Philips Hue Smart Bridge (2nd Generation) (NEW)

I didn't even want to buy this since I don't have much use for colored lights in the first place, and all of my smart devices are at the switch level anyway, but... I'm also impulsive and technologically silly, so I bought it in order for a computer to interact with them for a specific reason - watching Formula One races through the MultiViewer app. (See pic) The MultiViewer app allows you to watch Formula One races beyond just a single broadcast of the race - instead of just the television broadcast you can also see multiple driver cockpit cameras, track information, position of cars on the track, the leaderboard and tire information, track violations and penalties, and even tune into specific driver radios. Basically it gives you a fully immersive racing experience outside of "just watching the race on tv". In addition to MultiViewer, there's a companion app called F1MV Lights Integration - which is awesome - and well... I simply had to have it. The companion app will take the data being pushed through MultiViewer and use it to control smart lights, so the lights reflect the race conditions such as green flags, red flags, safety cars, fastest laps, chequered flags, etc. In my picture someone had just hit the fastest lap of the race so far, usually indicated with the color purple on the leaderboard. As such the Philips lights changed to purple. The same happens for red flags, yellow flags, etc. Is it necessary? Nah... Cool as hell though? You bet. I originally tried this with the cheaper Govee lights, but although they were wi-fi capable like the Philips, they didn't have the API necessary to work correctly with the MultiViewer system. Those were returned and Philips lights were were purchased instead, and they require the hub to work with MultiViewer. It sucked that I also had to buy a hub to make it all work, but I'm silly and bought it anyway. Through the hub and the app, all it worked flawlessly and painlessly, connected easily, and does what I need it to do. All of it was generally easy to configure, and the app gives you quite a bit of control over a simple light. The lights dim from zero to 100 without issue, and the color range is everything I personally could ask for. (Although maybe others would be more demanding than myself.) All in all it was rather expensive, (compare to the Govee lights and you'll see the price difference!), but I hope that the extra expense means all of it will last a long time with no problems. They were all purpose-bought and they serve their purpose excellently.