LIFX SuperColor Smart Light A21 review: Big and bright

At a glance

Expert's Rating

Pros

Cons

Our Verdict

Bright, easy to install, compliant with Matter, and packed with features, the LIFX SuperColor Smart Light A21 makes for a compelling smart bulb, even if it’s a tad heavy and chunky.

Price When Reviewed

$39.98

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After a long absence, LIFX is back, first with a series of outdoor lights (we recently reviewed the LIFX String Light) and now with new indoor bulbs, including the LIFX SuperColor Smart Light A21 bulb that we’re reviewing here.

This bright, colorful, but somewhat hefty A21 bulb connects to Wi-Fi networks and works with a wide variety of smart home ecosystems thanks to its out-of-the-box Matter support. The polished LIFX app makes the bulb easy to set up, group, and schedule, and you can also design lighting scenes (dozens of pre-made scenes are also available) as well as enable animated light effects.

So, there’s a lot to like about the LIFX SuperColor Smart Light A21 bulb—and, at $39.99, the price is competitive. But LIFX itself is still getting back on its feet after years of financial uncertainty (the brand is on firmer footing following its acquisition by Feit Electric in 2022), meaning all but the company’s newest lights are fairly long in the tooth.

LIFX does seem determined to roll out new products at a rapid clip, but those who’d rather invest in a robust ecosystem right now might want to look elsewhere.

Design

The LIFX SuperColor Smart Light A21 bulb slightly larger than a standard A19 bulb, although it has the same E26 base, meaning you can screw it into a typical light socket.

The larger A21 size allows for greater brightness while minimizing the risk of excessive heat buildup, but the bulb’s chunky form factor (4.53 x 2.64 x 2.64 inches, HxWxD) might prevent it from fitting in smaller light fixtures that can accommodate typical A19 bulbs.

One thing to keep in mind about this LIFX A21 bulb is that it’s surprisingly heavy, tipping the scales at 9.55 ounces. Screwing the bulb into a cheap, apartment-style flush-mounted ceiling fixture designed for a pair of bulbs, the receptacle bent with the weight ever so slightly.

Ben Patterson/Foundry

LIFX calls this bulb a “SuperColor” light to tout its brightness, with the bulb topping out at 1,600 lumens, marking the brightest light LIFX has ever produced. For red, green, and blue colors, the bulb can glow at up to 300, 655, and 167 lumens respectively. To be clear, other smart light brands (such as Philips Hue) also offer color-capable 1,600-lumen A21 bulbs. Still, the LIFX A21 looks quite striking when it’s cranked up all the way on a primary color.

The LIFX SuperColor Smart Light A21 bulb can shine in various shades of white light, too, with the bulb tunable from a candlelight-warm 1,500 Kelvin to a blue-sky 9,000K. That’s an impressively wide range, compared to the 2,500-6,500K white color temperatures we see from typical tunable-white bulbs.

Like LIFX’s other products, the LIFX SuperColor Smart Light A21 connects via Wi-Fi and doesn’t require a hub. This A21 bulb also supports Matter, and thus it it works with all the major smart home ecosystems, including Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Google Home, and Samsung SmartThings.

Setup

The first step to getting the LIFX SuperColor Smart Light A21 up and running is to download the LIFX app. If you don’t already have an account, you’ll need to create one by submitting your email account and creating a password (there is no option for using your Apple, Facebook, or Google account).

Once you’ve registered your account with LIFX, you simply tap the “+” button on the Home screen; you’ll then need to choose whether you want to add a new device, a new routine, a new scene, or a new schedule.

Pick “New Product,” select “New light,” then wait for the app to detect the bulb; in my case, the bulb popped up instantly (there’s also a manual pairing process that entails connecting to the bulb’s local Wi-Fi network).

Finally, scan the Matter code stamped on the back of the user manual; you’ll need the Matter QR code if you ever need to re-pair the bulb, so don’t lose it.

Once that’s done, you can add the A21 bulb to a room within your LIFX “home.” You can also add the light to other smart home apps with help from the Matter code.

Ben Patterson/Foundry

Features and functionality

The intuitive LIFX app keeps things sleek yet simple, serving up a four-tab interface that (on the iOS version of the app) you can either tap or swipe though.

Your light groups are on the first tab, each designated by room-themed tiles (kitchen, living room, and so on) with color-coded sliders on the side. The color coding tells you the current hue of the grouped lights, and you can move the slider to adjust the brightness. Tap the tile to arrive at another tabbed interface, with tabs for color wheels, effects (for making your lights twinkle, strobe, flicker, or sync with music captured by your handset’s microphone), themes (such as pop, Van Gogh, mellow, festive, and ocean), and color swatches.

Back on the main interface, the “My Scenes” tab lets you take a snapshot of the current lighting configuration. You can pick and choose which groups and/or individual lights are included in the scene, as well as choose whether a scene should fade in or turn on immediately.

The third tab surfaces LIFX’s lighting effects again, this time allowing you to apply effects to light groups or your entire home. You can also tinker with the speed and intensity of certain effect modes.

Ben Patterson/Foundry

Finally, the fourth tab allows you to create daily or weekly schedules that can control individual lights or light groups, or can activate lighting scenes. These automations can be triggered at specific times or at sunrise or sunset. One feature that isn’t offered is a vacation mode that turns your lights on and off to simulate your presense when you’re away from home.

Besides using the LIFX SuperColor Smart Light A21 using the LIFX app, you can also control it via the Alexa, Apple Home, Google Home, and Samsung SmartThings apps. That means you can add the LIFX bulb to Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple HomeKit, and Samsung SmartThings automations, as well as group the bulb with non-LIFX products. But LIFX scenes and animated light effects are only available through the LIFX app.

Specifications

Should you buy the LIFX SuperColor Smart Light A21?

The versatile LIFX SuperColor Smart Light A21 occupies the middle ground of the smart lighting market—not as pricey as Philips Hue’s high-end bulbs, not as flimsy as some of the cheaper smart lights we’ve tested. It’s solid and substantial (if a tad heavy), bright and colorful, easy to install, packs in plenty of features, and boasts an intuitive and elegant app, all while keeping its price tag in line.

Now, those who want a bulb that fits into a rich smart lighting ecosystem might do better going the Philips Hue way, as LIFX is only now refreshing its smart light portfolio after having sat out the past few years. But the LIFX SuperColor Smart Light A21 still offers plenty of functionality for the price, and with Feit Electric’s backing, LIFX seems poised to shore up its catalog sooner rather than later.