Bigger and Brighter Smart Bulb From Vocolinc
After the news of the new budget-friendly SmartGlow LS2 Light Strip we reported on recently, Vocolinc is now dropping another new product, this time a smart bulb, and like the LS2, this also comes under the new SmartGlow range.
The SmartGlow L3 is both an addition to, and an update of both their L1 and L2 smart bulbs – the L1 being their smart colour bulb, and the L2 being their smart ‘tuneable’ white bulb. The biggest difference with the L3 is that while it’s still suitable for E26/27 sized bulb sockets, the bulb itself comes in A21/E67 size, so slightly larger than the average A19 bulbs we tend to see. The A21, refers to the shape and size, so an A19 bulb is 60mm/2.375 inches in diameter, while A21 is 66.6mm/2.625 inches. That might not make a difference most of the time, but it may do in some lamp fixtures where space is tight. The biggest takeaway from using an A21, however, is the large bump in lumens; While the Vocolinc L1 has an average of 470lm (depending on the colour it’s set to), the new L3 has a maximum of 850lm, which is almost double the output of the L1, and another 50lm more than the equivalent Philips Hue White and Colour Ambience, many consider the ‘standard’.
Like the Philips Hue, the L3 can produce 16 million colours, as well as cool and warm whites, which is the reason this could also be considered an update to the L2 Tuneable White bulb. The big deal here when it comes to comparing it to Hue is the price, which is going to be a fair amount cheaper, and as we’ve said, brighter.
The LS2 Light Strip and the L3 have both been listed on Amazon France and Germany, but the availability is still a long way off, and as far as amazon.com is concerned, there are no listings to be seen at all presently. We’ve had the bulb on test here since late January, and can say that both the brightness and colours are “pretty, pretty good”*, but we’ll save that for our forthcoming review.
* Curb Your Enthusiasm
