C by GE - A19 Bluetooth Smart LED Light Bulb with Google Assistant/Alexa/HomeKit (4-Pack) - Adjustable White

The features on the website and packaging can be misleading. The website touts the ability to have the light bulb change colors based on the scene. Which sounds good on paper but it’s not exactly the bill of goods that was sold. Let me further explain. To utilize the full capabilities of these bulbs, you will need to use the GE app found in the iphone app store. This may sound good but the app doesn’t support voice control. This is where Google Home app comes into play. Google home app will let you control the bulbs via voice but the caveat is that you CANNOT setup the bulb to both the GE app and be setup with Google Home app. This is the limitation of Bluetooth. These bulbs are Bluetooth driven and not wifi driven. Google home app vs GE app? That will depend on what you want to do with the bulbs. If you want the bulbs to do everything that’s advertised on their website, then setup with the GE app. The GE app will allow you to set “scenes”. Some examples would be to wakeup in the morning to a 2,000 kelvin color temperature at 25% brightness. Sounds great but no voice control. That means you will need to use the app to turn on and off the bulb in your lamp. Talk about a pain in the rear end. If you want to voice control your lights, you will need to set the bulbs up with the Google Home app. This will allow you to turn the lights on and off by voice. Which is the #1 reason why I got these. The problem is that the google home app doesn’t have the automation or scene choices like you can find in the GE app. The Google home app will allow you to turn on or off and the brightness levels. No color temperature changes within the app. You can however, change the color temperature by saying “hey google, change my lights to soft white” or “hey google, change my lights to 3,000 kelvin” to change the bulb colors. Talk about major confusion! You also can’t setup automation to wake up with a cooler color temp with google home. Sigh. Why can’t I have both? Pros • Can adjust colors from 2000k to 7000k • Voice activated via Google Home/Mini • 65w is great for a lamp • Similar sized to conventional light bulbs Cons • Setup can be tricky • Resetting the bulbs is a tricky process. Did I say TRICKY? • Bluetooth can only connect to GE app or Google Home App. Not both • Not ready for the masses Summary: It’s not easy to setup. I had to do a hard factory reset to get them to work. The factory reset takes a special sequence of on and off to get them to reset. Very complicated! You will have to pick which app to setup the bulbs with. This is determined by which features are important to you. Want all the features and the ability to setup colors and brightness based on your circadian rhythm? Set it up with GE app. Want voice activation? Set it up with the Google Home app. You can’t have both and that’s why im giving it 3 stars out of 5. The bulbs are capable but I believe the app control is lack luster and holds this product back. It could be due to the limitations of Bluetooth. I just expected more.

This thing has so many different lighting options. not like crazy hue blue red purple color changes. but from bright White light that wakes you up all the way down to candlelight that makes you sleepy. The thing that this product doesn't do well is informing you of all the commands that you need to use with your assistant of choice. you'd be wasting it if all you did was ask your assistant to turn it on and off. you can ask for Bright white (super blue ivory color to wake you up), White (the regular daylight at 3k) and then dim also. Which you can control from your phone. Now there are two apps you can use this with. Maybe three since of alexa but I dont have Alexa. They push you to set it up with the google home app and you do. But once you do it doesn't even show you all the color options. nor does the product tell you how to get the color options as well. the phone from the google home app can turn on/off the lghts and dim them as well. but you have to get the color of the lights throgh voice. Using the GE app, you can find 3 options of colors to choose from. Now come the google home hub (with Screen) once I got that, I was presented with 6 color options. Aside that. After learning all the color options. Oh boy, Ivory wakes you up, white is just a nice daylight look, and candlelight put to dim just seriously is perfect for those who want to go to sleep.

Setup is simple easy via GE app and requires BT to connect which I don't like. Light is awesome and has 3 variant colors but functionality of the app is so bad it glitches out several times and every time I open it up I notice lights are on but they are actually off when I personally check them so it's not reliable and an app you may trust. with C-reach hub by GE you can add skills to Alexa to control it via voice and remotely via wifi. if you would like to control the lights remotely you need to consider buying C- reach hub by GE for $49. I tried using Alexa and Google to voice turn on and off light and looked stable so far. No Apple HomeKit support yet.

The GE C-Sleep bulbs provide 800 Lumens of output and use 10 Watts of power. They connect via Bluetooth to my Google home/mini very easily. They do have to be within a certain range, they recommend that the google device be in the same room, but I have mine in the kitchen and it controls it fine in my upstairs master bedroom. There is a C by GE app that you can download and use instead of using a google device, but I did not try that out. The box says that the lights can phase through three different outputs from cool (white) for the morning, to soft white (during the day) to warm (yellowish) for the night. However, that feature is ONLY available if you use the C by GE app and not google home. Maybe that will change in the future. If you want to be able to control the lights from outside your home, you will either have to get the C-Reach bridge device or use a smart plug to do that. Chances are you won’t have a need to control them that way though, since I found that schedules work just fine to simulate someone being home and most of the time that I do use voice control is when I am first coming home and my hands are full of stuff or I am already in bed. These are a pretty inexpensive way to install smart bulbs in your home, but I wouldn’t put them everywhere. I prefer the Philips hue products over these, but they are a lot more expensive. This is a good set for usage in certain areas, say in bedrooms.

I had these lights up for a few weeks, and now I can say that I have noticed a difference in my kids' energy levels. Well as much as one can, for a 4 and 6 year old. The evening warm light color is nice, as opposed to the bright white LED that we had in their bedrooms before. The Bluetooth connect feature seems like it should be WiFi only. I have had a heck of a time connecting to my other Ilumi LED color lights all the time, so I just live with the fact that they are not gonna work when j want it to. These GE sleep bulbs are working, but I just don't use the app to turn them off/on. I can see if it were to be used for an automatic on/off light, but this is not the one to do that with. I would only get these for the automated color change with time of day, to adjust for energy level and purpose. I had to factory reset the bulbs before they would connect. The Google Home device I have, connected directly, so I didn't need the GE app that they want you to install. It depends on the purpose, but I'd rather use the Google Home app for off/on than the GE one. I wish I could connect remotely and turn them off/on for my dog if we are gone for an extended time. I'd also like to see the ability to customize the times for evening start times. With Kids, your days are different than as adults.

I’m a huge believer in mood lighting. I know if I want to just chill to have a low watt bulb in a lamp by my bed but sometimes you just need to zap yourself awake. The GE light bulbs accomplish that without fuss. I can adjust the brightness or dimness to my liking and holler to my Google Home to switch on the lights in a jiffy. Next to screwing in a light bulb, these are some pretty easy smart lights to set up! A super huge win here is I don’t have to get out of bed during cold winter nights to shut the lights off. I can do it on my app or let my google assistant know. These will be awesome gifts for holidays and birthdays!

I really wanted to like the new GE bulbs. In the sea of smart lighting products, the C-Sleeps offered a great idea of being able to control the temperature of the light, cool white to warm yellowish-orange as well as brightness. The appeal of working with my Google Home right out of the box without relying on an external hub was a huge draw. Sadly, the disappointment set in pretty quickly - I have several Philips Hue lights throughout our house and I enjoy being able to control from my Google Home and mobile App. The biggest limitation here is that the bulbs cannot be managed by both the Google Home as well as the GE App. That means that I can't control the lamps from my Google Home if I have the bulbs setup in the App - which isn't explained. The App makes you think that you can link them, but linking requires an external GE Hub, that's the same Hub you need if you want to control these lights with an Amazon Alexa. The other odd thing is the range of the brightness - the lowest setting you can push the lights to is 5%, which is also brighter than the 5% of the same wattage Philips bulbs I tried to replace. My daughters actually asked me to take the lights out of their rooms because it was too bright and they couldn't fall asleep. If GE can remove this odd restriction - of limiting the control of the devices to a single touchpoint, then I would change my mind and review.

This was one of the best purchase I could've made. These light bulbs are awesome.