Belkin WeMo F5Z0489 WiFi Enabled LED Lighting Starter Set

Pros: - Bulbs are cool to the touch after many hours of use. - Rated for a long life - Very bright on high brightness *I think it's on high, read on...* - Power efficient! That's about it...

Cons: HORRIBLE APP SUPPORT! I couldn't get the link to recognize on either my android phone, or my ipad. There's also no web interface for this so the smart features are rendered completely useless, making these just regular LED bulbs. I can't update the firmware or even check if I'm on the latest one as I can't get the app to recognize the bulbs past the initial setup, after which the link LED flashes orange/amber rather than green. IFFT is in beta, I wouldn't advertise it unless it was a full featured working system. For shame Belkin.

Overall Review: It's very disappointing that this didn't live up to it's promise. I would've been content with simply being able to dim the lights from my phone/ipad or turn them on/off. But no such luck. Maybe one day it'll magically "work." Sadly, that day isn't today and I've all but given up on the WeMo system all together.

Pros: LED lighting very energy efficient, 3000K temperature lighting very similar to the warm glow of an age old incandescent light. The light bulbs can be controlled via an app on the smartphone for on/off, dimming and timer operation and can be configured to be controlled over the internet. My son loves the idea of it, gives him something to play with before bed as he sets the dimmers and turns off his desk lamp from his lablet while tucked away in his bed. For the price being charged, getting 2 LED light bulb + the WeMo function seems to be a reasonable bargain. You can set up a timer to turn on and off the bulb at a predetermined time and set up a sleep timer for gradually dimming the lights while going to sleep. My 9 ear old son loves it, I installed one of these in his desk lamp and the other in the overhead light in his bedroom, and he can control the lighting with his tablet.

Cons: The app that interfaces with the WeMo controller unit has poor performance, it takes a long time to load. Even on a very fast flagship smartphone, it takes a while to load. Most of the load time seems to be the app looking for the connected devices and their current operational state. The add device function is clumsy and inconsistent, I had the app installed on 3 devices. 1 smartphone and 2 tablets. Each device had trouble during various stages of the setup process, although through perseverance and patience, the bulbs are finally detected and setup. The WeMo controller is plugged into an AC outlet and connects to the home wifi access point and runs a remote server that allow the WeMo app to connect from the internet to control the WeMo compliant devices. You can control these bulbs over the internet , which I promptly turned off for home network security reasons. I see little reason to control two light bulbs while I am not at home,. The scan function for finding devices takes a LONG time. The apps has a very long response time when transitioning between screens, even for something as simple as modifying the name of a discovered device. UI intuitiveness seems to be a complete afterthought for the WeMo app. The extra dimming and timer function seems to be function just for the sake of function. They work as advertised, but if these smart bulbs came with a wall mount control units, I'd think they would be much more functionally useful. As it stands, I am scratching my head as why I would bother to use my smartphone just to operate a couple of light bulbs. The dimmer and timer function costs very little as a package, but I keep wondering why I wouldn't be better served with just better price on the LED bulbs.

Overall Review: The product seems to over look the fact that a light bulb should be simple and easy to operate. The remote on a tablet/smartphone feature puzzle me a bit, as I find it's often more trouble some for me to try to locate me phone or tablet just to turn on/off a bulb than just go to the wall switch to turn the light on/off. The dimmer function is nice, but it is again only accessible via an app on a smart device, making it cumbersome to operate. This product makes me feel like sitting in my car and driving the car trying to drive it with my smart phone, while it's a novel idea, wouldn't it just be easier to use the steering wheel (or a light switch in this case) than to fiddle around with a poorly written app on a smartphone? Light bulb is the symbol of simplicity, I think the WeMo smart light bulb design had lost sight of that basic need. The iffy setup and clumsy app interface does not help either, who wants to sit through 30 second of an app loading just to dim a light bulb or turn on/off a light bulb. My 9 year old son loves it, I can see if the WeMo controls something more than a light bulb, maybe a smart thermostat, it's be a lot more useful. But a WeMo smart light bulb seems to be somewhat frivolous.

Pros: -Hello. I am technically inclined, but I like to take the approach of a person reading reviews that doesn’t understand all the “geek speak” and make it understandable for the person who doesn’t have the time or patience to study up on stuff. If that’s you, then this one is for you. -It arrived quickly (Thanks Newegg). -Ability to create schedules (what makes THIS product a leader in this field). . .

Cons: -Everything. -This product is NOT user friendly. Using an iPhone 5, I successfully got the app installed and was well on my way to checking this baby (starter set) out. Well that’s where it ended. -I tried for THREE consecutive evenings to get this device to connect to the phone/router/router phone/phone router/router phone, phone phone router… AGHH!!!! -I must have read the instructions 10 times figuring I MUST be missing something. The included instructions, not being that intuitive for trouble shooting, forced me to go online. There was NOTHING in the way of a solution, and I MUST also mention the support online is terrible. -I was testing this over the 25th thru the 27th of December, a holiday/weekend with my room-mate so there was also that issue of not being able to contact Belkin because of the holiday schedule. No big deal, I would just contact them the following week and finish my review then. -However, the next thing we all knew, we all could smell this horrendous smell of something burnt/electrical/unknown to my nose (and I know most electrical failure smells). We noticed the bulbs were both out. REALLY?? BOTH?? I could see maybe one, but both at the same time? One bulb was in the hallway (direct socket), and the other was in an aluminum lamp shade plugged into a power strip. -By this time myself and my room-mate were so exhausted and defeated by this starter set, I literally got up and threw all 3 pieces and the box and all the horrible instructions into the trash can outside. Yeah, 32 degrees F outside, dark, in shorts and no t-shirt, I was by this time highly motivated to go chill my bones to take this thing to the trash almost a block away because I no longer wanted to see or deal with this product any longer. . .

Overall Review: -I tested the bulbs in regular house lamps, directly to various wall outlets, directly to lightbulb sockets throughout our apartment, as well as through 3 different power strips. Also including the little “router” the starter set comes with, again both directly to various wall outlets and power strips. -Just because this is a review, please don’t take my words lightly and think I just favor a product because it is sent to me. I have a job to do; and that’s to be fair and honest about the product for future prospective buyers. I am just like you, a Newegg customer. And to me, Newegg reviews are golden. So I am not about to tarnish Newegg reviews OR my good name by telling you something is good when it is not. I hope this review has satisfied your purchasing inquiry needs. Thank you for reading. And thank you Newegg for allowing me another great opportunity to review. -Dear manufacturer. Please do NOT insult my comment by simply having a comment below my response/review of this product as a “regard to” or “contact customer support” because I MUST have gotten a bad product or I may not be using the item right. Give me due respect, and you shall receive the same. I KNOW in this case I got a bad product, but none the less, the nightmare of getting the app to work on my phone doesn’t excuse the heart of this review.

Pros: Bulbs: - Very warm light (3000K) - Good light spread and pattern - Solid build quality Link: - Easy setup - No annoying indicator light under normal operation - Good build quality

Cons: Bulbs: - Dimmest setting is still a little bright Link: - Can be a little flaky - Power loss can cause it to lose the connected devices - A little large in my opinion

Overall Review: Let's start with the bulbs. Not only do these bulbs have a very warm light, but they also have a very wide light pattern. A lot of LED light bulbs have very focused and slightly blue light. This is not the case with these. In a fixture, it is almost impossible to tell these bulbs apart from an incandescent bulb. They turn on quickly, and dimming them does not cause noticeable flickering from PWM. My one complaint about these bulbs is that the dimmest setting can be a bit bright in some scenarios. One catch 22 of these lights is that a power cycle will turn them on at full brightness. While this is nice if you lose your phone or are having link issues, a power outage in the middle of the night might lead to a rude awakening. On to the WeMo Link. On the positive side, the setup was easy, albeit slow. Similarly, while slow, updating the firmware was simple and worked smoothly. One nice feature on the link brick is that the indicator LED on the front only lights up when there is an error or it is searching for devices. Now for the bad. The connection can be a bit flaky at times, occasionally taking upwards of 10 seconds to actually register a command; however, most of the time it is pretty good. Power loss can cause serious problems. When my Link lost power, it managed to forget the devices connected to it; after rediscovering devices, I now have light bulbs 3 and 4 rather than 1 and 2. While this wasn't a huge problem with only two devices, I can only imagine the frustration this would cause with a full suite of 50 devices throughout an entire home connected. My last gripe is the size. While it is relatively light and therefore unlikely to pull itself out of a wall socket, I find it a bit of an eyesore and chose to hide it under a desk. As for the app, it could be much worse. Both the Android and iOS versions work pretty well, with the iOS version being a little more polished. The remote access works well, and while figuring out the scheduling can be a bit of a fiddle, after a few of minutes of exploring and learning, the app is easy and quick to navigate. My only real complaint about the app is it's size. 60 MB just seems a little on the big size. Using this setup in a fixture that is constantly being turned on and off at random times would not yield the best results. However, using this setup in something that maintains a schedule could be quite rewarding. I have a hard time seeing uses for devices such as this (unless you like bragging that your light bulbs are running on the latest firmware) but there are undoubtedly countless uses for this product. Overall, this product is very solid in the way of hardware, and software will likely catch up soon.

Pros: First, I like the concept of smart devices. I like the concept of this product, both the link (hub) and the bulbs. I like the "if this then that" (IFTTT) concept that works so well for home automation. The hardware is sleek and minimalist and the apps aims for the same. The link seems to work well from a push button/see change perspective. There is very little latency in command execution. The bulbs seem decent as well. For the most part they cleanly dim and brighten with surprising fluidity from an LED bulb compared to incandescent. The app functionality has nice, albeit basic, features and rules execution/programming for timers and away mode. Unfortunately, beyond this, there isn't much to discuss here.

Cons: Okay, this is going to read a bit like a laundry list, so apologies in advance: 1. The initial connection on setup was flakey. The WeMo wouldn't show up for a long while. When it did, the initial connection was made, but the app's connection took forever to establish. Once established and attempting to connect to the network, it failed several times. Only after restarting the app and doing it all over did it mysteriously seem to connect as intended before. This process should be consistently rock-solid. 2. The app immediately recommended firmware updates, which I promptly installed. It took forever, then claimed it failed. Restarting the app reprompted the installation of firmware updates, which I installed, and this time I got reminders updates were installing. This time, they completed successfully after a few minutes and the app notified me of the new status. This process should be one and done, clean and reliable. 3. The WeMo properly identified the two connected bulbs without issue. I was immediately able to turn them on/off and adjust their brightness and set the dimming sleep timer. However, the dimming slider would sometimes get stuck on the previous setting and the when powering off the bulbs the app would indicate it was turning off but never completing the command leaving the app in limbo. Force quitting and restarting the app fixed it. This shouldn't be an issue though. It should do what it says and report the state accurately. 4. The iOS app was really confusing, especially when setting rules for sunset to sunrise auto-on/off. It was really unclear how to set this as the rule user interface was clunky and unintuitive. This needs to be much simpler to distinguish between on/off/on until time and what to do at sunset/sunrise. A simple wizard here would make like much easier. 5. The biggest oversight is if you use these bulbs in matching lamps in a living room. You can't group them together to function similarly. So, let's say we're starting a movie and want to dim the bulbs from 100% to 5%. You have to do it individually, which feels clunky and sophomoric. I should be able to program the WeMo app to turn them both to a pre-determined output level simultaneously. Alas, this functionality is missing -- which seems unacceptable for a product that's so expensive. 6. The capacitors in the bulbs whine at a high frequency at any level under 100%. It's hard to hear when there is other sound, but in a silent room, it's absolutely irritating. By comparison, other dimmable LED bulbs I use do not have this problem. In summary, all of these defects resemble an immature product that should be cleaned up before a new generation is released.

Overall Review: In short, while it works, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to everyone yet. It's still going through teething a bit and needs to mature to something consistent, reliable, and without major bugs.

Pros: Bulbs: They are normal size bulbs, unlike other systems which have large individual bulbs. The color of the bulbs are a warm yellow, not the normal cold blue or wintery white of most bulbs. The bulbs are very energy efficient, and have the ability to render true color, unlike other auto lighting systems. ZigBee: The bulbs communicate with your wireless system using the same tech as others, since the tech works the best. Other products: The bulbs are part of a whole family and eco system from Belkin, adding value to the bulbs. Dimming and control: you are able to dim the bulbs, not just on or off, and they are also able to be controlled by others at the switch. The bulbs can be synced with the sunrise and sunset, allowing for dimming at night and coming on softy in the morning. Number of bulbs in the system: you are able to have up to 50 bulbs in the system, which I have four right now and they function flawlessly. Safety: The system allows you to make your house look like someone is home while you are away, without having an expensive security system or unreliable plug controls. Web app for you phone: app can be downloaded to your phone for control of the system. Available for Android and Apple phones, but Android was far easier to download and free, unlike Apple. System: You have the ability to control the light remotely, individually or as a group, adding to functionality. Separate control unit: plugs into the a wall outlet, not wasting needed space on your router.

Cons: Unit: It is large and takes up a needed power socket. App: it had issues downloading on both the Android and Apple, and Apple tried charging for it, no surprise there. Firmware: Lost 30 minutes of my life waiting for the download and it froze the first time. Cost:$30 for a bulb!! App: It had a hard time finding the bulbs and system, taking three times.

Overall Review: Fun lights to own and play with. Functional for a security system that is already in a home and can act as a deterrent as a system on its own.

Pros: LED bulbs give off warm light similar to regular light bulb. Only uses 9 or 10 watts of electricity and provides about as much light as a regular 60-watt bulb. After setup the light bulbs can be controlled by your phone. WeMo Link Device (included) can control up to 50 lights in the same house over your home wi-fi. Really, 50? Easy to set a timer for ON or OFF or both. It even has a Sunrise/Sunset sync feature.

Cons: No free app for iPad Mini. Setup slightly confusing. When you first plug in the WeMo Link unit to a power outlet you must wait several minutes before it's recognised on your home wi-fi and by the app on your phone. So, be patient. Not really a con but be sure you plug in the WeMo Link in a central location with good wi-fi reception. Use your phone (which is logged onto your home wi-fi) to make sure you've got at least 2 or 3 bars of wi-fi signal near that power outlet. If we get 3 or 4 more WeMo light bulbs i may never get up off the couch after sunset. According to my girlfriend this is a Con. Can't think why ....

Overall Review: When you open the box there's a flap covering the light bulbs. When you open the flap it has a Quick Install Guide printed right on the flap. The install guide is very clear until you get to Step 4 - "Install the WeMo app on your smart device". It shows a couple of app store icons but they are not familiar looking, at least not to me. Glitch no. 1: First, i went to the Belkin website and selected the WeMo LED Light Starter Kit, then Support. No app there and no link to any app store that i could see. What was i thinking?? Glitch no. 2: Next, using the iPad Mini, navigated to the Apple app store and typed in WeMo. A list of apps appeared. One was Belkin WeMo, another was WeMo app. None of them were free. $1.99 or more for these apps. Oops! On the box it clearly states "WeMo Free App for Android and IOS". It also states "Works with iPad (all models)". So, put aside the iPad Mini and try the iPhone 4S. This time the app store says WeMo app is free so we download and install it. Glitch no. 3: After connecting with the little WeMo Link device (included in the box) which we had plugged into an AC power outlet we tapped on "Find Device". Working ... working ... then nothing. Oops! So, we tried the app's other option - Find Link Device. Working ... working ... OK, found the light bulb which we manually switched on earlier! Now we could turn the light bulb on and off, dim the light, etc. all from the iPhone. We tried the timer by setting it for 30 minutes. During that time the LED light bulb dimmed itself somewhat and then turned itself off after half an hour just as we requested. Good result. Next, we installed the other WeMo light bulb in a bedroom lamp and tested the timer again for 30 minutes. The light grew dim and turned off as it should. Repeated the next night with the same result. The "Sunset/Sunrise" option worked OK, too. I'd say the light came on a little early before the room grew very dim but, hey, the feature works so let's not be too picky here! One caveat which seems obvious, but may not be obvious to all, is that the actual light switch on the lamp or wall must be ON in order for the WeMo app to work. If the light switch is OFF then WeMo can't possibly do anything! Also, if the light was switched OFF using the light switch then you must wait a minute or so after switching it back ON before the WeMo will work. The Belkin Support website has several useful tutorials to help you get better acquainted with how it all works and using the various features. It's well worth a look. You only need a little experience with smartphone apps to be comfortable installing and using the WeMo app. However, if you're a complete beginner, please take heed of the glitches mentioned above. Maybe you can avoid the frustration involved when you have zero knowledge about these devices.

Pros: The app installs easily. The wireless setup is easy. The app controls the lights correctly. The packaging is well designed, both to protect and display the product. Everything works as it should. LED lights are very efficient. The LED bulbs in this kit claim to use 9.5W to make light equivalent to a 60W incandescent bulb. I used a power meter to compare various types of 60W equivalent bulbs. An incandescent bulb used 61.0W, a CFL bulb used 12.5W, and the WeMo LED bulb used just 8.1W. The bulbs operate as normal bulbs when the wall adapter is not powered up.

Cons: I used these WiFi bulbs in my home’s front porch sockets. They do an absolutely great job, with one caveat. It may sound silly, but its really difficult to train your household not to use the light switch. People keep shutting off the switch, and then the bulbs can’t turn on. I’m thinking about taping the switch up. Because of the wireless control, the kit is ALWAYS drawing a little bit of power, even when the lights are off. The idle power consumption of each bulb was 0.3W. The wall adapter uses 1.3W. This means when the lights are off, the whole kit is still using ~1.9W. The app is mostly good, but the timer settings are a bit strange. It took a while to understand how to configure the timer.

Overall Review: While I was able to verify the claim of low power consumption, I did not verify the claim of 60W incandescent equivalent light output. The price seemed a bit steep at first, but the kit works really well and the bulbs should last a long time. I’m very afraid that this kit is going to get me hooked on home automation. The WeMo lineup is pretty awesome. Appliances, switches, lighting, irrigation, etc. This “Internet of Things” thing, seems to be happening.