If you’ve been following our smart home tracker, you already knew Wyze bulbs were launching “soon” … and now I can provide even more precision: they go on sale next week. Further, due to what looks like some premature web publishing, we seemingly have all the details.
Unlike Hue and IKEA lighting, Wyze is going with straight up WiFi. You lose the network mesh effect and increase power consumption, but gain greater range and broader compatibility with less fuss: as in no Zigbee hub required. As with all Wyze gear, one of the most impressive “features” remains pricing. And we’ve never before seen a $8 WiFi tunable bulb from a legitimate source. Heck, a Wyze Bulb 4-Pack runs $30, bringing individual bulb pricing even lower.
One of the prime Wyze Bulb marketing points is Alexa voice control (not to mention the company indicates Google support is coming), but you can obviously also adjust power and brightness via the Wyze app. Further, I fully expect the bulbs to interact with Wyze Sense. If not at launch, I imagine we’ll ultimately end up with Wyze “shortcuts” that allow their contact or motion sensor to trigger lighting. For example, when the front door opens, turn on the hallway lamp.
I’m so deep into Hue (and require BR30) that I can’t envision making a change now. But this is some extremely compelling pricing that’ll hit the sweet spot for many. And, who knows, a Wyze Motion Sensor+Bulb is so inexpensive, I might just trick out my daughter’s playroom or similar since she can’t quite reach the wall switch without a stool.