 If you want to make your home a little bit smarter, a great place to start is with your lighting. Smart lighting systems can be really convenient and really cool. I have mine set up so that my lights turn on just before sundown. That way I'm never left sitting in the dark. But there are a ton of systems out there and some are going to be a huge headache. So here's what a good system does. Number one, it's easy to set up. Number two, it's easy to use day to day. Remember, this has to be more convenient than a light switch. And third, it has to be really flexible. You have to have a lot of options for how you can set up your home. There's no perfect smart lighting system right now, but the one that comes closest to nailing all three of those things is Philips Hue. Philips Hue has emerged as the go-to name in smart lights and for good reason. It's just really easy to set up and use. You basically just plug everything in and you're good to go. Its app is a big part of that. You can control entire rooms or individual lights without digging through menus that includes just turning lights on and off and even dimming them by dragging around on a slider. The app also lets you set up triggers that your lights can respond to what's happening so they can turn on when you come home or off when you're leaving. And if you want to get really nerdy about it, you can hook up the lights to if this, then that, and then have them respond to all kinds of weird things. You could have your lights change color when it's about to rain, or you can have them flash if you get a new text message or Facebook like or an Instagram heart or a Slack message or an email or you know don't get carried away. Hue also works with Siri and Alexa so you can control your entire home's lighting system with your voice just by talking to your iPhone or your Amazon Echo. For me, the one downside to Philips Hue is that you can't hook it up to your light switch. So if you turn your light switch off, you suddenly can't control your lights at all. There is one solution though. Philips does sell these little controllers that you can mount on the wall. They work pretty well and they're convenient enough. Oh and I should mention that like most smart lighting systems, Hue also offers a bunch of different color options. You can do lights that are just plain old white or you can do ones that do basically any different color from white to purple to red to green to whatever. You should just consider whether you really need a purple light in your house. The thing that I like the most is something that's a little bit in between the two of them. It's a white bulb that could be a little bit warmer or a little bit colder so you can still sort of dial in on your exact preference. There are a lot of other smart lighting options out there and I'm just going to quickly run through them because some of them are kind of interesting and others you should just completely ignore. LightFax is a nice color changing bulb that's really great if you just want one or two because it doesn't require a hub. Just know that if your wi-fi is a little patchy, they might be a problem. C by GE don't require a hub either. They're cheap temperature changing bulbs but you can only control them inside the home. So they're sort of just something to get if you're curious about what smart lighting might be like. Lutron's Caseta Wireless is an interesting option because it can turn your existing lights into smart lights but it's not quite as elegant because you have to plug all these adapters into outlets around your house. And then there's the headaches. Osram, Belkin, and GE all make good bulbs but they become big headaches when you try to use them with their own systems so just avoid them. Now say you want a system that doesn't just stop at your lights then there's one other option for you to consider. That is Samsung's SmartThings. Be warned, SmartThings is not just a lighting system. It is a full-fledged smart home system that lets you hook up thermostats, motion sensors, security cameras, and all kinds of different lights including even Philips Hue. So it's going to be a lot more complicated. On the lighting front, SmartThings is a bit more challenging but it also gives you a lot more options. You have a ton of different bulbs to choose between and there are a lot of different sensors that you can hook up to make your lights respond to different things. One thing that I really like is that you can even replace your old light switch with a connected one. That way you don't have to double up and have your existing light switch and then your smart one right beside it. If you do want to do a little bit more than that and integrate more smart home products throughout your home over time, SmartThings is maybe the way to go for you but you can always add that down the road if you start with Philips Hue too. Keep in mind that the smart home market is developing rapidly and a lot is going to change over the next few years but if you want a system that is already working well for lighting, Philips Hue is absolutely the way to go.
 If you want to make your home a little bit smarter, a great place to start is with your lighting.
 Smart lighting systems can be really convenient and really cool. I have mine set up so that my
 lights turn on just before sundown. That way I'm never left sitting in the dark.
 But there are a ton of systems out there and some are going to be a huge headache. So here's what a
 good system does. Number one, it's easy to set up. Number two, it's easy to use day to day. Remember,
 this has to be more convenient than a light switch. And third, it has to be really flexible.
 You have to have a lot of options for how you can set up your home. There's no perfect
 smart lighting system right now, but the one that comes closest to nailing all three of those things
 is Philips Hue. Philips Hue has emerged as the go-to name in smart lights and for good reason.
 It's just really easy to set up and use. You basically just plug everything in and you're
 good to go. Its app is a big part of that. You can control entire rooms or individual lights
 without digging through menus that includes just turning lights on and off and even dimming them
 by dragging around on a slider. The app also lets you set up triggers that your lights can respond
 to what's happening so they can turn on when you come home or off when you're leaving. And if you
 want to get really nerdy about it, you can hook up the lights to if this, then that, and then have
 them respond to all kinds of weird things. You could have your lights change color when it's
 about to rain, or you can have them flash if you get a new text message or Facebook like or an
 Instagram heart or a Slack message or an email or you know don't get carried away. Hue also works
 with Siri and Alexa so you can control your entire home's lighting system with your voice just by
 talking to your iPhone or your Amazon Echo. For me, the one downside to Philips Hue is that you
 can't hook it up to your light switch. So if you turn your light switch off, you suddenly can't
 control your lights at all. There is one solution though. Philips does sell these little controllers
 that you can mount on the wall. They work pretty well and they're convenient enough. Oh and I should
 mention that like most smart lighting systems, Hue also offers a bunch of different color options.
 You can do lights that are just plain old white or you can do ones that do basically any different
 color from white to purple to red to green to whatever. You should just consider whether you
 really need a purple light in your house. The thing that I like the most is something that's
 a little bit in between the two of them. It's a white bulb that could be a little bit warmer or a
 little bit colder so you can still sort of dial in on your exact preference. There are a lot of other
 smart lighting options out there and I'm just going to quickly run through them because some of
 them are kind of interesting and others you should just completely ignore. LightFax is a nice color
 changing bulb that's really great if you just want one or two because it doesn't require a hub. Just
 know that if your wi-fi is a little patchy, they might be a problem. C by GE don't require a hub
 either. They're cheap temperature changing bulbs but you can only control them inside the home.
 So they're sort of just something to get if you're curious about what smart lighting might be like.
 Lutron's Caseta Wireless is an interesting option because it can turn your existing lights into
 smart lights but it's not quite as elegant because you have to plug all these adapters into outlets
 around your house. And then there's the headaches. Osram, Belkin, and GE all make good bulbs but they
 become big headaches when you try to use them with their own systems so just avoid them. Now say you
 want a system that doesn't just stop at your lights then there's one other option for you to consider.
 That is Samsung's SmartThings. Be warned, SmartThings is not just a lighting system. It is a
 full-fledged smart home system that lets you hook up thermostats, motion sensors, security cameras,
 and all kinds of different lights including even Philips Hue. So it's going to be a lot more
 complicated. On the lighting front, SmartThings is a bit more challenging but it also gives you a lot
 more options. You have a ton of different bulbs to choose between and there are a lot of different
 sensors that you can hook up to make your lights respond to different things. One thing that I
 really like is that you can even replace your old light switch with a connected one. That way you
 don't have to double up and have your existing light switch and then your smart one right beside
 it. If you do want to do a little bit more than that and integrate more smart home products throughout
 your home over time, SmartThings is maybe the way to go for you but you can always add that down the
 road if you start with Philips Hue too. Keep in mind that the smart home market is developing
 rapidly and a lot is going to change over the next few years but if you want a system that is already
 working well for lighting, Philips Hue is absolutely the way to go.