Experts recommend Philips Hue Starter Kit more than Nanoleaf Matter Essentials
As of 17 Jan 2025, experts prefer Philips Hue Starter Kit over Nanoleaf Matter Essentials, but both Smart Light Bulbs have solid expert endorsements.
As per this month's meta ranking, Philips Hue Starter Kit received 7 recommendations: from WIRED (10 Jun 2024), Tom's Guide (27 Sep 2024) Forbes (7 Apr 2021) and 4 others. By contrast, Nanoleaf Matter Essentials received only 3 recommendations from T3 (1 Jan 2025), IGN (20 Jan 2022) and TechRadar (3 Sep 2024).
| Rank | Change | Price | Smart Light Bulb | WIRED  | Tom's Guide  | T3  | Forbes  | Wirecutter  | PCMag  | IGN  | TechRadar  | Digital Trends  |
CNET  |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | - | $50 |  Philips Hue Starter Kit The Philips Hue Starter Kit is a highly customizable and convenient lighting solution that offers a range of features, including dimming capabilities, scheduling options, compatibility with popular smart home ecosystems, easy setup, and energy-saving capabilities. | 3 | 1 | - | 1 | - | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | - |
| 4 | - | Check price |  Nanoleaf Matter Essentials The Nanoleaf Matter Essentials Smart Light Bulb offers customizable colors, excellent dimming capabilities, scheduling options, and energy-saving features, making it a versatile and compatible choice for smart home enthusiasts. | - | - | 3 | - | - | - | 9 | 3 | - | - |
Curious to see this month's entire Smart Light Bulbs ranking? It's here
Endorsement summary:
- On 20 Jan 2022 IGN ranked Philips Hue Starter Kit as #1 and Nanoleaf Matter Essentials as #9
Rank Smart Light Bulb Comment #1 out of 9 Philips Hue Starter Kit Best Smart Bulb... ... ... #9 out of 9 Nanoleaf Matter Essentials Best Smart Bulb for HomeKitSource: www.ign.com - On 3 Sep 2024 TechRadar ranked Philips Hue Starter Kit as #1 and Nanoleaf Matter Essentials as #3
Rank Smart Light Bulb Comment #1 out of 6 Philips Hue Starter Kit The best smart lighting system overall... ... ... #3 out of 6 Nanoleaf Matter Essentials Smart lights that play nicely with all your devices... ... ... Source: www.techradar.com - On 1 Jan 2025 T3 ranked Nanoleaf Matter Essentials as #3
Rank Smart Light Bulb Comment ... ... ... #3 out of 11 Nanoleaf Matter Essentials The best cheap smart light bulbs... ... ... Source: www.t3.com - On 10 Jun 2024 WIRED ranked Philips Hue Starter Kit as #3
Rank Smart Light Bulb Comment ... ... ... #3 out of 7 Philips Hue Starter Kit An Upgrade Kit... ... ... Source: www.wired.com - On 27 Sep 2024 Tom's Guide ranked Philips Hue Starter Kit as #1
Rank Smart Light Bulb Comment #1 out of 6 Philips Hue Starter Kit The best smart light bulb starter kit... ... ... Source: www.tomsguide.com - On 7 Apr 2021 Forbes ranked Philips Hue Starter Kit as #1
Rank Smart Light Bulb Comment #1 out of 8 Philips Hue Starter Kit Best Smart Light Bulb Overall... ... ... Source: www.forbes.com - On 15 Nov 2024 PCMag ranked Philips Hue Starter Kit as #5
Rank Smart Light Bulb Comment ... ... ... #5 out of 10 Philips Hue Starter Kit Best Hue Bulb... ... ... Source: www.pcmag.com - On 2 Jan 2024 Digital Trends ranked Philips Hue Starter Kit as #1
Rank Smart Light Bulb Comment #1 out of 5 Philips Hue Starter Kit The best smart bulb kit... ... ... Source: www.digitaltrends.com
After counting and adding up the 75 expert endorsements of the January rankings, Philips Hue Starter Kit outranks Nanoleaf Matter Essentials. This is not to say that Nanoleaf Matter Essentials is a bad option. Like Philips Hue Starter Kit, it is recommended by experts, but less.
As can be seen below, Philips Hue Starter Kit outranks Nanoleaf Matter Essentials by 3 positions. This indicates that, as of 17 Jan 2025, Philips Hue Starter Kit is more critically acclaimed than Nanoleaf Matter Essentials.
| Rank | Change | Price | Smart Light Bulb | WIRED | Tom's Guide | T3 | Forbes | Wirecutter | PCMag | IGN | TechRadar | Digital Trends | CNET |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | - | $50 | Philips Hue Starter Kit The Philips Hue Starter Kit is a highly customizable and convenient lighting solution that offers a range of features, including dimming capabilities, scheduling options, compatibility with popular smart home ecosystems, easy setup, and energy-saving capabilities. | 3 | 1 | - | 1 | - | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | - |
| 2 | - | Check price |  Wyze Smart A19 The Wyze Smart A19 is a white smart bulb that offers smooth dimming capabilities, easy scheduling, and energy-saving features, making it a reliable and convenient option for those looking to reduce energy consumption. | 2 | 2 | - | 3 | - | - | 6 | - | - | - |
| 3 | - | $11 |  WiZ 60W A19 | - | - | - |
- | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| 4 | - | Check price | Nanoleaf Matter Essentials The Nanoleaf Matter Essentials Smart Light Bulb offers customizable colors, excellent dimming capabilities, scheduling options, and energy-saving features, making it a versatile and compatible choice for smart home enthusiasts. | - | - | 3 | - | - | - | 9 | 3 | - | - |
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Expert reviews [27]
Total expert reviews: 27
- with a score: 16
- without a score: 11
| Highest score by homekitauthority.com | 93 |
| Average score based on 27 reviews | 81 |
| Lowest score by Newstalk ZB | 60 |
Score distribution:
| 80-100 | |
| 60-80 | |
| 40-60 | |
| 20-40 | |
| 0-20 |
Expert reviews [18]
Total expert reviews: 18
- with a score: 10
- without a score: 8
| Highest score by boobeam.com | 95 |
| Average score based on 18 reviews | 84 |
| Lowest score by AI | 80 |
Score distribution:
| 80-100 | |
| 60-80 | |
| 40-60 | |
| 20-40 | |
| 0-20 |
From Seller:
- The brightest and most accurate white lighting in a smart bulb. Go from cool productive lighting to warm cozy wind down.
- Purest Colors. Fully immerse yourself in the world of colors with over 16M colors in their most vibrant tones.
- Read more
From Seller:
- WHAT’S IN THE BOX - Includes one White and Color Ambiance smart 60W-equivalent A19 color-changing light bulb; Perfect for general lighting anywhere in your home
- UNLOCK THE FULL POWER OF HUE - Add a Hue Bridge to enjoy automations, control from anywhere in the world, and a secure, stable connection that won’t drain your Wi-Fi. Use Matter to connect your smart home devices to your Hue smart lighting system.
- Read more