SYLVANIA Smart ZigBee Flex Strip, RGBW Full Color and Tunable White Starter Kit, Works with SmartThings, Wink, and Amazon Echo Plus, Hub Needed for Alexa and Google Assistant - 1 Pack

This is a terrific light string. Of course, I’ve never purchased a light string before so I don’t really have anything to compare it with. I specifically wanted Zigbee lights that would pair directly with my Echo Show without needing another hub.Echo Show: It paired directly with my Echo Show after four attempts. I was getting a little antsy after 3 attempts, but unplugged/replugged the string then gave it another try. I also paired it in the same room as the Echo Show. Once paired, I moved the string to where I wanted it elsewhere in the house.Lights: Once paired, the Alexa app showed the string turning on and off to my commands, but there was no light. I checked all the connections, still no light. Then, I unplugged the strip at the controller, turned it over, and replugged it. Finally, the lights came on. The lights can be controlled by voice, such as “Alexa, set string light to 50%” for brightness, or “Alexa, change string light to magenta.” In the Alexa app, there are 15 color choices plus 5 choices of white shades.Colors: Realistically, there are probably only 11-13 truly different colors if using the Alexa app. The differences in the remaining color choices are very minimal; some I can’t even tell the difference. Another commenter mentioned orange looks yellow; I agree, it does look like light yellow on my light set. Yellow has a green tint to it. Green is definitely green.Length of strips: Each individual strip is 2 feet long. The LED chips are spaced 2” apart for a total of 12 chips per strip. This starter package comes with 3 strips = 6 feet long. For me, that’s all I needed for my fireplace. Be sure to measure your intended location and distance to the electrical outlet.Controller cord: There are two cords and two bricks. The length of my cords is different than what the Product Instructions state. The Product Instructions state the length of the controller cord is 15.7”. My controller cord is 17” in length plus 2” more for the controller brick for a total of 19”. The controller cord connects to the light strips at one end and to the power cord at the other end.Power cord: The Product Instructions state the power cord is 78.7”. My power cord is 60.5 inches in length plus 3.5 inches more for the power brick for a total of 64 inches. Both cords are thick and white. They are something to think about because they look ugly if you don’t have some place to hide them. None of the product photos shows the placement of the cords and the two bricks, but trust me, you’ll have to deal with them.Power brick (adapter): It’s very large at 3.5” length x 2.125” width x 1.25” thickness. I don’t know why it’s so large, but it is. The electric prongs are not polarized (i.e., the two prongs are the same size), so the plug will fit in an outlet right side up or upside down, which is good because otherwise it might block the second outlet.I like the light. Jazzes up the mantel of my fireplace. 5 stars!Addendum: So, my internet went down for about 15 hours. My dots and plain Echos could do nothing. I figured I was out of luck in getting this light string to turn on. But wait — turns out my Echo Show 2 (with built-in Zigbee hub) can indeed control this light string without the internet. Nice.

Having used both the Osram light strip and the Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus, which is probably its main competitor, I think it would be helpful to compare the two:* Lightstrip Plus is brighter. I could use Lightstrip Plus as the main lighting source for an entire room, but the Osram strip is just a bit too dim for this to work, even in the small room I tried it in.* The Osram strip is cheaper. If you don't care about brightness, it may work out in your favor in terms of price. (If you want to make either brighter, there are extensions available for both. You could probably bring the Osram up to Hue brightness if you added one or more, assuming you don't mind the extra length, though then you'd probably end up spending more than the Hue product would have cost.)* Both can work with SmartThings (and possibly similar home automation hubs)--the Osram natively by pairing it directly to SmartThings, and the Hue strip via SmartThings's Hue integration (and possibly native pairing if that's supported for this product, though I'd prefer to go through the Hue bridge). Both can also work through Alexa if the hub/bridge you've paired them with supports it.* The Osram strip *might* be able to be paired with your Hue hub. If it can't out of the box, you might be able to change its firmware in order to be able to pair it with the Hue hub, but you will need the Lightify gateway to be able to do that. Mine couldn't pair out of the box and I didn't want to buy the Lightify gateway just for this. nor, I suspect, wouldn't most people if their goal was to avoid needing another hub/bridge for this product. (That wasn't my goal since it can pair to the SmartThings hub, but I was hoping to be able to use Philips accessories like the Dimmer and Tap with this product.) You might not even be able to do it at all anymore, as Osram has stopped helping people perform firmware changes (it needs ZigBee Light Link and not ZigBee HA firmware to work with Hue, but now they are switching to ZigBee 3.0, which they say combines the two functionalities but that your hub/bridge needs to support it, without actually commenting on which ones they've tested it with). [2018 Update: Philips has upgraded the Hue Bridge to support ZigBee 3.0, but I haven't had any luck getting ZigBee 3.0 lights to pair, but this may be possible/easier in the future.]* The Orsam strip has more options available for extending--you can get all sorts of connectors for the Osram strips, including various lengths of purely extension cables (without LEDs) and at different angles. Hue only officially provides extensions in the form of additional lengths of the LED strips that connect directly to your existing strips (or extensions), i.e., your only options are one continuously lit strip. That being said, you can find third-party connectors for the Hue Lightstrip Plus that provide more options--if you trust them.Personally, I ended up trading my Osram strip out for a Hue Lightstrip Plus. I already had a LightStrip Plus but wanted to try the Osram somewhere else because it was a bit cheaper, but it just wasn't bright enough for me. Both work well (though with the Osram your experience may vary depending on which hubs and apps you pair it with), but if you can afford the Philips product, I think it's generally better, and Hue has a rich ecosystem of first- and third-party apps that work well with it.