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Image: Home Depot
Home Depot has announced a new line of white LED light bulbs under its EcoSmart brand. EcoSmart Universal Select Light Bulbs feature adjustable brightness and white color temperatures, but they’re distinct from the company’s growing Hubspace smart home ecosystem because they don’t connect to Wi-Fi or any other smart home protocol. We’ll call them semi smart.
The new bulbs will be available in A19, BR (bulged reflector), and PAR (parabolic aluminized reflector) form factors, with maximum outputs of 1600 and 1700 lumens respectively. Being unconnected bulbs, they can’t be controlled with a smartphone app or integrated into any smart home ecosystem. Instead, their settings are changed by flipping physical switches embedded in the heatsinks between their lenses and bases.
EcoSmart Universal Select Lifestyle
Home Depot’s EcoSmart Universal Select light bulbs are outfitted with switches to adjust both their brightness and their white color temperature.
Home Depot
Flipping the switch on the A19 variant of the EcoSmart Universal Select Light Bulb will set it to produce the equivalent of a 40-, 60-, 75-, or 100-watt incandescent bulb. A second switch lets you choose between color temperatures of 2700K (“soft white,” as described by the manufacturer), 3000K (“bright white”), 3500K (“true white”), 4000K (“cool white”), 5000K (“daylight”), and 6500K (“daylight deluxe”).
The BR and PAR bulbs will be available in a variety of sizes, with the BR variants producing the equivalent of 65-, 75, and 90-watt incandescent bulbs and the PAR versions delivering 90-, 120-, and 150-watt equivalents. In both cases, the lumen output combinations will vary according to the size of the bulb, but the color temperature settings will be the same as the A19 bulb.
Home Depot says the A19 version of its EcoSmart Universal Select Light Bulb will be priced at $14.98 for a 3-pack. . PAR16 bulbs will cost $8.98 for a 2-pack. each and be available in 2-, 3-, 4-, and 6-packs. A19 bulbs will eventually be available singly and in 2-packs, and both the BR and PAR bulbs will be offered in 2,3, 4 and 6-packs, but Home Depot hasn’t released availability or pricing for those SKUs.
The new bulbs are expected to be available for purchase at Home Depot’s stores and website between later this month and sometime in April.
Further reading: This news story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart lighting.
Semi-smart light bulbs with physical switches aren’t an entirely new idea. We reviewed the similar Feit Electric Intellibub ColorChoice bulbs in the summer of 2017. We’ll take a similar in-depth look at Home Depot’s product as soon as we can get samples.
Author: Michael Brown, Executive Editor, TechHive
Michael is TechHive's lead editor, with 30+ years of experience covering smart homes, home networking, and home audio/home theater. He holds a BA in Multimedia Journalism, authored the book Desktop Video Production, and was awarded Best Online Review by the Computer Press Association. Michael built a smart home in 2007 and used it as a real-world product-testing lab. Now living in the Pacific Northwest, he is converting his 1890 Victorian bungalow into a modern smart home. Michael has worked at CNET, PCWorld, Electronic Musician, and Maximum PC. As a freelancer, he contributed to New Media, Camcorder, MacWeek, and more.
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