In recent years, energy-efficient LED bulbs have plummeted in price. This soft white 10-watt option "hits all the marks that make a bulb great," says Casey Johnston at TheSweethome. It dims relatively evenly and lasts up to 25,000 hours. Buy it at Amazon.
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The step up in price for this Philips is "well worth it if you plan on dimming your lights," says Ry Crist at CNET. Many LEDs dim moderately well, but in our tests, the Philips "produced little to no detectable buzz or flicker — even with older switches." Buy it at Amazon.
The Lifx is "awfully expensive," says Crist, but this color-changing Wi-Fi-enabled smart bulb can take on 16 million different hues, with more accurate color rendition than its direct competitors. It's also brighter, more efficient, and easier to use. Buy it at Amazon.
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Sold separately or in a $79 starter kit, the Hue White 26 represents "the best way to bring smart lighting to your home on a reasonable budget," says Timothy Torres at PC magazine. A control hub in the starter kit lets you control up to 50 Hue bulbs with a smartphone app. Buy it at Amazon.
Among indoor LED floodlights, this 65-watt-equivalent GE bulb outperforms all rivals on color quality and dimmability, and "it isn't all that close," says Crist. It uses slightly more energy, but "it'll make the colors in your home look more vivid." Buy it at Amazon.
Editor's note: Every week The Week's editors survey product reviews and articles in websites, newspapers, and magazines, to find cool and useful new items we think you'll like. We're now making it easier to purchase these selections through affiliate partnerships with certain retailers. The Week may get a share of the revenue from these purchases.
