Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Best Buy discounts Philips Hue Color Starter Kit in anti-Prime Day deal

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Prime Day is more than just an Amazon event. With so many people ready to drop serious cash this weekend, other retailers have gotten in on the action. Best Buy has now discounted the Philips Hue Color Starter Kit from $180 down to $140 in one of the first Best Buy Prime Day deals so far.

Smart lighting is more affordable than it has ever been, but the higher-end lighting options can still be pricy. If you’re looking for Prime Day smart home deals, this discounted Philips Hue Starter Kit is a great place to start.

The bundle includes three Philips Hue color smart bulbs, the Philips Hue bridge, and a dimmer switch. The Philips Hue system gives you access to more than 16 million different colors and shades of white, as well as numerous brightness levels. You can customize your home lighting experience to match nearly every mood. You can even link your smart lights to your television or to a game console to add extra ambiance to the experience.

Smart lighting isn’t just about an experience, however. You can link the Philips Hue lights to other systems in your home, like your Nest thermostat. Your lights can be indicators of specific problems. For example, if it’s too cold, you can have your lights turn a soft blue — or bright red if its too hot. You could even have a bulb in the foyer change colors based on the external temperature so that you are never caught by surprise. Just link it through IFTTT and your favorite weather service.

Philips Hue bulbs can be controlled through Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and even Apple HomeKit. You can set up custom scenes within the app and save your favorites with the tap of a button.

Setting up the dimmer switch is simple. Adhesive plates allow you to place it anywhere in your home, so you don’t have to worry about hardwiring anything.

There will be a lot of Philips Hue deals this weekend as Prime Day gets into full swing, but this is one of the best early deals so far. If you’re in the market for a Philips Hue Color Starter Kit, check out Best Buy.

Patrick Hearn
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Patrick Hearn writes about smart home technology like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, smart light bulbs, and more. If it's a…
Investing in illumination? Here’s why budget bulbs may be your best bet
Woman having glass of wine with Govee Smart LED light bulb on.

Adding automated lighting to your home is one of the best ways to enter the world of smart devices. Smart light bulbs and switches typically utilize Wi-Fi and Bluetooth (along with Zigbee and other wireless protocols) for initial setup and controls. These same wireless pairing methods are how you manage your home's smart lights, often by way of a companion app that you download to your preferred phone or tablet.

Smart lights are one of the best ways to earn your smart stripes for a few reasons. The installation process is usually straightforward and the results of your investment are visible right away. Open the app, pick which bulbs you want to turn on, and the bulb(s) should illuminate instantly. The same goes for things like brightness adjustment and color changes -- and let's not forget voice commands. Once you've taught Alexa and Google Assistant the skills needed to integrate your lighting, you'll be able to fire off voice commands to power your bulbs on/off.

Read more
Philips Hue vs. Philips WiZ Smart Light Bulbs
Philips Hue sync box.

If you're just getting started with smart light bulbs in your home, Philips Hue is one of the names likely on your radar. This brand has become synonymous with smart home lighting thanks to robust app support, a wide range of functions, and a routinely growing product lineup. What may confuse you when taking the plunge on a purchase is seeing another Philips brand on the store shelf called WiZ. In 2019, Signify (the lighting company spun off from Philips proper) acquired WiZ to bolster its lighting lineup. Unfortunately, WiZ and Hue smart light bulbs operate differently, so you really need to go all-in with one or the other to have a properly unified smart home lighting setup.

Hue uses a wireless standard called Zigbee, which has been around for a while as a means for low-power connections. Zigbee devices run on a different frequency than Wi-Fi and require their own physical hub. This hub connects to a Wi-Fi router, which in turn connects to your phone. The internet connection also allows for remote connectivity, so lights can turn off automatically as you leave the house, for example. Since its launch, Hue has added Bluetooth to its bulbs, so the hub isn't strictly necessary. Though the Bluetooth range is basically limited to within the same room as you, this can save the bit of time it takes to connect to the hub via Wi-Fi.

Read more
Your Philips Hue lights can now sync to the beat of your Spotify music
Philips Hue and Spotify

Smart lights have long been able to sync up with music, but it has always been through your phone's microphone. Philips Hue and Spotify have partnered to create what it calls the "first-ever deep lighting and music experience." The process works by linking the both your Philips Hue and Spotify accounts, and that's where the magic happens.

Philips Hue pulls the metadata from each song played on Spotify, regardless of what device you're playing it on. It then uses an advanced lighting script that causes the lights to shift not only to the beat, but also based on the genre and mood of the song. This means you won't run into the problem of a too-cheerful light show set to the dulcet tones of Helpless as you jam out to Hamilton for what you know is the 175th time.

Read more