How bright is the Philips Hue Go?
Best answer: The white and color ambiance light found in the portable Philips Hue light can provide brightness up to 300 lumens. This output is significantly less than you'd receive on Philips Hue bulbs and other lamps. Unfortunately, this is the drawback for wanting a smart portable lamp.Amazon: Philips Hue Go ($80)Amazon: Philips Hue Bridge ($60)
What are lumens?
Choosing a light bulb once came down to the number of watts it had. However, that now only tells part of the story. While that number tells you how much energy a bulb uses, lumens identify its brightness. Because newer bulbs, including so-called smart bulbs like the ones from Philips Hue, consume very little power, people increasingly want to know the number of lumens when selecting lighting products. Not surprisingly, the larger the number of lumens, the brighter the bulb.
The Philips Hue Go has a maximum brightness of 300 lumens. This is a very small number as you can see when comparing it to regular smart bulbs from Philips Hue and other manufacturers.
For example, each White Ambiance A19 bulb or equivalent Hue White and Color Ambiance A19 bulb offers 800 lumens. By contrast, the smart overhead lights the company offers feature 650 lumens. Many of the LED only lights of the same size offer similar lumens.
What about similar products?
Practically the only reason to buy a Philips Hue Go is its portability. A built-in rechargeable battery means you can use the device anywhere you want for up to three hours between charges, and you can plug the light into an electrical outlet to charge and for continuous use.
Unfortunately, there's not an alternative product on the market. Therefore, if you want the portability the Hue Go has to offer, you need to accept its low lumen count.
If you still have your heart set on buying a Philips Hue lamp, but can live without the Hue Go's portability, your choice of products increases considerably. Along the way, the maximum number of lumens per product also increases.
If you want the portability the Hue Go has to offer, you need to accept its low lumen count.
For example, the corded Hue White Ambiance Wellner table lamp offers up to 800 lumens as does the similarly named Wellness lamp.
Neither of these products, however, has the feature most popular on the Hue Go after its portability: the ability to change the light colors right on the fixture. With the Hue Go, you only have to press a button to choose from 12 different light effects. Yes, this means being able to control the lamp outside your home without your phone.
To control the Hue Go from the official Philips Hue app, you'll need to install the Philips Hue Bridge in your home. With the bridge, you can control up to 50 smart lights and choose from 16 million different colors. Of course, that means you have to pay extra for the Bridge.
A unique find for a limited number of people
To achieve three hours of portability between battery charges, Philips Hue needed to cut down on the maximum number of lumens on the Hue Go bulb. Perhaps in the future, a better portal smart lamp will arrive with the same features as the Hue Go but with higher brightness. Until then, you're stuck with the Hue Go unless you're okay with forgoing portability.
The must-have accessory for Philips Hue products
Without the Hue Bridge, there's not much you can do with the company's long list of smart lighting products. If you don't already have one, get one today and control every Hue lamp in your home, including your Hue Go.
