Low-price smart home leader Wyze Labs continues its push into smart lighting with today’s announcement of a full-color BR30 LED smart bulb for recessed lighting installations. The Wyze Bulb Color BR30 will cost $23.99 in a 2-pack, plus shipping.
This news is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart light bulbs.
The new bulb joins Wyze’s existing A19 bulb and has the same E26 base. It offers a palette of 16 million colors, or you can tune its white light on a spectrum of a very warm 1800 Kelvin to an ice-cold 6500K appropriate for task lighting. Wyze says it features a CRI (Color Rendering Index) of 90-plus; CRI measures how close an artificial light source comes to natural light. The dimmable bulb can also get very bright—950 lumens (75-watt equivalent)—although Wyze recommends that it be dimmed only with its app, not an in-wall dimmer.
Wyze Labs
Wyze smart bulbs are set up over Bluetooth and can then be controlled via 2.4GHz Wi-Fi, so they don’t require a bridge or hub to connect to your router. Once on your network, you can use Alexa or Google Assistant voice controls with the bulb.
Using the Wyze app, you can set timers, schedules, and automations, as well as create sleep routines that dim the bulb as you’re falling asleep and brighten it when it’s time to wake. A vacation mode turns the light on and off on a variable schedule when you’re away.
You can also program other Wyze smart home devices to trigger Wyze smart bulbs, and the new bulb can use Wyze’s Music Mode when paired with a Wyze Light Strip or Wyze Light Strip Pro. It’s IFTTT compatible, too.
The Wyze Bulb Color BR30 is rated for use in damp locations, but the manufacturer warns that it should not be directly exposed to the elements, nor should it be installed in fully enclosed luminaires. It can operate within a temperature range of -4 degrees Fahrenheit to 104F.
We’ll have an in-depth, hands-on review as soon as we get a sample.
Corrected shortly after publication to report that Bluetooth is used only during setup. Wyze smart bulbs are controlled via 2.4GHz Wi-Fi.
Author: Michael Brown, Executive Editor
Michael is TechHive's lead editor, with 30+ years of experience covering the tech industry, focusing on the smart home, home audio, and home theater. He built his own smart home in 2007 and used it as a real-world test lab for product reviews. Following a relocation to the Pacific Northwest, he is now converting his new home, an 1890 Victorian bungalow, into a modern smart home.