Yeelight rose to prominence over the last three years, with the Xiaomi-backed brand offering a wide range of smart home lighting solutions. Like Xiaomi, Yeelight’s main ethos is value, with the brand notable for undercutting the likes of Philips Hue and LIFX. If you’re looking to get started with smart home lighting and don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars, Yeelight is a great place to start.
A world of color
Yeelight Smart LED Bulb (Color)
Staff pick
Yeelight’s Smart LED Bulb is one of the best smart lightbulbs in the market today. You get 16 million colors, the ability to control the lights via Google Assistant or Alexa, and options for configuring scenes and schedules. Best of all, you don’t need to buy a hub to control the lights with your phone or digital assistant. You’re getting great value here, and Yeelight is a great way to get started with smart lighting.
$30 at Amazon
Just the basics
Yeelight Smart LED Bulb (White)
Don’t need 16 million colors? Yeelight’s standard LED bulb changes between two hues — soft white and daylight — with the rest of the features remaining intact from the color bulb. You don’t need a hub, and the bulb works with Google Assistant or Alexa. There’s also the option of setting scenes, scheduling the bulb to turn on or off at a pre-determined time, and more.
$20 at Amazon
Set the mood
Yeelight Candela
This is one of my favorite Yeelight products. As the name suggests, the Candela mimics the feel of a candlelight thanks to a fixed color temperature of 1800K. There’s a control ring that lets you adjust the intensity of the light by rotating the glass housing. Plus, you can control all Candelas at once as they connect via a Bluetooth mesh. The Candela has a 2100mAh battery that provides six hours of usage.
$50 at Amazon
Ambient lighting is fun
Yeelight Aurora Lightstrip
Like the LED bulb, Yeelight’s Aurora Lightstrip is similar in functionality to the Hue Lightstrip. The two-meter light strip has 3M adhesive at the back, and you can bend it or cut it to length as needed. It also connects over Wi-Fi to your home network and is controllable via Google Assistant and Alexa. It also comes with a one-button control that lets you toggle the light strip on or off and switch between various colors.
$60 at Amazon
See at night
Yeelight Motion Sensor Night Light
Yeelight’s Motion Sensor is fantastic: it has an IR sensor that detects motion in a 120-degree radius, making it an ideal for illuminating hallways at night. You can also use it in an always-on mode as a reading light, and in auto mode, you get 120-day battery life. It has a magnetic base that affixes to surfaces, or you can use the hook at the back to hang in your closet. There’s also an adhesive at the back that lets you stick the night light to a non-metallic surface.
$16 at Amazon
Two-in-one
Yeelight 10W Wireless Charging Mat w/ Night Light
One of the more recent additions to the Yeelight lineup, the charging mat wirelessly charges your devices at up to 10W, and it also has a small night light that’s removable. The night light holds a ten-hour charge and affixes to other surfaces magnetically, allowing you to hook it up inside a wardrobe or in the bathroom.
$25 at Amazon
Plenty of great options to choose from
The Yeelight LED bulb is obviously a great pick to start off your smart home journey, but I particularly like what the motion sensor has to offer. I’ve been using the motion sensor for a few years now, and it’s a great way to light up a closet or hallway at night. The 120-day battery life, combined with the sheer number of options available to affix it to a surface, make it a fantastic night light.
Then there’s the $50 Yeelight Candela. It does a great job mimicking candlelight, and there’s even a mode where the light breathes — just like the flame of a candle in the wind. The fact that you can control all Candelas at once makes it a standout product.
