So I got a set of these, they are pretty easy to hack as indicated in the article. Which is nice, I've got a Zigbee development board from Atmel that I'm planning on using to see if I can talk to the bulbs directly.
So interestingly they are 8.5W and about 600 lumens. I pulled out a compact florescent which was 23W and 1200 lumens, So in theory I could use a '2:1' bulb socket and get my 1200 Lumens with less power, or make up a 3:1 fixture and get 1800 lumens for the same amount of power. The point I'm trying to make here is that you don't necessarily give up light brightness if you can accommodate additional bulbs.
It is pretty awesome to be able to 'set the mood' although mostly I'm using them in 'reading' mode (warm white). Something the app didn't provide was 'set color based on tungsten temp' feature, that would be nice. You can sort of simulate it by using the 'set by camera' feature and put the kind of light you want shining on a neutral grey test card then select that 'color' but it isn't precise.
So interestingly they are 8.5W and about 600 lumens. I pulled out a compact florescent which was 23W and 1200 lumens, So in theory I could use a '2:1' bulb socket and get my 1200 Lumens with less power, or make up a 3:1 fixture and get 1800 lumens for the same amount of power. The point I'm trying to make here is that you don't necessarily give up light brightness if you can accommodate additional bulbs.
It is pretty awesome to be able to 'set the mood' although mostly I'm using them in 'reading' mode (warm white). Something the app didn't provide was 'set color based on tungsten temp' feature, that would be nice. You can sort of simulate it by using the 'set by camera' feature and put the kind of light you want shining on a neutral grey test card then select that 'color' but it isn't precise.