Philips Hue vs GE Link
A comparison of the Philips Hue Bulbs and GE Link could help you decide which between the two smart bulbs could serve your needs best. Both are suited to different situations and although they have similar features, you might find a few omissions on one of them a reason to favor the other. This comparison gives you all the information you would like to know about the two smart bulbs, particularly how they compare on performance and reliability.
Philips Hue vs GE Link Comparison
 |  | |
| Philips Hue | GE Link Connected LED | |
 | ||
| Rating | ||
| Available in Color? | - | |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi, ZigBee | Wi-Fi, ZigBee |
| Max Output | 800 lumens | 800 lumens |
| Requires Hub? | ||
| Dimmable | ||
| Geofencing | - | |
| Amazon Alexa | ||
| Apple HomeKit | - | |
| IFTTT | - |
Color range
The Philips Hue wins on the availability of colors as it comes with default color pallets that support up to 16 million colors that can cover a wide spectrum. The bulb allows you to customize the colors the way you want and this flexibility makes it easy to use and is friendly when you want to switch from one theme to the other. Although the Philips Hue takes this easily, there is something the GE Link bulb takes quite easily and that is lighting management.
But this is not to cancel the GE Link out of the comparison. The bulb offers a great color range that can handle to display up to 90 percent of the color index, which is technically more than what you can achieve with any RGB LED bulb. It claims good scores when you measure its performance on all colors, with the only exception being pure red and pure blue. All other shades of the colors are good.
Winner: Philips Hue
Utility and customization
The lighting management of the GE Link is easy as you are given the Wink App, which helps you to easily control the bulb. It does not matter whether you are making modifications to one bulb at a time or putting them together to make an overall adjustment, its controls are easy to use and work seamlessly.
You can do basic scheduling including turning on the bulbs in the morning and off at night before you go to bed. This could be done in a manner that when your phone gets near the lights turn themselves on. The Robots feature on the GE Link is an added tool that helps you to come up with a custom recipe that you can dip into triggers.
Philips gave out an API for the Hue, which allows developers to come up with apps that are designed to work with the smart bulb. This opens up many possibilities and ensures people can integrate creativity while using their bulbs. Most of the apps built by third parties are more robust than what comes with the bulb from Philips, and most of them are making apps that ensure the light is synced with music so it is triggered by the beat. There are many possibilities in such a setup, so if you are a developer looking for a better smart bulb option, the Philips Hue is what you need.
Philips Hue also offers support for IFTTT App Recipes. This means you can sync the bulb with your phone and sites. Many people in the sporting world are using the IFTTT recipes to control lights based on the activity in the field while watching matches.
For example, one could customize the lights so when their team scores the color changes to that donned by their team. ESPN is one of the sites that have been working well for Hue users, so you might find the smart bulb more suitable for your entertainment needs. In addition to all these features, the Philips Hue is also cost effective compared to the GE Link.
Winner: Philips Hue
Product compatibility
You would also like to choose a bulb that is compatible with products you often use. In this case, the GE Link tries to give you a good solution as it is a part of the smart home platform standard of Wink, so it is compatible with a few products that use Wink (example, Dropcam, Honeywell, Philips Hue).
A philips Hue bulb on its side is compatible with a few more products and can work with the Ambilight TV, so you can easily connect the bulb with your TV to ensure their color changes depending on the things on the screen, which helps to create an immersive experience especially where you are watching a movie.
Winner: Philips Hue
Software
When it comes to the software comparison, the Philips Hue takes more credit. Many users of the GE Link report that the software is mostly buggy, which happens between installing and connecting. The entire setup process is slow and once connected it takes a lot of time to change color settings. You could also have issues installing updates, and sometimes they will fail completely. These issues are not common with the Philips Hue, which is seen to have more stable software and easier to integrate with other tools and products.
Winner: Philips Hue
Brightness capacity
The Philips Hue may be good in many other aspects, but you will notice that the bulbs are not super bright and against other bulbs on the market there are brighter ones. That being said against the GE Link they both provide 800 lumens making it a match in this comparison.
Winner: Draw
Efficiency
On power efficiency, the GE Link lags a bit behind when compared to the Philips Hue. To give out 800 lumens, the bulb needs 12 watts. You can achieve the same amount of lighting with 9.5 watts on TCP LEDs, and the Philips Hue can get you 750 lumens from 9 watts. GE Link is inefficient when you consider its RGB LEDs and their power requirements, so if this is a major concern for choosing between the two then it is advisable to just go for the Philips Hue.
Winner: Philips Hue
Verdict
Our choice is the Philips Hue, it is better all round, the only downside is cost, however for the extra money you are getting a better system that in the long term is a better investment.
From our best smart bulb round up we have the Hue as our first choice, the GE Link is good, however there are better alternatives on the market, if you are on a budget then the GE Link is a worthy choice and worth consideration.
Read: You can read our full Philips Hue review here.
Aabove all the factors mentioned, there is personal taste and preferences and how well you are able to configure a smart bulb. You can choose the most suitable for your needs based on the above information or using your preferences and tastes as a basis.
Founder & Editor
Mike is the founder of Hue Home Lighting, a huge Hue fan with far too many lights, covering home and garden. A smart home gadget addict and also enjoys the odd bit of DIY
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