought the cheaper Lux starter kit yesterday at best buy for $80. The actual hue setup is relatively simple. The Echo integration is even easier. It's not terribly useful, sometimes annoying, and probably a complete waste of money, but it's cool... at least for now

The geofencing (turn your lights on when you arrive, off when you leave) is a little buggy. This is a Hue feature and has nothing to do with Echo. One time it turned on the lights randomly when I was sitting on the couch - another time the lights did not turn on when I arrived (possibly I did not go out of range).

Another issue is that if you turn off the light via the actual light switch, then of course you cannot use Hue or Echo to turn it back on. I put one in my living room and one in my bedroom but the bedroom one is kind of pointless. I basically have to turn it off using the Echo remote which makes it much more annoying to use than a normal light.

The living room hue light is useful if I'm working on my laptop and I don't want to get up...   By the way, without Echo the philips hue lights would be absolutely useless for me. Launching the Hue app takes a long time and I'd much rather get up and turn on/off the bloody light then find my phone, launch some app, wait X seconds, click click... etc.

[fnowling]

I purchased the same kit, and I keep the Tap next to my bed, so don't have to fool with an app.

Button 1 is programmed for all lights off, button 2 turns a bedroom light ,the bath light and a living room light on at a low level. Makes wandering around in the sleepless wee hours easier. The Tap is very handy for a quick lighting adjustment. 

Frank
 

[jonjanisch]

That's a good idea, thanks.

I might just relocate the other hue light somewhere else so it's more useful.