Koogeek seems to be single-handedly taking over the home automation field by developing and marketing low-cost HomeKit accessories. The latest from the company is the LB1 Smart Light Bulb, a $54.99 (available on Amazon for $36.99 — affiliate link) LED bulb that can display over 16 million colors and can be controlled by the Home app and Siri.
Design
Many LED light bulbs tend to be a little oddly shaped; the Koogeek LB1 reminds me somewhat of an Easter egg with a dark bottom that contains the electronics for the bulb and a top that can display that huge spectrum of colors.
Using a standard E26/E27 screw base, the 8W LB1 fits into almost any light socket in North America, Japan and Taiwan. It makes a fine replacement for a standard incandescent bulb thanks to the low wattage, 60W light equivalence, and wide range of colors.
Function
As with most HomeKit devices, the Koogeek LB1 Smart Light Bulb can be set up for Siri and HomeKit control through the Apple Home app found on iOS devices. Koogeek also supplies its own Koogeek Home app, which offers a much wider range of colors than the Home app.
The LB1 is attached to your local 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network through a simple pairing method that involves screwing it into a socket, turning the light on, then using the Home or Koogeek app to “find” the bulb. Once you’ve shown the app the pairing code from the HomeKit sticker on the base, it’s added to your list of accessories.
In the Home app, a 3D Touch on the light bulb brings up settings for brightness (a 0 – 100% slider) and color. Most of the colors provided by Apple are just standard lighting temperatures in the light orange (warm) to light blue (cool) range. There’s a color picker, but I never seemed to be able to push the colors of the bulb to be as intense as I wanted.
The Koogeek app provides presets for seven very intense colors — red, magenta, dark blue, light blue, light green, yellow and orange. There’s also a color picker that provides the complete range of colors along with those standard lighting temperatures found in the Home app, along with a way to match the lighting to a photo in your Photos library.
To give you an idea of the color range of the Koogeek LB1, I shot this short video that goes through the preset colors one by one:
With the cost being less than the Philips Hue smart bulbs, a much more intense set of colors than I’ve seen on other bulbs, and the HomeKit compatibility, Koogeek’s new home automation entry should do very well.
