Lifx SuperColor Ceiling gentle assessment

Sensible twin zone lighting answer put to the check

The Lifx SuperColor Ceiling gentle is a brilliant slick, easy-to-install flush mount fixture that delivers highly effective and customizable sensible lighting at a fairly complete value in comparison with rivals like Aqara, Nanoleaf and Philips Hue. There are Matter points – shocker – however, with an honest native app and compatibility with all the main sensible house programs, it’s a fairly hassle-free, prime performing, sensible ceiling gentle that blends type and performance.


  • Nice value

  • Dynamic lighting results

  • Straightforward set up

  • No additional hub wanted


  • Matter setup is flaky

  • Plastic construct

  • App quirks

  • Wants fixed energy

Lifx SuperColor Ceiling gentle: Introduction

  • Lighting kind: Ceiling lamp
  • Connectivity: Wi-Fi
  • Ecosystems: Matter, Alexa, Apple Dwelling, Google Dwelling, SmartThings
lifx supercolor celing light green red
(Picture credit score: The Ambient)

Lifx – bear in mind them – ramped up its comeback final 12 months with a bunch of latest launches, after a couple of years within the wilderness, probably the most hanging of which was, doubtless, the Lifx SuperColor Ceiling gentle.

It’s a Matter appropriate Wi-Fi sensible gentle designed to switch conventional flush mount, pendants, or chandeliers in your ceiling.

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Sensible ceiling lights have gotten fairly the factor. Aqara and Nanoleaf received the ball rolling with the launches of the Ceiling Mild T1M and the Skylight, respectively, after which Signify entered the fray with the Hue Datura.

Nevertheless, Lifx’s entry has a price-tag that blows that competitors out of the water. At slightly below $100, the SuperColor Ceiling gentle will make a a lot smaller dent in your pockets in comparison with the $150 Aqara, $250 Nanoleaf and $300 Hue.

I’ve had the Lifx SuperColor Ceiling gentle mounted in our US check lab for the previous few weeks, learn on for my full assessment…

Design and set up

  • Tremendous easy set up
  • Comes with black or white trim
  • 15-inch diameter
lifx supercolor celing light back
(Picture credit score: The Ambient)

Lifx’s effort is definitely a bit smaller than the Aqara; 15 inches in diameter in comparison with 20 from the T1M, and is simply 2.6 inches in depth.

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It’s fairly plasticky, however you gained’t actually discover that after it’s put in and dealing its shade magic. It comes with both a white or black trim; I’ve the white one on check for this assessment.

As soon as it’s all arrange, it seems tremendous fashionable, with not solely two addressable lights on supply, but additionally a library of customized dynamic results similar to overhead sky with passing clouds, forrest canopies, summary artwork and meteorite bathe – however extra on that in a bit.

The very first thing you have to do, earlier than the enjoyable begins, is to get it powered up and synced along with your sensible house.

Not like a conventional sensible gentle bulb or lamp, the place you’ll be able to merely plug and play, there’s a little bit of DIY required to get the SuperColor Ceiling gentle up and working.

lifx supercolor celing light wires
(Picture credit score: The Ambient)

The excellent news is that it’s not probably the most taxing of duties. Within the field you’ll discover a mounting bracket and it actually is so simple as drilling in a few screws to carry the bracket in place after which clipping on light-weight round panel.

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In reality, it was even simpler for that because the becoming for the previous gentle I used to be changing within the US lab already had a few electrical screw receptacles that lined up completely with the mounting bracket.

lifx supercolor celing light mount bracket
(Picture credit score: The Ambient)

A pleasant contact, to make the set up even simpler, is there’s a built-in clip that holds the sunshine a couple of inches beneath the ceiling when you kind out the wiring. This eliminates the everyday wrestle of balancing a fixture overhead whereas attempting to make connections.

And making these connections may be very easy as a result of the Lifx boasts shade coded wires with Wago connectors already in place, plus the system is earthed/grounded by means of the mounting plate.

Clearly flip the facility off earlier than doing any of {the electrical} work first, however you knew that already… proper?

The entire course of – eradicating the previous gentle, trimming the present wires a bit, attaching the bracket, connecting the wires and at last screwing on the sunshine itself – took lower than quarter-hour.

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Arrange and options

  • 2.4GHz Wi-Fi connection
  • Two addressable lights
  • 56 addressable downlights
lifx-app-setup-new-light
(Picture credit score: The Ambient)

When you’ve carried out the bodily set up, you’ll must get the Lifx SuperColor Ceiling gentle synced up with the Lifx app.

I used to be utilizing an iPhone and a scan of the QR code took me down the twin HomeKit / Matter route and I can’t say I used to be shocked when it didn’t sync. Matter simply isn’t there but, however we don’t must dwell on that.

After a few failed makes an attempt, the app urged syncing with out Matter and doing it later. In order that’s what I did and I did lastly handle to get it Matter’d up in a while, and dealing throughout a number of sensible house ecosystems.

You don’t should stroll the Matter path should you don’t need to although as it really works natively with Apple Dwelling, Alexa, Google Dwelling, SmartThings, and Razer Chroma too.

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As is all the time the case with sensible lights although, you will want to make use of the native app to benefit from all of the options. With the SuperColor Ceiling gentle which means entry to the wealth of scenes that benefit from these 56 addressable downlight zones.

Within the app you’ll discover a wide selection of urged results – suppose Clouds, Meteor, Morph, Spooky Transfer and vacation particular ones like Halloween, Christmas and the like.

lifx-ceiling-light-effects-in-app
(Picture credit score: The Ambient)

And if there’s not one you fancy, you’ll be able to all the time create your personal; you’ll discover a helpful software that really lays out the 56 zones so you’ll be able to customise to your coronary heart’s content material.

Right here’s an instance of some totally different scenes…

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Just like the Aqara T1M and the Datura, as a result of the 2 lights are handled as separate, individually addressable lights, inside the likes of Apple Dwelling, Alexa and Google Dwelling, so you’ll be able to incorporate only one or each components into your Alexa Routines, Dwelling automations and the like and, after all, management them along with your voice.

So you possibly can create customized automations the place 2nd gentle might be used for notifications. Suppose having the upward going through ring glow inexperienced if the doorbell rings, gentle up blue if a flood is detected, or shine pink if a smoke alarm is triggered.

In use

lifx supercolor celing light
(Picture credit score: The Ambient)

Clearly the principle USP is these 56 individually addressable zones and I’ve to say they make the Lifx able to some incredible results.

You possibly can, after all, set it to a strong shade too, however the place’s the enjoyable in that?

The brand new Lifx Ceiling gentle boasts Polychrome Know-how, which makes use of a grid of lighting zones, and likewise contains a tunable white gentle starting from 1,500K to 9,000K.

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On Alexa, HomeKit and Google you gained’t be capable to tinker with it fairly as a lot, as talked about, however the pre-set results are carried over as exported scenes.

This being a wired gentle, as per any dumb gentle, you might be on the mercy of individuals turning off the SuperColor ceiling gentle on the change and rendering it ineffective – however there are sensible options to this from the likes of Shelly.

Clearly, in contrast to a dumb ceiling lamp, the Lifx is all the time technically ‘on’ and draining energy for its Wi-Fi connection nevertheless it’s a fairly low idle energy consumption that implies that it gained’t make a lot of a dent in your electrical energy invoice.

When it’s on, and at full brightness, the fixture outputs 2500 lumens whereas drawing round 47 watts.

The Lifx app is fairly simple to make use of however there are some quirks that want ironing out. I ceaselessly managed to overwrite scenes once I didn’t imply to and the slider for brightness is fairly fiddly too.

However on the entire it’s adequate and I’ve to say lots much less cluttered than the likes of the Aqara or the Eufy Life app.

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Remaining ideas

Priced at $99.97, the Lifx SuperColor Ceiling gentle is surprisingly inexpensive given its characteristic set and, should you don’t thoughts giving up these 5 inches, is a good various to the market main Aqara T1M – and likewise doesn’t want an additional hub like its Chinese language rival.

It’s confirmed to be a dependable and visually interesting improve with virtually no set up complications. In case you’re in search of an easy approach so as to add sensible lighting overhead, the Lifx SuperColor Ceiling is a superb selection, and undoubtedly considered one of my prime picks for sensible ceiling lights.

How we check

Once we publish our opinions, you’ll be able to relaxation assured that they’re the results of “residing with” long run checks.

Sensible lights often dwell inside an ecosystem, or a spread of merchandise that – supposedly – all work in concord. Subsequently, it’s unattainable to make use of a related gentle for per week and ship a verdict.

As a result of we’re testing sensible house package all day, on a regular basis, we all know what issues and the way a specific gentle compares to alternate options that you may also be contemplating.

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Our opinions are complete, goal and truthful and, after all, we’re by no means paid on to assessment a tool.

Learn our information on how we check sensible lights to be taught extra.

FAQs

Does the Lifx SuperColor Ceiling gentle work with Alexa, Google Dwelling, and Apple Dwelling?

Sure. It helps Alexa, Google Dwelling, Apple Dwelling, SmartThings, and Matter.

Do I would like a hub to make use of the Lifx SuperColor Ceiling gentle?

No, it connects on to Wi-Fi, so there’s no additional hub required.

Can I take advantage of it as an everyday white ceiling gentle?

Sure, it has a tunable white vary (1,500K–9,000K) alongside its shade and dynamic results.

What occurs if somebody turns the wall change off?

Like all sensible lights, it should lose energy and cease responding. Take into account a wise change answer to forestall this.

Is it vibrant sufficient for a major room gentle?

Sure, at 2,500 lumens, it’s similar to a robust ceiling fixture and ought to be adequate for many areas.

Lifx SuperColor Ceiling gentle: Specs

Specification Particulars
Launch date 2024
US Value $99.97
UK Value n/a
Sensible house compatibility Matter, Alexa, Apple Dwelling, Google Dwelling, SmartThings
Lumens 2850
Wattage Use 47.0W at full brightness
Wattage on Standby 1.0W
Voltage Vary 120V AC
Shade Rendering Index (CRI) 80
Shade Temperature 1500K to 9000K
Dimming Software program dimming 1% – 100%
Wi-Fi 2.4GHz
Safety WPA, WPA2
Dimensions 15 in x 15 in x 2.68 in