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TP Link launches budget-friendly smart light strips

By Jon Bitner August 24, 2022

TP-Link, a company known for producing affordable smart home gadgets, has announced a new lineup of smart LED light strips and light bulbs. This includes the Tapo L900, Tapo L920, Tapo L930, and Tapo L530E. Pricing for the products ranges from $25 to $50, making these some of the most affordable lighting options on the market.

The Tapo L930 is considered the flagship LED strip of the family, offering advanced features such as music sync mode, 16 million colors, up to 1000 lumens of white light, and an IP44 waterproof rating. You can also set up a personalized lighting schedule using the accompanying smartphone app. Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple HomeKit are all supported by the L930. A 16.4-foot roll costs $50, making it a cheap way to get surprisingly versatile smart lights into your home.

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TP-Link LED light strip installed in a modern home.

The Tapo L920 and L900 are listed for $40 and $25, respectively, offering much of the same functionality as their more expensive sibling but with fewer features. The Tapo L900, for example, only allows you to have one color per strip instead of 50 selectable zones. But if you need to light up your space on a budget, they’re worth a closer look.

Rounding out the announcements are the Tapo L530E smart light bulbs. These multicolored, LED smart bulbs let you select from millions of colors and produce up to 806 lumens of white light brightness. Once you’ve found a few colors you like, you can use the smartphone app to turn them into presets for easy access. You can find a two-pack on sale for $25.

TP-Link lights glowing pink behind a computer monitor.

TP-Link has positioned all four products as wallet-friendly options. However, there are other cheap smart lights that should also be on your shopping list. This includes the Wyze Bulb and Govee LED Strip Lights. And before you take out your wallet, be sure to peruse our roundup of the best smart light bulbs and best light strips for a comprehensive look at everything available.

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Abode expands line of smart home devices with doorbell, light bulbs at CES 2022

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Abode has announced two new additions to its existing lineup of smart home products at CES 2022. The Abode Wireless Video Doorbell beams live 2K footage to your phone, or to the cloud with a subscription plan. It boasts full-color night vision, wire-free installation, and two-way audio.

As you would hope, the doorbell is certified to weather the outdoors with an IP65 waterproof rating. It comes with a companion Chime device to act as the bell indoors. On the software side, the Abode Wireless Video Doorbell is able to differentiate people from other kinds of movement, which can help you triage notifications appropriately. This capability is expected to expand to pets and packages in the future.

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GE expands Cync smart light lineup, adds climate control, camera

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If you’ve never heard of Cync by GE Lighting you could be forgiven. It doesn’t get the press of some other more popular brands of smart lighting. Today, GE Lighting announced several new Cync products that will expand this smart lighting platform to a full smart home ecosystem, meaning if it's not already on your radar, it should be.

As part of CES 2022, the company is introducing a smart thermostat and temperature sensor, a line of outdoor security cameras, and several new lighting products to its family of connected products. A big bonus for many consumers, there is no additional hub or bridge required to create the Wi-Fi connection needed for automation and scheduling.

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Why smart lights are the perfect entry point to the smart home

philips hue updates old products adds gradient strip iris lifestyle living room

Getting started with building a smart home can be daunting. The benefits are sort of nebulous at first, and the up-front cost can be off-putting. There are a lot of ways to approach the idea of building out a smart home, but we contend that smart lights are the best first step on that journey.
You can start small
If you want to upgrade your home's entire lighting setup at once, you can, but that can be pricy. Luckily, you can buy a single smart bulb for $20 without a separate hub and enjoy the benefits right away, and then decide to expand. Mix and match brands one light at a time to find the combination of cost and value that works best for you, then go all-in with whatever lighting system you like best.
The benefits are visible

The benefits of many smart home devices aren't quite as palpable as a smart light's. A smart light changes the mood of your entire home and reinvents your relationship with a light switch. Meanwhile, smart speakers can amount to a spooky robot ghost lady that lives in your kitchen. A smart lock gives you a different way to fumble for your keys. A smart thermostat operates quietly in the background with the end result being a comfortable temperature. These benefits are harder to come to grips with than turning your living room purple whenever you want.
Smart lights are idiot-proof
Setup for smart lights is painfully easy. It's often little more than turning off the light, popping out the old bulb, putting in the new one, turning the light on, and pairing with your phone. It's hard to mess up. In a worst-case scenario, you'll need to reset the bulbs and pair again. In the vast majority of instances, you'll be dealing with the same standard size of socket, so not much chance of getting the wrong kind of bulb.
Your phone has great support
Smart lights are one of the product categories with the most consistent support for smart home platforms like Google Home and Apple HomeKit. These are well-integrated with the phone you already have, giving you an easy way to issue voice commands to your lights. These mechanisms are in addition to native Android and iOS apps that often provide home screen widgets and advanced functions you'll need to dip into anyway during setup.