IKEA’s smart lights offer excellent performance, and they cost 80% less than Philips’ tones
Smart lights are a great addition to smart home setup, whether you want to light up your outdoor space for spring entertaining or upgrade your interior lighting. But the most popular choices can be expensive. It would be silly to say that I've had a bulb while testing IKEA's smart lights lately – so I won't. However, learning the revelation of smart lights that are capable and fully capable is much less expensive. IKEA may be known for its smart lighting, but maybe it should be.
IKEA’s smart lighting covers all the basics: affordability, local control, excellent remote controls and a large number of lighting products to create countless combinations. These options are certainly worth considering, especially if you are a beginner looking for budget-friendly entry to the smart home world.
IKEA has its own on other budget smart home brands
The simple design of the IKEA Home Smart App makes it easy to use.
My smart home philosophy has always been to buy cheap and reliable. It makes little sense to buy a $200 smart lighting switch, and you get the same basic features for under $30. When few people use them, the exquisite software tricks of higher-priced models are nothing.
IKEA’s smart home products meet these requirements at these prices that will make Philips tone blush, especially for remote controls and sensors:
IKEA Smart Lights and Philips Tones
Not clear
| remote control | Motion sensor | Contact sensor |
|---|---|---|
| IKEA Styrbar ($14) | IKEA Vallhorn ($9) | IKEA Parasoll ($12) |
| Philips Hue Tap Switch Mini ($50) | Philips Tone Motion Sensor ($45) | Philips Hue Secure ($40) |
I won't dig out many smart lighting products from any brand. But I will notice that IKEA has advantages when choosing a larger hue. this IKEA's smart hub ($70) and Philips Hue ($60) offer similar features, but the price difference is not that obvious. IKEA's sensor prices even beat most budget brands like Aqara, Sonoff and Thirdreality.
IKEA’s local smart home control
The IKEA Dirigera Smart Hub is a useful but optional part of IKEA smart lighting systems.
The secret ingredient of IKEA is that most of its smart lighting devices use the Zigbee Smart Home protocol, meaning they can run without a Wi-Fi connection. Zigbee can also link up to 10 smart lights to an IKEA remote (or sensor) without wheel hubs. It's great for beginners, as you can always add a hub later for smart home control such as scheduling, remote access, and automation.
Local control is also extended to IKEA's smart hub Dirigera. It plugs into your router and allows anyone who registers on the IKEA Home Smart App on a Wi-Fi network to access the controls even if they don't have an Internet connection. Remote access can also be set up via the Internet, but this is a course for the smart hub.
The IKEA's wall distance is clean and simple, consistent with the brand's simple Scandi aesthetic.
IKEA's Zigbee connection also helps extend battery life on the remote and sensors. Unlike constant connections with Wi-Fi, Zigbee communicates with the hub only when sending and receiving commands. In other words, the Zigbee device basically sits in standby mode until it needs to. They won't slowly drain batteries like Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.
Another advantage of Zigbee is smart home compatibility. This means that IKEA’s Zigbee devices work with most other smart hubs that support Zigbee: Amazon Echo, Smartthings, Philips Hue, and more.
My favorite smart home remote control
Over the years, I have used IKEA's remote control in my smart home.
I used the IKEA Tradfri remote with the Samsung SmartThings Smart Hub, which controls a variety of Zigbee and Wi-Fi devices. As a renter, I don’t want to manage my property manager by swapping my hardwired lighting switches, so the IKEA remote is the ideal setup for my smart home.
IKEA comes with frequent scenes and commands to control my Sengled smart bulb and Kasa smart plug so I don't have to find my phone or ask for a voice assistant. Plus, the remote is a great option to prevent guests from accidentally flipping my light switch – the schedule and scene don’t work when the smart bulb goes out. I like the magnetic mounting plates, which I strategically place from the lighting switch. (This is not the most elegant solution, but at least it is practical.)
That is, the IKEA remote control is not perfect. The older Tradfri models in my smart home have poor battery life due to the use of small coin battery batteries. IKEA seems to have learned this by switching to a larger AAA battery in new models like Rodret and Styrbar. AAA is a great upgrade as you can find rechargeable versions and reduce e-waste.
The AAA batteries in IKEA's newer remote controls are a big improvement over the battery battery.
Note that my SmartThings Hub does not support dimming on the IKEA remote, and the new remote requires some behind-the-scenes work on the Smartthings forum to run. If you want a remote option that is less programmable, I recommend using the Dirigera Hub.
Thankfully, Dirigera Hub supports Amazon Alexa, Apple Home, and Google Home—you can easily connect to these smart home settings. There is also beta support for substances. I successfully linked Dirigera to the Intelligence through materiality – all my connected IKEA lights are ready to fit the rest of my system.
You can link the DIRIGERA smart hub to other compatible smart systems (such as smart maps).
A large number of smart lighting variants
As of this writing, IKEA sells over 150 smart lighting options online – most of which are smart lighting kits with a variety of LED bulbs, fixtures, remote controls and accessories. Still, there are plenty of smart bulb options for the standard (E26), Candelabra (E12) and Track Lighting (GU10) fixtures. Similarly, many custom lighting devices, lighting panels and lighting strips from IKEA can be connected to the Dirigera Hub.
That is, the choice of multi-color lights is not as good as Philips Hue and other competitor brands. IKEA sells many models with adjustable color temperatures, a feature I use over and over again: the soft white tone of relaxation and sunlight while I work.
IKEA's smart lighting products include various light strips, such as Silverglans.
In addition to smart lighting, IKEA sells several other types of smart home devices, but the only thing that stands out is the choice of electric blinds. The biggest limitation of IKEA smart shadows is finding the right size for your windows, so it's hard for me to recommend them.
All in all, it's worth considering IKEA smart lighting products, especially if you have a budget. This is not a perfect solution, but practical enough for most people.
