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The explosion in LED lighting over the past few years has taken us from "dumb" bulbs that simply replace incandescent and compact fluorescent bulbs to "smart" bulbs that can be remotely controlled and their color selected (some time ago I reviewed the Philips Hue system, one of the most successful smart LED lighting lines to date).
The last few months have seen more smart lighting systems come to market and I've just got my hands on one of the latest, ilumi, which describes itself as "The World's Smartest LED Smartbulb" which, as you will see, is an unfounded claim.
ilumi first launched as a crowdfunded startup in 2013 and raised over $145,000 on a goal of $25,000 and shipped its first generation bulbs in July 2014. A few weeks later, ilumi dove into Shark Tank and got backing from Mark Cuban. In November this year, the company started shipping their second generation products.
ilumi 2nd generation products
The second generation bulbs are available in A19 and BR30 versions. The A19 bulb produces around 800 Lumens (equivalent to a 60 Watt incandescent bulb) consuming a maximum of 10 Watts, while the BR30 outputs 1100 Lumens (equivalent to an 85 Watt incandescent bulb) and consumes a maximum of 15 Watts. ilumi Smartbulbs have a an excellent color rendering index (CRI) of between 82...