LIFX A21 SuperColor Smart Light review: Affordable Hue alternative

I love a good smart light. With smart lights, there aren’t crippling inconveniences like standing up and walking across the room to turn a lamp on. With a phone nearby, all it takes is the push of a button, and the smart light is on and pulsing to a Milky-Way-galaxy-inspired color scheme or a theme derived from emotions like invigoration — whatever that might be. And if a phone isn’t nearby, then all it takes is a minute or so of shouting back and forth with Google.

Smart lights come in many forms. There are good string lights, floodlights, lamps, and simple light bulbs, like the LIFX A21 SuperColor. Smart bulbs are usually affordable (compared to other smart light types), easy to install, and fit right into your existing light fixture. They’re an excellent way to level up your smart home. But let’s see if the LIFX A21 SuperColor could be a great fit for your home.

Price, availability, and specs

Hopefully, you have a Home Depot nearby

Priced at $40 per bulb, the LIFX A21 SuperColor is pretty reasonable, given all its features and brightness. Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of buying options. This LIFX bulb (unlike older LIFX models, which are more widely available) is only available through the US and Canada hardware and home retailer, Home Depot.

What’s good about the LIFX A21 SuperColor Smart Bulb?

Unparalleled temperature range and brightness

There’s a lot to rave about when it comes to the LIFX A21. However, as a purveyor of Google-centric smart home gadgets and only the best vibes that smart lights can offer, I prioritize two things above all else: smart home integration and color quality.

First, connecting this bulb to a smart assistant isn’t necessary, especially if you aren’t controlling multiple smart light brands simultaneously. The LIFX companion app is a nice tool for setting schedules, creating custom scenes, and grouping multiple LIFX lights.

With a single bulb, you can’t completely get the coolness of some of the animated color effects, but there are still schemes to choose from based on artwork, holidays, and moods. The bulb can cycle through colors based on such a theme or in an order you specify. I especially liked the circadian rhythm feature offered in the LIFX app, which automatically adjusts the bulb’s shade based on the best light temperature to consume at any given time of day.

In my home, the LIFX bulb joined several Philips Hue bulbs and several smart Govee lights, so smart home integration was essential. Adding the LIFX A21 SuperColor to my Google Home took seconds, and once that was done, it could be grouped and controlled with everything else in my office. As with any smart light, you’ll still need to reference the native companion app for in-depth color scheming, but Google Home at least offers simple color changes.

Light and color quality

For a portion of its testing, the A21 SuperColor was installed in a Tiffany stained glass floor lamp. This lamp sits in the corner of my office and must offer bright, room-illuminating, cool-to-neutral white light, while also offering dimmer, warmer options for evening ambiance.

The A21 SuperColor is the bulb for the job. At 4000K (which is a shade of white right on the fence between cold and warm light), it shines at around 1,600 lumens, equivalent to a 100W traditional incandescent bulb. A comparable bulb by Philips Hue, the BR30 E26, only achieves about 1,200 lumens at this temperature.

I was incredibly pleased with the A21 SuperColor’s temperature range — 1500K through 9000K, a diverse spectrum capable of stark blue-white cold light, and deeply orange warm light. The extreme ends of the range probably aren’t lengths you’d often explore, but it’s nice to know they’re available. (The Philips bulb I referenced above, by comparison, offers a range of 2000K through 6500K.)

The A21’s Color Rendering Index (CRI) is 90, putting it above the comparable Philips Hue’s CRI of 80.

This value reflects how well the bulb’s white and warm lights will illuminate skin tones, wood tones, and other surfaces commonly misconstrued by poor light. To put it simply, most lighting professionals consider a CRI of 80 to be okay color quality, and a CRI of 90 to be good or very good, in terms of color richness, brightness, and clarity.

In terms of actual color, the LIFX A21 is called SuperColor for a reason. Its entire range is phenomenal. The reds and pinks are the brightest, while the blue shades only reach a brightness of about 170 lumens. Even so, every shade tested met my expectations in vibrancy and depth, and the bulb cast is wide enough to evenly cover the surrounding space, whether it be a desk, reading area, or kitchen table.

What’s bad about the LIFX A21 SuperColor Smart Bulb?

$40 for a single bulb still isn’t a bargain

When it comes to the functionality, design, and features of the A21 smart bulb, I have nothing to complain about. It’s worth noting that $40 per bulb still isn’t a cheap way to light up your house by any means. However, it’s still more affordable than upgrading to a wholly smart light fixture, like a Govee Floor Lamp 2.

The LIFX A21 would’ve also received a perfect score if it weren’t for this light bulb’s disappointing availability. The only retailer you can buy this bulb from is Home Depot — not even LIFX itself or Amazon, which is baffling since the brand’s other bulbs are for sale through Amazon at least. Maybe this will change, given the A21’s relative newness.

Should you buy it?

Brand loyalty might complicate things

LIFX offers quality smart bulbs, a user-friendly companion app, and easy Google Home integration. They aren’t the cheapest bulbs you can buy, but they’re not the most expensive, either — perfectly priced to reflect their value, in my opinion.

If you’re already a whiz with the Philips Hue companion app, and have the Hue bridge, the A21’s notable spec list may not be compelling enough to cross brand lights, especially if you don’t have a smart assistant and doing so would mean one more app to use for controls. However, if the A21 is your first smart bulb or if there’s a smart assistant in your home that can group the LIFX with other brands, you shouldn’t overlook the A21. It’s one of the brightest and most reasonably priced ways (as far as smart bulbs go) to outfit your smart home.