GE to launch affordable Link smart LED bulb this fall

Shawn Knight

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link slightly affordable smart bulb light bulb home depot ge smart bulb smart led bulb led bulb wink gateway hub

Slowly but surely, smart LED light bulb technology is becoming more affordable. Leading the charge at present is GE with their recently-announced Link connected LED bulb starting under $15.

Built in partnership with design specialist Quirky, the Link LED bulb offers the same type of benefits you'd find in other connected bulbs. Using the companion Wink app, users can turn the bulb on or off remotely and even program the light source to turn on or off at certain times (to simulate sunrise in the morning, for example).

The Link will be available in three different variants: a 60-watt model for table and floor lamps, an indoor LED floodlight and a combination indoor and outdoor spotlight LED. As mentioned above, pricing starts at $15 and scales up to $25 per bulb - still far cheaper than competing options like the Philips Hue.

It is worth pointing out, however, that you'll also need to spend $30 for a Gateway Hub - the bulbs won't function properly without it. The good news is that the hub can be purchased as part of a Starter Kit that includes two Link bulbs for $49.

The Link won't be available until this fall in Home Depot stores and via their website. But in the meantime, interested parties can pre-order the bulb online as of writing.

Have you jumped on the smart light bulb bandwagon yet? If so, share your experience in the comments below!

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Affordable... $15.... fail not fall. I know these things are new technology, but it does not make sense for a lot of people or families to invest $15 in a bulb when the payoff is WAY down the road in energy savings. Until pretty recently I was in a situation where I was 'recycling' burned out bulbs by taking a good one from where I didn't need it as much simply because I was too poor to afford buying new bulbs. That is with cheap incandescent bulbs.. The people that can afford $15 bulbs aren't the people 'affordable' is marketed to.
 
Have you jumped on the smart light bulb bandwagon yet? If so, share your experience in the comments below!
Nope, I missed than one too. Really, is a wall dimmer that far away that you need a remote control connected to the internet to save you from getting off your fat a**, and dim the lights?
Affordable... $15.... fail not fall. I know these things are new technology, but it does not make sense for a lot of people or families to invest $15 in a bulb when the payoff is WAY down the road in energy savings.....[ ]....
Cree bulbs are dropping in price by leaps and bounds, with the 40 & 60 watt replacements going for five bucks a pop.

As far as fixed brightness bulbs go, CFL isn't that much more than incandescent. I have no intention of sitting in a corner biting my nails over the tiny amount of mercury that might be released, should I drop and break one

I'm still using a few 90 watt BR38 reflector floods that I bought 16+ years ago! I've lost a bout 4 in 16 years, since they're all on dimmers in high hats, and 95% of the time, turned way down.

One thig they need to work on with LED, is getting them to track in color temperature like incandescents. As of now, they get a great color rendition when at full brightness, but the color temp gets higher(! much bluer), as you dim them down. There's absolutely no chance in hell of setting a warm, candlelight red, mood, the way you can with good old tungsten bulbs.

Plus the Cree bulbs hum a bit when on the recommended dimmers.
 
I bought a few LED blubs whew my CFL ones blew out. LEDs emit less heat as well as use less energy . So you have a product that uses less power and one your central air doesn't have to counteract.
 
I think it'll still be years before this smart light tech is commonplace. Firstly it still needs to a hellava lot cheaper. In my house I just hit a switch and my CFL's bulbs light up or switch off, it's as simple as that. I'm not interested in controlling my lights with a phone and if I need lights to switch on & off by themselves, I have a simple to use good old fashioned timer that I've built into my DB board which also controls my pool pump.
One of these days I'll ditch the CFL's as they die and replace them with plain 'unsophisticated' LED bulbs because they're a bit more power frugal, longer lasting and don't cost much more than CFL's but I'm not in the least bit interested in "smart lights" at all, in fact this new fad of a "smart house" is a bore as far as I'm concerned.
Oh yes, I also have my solar geyser connected to the same timer and that's as "smart" as I want to get.
 
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Smart technology needs to be in the lamp, and not the throw-away bulb. It's nice that technology is miniaturized and can fit into a bulb but it's like tossing out a car engine to change the oil. Work to offer me affordable bulbs (sub $2) and smart lamps.
 
Smart technology needs to be in the lamp, and not the throw-away bulb. It's nice that technology is miniaturized and can fit into a bulb but it's like tossing out a car engine to change the oil. Work to offer me affordable bulbs (sub $2) and smart lamps.
I love your analogy. (y)
 
I bought a few LED blubs whew my CFL ones blew out. LEDs emit less heat as well as use less energy . So you have a product that uses less power and one your central air doesn't have to counteract.
I haven't done the maths on this, but in the winter, the heat from a traditional bulb is beneficial. It probably is better on the whole to use LED year round and have your heater make up the difference in the winter, I would suspect that it might be even better to switch lighting types based on seasons.
 
I haven't done the maths on this, but in the winter, the heat from a traditional bulb is beneficial. It probably is better on the whole to use LED year round and have your heater make up the difference in the winter, I would suspect that it might be even better to switch lighting types based on seasons.
Electric heat is the most inefficient form of heat.
Any electric space heater, whether it's a $9.95 Saturday night special, or a $399,00 piece of furniture, will yield 5200 Btu Hr, on a standard 15 amp 125 volt line. @About .15 cents a KWH, that 5200 BTUs will cost you about .22 cents an hour, to heat a very, very, small room to the point at which it's comfortable.

We had a scandal in PA this winter, about power companies price gouging for electricity during the winter. At one point, customer's bills went from their normal $300.00 Month to about $800.00.

In any event, all the heat from those incandescents wafts up to the ceiling anyway, (along with the oil, gas, kerosene, wood, or what have you).

Please read my post @ #3 again. Brushing false modesty aside, I thought it was uncharacteristically informative, at least by my normal standards....:D I'll try to do worse the next time.(y)
 
@captaincranky
I did, I think perhaps some of your informativeness used terms I was unfamiliar with...

I'm well aware of the cheap space heaters working just as well as the $500 one that looks like a fake fireplace. I have a $10 that I've used for years because I only needed it to heat up where I was. Much cheaper to run that than a whole house or apt unit to heat rooms I'm not in AND also run that heat through ducting that is moving through low temperature zones.

As you pointed out , the heat is going up to the ceiling anyway, most of my lighting is from lamps, not from ceiling fixtures. Some of that rising heat has to be felt before it settles down from the top.

In any case, I think we are on the same page here I just didn't catch everything you intended in post #3 of this thread.
 
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