Author Topic: Fate of Philips WiZ Smart Bulbs  (Read 801 times)
Econolite03
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Fate of Philips WiZ Smart Bulbs « on: January 04, 2023, 05:13:06 AM » Author: Econolite03
A couple years back, Philips introduced a new line of smart LED bulbs in a partnership using WiZ technology. The line was intended to be a economical alternative to the popular Hue line, and was quickly expanded with B11s, A19s, BR30s, filaments being offered.

Recently I’ve been going to Home Depot often, and I’ve been noticing they have begun pulling most of the Philips WiZ smart LEDs and putting them on clearance. Knowing how they do things there, if a lighting product is discontinued, was a poor seller, or there’s a change in vendors they’ll end up on clearance. Something has happened. I have a feeling they went the way of the IQ series from the 90s. I don’t think they’re discontinued yet, but are on the edge.

Do you think the Philips WiZ lineup was flop? Was it a good idea? Did you ever use them in your own home?

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Roi_hartmann
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Re: Fate of Philips WiZ Smart Bulbs « Reply #1 on: January 04, 2023, 02:37:49 PM » Author: Roi_hartmann
Never heard of WiZ but quickly looking doesn't seem as versatile as hue which also had quite good third party support.
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joseph_125
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Re: Fate of Philips WiZ Smart Bulbs « Reply #2 on: January 04, 2023, 06:09:54 PM » Author: joseph_125
Over here Home Depot cleared out all the WiZ branded lamps and sent them to Habitat when Signify rebranded WiZ as Philips WiZ. They currently sell a bunch of Philips WiZ lamps. I bought a couple of the WiZ ones given they were quite cheap at Habitat, a BR30 tunable white and a A19 dimmable. Surprisingly the older WiZ only products were still listed under Signify so perhaps the rebrand to Philips WiZ was to improve brand recognition.

The two lamps I bought seemed to work ok once they were set up but had a few quirks:

- Both lamps seemed to be pretty annoying to actually get connected to WiFi. Perhaps it was my WiFi network layout since I use multiple APs and the lamps getting confused, although other brands seem to work find but it took using a older Android device and multiple attempts before I got both to connect. Once connected they seem to be fine though.
- The A19 has a slightly whining sound when lit up, sounds similar to coil whine than magnetic ballast hum which is more annoying IMO. Fortunately the vapour tight fixture it's in seems to muffle most of it.

Some other things I noticed:

- Compatibility with 3rd party services seems to be ok, it support SmartThings integration something that not all brands of connected LED lamps support (looking you at Savant Cync).
- Cost compared to Hue was a lot lower - I paid $5 for the A19 filament and $10 for the BR30 tunable white.
- Looks like Philips might be using the WiZ lineup as a replacement for their SceneSwitch lineup, there's a similar function in the WiZ app to assign "states to each lamp based of the number of switch toggles.
- Signify seems to be licensing the WiZ tech to other manufacturers too, I saw a pack of Great Value LED lamps at Wal-Mart that stated they were compatible with WiZ. 
- Hopefully Signify will support these for a while and not just suddenly pull the online services (looking at you TCP connected bulbs).
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Econolite03
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Re: Fate of Philips WiZ Smart Bulbs « Reply #3 on: January 04, 2023, 08:31:39 PM » Author: Econolite03
Ahh, I see. Thanks for the insight. Prehaps they’ll stay in production and its just a Home Depot thing since they want it to be Feit everything there.
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