Philips Hue 800276 White and Color Ambiance LightStrip Plus Dimmable LED Smart Light (Requires Hue Hub, Works with Alexa, HomeKit & Google Assistant), 80 inch

I love the Hue series of products, despite being over-priced against competing products. What you get for that price difference, however, is strong customer support and a well-designed product that controlled by a very intuitive interface app.Installation was very easy, as each section of the LED strip is backed by a 3M adhesive strip. The strips seems quite powerful, especially given that they've maintained a consistent connection to my TV despite being bent to border the TV. Make sure you clean whatever surface you are installing on first, to ensure a strong grip. After physically installing the LED strip, the strip pairs easily to your existing Hue Hub (not included in the package).Post-installation is where the fun begins, as all Philips Hue lights can be used to setup multiple "scenes" that correspond to specific moods. Each light can be controlled individually, even when grouped as a room. It makes changing colors a snap, and provides some interesting ways to create even more colors, if you know a bit about color blending.Now the advice: first, and foremost, this kit will NOT accommodate a 50" TV on it's own. I had to buy an extension for an additional $24.99 in order to properly frame my TV. If you intend to do the same, DO NOT do what some sloppy Youtubers suggest,and simply make a circle. The coverage will be incomplete and it will not give you the bordered look that you see in the photo. Secondly, make sure you're buying the right version for your application. Philips actually makes two versions of the LED strip, and one is for outdoor use only. It's far less flexible, and is NOT compatible with the indoor light strips.Additionally, though these lights are fantastic and give gorgeous color, their lifespan rating is insanely low. Expect no more than 25,000 hours of usage. Standard LED's have an expected lifespan of TWICE that, at 50,000+ hours usage.Secondly,All things considered, nothing is perfect and capitalism dominates the marketplace. I'm quite sure that if Philips wanted these lights to last longer, they could make that happen. Of course that essentially means half the product sales, so its easy to see why the lifespan on their products is so low. Putting all that aside, the Philips hue family of products are great. I've used other systems, and they're marred by poor product support and features that work intermittently. Do yourself a favor and just go with Philips. Is saving a couple bucks now worth the stress of dealing with an inferior product? Nah. Buy cheap, you buy twice.....

I've been loving Philips Hue lights since I got my first Bulb kit - even if they are a bit pricey. But what sets these apart from the $20 alternatives you can find on Amazon is the Hue Sync program on Windows/Mac. If your setup includes a computer at all, these can be an essential part of your smart home lighting. They can sync with music, which is super fun, but they can also sync with your TV or Monitor to bring the colors of your screen into your space and really enhance your viewing or PC gaming experience. If you're a console gamer (I also have a PS4 and a Switch), there aren't any easy ways to sync the lights to consoles, but that's a software issue which I hope Philips addresses in the future. They've made huge strides in their software over the past year alone, so I'm excited to see where they take it next.I have currently have two of these strips set up on my entertainment center. One is stuck to the back-top portion of my 65" TV, and the other is stretched alongside the top of the back of the entrainment center, so I get lighting above and below the TV. It's amazing. With any HD or 4K content, I'm immediately immersed into the viewing experience. It makes my home feel like a catered, professional experience you'd get at a fancy store.Now, for the technical bits of the review. These lights get bright. All colors are clearly visible on my white walls, even in direct sunlight. But at night, my whole place fills with light and I can change it to any color I choose, either via the mobile app or the desktop Hue Sync program.Setup is pretty straightforward. If you have a Hue Bridge, then all you need to do it plug these into a power outlet, stick them where you need to with the pre-applied 3M tape, add your light in the mobile Hue app, and check for updates. Updates can take a while, so sit back and relax for a bit once that starts. I think each one took about 30-40 minutes for me to update, since these use an extremely low-powered (but efficient and effective) WiFi connection. After that, they're ready to be used with Hue Sync and everything else.Now, if this is your first Hue product, you'll need to also get the Hue Bridge so the lights can communicate with your home WiFi network. If you want a similar setup to what I have, I recommend starting your smart home lighting with the Hue Bulb kit that comes with 3 or 4 lights, plus the bridge for free. Otherwise, you gotta spend another $50 for the bridge standalone.Again, I know these things are pricey and a lot of people say they're not worth the price tag. But again, it's the software and the build quality/company that sets these apart. The software gets better and better with each update, and Philips isn't going away any time soon. Whatever generation bulb or strip you buy now will still be supported and updated 5 years down the road. Cheaper knock-offs will probably break down or be unsupported by then. I feel like Philips is a solid company that keeps innovating the smart home lighting experience and leading the way for everyone else. That's why I don't mind spending the extra bit for a quality product.

Overall if you can afford it, definitely worth it, but it's very easy to get hooked. (I think the house alone has about 30 now)Pros:- SDK, without the developer community I would not use HUE, the standard app offers very little, (I recommend hueDynamic (Windows) and Hue Pro (Android), I primarily use the Windows application on my desktop since I sit at on it coding away, but both are great.) and compared to the price of a fixture it's worth the few $'s.- Excellent range of the RGB spectrum- Extremely highs and lows- Flexible, high quality- Have yet to have any broken LED's- This is only the beginning (relatively new), and I am sure will only continue to get better.Cons:- Highly over priced when you break it down, but if you can spare the extra cash it is worth it- Power adapter is large and cannot change between having it plug in horizontal or vertical- The least they could do is include adapters beyond the standard power supply, i.e. converter/splitter/small extension for corners- They need to offer a more powerful tier of the bridge to reduce any latency delay. I've discussed this with HUE a few times; If they want to bring HUE to its full potential, they need to think beyond home lighting and start engineering a competitor to DMX for festivals and such. Obviously, DMX is crazy fast and wired, but the latency gap will only continue to shrink as far as the user is considered.Without the hardware the software is useless, and without the software HUE is useless. I hope they recognize this and invest more into in house development.