For this, I can’t recommend and isy994 controller and Insteon light switches and outlets enough. You get physical control, automation via scripting and events, app control, and I’ve never had a (noticed) problem with the devices remembering state.

Voice controls via Alexa or any other home assistant actually work pretty well for smart lights. No fumbling with a device, just tell the lamp you want it off. You can also group them together usually to turn off multiple with a single command.

> but unfortunately one of the bulbs doesn't retain its "memory" of the last setting this way

Yeah, my last smart light setup a few years ago had this problem too. I ended up running a script on Raspberry Pi that detected when a light bulb appeared on the network again and reconfigured it immediately.

But my ultimate conclusion from that setup was, smart lights make no sense without smart switches. You want to be able to both actuate physical controls and switch the lights through software.

I recently bought a few smart bulbs for my desk, which are always connected to power. But I also bought a physical switch that controls them. It's instant and turns them all on or off simultaneously.

To be honest I almost always use the switch, including changing the color. Cycling through colors with a button is still more convenient than opening an app and picking one. I really only use the app when I need to control individual lights.

If you are on iOS and your bulbs work with Apple's Home app (which most seem to these days), you can set that up and just swipe up from the bottom of the screen and use the quick controls. Works quite well. I think a similar thing is possible on Android with the Google Home app, and more vendors seem to support that.

Also going down the smart device route. Recently tied 2 switches and a remote fan into a single action. I've setup a time filter too and now my lights can be shut off and fan turned on when I go charge my phone before going to bed. I'd always wanted a "light alarm" to wake me up, now in the morning I set my lights to turn on if I'm not out of bed (phone still charging).

Are there better places you could use the lights? Where the flexibility is more useful?

I think standing in front of the light is somewhat missing the purpose of it being connected to the network.

I agree. I can’t even turn them on and off away from my home for some reason. That was the main reason I bought them. The other reason was for the color temperature and dim control.

What is the point then? I'v never understood it, except as a novelty (my kids think it's cool).

I am not a user, but I believe the idea is to have the light settings be part of a larger macro.

For instance, you're upstairs and you wish to watch a movie in your home theater in the basement. You hit the button on your phone and while you travel to the basement the lights lining the hallways and staircases come on (if off); the projector turns on and switches to the movie input; the receiver turns on and switches to the movie input; the theater recliner adjusts to your preferred position; the bias lighting turns on; and two minutes later the lights lining the hallways and staircases revert to their previous state.

Ok but this is still mostly for novelty though, right? It’s not really about saving 2-3 seconds of work I presume (probably takes an hour to program it just right), it’s more that it feels cool and futuristic I imagine.

Especially since this kind of thing has only been possible in really high end homes until now, so it feels exclusive. At least that’s my read.