[Tapo L530E] Smart Wi-Fi Light Bulb, Edison Fitting, Multicolour 60W

Summary: These bulbs are just fine as far as RGB bulbs, but TP-Link aims to vendor lock you, so it's hard to use these bulbs alongside products from other brands or open protocol apps. The price is decent, but the limited options for control is a serious dealbreaker for me.These are some decent RGB bulbs. They're decently bright. The color production offers good saturation. They run cooler than some of the cheaper RGB bulbs that I've used. I didn't find anything outstanding about these bulbs, good or bad.Where this product really falls short is the ways in which you can connect to it and control it.These larger brands keep introducing custom protocols and apps for their IoT devices. It convinces me that they're more interested in locking consumers into their line ... MoreSummary: These bulbs are just fine as far as RGB bulbs, but TP-Link aims to vendor lock you, so it's hard to use these bulbs alongside products from other brands or open protocol apps. The price is decent, but the limited options for control is a serious dealbreaker for me.These are some decent RGB bulbs. They're decently bright. The color production offers good saturation. They run cooler than some of the cheaper RGB bulbs that I've used. I didn't find anything outstanding about these bulbs, good or bad.Where this product really falls short is the ways in which you can connect to it and control it.These larger brands keep introducing custom protocols and apps for their IoT devices. It convinces me that they're more interested in locking consumers into their line of products than offering a flexible solution that plays nice with the rest of the market. Nobody wants to learn three different apps to control their lights.The incompatibility with the popular open protocol control software isn't a problem if you're willing to accept the vendor lock. The app isn't bad; it can do just about everything the large open protocol apps can. Just be prepared to exclusively purchase TP-Link IoT products unless you want to jump through a handful of apps to control everything.Home assistants like Google Home or Amazon Alexa provide a layer of abstraction that can give you a single interface to control bulbs from multiple brands, but you shouldn't be forced into using it. Moreover you have to seek out IoT devices that support those home assistants.At the time of writing this review the price for four bulbs was $39.99. This price is okay if not a tad high. I think in part you're paying for the TP-Link brand name. In a way this is reasonable considering the increase in compromised IoT devices; the TP-Link name comes with some assurances of security. Ultimately, though, the vendor lock with these bulbs is a dealbreaker for me.

This is my first experience with smart bulbs, so I have nothing to compare these to. That said, I think the TP-Link Smart Light Bulbs are really fun and add some unique possibilities to the home. When my son saw the box, he got excited and convinced me to put these in his room.Set up was a little tedious since you have to pair each bulb separately, but that's to be expected since the bulbs aren't necessarily going to be in the same place, and they all need to have an individual connection to the Wi-Fi. However, you can use advanced settings with shortcuts and automation that allow you to control them all at once (after setup is completed, of course). So, if you have 3 bulbs in a room, and 1 bulb in another room, you can assign them to different rooms and commands ... MoreThis is my first experience with smart bulbs, so I have nothing to compare these to. That said, I think the TP-Link Smart Light Bulbs are really fun and add some unique possibilities to the home. When my son saw the box, he got excited and convinced me to put these in his room.Set up was a little tedious since you have to pair each bulb separately, but that's to be expected since the bulbs aren't necessarily going to be in the same place, and they all need to have an individual connection to the Wi-Fi. However, you can use advanced settings with shortcuts and automation that allow you to control them all at once (after setup is completed, of course). So, if you have 3 bulbs in a room, and 1 bulb in another room, you can assign them to different rooms and commands to activate them.The ability to control with voice is nice, but our experience using Alexa has been hit and miss. It works seamlessly about 80% of the time, but for the other 20%, the lights either don't respond or have a long delay with turning on/off. I don't know if this is an issue with Alexa or the bulbs. It's faster and much more responsive when controlling directly through the app, but sometimes it's more convenient to use voice controls if you have the option to do so.All of the different color options are pretty neat. It took us a bit to figure out how to get to the larger color spectrum within the app, but once we did, we had a lot of fun checking out the different options. I find that I enjoy the different shades of blue and green the best, but you can also make some cool-looking combinations if you have multiple bulbs connected to one fixture as we do. For example, we watched one of the Captain America movies and set up the lights to be red, white, and blue. We're nerds... I know, but it was fun.You can adjust the brightness from 1% - 100%, which allows for a wide range, and if you want 1 color to stand out more than the others, you can set that one higher. This is all really easy to do in the app (or with voice controls, though I prefer the app for this). I do wish the max brightness level was a little higher. I don't think they get as bright as a typical lightbulb, but they definitely still deliver enough brightness to light up a small room without issue.Overall, I recommend trying these out. I think they're a good entry point for those new to smart lighting, and they're less expensive than some other options I've seen. The setup might be a bit tedious, but the app is easy to use (mostly), which makes the process feel smoother. Make sure to play with the automation and shortcuts 'cause that really opens up more possibilities.

I have been using TP-Link products for years now. I use the Kasa app for the stuff I already have like LED strip lights and smart plugs. These bulbs work on the same premise as most other smart bulbs that use wifi. It doesn't require a hub which is nice. You can use Alexa to control them and they will show as a light in your devices section on Alexa app. I find this easier than trying to use multiple apps for different smart home devices. I recommend creating a routine on the Alexa app to turn these bulbs on/off with a voice command, and adjust any settings. You can use the Tapo app too but if you are like me and use multiple brands of devices its much easier to have everything in a central location. Overall these bulbs are pretty multifunctional. They are ... MoreI have been using TP-Link products for years now. I use the Kasa app for the stuff I already have like LED strip lights and smart plugs. These bulbs work on the same premise as most other smart bulbs that use wifi. It doesn't require a hub which is nice. You can use Alexa to control them and they will show as a light in your devices section on Alexa app. I find this easier than trying to use multiple apps for different smart home devices. I recommend creating a routine on the Alexa app to turn these bulbs on/off with a voice command, and adjust any settings. You can use the Tapo app too but if you are like me and use multiple brands of devices its much easier to have everything in a central location. Overall these bulbs are pretty multifunctional. They are equivalent to 60W at 800 lumens. The color adjustment feature is endless! They are perfect for my table lamps and I have th ability to change the color for movie night, or holidays etc.