Dan Moren, on returning his smart bulbs to “condition normal”:

The issue here is twofold: first, when you specify “white” it gives you essentially pure white, which I find an overly harsh tone. Secondly, there are a ton of different systems for quantifying colors, and the versions that Philips uses in its app don’t easily translate into hex code.

I turned again to Yonomi, but this presented its own problems. It presents two methods for specifying color: first, choosing from a menu of common, specific values—”white”, “green”, “yellow”, and so on—or second, picking from a discrete list of color temperatures measured in Kelvin. With the latter I was able to get close to the value I wanted, but it fell between two of the options presented—2500 and 3000—and there’s no way to specify an arbitrary value.

The move away from incandescent light bulbs has left me a little lost. What I’d consider to be the gold standard of light bulbs — 75W Philips Natural Light incandescents — aren’t available anymore and I’m stuck using their EcoVantage branded version. The bulb is closer to what I want than anything else that I’ve found on the market, but the light it gives off isn’t quite up to par.

My hope is that I’ll be able to limp along using these bulbs until a smart bulb is able to recreate the light output of the Philips Natural Lights. Unfortunately, none of the smart bulbs I’ve looked at are capable of outputting enough lumens to brighten my rooms and, as Dan Moren points out, the level of customization might not allow for the color temperature I’m looking for.

I’ll continue to wait for a smart bulb that’s capable of meeting my requirements. But until then, I’ll keep buying the EcoVantage bulbs — they’re available in a two-pack from my local Wegmans for $2.99. They’re not perfect, but they’re a lot closer than anything I’ve found.