The SmartGlow color light bulb - or L3 for short - is the third smart bulb offered by VocoLinc. Offering significant upgrades over L1 and L2, I took a look at L3 to see if he could win a place in our smart home.

Design

L3 is an E26 / 27 base, which means it will fit most standard lamps and, thanks to its multi-directional operation, you can put it in everything from a ceiling fan to a wall board to a floor lamp - with a slight warning

If you want to place L3 in a desk or desk lamp, you may experience problems. L3 is slightly larger than an average bulb. Loco VocoLinc has a height of about 5.12 inches, while a standard A19 household bulb comes in at 4.13 inches high. For office lamps and lamps that do not have a lot of headroom, there is a chance that L3 will fit or not fit at all.

Operational specifications

Some of the millions of colors available for this bulb

Vocolinc suggests that the light bulb should only cost you $ 6.30 a year to operate, assuming you use it on average three hours a day.

In terms of brightness, it produces an equivalent amount of light that a 60W bulb does - meaning it only comes in at around 850 lumens. The 60W bulbs are relatively standard in terms of brightness, which makes it an excellent universal bulb. According to VocoLinc, there are 16 million different colors with VocoLinc L3.

Configuration and connectivity

The light bulb configuration is easy and the instructions included go through the three-minute process without much effort. Be careful to keep the packaging handy as you will need to scan the QR code to connect it to your router. You will also need to download the LinkWise application, which is useful if you have multiple VocoLinc products.

The bulb itself uses Wi-Fi, which means it can be remotely controlled and avoids the need for a proprietary hub. If you're planning to run it with HomeKit, you'll still need a Home Hub to control automation.

Characteristics

The SmartGlow color light bulb offers plenty of customization options for both brightness and color temperature

Inside the LinkWise application of VocoLinc

There are many functions that a user can control from the LinkWise application. L3 has options for setting a wide range of colors and color temperatures, perfect for setting the mood of a room. L3 also offers animated features: breathing, blinking, flowing, candle and flickering. We were surprised at how much we enjoyed the candle mode, but did not find many uses for the flashing mode.

The LinkWise application also allows the user to set schedules for turning on and off lights, controlling lights as groups, or even applying a specific "scene". It also supports voice control for Siri, Alexa and Google.

Overall

The VocoLinc L3 bulb is an attractive HomeKit compatible bulb, at the entry level, which offers many of the same bells and whistles of the more expensive brands. We think most people would be more than happy to fill their house with L3 and save some money while doing so.

Where to buy

The Loco SmartGlow V3 bulb from VocoLinc is available to buy from Amazon for $ 23.99 for a single bulb or $ 42.99 for a two-pack.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Pros
• Compatible with HomeKit
• Easy to configure
• Wide range of color temperatures

Versus
• The bulb is larger than the comparable bulbs, limiting the framing in certain luminaires