I’m smitten with all of the Philips Hue smart lights I have in my home, and I have several ways to control them: from my smartphone, smart speaker or display. Here’s my Cyber Monday tip: Forget all of those options — I think I discovered the best way to control my smart lights.
I can find other brands of smart lights now — and at much cheaper prices — but Philips Hue is perhaps the most well-known and provides a solid lineup of indoor and outdoor smart lighting. Whether I want my lighting to be tucked away or I’m looking for unique lights that are designed to be shown off, Hue’s got ’em.
It’s not just about the bulbs. The Hue line also has a large assortment of accessories. To me, the best is the Philips Hue Tap Dial. Available in black or white with a $50 price tag, the Tap Dial is a small puck-shaped light controller that you can press and twist on, giving it a “smart analog” vibe.
The Philips Hue Tap Dial isn’t on sale outright after Cyber Monday, but it’s a solid gift for the right person (even if that person is yourself), and you can still grab some superb deals on some of the other Hue lighting options. For instance, both the Signe Gradient table lamp and Signe Gradient floor lamp are on sale for nearly 30% off.
If you’re looking for a more typical light bulb setup, Amazon has a three-pack of 60-watt A19 bulbs for only $75, down from $135 (44% off). After all, you’ll need some lights to control with your Tap Dial.
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On the surface, the Tap Dial is a simple but pricey way to control your lights
Spending $50 on a glorified light switch may seem like a bit much, especially when I consider that it’s nearly the same price as a single Philips Hue 75W White and Color Ambiance bulb. If you’re like me and firmly steeped in the Hue ecosystem, you’ve likely already come to terms with the fact that it’s an expensive ecosystem to be in. That said, the customization options for this little guy will have tinkerers excited, and I believe it’s definitely worth its price.
The Dial itself looks like a hockey puck with four buttons on the face, with a rotating outer wheel to brighten or dim your lights. The four buttons each have little dots numbered 1 to 4, so you can feel which button you’re pressing, even in the dark. It’s fairly small and not a chore to bring it room to room if you so desire. You can place it on a wall inside of the included wall mount to use like a typical light switch. It’s magnetic, so you can stick it on your fridge or some other metal surface.
Under the hood, the Tap Dial’s customization options are wild
You’d think that setup for this little device would be simple, with only a few options involved, but you’d be wrong. The settings for the Tap Dial can be a bit complex and can require some tinkering to get just right, especially if you have multiple scenes you want to go through.
Either I completely missed the function in the app or within the nearly two years I’ve had the dial Philips resolved my main gripe. I’m not sure which is true, but my biggest annoyance was that I believed you could only use the Tap Dial for one room or “zone” in your home. Again, while this may have always been how the device functioned, this has now been resolved (in my mind) and you can assign each button to a different room or zone in your home. The twist-to-dim function can only be assigned to one room at a time, which makes sense.
To set up, you’ll head to the Hue app, then go to Settings > Accessories and select your Tap Dial. From there, you can assign functions to each of the buttons. First, you’ll need to choose whether the button is going to control your lights or automation. If you choose the former, you’ll need to choose the button behavior when you press it:
- Time-based light: Lighting based on the time of day or based on a customized timetable of your choosing.
- Scene cycle: Choose a primary scene that will always start upon a button press. Continue pressing to cycle through additional light scenes.
- Single scene: Always only the same scene on button press.
- Lights off: Selected lights turn off when the button is pressed.
By default, pressing and holding any of the buttons will turn off the lights assigned to it, but you can opt for turning all the lights off in your entire home or for it to do nothing. There’s also an advanced “smart on/off” option, which I haven’t dabbled with yet.
After you’ve customized the buttons to your liking, your last stop is to choose what the twist dial does — or what else it does, other than brightening or dimming your lights. There are only two options here, and both are easy to tweak. The first is choosing if you want to be able to turn your lights off completely with the dial or have them go down to the minimum brightness only as you twist to dim them. The second gives you the option to set a specific scene that will turn on if you twist the dial when the lights are off.
You can make your setup as simple or complex as you’d like, making the Tap Dial approachable for anyone.
The Hue Tap Dial makes a great gift
There’s a good chance that someone isn’t going to run out and drop a bunch of money on Hue lights after receiving this as a gift. While the Tap Dial is easy to use, the value it brings comes with the customization you can do with it. Still, you don’t have to want to jump into all the settings to make the Dial worth it. As I said above, it’s an approachable device for anyone since you can make it as simple or as complex as you’d like.
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If you know someone who already has a Hue setup in their home, this would be a great addition. Plus, if they love to dig into the settings or are self-described tinkerers, then this is definitely something worth considering. If you aren’t sure if someone has Hue lights, then the Tap Dial would be an even better gift when paired with a new bulb, which would be perfect for the current mix-and-match sale.
Will there be any Cyber Monday deals for the Tap Dial?
We can always hope. Amazon’s Black Friday deals came and went, and we didn’t get a discount for the Tap Dial, so my guess is that it will stay firm at its $50 price tag even for Cyber Monday.
Heading to the official Philips Hue website, the Hue Tap Dial is discounted, but with a catch. The Dial isn’t on sale as a standalone item but as a mix-and-match deal from a selection of products. Adding any two items from the page to your cart will automatically apply a 30% discount, which isn’t bad at all. Adding the Dial Tap and a standard Dimmer switch to the cart will only cost you around $55 with the discount. Pair the Tap Dial with a bulb and inspire the giftee to start building out their smart home.
Hungry for more? Don’t miss this video roundup of the best Philips Hue Lights, where the Tap Dial makes an appearance so you can see it in action. And here are smart home devices that are on sale for Cyber Monday.
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