Reddit mentions of Philips Hue 2-Pack Premium Smart Light Starter Kit, 16 million colors, for most lamps & overhead lights, Works with Alexa, Apple HomeKit and Google Assistant

In my experience you can usually find a 4 pack on sale for cheaper than buying 4 individual bulbs or even 2 2-packs.

Currently on Amazon a single bulb is $46.95 ($187.80) & the 2-pack is currently $89.99 ($179.98).

A 4-pack with the hub (which you could eBay or save for future use) is currently running $180.16 which is actually more expensive than I have seen in a few months. Lately they have been around $160 (I actually paid $146 in June).

So with the current pricing on a 4-pack you get an extra hub for .18¢ . IMO, a 4 pack is usually the way to go.

EDIT: I just found a deal on Amazon for 2-pack starter kits for $77.93 ($155.86). You will have 2 extra hubs though but that seems to be the best deal for 4 bulbs right now.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D1J5QC7?tag=slickdeals&ascsubtag=963c19a4bdcb11e996889ae98ab22c260INT

Tossing the description through google translate...

> Color temperature: 2,700 Kelvin. High-quality, warm white light for a cozy and secure home. Compact dimming without installation - Experience stepless dimming via Hue dimmer switch or Hue app

These are the "white" lights. They only dim the intensity - there is no color changing functionality. They cannot shift the color temperature of "white" either.

They are perfectly good bulbs in the right spot. I have them in my kitchen.

If you are after the... lets call it "hue experience", you will want the equivalent of the color starter. The white ambient (white ambient starter) is what I find myself using most often. The white ambient lights can't change to blue or red - but it can change to a very warm or very cool white... which I find more useful for living spaces.

So I have a two bedroom apartment and I've got a mix of the bulbs, the Hue Gos and the light strips.

I don't use any non-Hue lighting so all of my light is controllable via app and timers. It allows you to create presets, so I have a number of lighting schemes that I really like that get progressively dimmer over the course of an evening and move from brighter colors like greens and oranges and yellows to soft blues and reds and purples as it gets later. It kind of becomes a Pavlovian cue that sleep time is coming. You can also set them on timed transitions - so it may take 30 minutes to slowly transition between the settings. So the light can be always moving slowly into differing colors and brightnesses schemes over the course of the evening.

In the mornings, rather than use an alarm clock, I wake to a gradually rising indoor sunrise where warm orange lights come up over the course of 30 minutes. Such a pleasant way to wake up. Gradual and natural instead of sudden and abrupt.

It's also super cool with voice control via Alexa, Siri, Google Home, etc. I just say things like 'Alexa, chill mode' and the lighting hits a smooth preset I have.

The stuff is expensive, but you can add pieces over time to the network. They are energy efficient and so far have lasted really well. I've not had any fail in 3 or 4 years of using them. I started off just wanting a lightstrip and ended up going whole house.

Life changing.

Hue sells many different configurations of the starter kit, with different amounts and types of bulbs. The cheaper one likely has fewed bulbs, and probably only white bulbs. Older kits can also be cheaper. My opinion is that if you're going to get smart bulbs that don't do color, then you're better of with smart switches. The Hue "white" bulbs are a really ugly yellow that I can't stand. White Ambiance is a nice middle ground, at half the cost of the color bulbs, while giving you full control over the "warmth" spectrum. So you can change your lighting to match the time of day, for instance.

This is the cheapest kit I see on Amazon.com. It's basically the cost of the bridge with 2 white bulbs. Then you have the non-refurb for slightly more. This one is still white bulbs, but now you have 4. This one is like the first kit, but with a dimmer switch. I recommend dimmer switches, as otherwise guests will use the wall switch, disabling your smart bulbs. Then you start getting into the white ambiance kits, this one with a dimmer and 2 bulbs. Finally the color bulb kits will be the most expensive.

So, what's right for you? Depends on what you want. Usually you want to buy the starter kit that has a "free bridge". Use the following price chart to determine the value of your kit:

• White bulb: $15 ea.
  
• White Ambiance bulb: $25 ea.
  
• White & Color Abiance bulb: $50 ea.
  
• Dimmer switch: $20 ea.
  
• Motion Sensor: $40 ea.
  
  If the kit costs the value of it's contents or less, it's worthwhile. If it costs more than that, you're paying for the bridge. Usually the cheaper kits will have you paying more for the bridge. By the time you get into the 4-color-pack range they're giving you a credit.
  
  Now, all that said, if your concern is cheap DO NOT BUY INTO HUE! It's extremely expensive, probably the priciest smart bulb. Ikea Tradfri and LiFX both have cheaper options that are similar in quality. Or if you really want cheap, go with Sengled. Hue is the premium option.

This starter kit seems the best way to go, unless you want to go with white.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D1J5QC7/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Here, you get 2 bulbs and a hub.

Just the hub is about $48, so the bulbs are more like $25 each.

Or you could go with https://www.amazon.com/Philips-Hue-Equivalent-Compatible-Assistant/dp/B06Y3QXSGX/ref=sr_1_12?keywords=hue+kit&qid=1550434393&s=hi&sr=1-12, three bulbs and a hub.

Or, check out your local Bed Bath and Beyond and see if they still have any on clearance.

You are correct, it does need a hub. /u/Wintonson you can buy the bulbs in a kit with the hub or you can buy the hub standalone. I have some of these and they work pretty great for my purposes. There is an API so if you’re a coder you can control them through code, some applications such as f.lux are compatible, you can control them with Apple HomeKit/from your phone, etc.

Do note that they’re not all RGB. They also sell ones which are shades of white only. You need the White + Color “Ambiance” ones to do like the OP. The one you linked as well as the ones I linked are the right kind.

The Echo Plus (2nd Gen at least) can also work as a hub for them, so if you happen to have that anyway then you don’t need the standalone hub, but I don’t have one and can’t speak towards how well that works.

Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance A19 10W Equivalent LED Smart Light Bulb Starter Kit, 2 A19 Bulbs and 1 Bridge, Works with Alexa, Apple HomeKit and Google Assistant https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D1J5QC7/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_y4c-Bb4QRY7YD

And a few others with an echo