At CES in January, Philips announced that it was working on a line of Hue lights for outdoors, so that users could connect and control their lighting on a patio, balcony, or other environment outside. Today, the company has revealed the first set of Philips Hue outdoor range products that will be launching in the United States and Europe this July.
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Philips noted that the outdoor products will be available in both the Philips Hue white and Philips Hue white and color ambiance ranges. The outdoor devices will be fully compatible with the Philips hue ecosystem and work "in the same way as the indoor range," Philips explained. Users will just have to connect their outdoor lights to their Philips Hue bridges, and the new lights will appear in the Hue app and Apple's Home app so that they can be controlled with taps and through Siri.
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The new lights include the Philips Hue Lily, which can be used to highlight key features in a garden, and the Philips Hue Calla, which can be placed in the ground and light pathways through outdoor spaces. Philips said the new line is designed for outdoor weather conditions and each fixture is easy to install.
“Our customers are always looking for new ways to extend their smart lighting system and the new Philips Hue outdoor range takes it a huge step further,” said Sridhar Kumaraswamy, Business Leader Home Systems & Luminaires at Philips Lighting. “While Philips Hue bulbs and luminaires are available for every area inside your home, we wanted to traverse the threshold and offer connected luminaires designed for outside areas. The Philips Hue outdoor range enables you to make the most of your outside areas, be it creating the ideal ambiance to host a BBQ at the weekend or beautifying your garden.”
In terms of price, the Philips Hue outdoor Lily base pack will cost $279.99/€299.99, including three lights and "all the accessories you need to get started." The Calla bollard base pack will be the cheaper option at $129.99/€139.99. There will also be a number of standalone lighting products in the white range, including Lucca, Tuar, Turaco, and Ludere, with prices starting at $49.99/€69.99.
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The company didn't give any further information on the upcoming Hue app version 3.0 update for iOS and Android devices, expected for Q2 2018. At CES, Philips said the update will "enhance" existing features while also adding in new ones so that Hue lights can be activated "with even more ease."
Top Rated Comments
"available in both the Philips Hue white and Philips Hue white and color ambiance ranges."
Not an error, Philip's ambiance ranges are named "Philips Hue white" and "Philips Hue white and color."Imagine taking the 30 seconds to copy/paste into Word or equivalent to avoid posting such mistakes. :rolleyes:
"available in both the Philips Hue white and Philips Hue white and color ambiance ranges."
If you are going to call someone out for making an error you should probably double check to make sure you aren't making one as well.Imagine taking the 30 seconds to copy/paste into Word or equivalent to avoid posting such mistakes. :rolleyes:
I've used a regular Philips Hue bulb in my front door light for well over a year with no issues. It is protected from precipitation, but subject to outdoor temperature extremes.
I have two color bulbs in my enclosed front lights.I have 5 white bulbs in my open bottomed deck / underdeck lights.
All in New England temperature extremes. They work super reliably, effectively and get the job done.
I will be looking for the pathway lights though!
I guess I'm finding Phillips' announcement to be a bit vague as far as the availability of the bulbs themselves. I have been holding off on buying standard Hue bulbs for our outside lights, knowing that Phillips had some all-weather products coming out in the near future. I was hoping for some all weather standalone bulbs. At first blush, this looks like just the whole fixtures will be available, but then how do you replace the bulbs in those fixtures when they eventually go out? I actually already like our existing outdoor light fixtures and don't want to spend this kind of money replacing them when they're already pretty new-ish. But I would LOVE to have some all-weather Hue bulbs and would pay a premium for them.
It wasn't mentioned above, but if you go into their press release ('http://www.newsroom.lighting.philips.com/news/2018/20180312-extend-your-smart-lighting-system-this-summer-with-the-new-philips-hue-outdoor-range') they have that info.It's the perfect use case for sunrise/sunset based automation and would save us energy when we go out of town on vacation. I don't waste money on the light sensing outdoor fixtures because they always break. I was hoping for a Hue based solution in the near future.
The Philips Hue outdoor spot Lily base unit pack will retail for USD 279.99 /EUR 299 and includes three light points and all the accessories you need to get started. The Calla bollard will retail for USD 129.99 / EUR 139.99 as base unit pack. The Philips Hue white range offers a number of products matching the decor of your house. Products in this range are named Lucca, Tuar, Turaco and Ludere (United States only) and retail prices will start from USD 49.99 /EUR 69.99. United States only: the PAR38 lamp will retail for USD 29.99 for a single pack and double pack for USD 49.99.
I'm looking forward to this as well.