Smart Filament Bulb

With smart lights, you can easily create different moods in your house. You can dim the lights, change the color temperature, all with a single click or event. But for open light fixtures, the normal smart light bulbs don’t look really nice. If you want to create a more industrial or authentic vibe you gone need smart filament bulbs.

Innr just released a couple of new filament bulbs on the market. Last year they already brought out the normal e27 filament bulb, the RF 263, but now they also have released an Edison and Globe (large bulb) style filament smart light.

So today we are going to take a look at the Innr Filament bulbs and also take a look at the alternatives on the market.

What is a Filament Bulb?

We all know the old classic light bulb, with the clear glass and the tiny wire inside that glows warmly if you dim the light all the way done. That small thin wire, which is held up by two thicker wires, is called a filament. The filament is what glows and emits the light.

In the last couple of years, we see a trend with more open light fixtures, vintage lighting, and industrial styles. In these fixtures a normal smart bulb won’t look nice, the white class and most of the time large white base of the light isn’t something that you want to see.

Currently, there are three brands that have a smart filament bulb, Innr, Philips Hue and Ikea.

Innr Filament Bulb Vintage

Innr was the first company that made a vintage looking smart light, and they have done a great job. The Innr Vintage series bulbs have a golden coating on them so they give a really nice warm glow and also look really nice when they are turned off.

The specifications of the three vintage bulbs are the same, they all have a warm color temperature of 2200K and a light intensity of 350lm. You can dim them back to 5%, to get that soft glowing look of the original classic bulbs.

The smart bulbs are using the Zigbee 3.0 protocol and can be connected to all major smart home systems, like Alexa, Philips Hue, Samsung Smartthings, Homey, and Google Assistant or you can use the Innr Bridge if you don’t have a smart home system yet.

Innr has three models in its product line at the moment. The normal-looking E27 Vintage Bulb, an E27 Vintage Edison model and an E27 Vintage Globe.

	Innr Filament E27 Vintage	Innr Filament E27 Vintage Edison	Innr Filament E27 Vintage Globe
Colour temperature	2200K	2200K	2200K
Light quality (CRI)	>80	>80	>80
Lumen	350 lm	350 lm	350 lm
Dimming Range	5% - 100%	5% - 100%	5% - 100%
Wattage	4.2	4.2	4.2
Height	120mm	160mm	170mm
Diameter	60mm	64mm	105mm
Product code	RF 263	RF 264	RF 261
	More info	More info	More info

Philips Hue Filament

Philips Hue also has at the moment of writing three Filament Smart bulbs in their product line, and surprisingly, the same models as Innr. The Hue Filament lights have a different design the Innr. They have a twisted “Filament” led ring instead of the small filament bars that Innr has.

Unlike other Hue lights, you can’t change the color or color temperature. Just like Innr, the color of the light bulb is a soft warm white which is nice to look at. The Hue lights are a little bit warmer then Innr, with 2100K and are a lot brighter with 550 lm.

You can control the Hue light with your mobile phone over Bluetooth or connect it to your smart home system using the Hue Bridge.

	E26 Filament Standard	ST64 E27 Filament Edison	G25 Filament Globe
Colour temperature	2100K	2100K	2100K
Light quality (CRI)	>80	>80	>80
Lumen	530 lm	550 lm	530 lm
Wattage	7W	7W	7W
Height	112mm	135mm	131mm
Diameter	60mm	60mm	131mm
Product code	A19	ST24	G25
	More info	More info	More info

Ikea Tradfri

Ikea is doing a great job of creating affordable Smart products. Recently they also create their first Filament Smart bulb. The led bulb is a normal model bulb, with a warm brownish glow on it and a messing looking base.

The light only gives 250 lumens, but for a filament light that is more than enough. The color temperature is the same as Innr, with 2200k. The bulb only uses 2.7 watts and has a dimension of 118mm x 60 mm, which is roughly the same as the normal Innr and Philips Hue bulb.

The “filament” led self doesn’t look as nice as with Innr and Philips, but it’s ok. The simple spiral is small and does what I have to do. A great thing though is the price of the bulb, it cost only $9.99 where Innr starts around $16 and Hue even at $25.

Conclusion

Hue and Innr both have done a great job in creating a nice looking filament bulb. Normally with smart products, the main factor to choose is price and features, but in this case, I think the looks are more important.

For some light fixtures will the black base from Philips Hue looks better where in other situations the messing from Innr is nicer to look at.

Also, make sure you check the dimensions of the bulb. Innr has the tallest bulb with the Edison model where Philips has the largest diameter with the Globe.