Ikea’s New Lineup of Smart Home Gear Is Quietly Changing the Game Leave a comment

I’ve at all times been an Ikea fan. I lived in 9 totally different residences over 15 years earlier than transferring into my residence, and each single a type of locations had an abundance of Ikea furnishings. However the newest factor from Ikea that is been catching my eye is not the brand new daring blue shade for the Billy bookcase, however the model’s expanded and upgraded sensible residence gear.

Ikea introduced final yr that its new lineup of sensible residence devices can be solely Matter-compatible. That is a giant deal, because the open supply interoperability customary has Amazon, Apple, and Google signed up, which means these units will play nicely with Alexa, Siri, and Google’s anonymous voice assistant. Whereas a few of this gear has been out there for a short while, a lot of the lineup—like the latest mild bulbs and sensible plugs—is new. These are actually a number of the most reasonably priced sensible residence devices out there, and from my expertise, additionally they a number of the greatest in the case of ease of setup and worth.

Ikea continues to be utilizing its Dirigera Hub ($110) that launched just a few years in the past, so if you happen to’re already an Ikea sensible residence person, you will not want a brand new hub to start out utilizing these devices. However new customers ought to decide one up if they do not have a Thread-enabled, Matter-compatible sensible residence hub of their residence.

This is what gear I’ve tried from Ikea’s new sensible residence assortment, and the way it went.

The Kajplats Bulb

One in every of Ikea’s key new merchandise, simply launched this April, is a brand new mild bulb. Good mild bulbs are one of many most-used objects in my residence, and this is among the most accessible and helpful sensible residence merchandise on the market.

The Kajplats sensible bulb has 11 variations, ranging out of your basic E26 customary bulb to Edison-style dimmable bulbs. The bulbs are well-priced, starting from simply $6 for a 450 lumen white-only bulb for accent lights as much as $13 for the 1,100 lumen colour bulb. That places it a bit cheaper than my favored Cync sensible bulb, however you will miss out on extras like music sync that costlier bulbs provide however which I do not discover myself utilizing fairly often.

The Kajplats bulb was simple to arrange round my home, and since I am an iPhone person, it additionally used Matter to sync to my Apple Residence app in addition to my Ikea app. I want these got here in additional packs of bulbs moderately than having to at all times purchase them a la carte, however it’s a stable bulb for a great worth. Simply examine the lumens earlier than you take a look at to ensure you’re not by accident shopping for a budget, dim one whenever you want one thing vibrant sufficient to fill a room.