Philips Hue Dimmer Switch - Smarter controls for your smart home
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Philips Hue Dimmer Switch - Smarter controls for your smart home  | ||||||||||||||
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Transcript[edit | edit source]
The Philips Hue Dimmer Switch: It claims to “work as a normal wall switch and dimmer. Place it anywhere you want [and] enrich your system with smooth wireless dimming”
It has 4 labeled buttons and comes with a remote and wall plate that attach magnetically. It’s $25 by itself or $35 when bundled with 1 Hue bulb.
The Hue Dimmer Switch is the second switch Philips has released to control its Hue line. The first being the Hue Tap. Compared to the Hue Tap, the design of the Hue Switch is elegant and fits better in homes since it mimics the design and function of a typical wall switch. And while sacrificing some of the customization options of the Tap Switch, the labels on the Dimmer Switch make it easier to understand.
While testing the Dimmer Switch, we also took a look at some other smart switch options, and the Dimmer Switch was the most well rounded of the ones we looked at. Not only is the design pleasant and easy to understand, it’s also the cheapest option and was the most reliable when you set it up through the Hue App.
Setting up the Dimmer Switch was straightforward. You simply go into the Hue App and add it to your current bridge, and from there you choose which rooms or accessories you want it to control. The On button will cycle through up to 4 scenes, but the 2 dimming buttons cannot be reprogrammed within the Hue app like the buttons on the Tap Switch. However if you set the device up through Apple’s HomeKit, it allows you to customize each button to control any number of accessories including devices that aren’t part of the Hue ecosystem.
You can use the Dimmer switch with up to 10 Hue bulbs without a hub, but you are limited to the dimming functions and cannot change the color of the bulbs or setup scenes.
We did find that if you quickly pressed two buttons back to back, this would cause some of the lights to not respond to the commands. But triggering scenes was quick, and the transition between scenes was a subtle fade rather than an instant change.
The biggest frustration people have with Hue lights is that when they are installed, the automation and smart features only work if the bulbs stay powered, so control has to happen either through a smart switch or through an app making the lights cumbersome to use especially for guests. The Hue Dimmer Switch solves this issue by acting in place of a wall switch while not interfering with the smart features. And compared the Hue Tap, the Hue Dimmer switch was more reliable and easy to setup and understand.
The verdict from our panel of judges:
Todd Williams: Get it
Logan George: Get it
Michael Aranda: Get it
Thank you for watching, and don’t forget to like, comment, and s--SHUT UP AND CUT TO THE TECH!