Philips Hue Festavia String Lights Assessment – Sensible Christmas tree lights that compete vs Twinkly

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Not too long ago, Philips Hue introduced the Festavia string lights, that are designed for Christmas and the vacation season and, extra particularly, Christmas Bushes.

There are surprisingly only a few manufacturers competing within the sensible Christmas tree lighting area of interest. You might have your typical random Chinese language manufacturers out there on Amazon, however if you would like a superb expertise, there has solely actually been one model to select from lately, Twinkly.

For my part, anybody that has invested closely in Philips Hue will discover the Festavia lights a greater product than Twinkly.

Philips Hue Festavia vs Twinkly Strings

I’ve reviewed just a few Twinkly merchandise previously couple of years, however the standout merchandise are the varied sting lights they produce. I reviewed the Twinkly Strings Gold Version, however they at the moment have three color choices, multicolour, multicolour & white and gold/silver. Every choice has a number of lengths, usually beginning at 250 LEDs however going as much as 600 LEDs.

Twinkly has cornered the sensible lighting marketplace for decorations as a result of it’s doable to map all of your lights after which create engaging lighting patterns. You may map a number of merchandise making the animation impact as easy or as complicated as you want. I discovered that the Twinkly Strings have been a enjoyable product to play with, however I feel you want plenty of lights if you wish to create a powerful impact.

Twinkly even has a enterprise aspect that specialises in extravagant installations.

Subsequently, Philips Hue is at an obstacle on the earth of sensible Christmas lighting. The Festavia string lights have nowhere close to the extent of customisation you possibly can obtain from Twinkly, and so they value extra vs the like-for-like Festavia multicolour string lights.

Alternatively, Hue has one large benefit. Philips Hue is the market chief for sensible lighting, I’d estimate greater than half the individuals I do know have some kind of Hue product of their residence.

I detest having dozens of various apps to regulate all my sensible residence gadgets (hopefully, Matter might remedy this), and I’m closely invested in Philips Hue. Subsequently, Festavia makes plenty of sense to me, and I feel this will probably be true for numerous customers.

In Use / Dynamic Scenes / Media Syncing

In case you are an current Hue consumer, the setup is equivalent to each different Hue product. Plug the lights in, go to the app and seek for a brand new system then observe the set-up directions. This consists of including it to a room and so on. For me, I created a brand new room only for the Christmas tree, then added that to a zone.

Although you don’t have the flowery animation results that Twinkly has. The Philips Hue Festavia integrates completely inside the Hue ecosystem. In the event you assign the lights to a room or zone, you possibly can set a scene for all of the lights inside that zone reasonably than simply having your Christmas lights work independently (like Twinkly).

It’s also possible to use a dynamic scene which can progressively change the colors of your lights. You may management the velocity and brightness to make it as refined or intense as you want. This works higher for me than Twinkly as a result of I already personal plenty of Hue merchandise. Subsequently I can create a dynamic scene with all the present lights inside my room. With Twinkly, I’d have to purchase a number of merchandise to realize an identical impact.

Philips Hue has additionally created a brand new scatter sample for these lights. Usually you’ve gotten a line gradient, which is sensible for the sunshine strips with the colors sensibly transitioning into one another. With the scatter sample, you get the random sample that many individuals will possible need to obtain on their Christmas tree.

As you’d anticipate, Festavia lights can work with every little thing else you’ve gotten inside Hue. You may have schedules or assign the lights to buttons, dimmers or the Hue Faucet Dial. Every little thing works seamlessly.

Like different Hue lights, the Festavia are suitable with Spotify. I’m not usually a fan of syncing my lights with music, however on this situation, I can see the enchantment of individuals eager to sync their Christmas tree lights with music. It is going to little question create a pleasing impact when enjoying Christmas songs all through the vacation season.

Equally, you probably have a Philips Hue Play HDMI sync field, you possibly can synchronise the lights to any content material that you’re enjoying on the TV.

Energy Draw / Electrical energy Prices

As I’ve written about the price of residing lots lately and have subsequently began testing the price of working merchandise.

The Festavia comes with a surprisingly massive energy brink, however it’s only rated for 40W. Hue claims that the standby energy draw is 0.5w and the everyday energy draw needs to be 15W.

Worth and Various Choices

The Philips Hue Festavia are priced at £139.99 RRP, and these have 250 RGB LEDs on a 20m/65ft twine. They formally launched on the 15^th of November, however the web site says they’re already offered out. I’d anticipate new inventory quickly.

Twinkly Technology 2 with 250 RGB lights on a 20M string have an RRP of £115, however there’s a respectable low cost throughout Black Friday/Cyber Monday. On Amazon, they’ve been at round £107, since April and are at the moment £92.39. Argos have them for £86.25.

There are different sensible string lights, however none of them come near the standard of Philips Hue or Twinkly.

In the event you solely need primary sensible management of your lights, and dealing on a schedule, you then’d possible be higher off with dumb lights and utilizing a wise plug.

General

I feel the Philips Hue Festavia is strictly a product that’s for current Philips Hue techniques. If in case you have closely invested in Hue, then it simply is sensible to stay with Hue on your Christmas tree lights.

I’m a type of individuals, and subsequently I like them. I’m a giant fan of the Hue ecosystem usually, it’s simply simple to make use of and works flawlessly.

For different individuals, it’s arduous to disregard Twinkly. They’re cheaper, and you’ve got superior performance with the lights. I don’t significantly just like the Twinkly app, I discover it ugly and clunky in comparison with Hue, however after getting the lights arrange, there may be not a lot have to hold going into it.  

For current Hue house owners and relying on what you need out of your Christmas lights, I discover that the Festavia are extra cost-efficient than Twinkly. I’ve a number of lights in a single room and all of those are assigned to a scene, together with the brand new Festavia lights. All these lights work completely inside a dynamic scene. I’d have to purchase a number of Twinkly lights to realize an identical impact. In fact, I can’t create fancy animations with Hue, however that’s not one thing I’m that bothered about.

General, whereas the Philips Hue Festavia are costly, I don’t suppose £25 further vs the Twinkly Technology 2 is an excessive amount of of a worth premium to have all may lights working flawlessly underneath one ecosystem.