When it comes to budget-friendly smart lighting, one of the best brands in the business is LIFX. Offering numerous smart light bulbs and LED light strips, as well as more niche items, LIFX smart lighting products are easy to install, simple to use, and boast all kinds of features. Plus, they’re usually very inexpensive, which is a big win for those looking to add automation on the cheap.
LIFX makes many lighting products, but not all these devices are created equal. This roundup includes the band’s best gadgets, including multicolored bulbs, TV backlighting, and more.
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LIFX Color E26 1100 Smart Bulb
Best overall
With a 75-watt incandescent bulb and 1,000 levels of white warmth, LIFX’s latest and most popular new E26 bulb is as brilliant, colorful, and responsive as its competitors. Unlike other smart bulbs, it does not require a hub, and it benefits from a whole generation of better engineering, hardware, and software from the lighting gurus at LIFX.
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LIFX Beam Smart Light Bar
Premium pick
$146 $190 Save
$44This six-piece kit is unique in that it allows you to construct your own custom smart light bar to hang on a wall, piece of furniture, or anything else you can think of. You receive the entire range of selectable colors in each of its 12-inch portions, as well as 60 different zones where you can customize or choose preset patterns, waveforms, and color combinations.
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LIFX White E26 Smart Bulb
Best value
$8 $15 Save
$7The LIFX basic white E26 smart bulb does very little and does it extremely well for a very low price. For under $10, you receive a soft white light that flawlessly matches the rest of your LIFX setup. However, it is not suitable for outdoor use, in part because it only produces 650 lumens.
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LIFX Smart Lighting Starter Kit
Best set
One of the best ways to begin your smart light experience is with a starter kit, and LIFX is just the company for the job. You’ll get everything you need, including A19 LED bulbs and one 40-inch LED light strip. There’s also no need to worry about bridges and hubs because, like other LIFX tech, all Starter Kit peripherals connect directly to Wi-Fi.
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LIFX Candle Color E12 Smart Bulb
$30 $35 Save
$5This E12 bulb features 26 addressable zones that you can tune to various custom colors as well as preset Flame, Morph, Paint, and other layouts for eye-catching and mood-setting illumination. It is far smaller and more intricate than a full-size E26 bulb, making it ideal for compact settings like reading nooks, bedside tables, and gaming rooms. Of course, the bulb is also less expensive than its larger siblings.
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LIFX Lightstrip
$78 $120 Save
$42Light strips offer a lot of atmosphere to almost any place, and this LIFX 10-foot kit is no exception. It’s as bright as practically any other on the market and features 24 independently addressable zones, allowing you to pre-program your preferred color combinations and access them with the push of a button. It is also available as a 40-inch solo and a 40-inch extension.
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LIFX Color BR30 Nightvision with Infrared
This BR30-format bulb has all of the features you’d expect from full-color LIFX lighting, plus one that could make a big difference: infrared. An extra set of infrared LEDs inside cast important IR light on the bulb’s surrounds, making most security cameras’ view in the dark much easier. This smart light is an important component of any smart home security system.
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LIFX Color 800 Smart Bulb
$25 $30 Save
$5The original 800-watt equivalent color bulb from one of the earliest LIFX bulbs to enter the market still works beautifully with all of the capabilities of the current models. The sole disadvantage is that its peak brightness is slightly lower. Most people find 800 lumens bright enough, and if you seek hard enough, you can find them for half the price of the 1,100-lumen variety.
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LIFX Color Retrofit Downlight
$35 $40 Save
$5When you mount smart lighting in your ceiling, it takes a great step ahead in terms of style and function, but new installations and even replacing old recessed lighting can be a major nuisance. Fortunately, the LIFX Smart Downlight is designed to clip straight into the most common 5- to 6-inch ceiling can light fixtures, thereby reducing (or eliminating) the need for additional power tools and extensive repairs.
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LIFX Mini Bulb
Some lamps do not accommodate full-size bulbs or require a plethora of color options. Those lamps, however, might work well with the LIFX Mini, which offers all the timing, scene, and dimming features you need for comfortable lighting in small places. Fortunately, the price is also modest.
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LIFX Clean Antibacterial HEV Smart Bulb
$37 $45 Save
$8The Clean HEV bulb, which is essentially the company’s 1,100-lumen color smart bulb with an extra ring of specialized lights within, employs high-energy visible light in the 400-nanometer range to eliminate a part of hazardous germs over time. While it is not a first line of defense against germs or pollution, it is an excellent complement to other health-related appliances, such as contemporary HVAC systems and air purifiers.
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LIFX Neon Flex LED Rope Light
Want to add illumination and style to the parts of your home that need it most? With the LIFX Neon Flex, you can bend and form up to 16 feet of multicolored LEDs to fit any space and shape. The only installation required is attaching the Flex to whatever surface needs some glow. The Neon Flex can also be controlled and customized using Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple HomeKit.
Which LIFX smart lights are right for you?
Smart lighting can quickly turn into an expensive and frustrating home automation project, which is something the brilliant minds at LIFX are well aware of. Whether you’re grabbing a single E26 bulb or an entire starter kit, every LIFX product is designed for quick and simple installation. LIFX tech can also be purchased both online and from popular brick-and-mortar stores like Best Buy and Home Depot.
When it comes to the best LIFX has to offer, most folks will be pleased with the LIFX Color E26 Smart Bulb. With its multicolored capabilities and hub-less approach, you’ll quickly control and customize smart lighting in your space. It’s also relatively inexpensive, although sometimes penny-pinching is the most important checkbox to satisfy.
This is why the LIFX White E26 Smart Bulb is on our list. Even though you won’t be able to enjoy a rainbow of colors with this model, it gives you an excellent LIFX experience with a bulb that’s just a bit more pedestrian than the rest.
For those who can afford to splurge, though, the LIFX Beam is ideal. This multi-segment smart light bar system offers up to 60 lighting zones, each with its own brightness, color, and waveform options.