Once you’ve had lights you can actually control, you know, brightness, color, the whole deal, there’s zero chance you’re going back to the dumb ones. The whole “smart” light scene is a total mess though, because it’s split between Bluetooth, Zigbee, Wi‑Fi, Matter over Thread, and Matter over Wi‑Fi. Pick your poison.
I have a bunch of Wi‑Fi lights (Phillips WiZ) and a whole zoo of Zigbee lights, from premium Phillips Hue all the way down to no‑name AliExpress brands for $3. Honestly, I like my Wi‑Fi WiZ lights much more.
While meshes like Zigbee and Thread are pitched as the best choice because every new device supposedly strengthens your network, most homes don’t actually need a mesh. In reality, it just adds trouble. This isn’t just my take, it’s basically how the industry is evolving. Zigbee coordinators are quickly moving from tiny USB sticks to giant dildoes, centralizing the network around one powerful node.
Another basic flaw with Zigbee is letting lights act as router nodes instead of end nodes. When a router node goes offline, which happens anytime someone uses a physical light switch to cut its power, it disrupts the whole network. Zigbee networks do self‑heal, but it takes time and makes the whole network slower and less predictable.
Finding a good alternative isn’t easy. Bluetooth has range issues, and “naked” Wi‑Fi lacks a standardized pairing and device control protocol, so you end up needing a special app for every vendor, which is a hard no.
While I don’t recommend “naked” Wi‑Fi, a lot of the newer Wi‑Fi lights do support a protocol called Matter. It acts as a common language between Wi‑Fi devices and smart home hubs. Since they all speak it, you don’t need any vendor apps, and using physical switches won’t break your network.
That said, Zigbee and Thread mesh networks aren’t going anywhere, there’s no real alternative for battery-powered devices. But for everything that plugs into the wall, I prefer Matter over Wi‑Fi.