Stack Starter Kit, 1 hub and 2 BR30 Downlights, Compatible with Alexa

I researched smart lights for several weeks prior to finally deciding on Stack Lighting. True, Stack isn't the big kid on the block yet, and that could be a turn off (pardon the pun) for some. But what really makes these lights unique is that they've brought 21st century lighting out of the high tech novelty arena and squarely into the realm of everyday practicality. You won't find flashing purple and blue disco light options. But you will find a lighting system that gently eases you into the day, provides an appropriate amount of light when you're home, and then winds you down with a low intensity, warm light in the evening. These settings, of course, can be customized to your own preferences.Here's what I really like about this product:1. The lights are designed to function on their own. You don't have to pull out your smart phone every time you want to operate them. True, you will need access to your phone for initial setup or if you want to customize the settings, but there's a lot of smart built into these bulbs using Stack's room-to-room algorithms. And the system learns from your behavior over time, much like the Nest thermostat does. It knows when sunrise and sunset will happen, based on your zip code.2. The lights constantly adjust, both in color and in intensity. When in Sleep mode, they transform into motion-activated night lights until they "wake up" in the morning. I live in the far northwest corner of the U.S., and I'm looking forward to experiencing the effect of Stack's circadian lighting functionality on those very short, and frankly bleak, winter days.3. The bulbs turn on and off based on occupancy. When you're out, you can have the lights turn on and off periodically to simulate your being at home. Optionally, you can have the app notify you if it senses motion in your home while in Away mode. That's smart.4. Stack connects to Amazon's Echo, IFTTT, and the Nest thermostat. You can tell Alexa to dim the kitchen lights to 30%. You can create formulas in IFTTT that affect your lighting under specific conditions (such as weather). The lights also play well with Nest's thermostat, sharing occupancy information to help reduce gas and electric costs. Also in the works is Apple Home Kit compatibility, so Siri can become your lighting butler if you so desire.This is a great product.

I held off writing a review on these for a while, hoping that the experience would improve. I really, really wanted these to do what they claim they do. These would be awesome if they actually worked. Unfortunately, it's actually more convenient to use regular, non-smart bulbs. My major issues with the product:- Occupancy detection is more trouble than it's worth. You have to get way too close to the bulbs for it to pick up motion. They won't turn on just by walking into the room, you need to get right under the bulb and move around. Also, if you're sitting still in a room, say reading or watching TV, you have to remember to go into the app and turn off occupancy detection or jump up and down under a bulb every few minutes or the lights will go out.- Since occupancy detection doesn't work, the only way to avoid having to go into the app all the time to control your lights is scheduling. Unfortunately, this feature randomly doesn't work at all. For instance, I have my lights scheduled to be off during the day when I'm at work. About half the time I'll get home from work and the lights will be on. The app tells me that they're off and that the schedule is running, but it's not. I did figure out that if you have two schedules back to back with no time in between, the second schedule will never work. But even accounting for that, scheduling is unpredictable at best. Right now (about 8 pm) my app tells me that the lights in the bedroom are off because a schedule is running, but there is no schedule set up for this time, which I can confirm in the app.- Ambient light detection seems backwards to me. My living room gets a lot of natural light during the day, there's no reason for the lights to be on, but unless I manually turn them off the Stack lights will run at 100% in the brightly lit room. It seems to me that they should realize that if the room is already bright they should turn themselves off instead of trying to outshine the light that's already there.- At least a couple of times a week I am either unable to turn on my lights or unable to turn them off until I go unplug the hub and plug it back in, then wait for it to restart. That's pretty annoying when it happens when I first wake up in the morning or when I'm trying to go to sleep.- Very often the app will say one thing when the lights are doing something completely different, like telling me the lights are off when they're not or vice versa. Most of the time changing the light settings will sync the app and lights again. Sometimes I have to reset the hub.I'm really disappointed because if these bulbs worked like they claimed to work they would be the best thing ever. As it is, I have to spend way to much time manually managing my lighting and dealing with unpredictable behavior. Notice how many times manual management is needed in the points above. It's honestly easier to just use light switches and dumb bulbs.

Installation is pretty straightforward, though I would recommend that if you are going to hook this up to Alexa (to control the lights by voice command), you should complete the sync to Alexa online as opposed to the Alexa app [app was super cludgy!].The fact that these lights will change hues is very nifty, and I like that it will auto shut off based upon movement detection. That being said, this particular package of lights are best used if they're not placed in a lamp / covered in a shade - I noticed the sensors need to have a 'clear path' to be able to detect you.