Either too complicated to set up or malfunctioning

2026-01-30    -Arpie9

These claimed to be compatible with any zigbee hub. I tried three with absolutely no success installing. Luckily uninstalling and return was easy.

4.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommend after firmware is updated

2026-01-31    -Leigh I.

I purchased 20 of these dual packs (for total of 40 lights) to work with Samsung ST. I installed 8 lights in my hallway and noticed various problems like couple of lights would only dim after I turned the power all the way up to 100%. I dug through and found out I had 3 different firmware revisions. I manually updated every single firmware and devices worked fine. I eventually figured out that I needed to download a newer version of the phone app to turn automatic firmware update as I was trying to create "light groups" and required me a new app. But once the automatic firmware update was turned off, I installed 4 more lights. When I choked those firmware versions, ST seems to update firmware right away.So if you are having problems, try updating firmware first. After the firmware update, devices are working fine.My next problem (which I am working on) is color settings. My kids LOVE to change colors with Nest Home. I noticed that for some reason, Nest home settings become default settings and only way to get rid of funky colors is to hard rest the lights (Turn them off/on 5 times then sync up with the app). Otherwise, every time I turn the light on/off, it would resort to Google's setting. I do have "Reset" scene on my ST that has defaults but for some reason Nest Home's settings overrides them.As for the lights, they are brighter than the 9 year old Cree retrofit kit they replaced. I can't tell whether my old LED lights are getting worn out. (Which is possible). The color is funky and fun but I don't have a lot of use for them right now.Lights as slightly laggy. Where Crees would turn on almost instant, these lights have 1/8-1/4 of a second delay on start. Commands from ST is quick but I think that's mostly a product of network.As for the durability, I will need to wait and see if these things will last as long as Crees did. (I bought 50+ Crees and had 0 failure in almost 9 years).As for syncing with other lights, once firmware was updated, lights turn on mostly around the same time.Connectivity wise, I had 0 issues. I simply power them on, use my phone app to detect, and they come up almost at the same time. One benefit is I install a room full of them, and just sync them up at the same time. I do have to rename them as I turn them on/off and see which is the actual ones.I bought them on sale so each light fixture cost <$10. So it's been a wonderful purchase. Other reviewers have complained that their unit had died. So I am cautious and kept my old LED bulbs just in case.Having control over individual lights do have pros and cons. On the pro side, now I have extensive 'scenes' that allows me to set varying dimming settings even in a same room. Nest/Google is good about auto grouping them but I am now stuck in this weird state where some are treated as part while others aren't. Amazon Alexa required me to create a group but doing so has allowed me to control all the units at the same time.Alexa specific issue. I've named lights with same names. While Google handles this with no issues, the version of Alexa (as of Oct. 2019) will only turn off one of the units and this is making it difficult for me as I want to control sub-groups of lights within a room. It's more of an issue with Alexa than the light.As for which hub (Nest/Google vs Amazon Alexa) is better, it's hard to say. With the quirky grouping behavior, it's a tie right now. I do have Echos and Google Home/Minis scattered throughout the house.I'd pay $20 for this unit but beyond that seems a bit too much. I wish I could do some interesting disco/sound sync but it appears I would need to do some funky programming to get that to work and it's not something that happens out of the box.But given what I paid, I am very happy.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for the bathroom

2026-03-04    -Slacker

These were the only recessed can lights that I could find that can change color. I'm amazed that Philips Hue doesn't have any bulbs in this style. I have them connected to a Samsung Smartthings Hub and use an Echo Dot hidden under the counter top for voice control. I put 4 of these in recessed cans above my bathroom vanity mirror and 2 in the shower. I usually keep the vanity lights set to warm white at 50%. If I'm shaving I set them to Daylight at 100%. It's also fun to change them to random colors sometimes. I always set the light color to blue in the shower. It just seems relaxing the way it reflects off the limestone tile. These bulbs have always worked pretty good for me but early on when I got them, there was a firmware update that the Samsung Smartthings hub automatically applied that improved the functionality. I'm assuming that if others had problems it was before the firmware update.

5.0 out of 5 stars Didn't Play Well with SmartThings

2026-03-07    -WB

Loved these lights but had issues integrating them with the Samsung SmartThings hub (2nd generation). Using the Lightify gateway and iPhone Lightify app these lights were amazing. Very bright with a good range of color variations.Unfortunately, I ended up returning these because I could not get them to integrate with my SmartThings hub which is the heart of my home automation solution. Although the product description states these are SmartThings compatible, the SmartThings website only lists the tunable white version of this product as a compatible and not this RGB/tunable white version. Hopefully these will be fully compatible at some point in the future.The "Smart Home" market is still in its infancy so I did not downgrade my rating due to this incompatibility. If you're not looking for a complete home automation solution and only want to controal a few lights via a smartphone app this is a great product!

1.0 out of 5 stars Overheat and die

2026-02-21    -Amazon Customer

Unlike all the other one star reviews who don't seem to understand zigbee, my review isn't about connectivity.The problem with these lights is longevity. These lights, like all Sylvania/Lightify bulbs is that they run hot. Without adequate ventilation they just cook the circuitry and will start losing functionality like: being able to turn off and start off, being any temperature of white, or staying connected.Eventually, these overheat and just die. Out of 22 lights, I replace about 6/year for the last 7 years.If you can, somehow, add ventilation to your cans, these might work great.

5.0 out of 5 stars Seems just as good as the Halo so far. Works well with echo plus and in mesh network

2026-01-02    -Techie Working Mother

Bought one to try with new Echo plus Hub. I bought several other Halo brand “tunable” LED recessed light retrofit to retrofit to 20 year old can light and so far it seems just as good as the HALO and a couple dollars less. Dims and changes color temp from Alexa voice commands in addition to on/off. Read fine print as HALO is rated for 50,000 hours and these may only be rated for 25,000 hours. This is on edge of a mesh network of various signee devices that span around 70 feet so far in my house

1.0 out of 5 stars Overheat and die

2026-02-26    -Amazon Customer

Unlike all the other one star reviews who don't seem to understand zigbee, my review isn't about connectivity.The problem with these lights is longevity. These lights, like all Sylvania/Lightify bulbs is that they run hot. Without adequate ventilation they just cook the circuitry and will start losing functionality like: being able to turn off and start off, being any temperature of white, or staying connected.Eventually, these overheat and just die. Out of 22 lights, I replace about 6/year for the last 7 years.If you can, somehow, add ventilation to your cans, these might work great.

5.0 out of 5 stars Didn't Play Well with SmartThings

2026-02-11    -WB

Loved these lights but had issues integrating them with the Samsung SmartThings hub (2nd generation). Using the Lightify gateway and iPhone Lightify app these lights were amazing. Very bright with a good range of color variations.Unfortunately, I ended up returning these because I could not get them to integrate with my SmartThings hub which is the heart of my home automation solution. Although the product description states these are SmartThings compatible, the SmartThings website only lists the tunable white version of this product as a compatible and not this RGB/tunable white version. Hopefully these will be fully compatible at some point in the future.The "Smart Home" market is still in its infancy so I did not downgrade my rating due to this incompatibility. If you're not looking for a complete home automation solution and only want to controal a few lights via a smartphone app this is a great product!

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for the bathroom

2026-02-24    -Slacker

These were the only recessed can lights that I could find that can change color. I'm amazed that Philips Hue doesn't have any bulbs in this style. I have them connected to a Samsung Smartthings Hub and use an Echo Dot hidden under the counter top for voice control. I put 4 of these in recessed cans above my bathroom vanity mirror and 2 in the shower. I usually keep the vanity lights set to warm white at 50%. If I'm shaving I set them to Daylight at 100%. It's also fun to change them to random colors sometimes. I always set the light color to blue in the shower. It just seems relaxing the way it reflects off the limestone tile. These bulbs have always worked pretty good for me but early on when I got them, there was a firmware update that the Samsung Smartthings hub automatically applied that improved the functionality. I'm assuming that if others had problems it was before the firmware update.

5.0 out of 5 stars Seems just as good as the Halo so far. Works well with echo plus and in mesh network

2026-02-10    -Techie Working Mother

Bought one to try with new Echo plus Hub. I bought several other Halo brand “tunable” LED recessed light retrofit to retrofit to 20 year old can light and so far it seems just as good as the HALO and a couple dollars less. Dims and changes color temp from Alexa voice commands in addition to on/off. Read fine print as HALO is rated for 50,000 hours and these may only be rated for 25,000 hours. This is on edge of a mesh network of various signee devices that span around 70 feet so far in my house