Philips Huewhite and colour ambiance Discover outdoor floodlight

We have been long term users of Philips Hue Lighting and whilst it is significantly more expensive, especially for colour, the functionality and flexibility, plus the overall quality really makes it worth while. We bought a number of these lights to both replace existing floodlights and in a couple of new areas and we are very pleased.If you want them to function as security floodlights then you can pair them with a number of devices to act as motion sensors - the Philips Hue ones being the obvious choice, however they can quite happily function with other options via your home automation system of choice. The key thing here is that you can choose to have a very bright full strength floodlight feel to them, or you can have a much warmer white light or obviously a whole range of colours too. We actually have ours set up for a much more 'friendly' warm white at a lower intensity during the evening, switching to a much more security style bright white at night if something is detected.In terms of the actual assembly, they are a good quality, although the IP rating is definitely not as good as it could be, they would need to be in a relatively sheltered location and I would worry if they were in an exposed location that was likely to see a lot of wind and rain. Personally, I like the frosted feel of the cover and that unlike most security floodlights, the LEDs aren't openly exposed. Likely also a design choice given the mix of colour options.Not to the not so good stuff. These are a nightmare to actually put up - I was two storeys up a ladder, holding the unit to the wall fumbling with a tiny little grub screw that was going in to a hole I couldn't see that if I let go would only be held by the electrical wiring. This is a major fail. Philips needs to provide some kind of clip or catch mechanism that will hold the unit whilst the screws go in to then keep it in place. This is something that other suppliers do as a matter of course.As others have noted too, the cable entry is via the rear only which makes a massive assumption about how they will be installed - although to be fair that appears standard across the Philips outdoor range. If you will be using a cable that is running along a wall or coming in from another angle like I was mostly, I used the following ABS spacers to lift the unit off the wall by a centimetre or so to allow the cable to come in via the rear. Obviously I then just used slightly longer screws than those provided, but I am delighted with the result, very secure and much easier. I also added a blob of silicone to where the cable came in given it was slightly more exposed.https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B4236GR8?Overall, very happy and so far they have been very effective.

Easy to install, light unit backing has 3 screw locations. If fixing to a wall you'll need to drill the wall to get the wire inside the building to a power source. Grommet provided in box to be cut to suit cable. There appears to be no side exit wire option, so to do that I would imagine you'd have to make your own access in the side of the lamp holder and also the lamp wire box itself. Not an issue for me but useful to know if you have external wire to feed the lamp.Once fitted, and once the outdoor sensor was fitted it was easy to sync with the Hue hub and program the light to my requirements.For brightness, using the whitest setting I could create, this is not bad for an LED lamp with the features it provides, but is certainly no brighter than a smaller type LED security lamp you can buy cheaply from most DIY chains. It still illuminates the garden ok but is not a security lamp ie for a full garden bright illumination. The endless choice of colours are great, and will make sitting outside in the summer a nicer experience for certain. The options for programming the lamo is the same as for all hue lights using the App. The Outdoor Motion Sensor provides settings for various sensitivities & variable daylight brightness sensing, which allows full control over when to turn the lamp on. Great for security as you can get the sensor to turn on an indoor hue light to a set colour for example if movement is sensed outside.Great lamp for garden atmosphere, general use at night, and the motion sensor beats any other sensor for programmability for security & usefeulness.

The lamp provides ample light for a small garden in any colour. If white is selected then it can light a very large area and will cast a shadow perhaps 30-40m away. Installation is when replacing an existing wall light by wiring live, neutral and earth to a LBI easily removable terminal block. Presumably, the reviewers who found wiring a hassle didn’t remove the block (it just slides off and on). If your fitting it solo then it may be necessary to hang the light on the wires very briefly whilst you fetch the retaining screws but it isn’t so heavy this would risk damage. The animations on the Hue app are awesome and create a whole new feel to the garden at night. I have it automated through Apple Home and this works really well with existing scenes. This is a quality piece of kit which, if my previous experience with Hue is anything to go by, will provide much enjoyment for a long time.