A normal light switch is not an outdated tech by any stretch of imagination.

You clearly haven't seen the new lights that suck oxygen from the air to work, some people call them candles

I've been using the same Hue lightbulbs for at least 8 years now and never had any of the issues you describe. When you have a home with children and a fair number of rooms, you'll find that turning off the lights at night is not just a simple matter of "getting off the couch and flicking a switch." Also, I've rarely encountered smart lighting that didn't have a physical switch as a fallback option (for example, my Lutron Caseta switches have buttons on them that will work just fine if the network goes down, and my Hue bulbs are all connected to dumb switches), so the idea it doesn't work "100% of the time" is a strawman argument.

I’ve been using Hue lights for about 6 years now. They’re mostly not a pain, except for when they are.

Some examples:

- I used to move a lot, like every year or so. Each move required a few hours of setup in the new place. Compared to screwing in a few bulbs, that’s a big difference.

- I waited so long to update my base that my hue app will no longer connect to it. I have to reset the whole system to get it back. I’m not going to do that until I have to, so I basically can’t add or change any hue light configurations without resetting everything.

- sometimes the hue light switches just don’t do anything. I’m guessing this is if they’re having trouble connecting to the network or something. I’ll just keep tapping the “off” button until something happens 30s later.

Yeah, I wish the Hue switches worked better, they must have trouble waking up from sleep or something. For my office, I never even touch my physical switch or app; instead, a motion sensor turns the lights on when I enter and then off when there's no motion for 10 minutes. It's been working great for years now with the only annoyance being the need to occasionally change the battery on the sensor. That won't work in the living room where I like different lighting for different situations or times of the day, but that's where Homekit scenes come in handy (obligatory smart-home-enthusiast note: Home Assistant controls my house, but Homekit works great as a quickly accessible UI).

Ultimately, I just don't get the fervent anti-smart-home sentiment. Sure, there are all kinds of silly products out there, and no, I don't use the app for my grill, but... oh well, I guess?

Playing with home automation has been a net gain for me. It's part hobby / part genuine improvements. Yeah, there are annoyances, but problem solving is often fun. YMMV...

> When you have a home with children and a fair number of rooms, you'll find that turning off the lights at night is not just a simple matter of "getting off the couch and flicking a switch."

What on earth are you talking about? My best guess is that your children turn on the lights, and you have to go around turning them off? Sounds like a parenting problem, not a technology problem.

Ha, I also don't always think to turn off lights when I leave a room, so I'm not going to be militant about my kids doing it if I can't. Do you seriously object to me solving this problem with tech? Do you even have kids??

Yes and yes ;)

As antagonistic as it sounds, I'm not trying to be a dick. I genuinely believe it's a bad thing to try and solve this problem with tech.

It's a parenting problem, so when it's solved with technology, it's not solved at all. The problem isn't the lights being left on, it's kids needing to learn responsibility and mindfulness. This is normal and fine, but if you solve it with tech, you're robbing them of the (difficult!) parenting necessary in this area.

FYI Hue just pushed an update that will require an account to use the app

I could be perfectly content with a traditional up/down physical light switch. But depending on the smart bulbs you choose, there's a lot of really cool features that might make it worth it to you despite the slightly more complex setup. And additionally, you can set up physical switches for these devices too.

> Safety. On vacation and want to change the room lights so potential thieves casing the joint don't suspect it's unoccupied? Easy to set up.

> Easily dim lighting via software to the level you want to reduce eye strain or a headache.

> Colorful lights are fun, and can impact mood in ways you like. Add a little orange to the light for comfort. Make it a little bluer for focus. And it makes sexy time more fun.

> It's sort of a social thing. It's pretty cool when you invite people to a party and you have unusual colored lights, or set it up to bounce to the music. Or program some red and green lights to make a christmas party have a cool theme.

For me to get the lights set up for movie watching would require me to flick 6 separate switches in 5 different locations.

I'll rather just say "Siri, movie time" and the lights fade out automatically.

And if I get up, a motion sensor will light the way to the kitchen or bathroom automatically.