Multicolor smart LED bulbs have always felt a bit gimmicky to me. Sure there are some scenarios I could envision using them. They’d make for a nice decoration outside during Christmas. Maybe even a fun accessory to the kids room. But their price has always given me pause. It’s tough to find them under $40 and the one’s that are, typically require an expensive hub be active in the home. Which is why I was excited to experiment with the Geeni Prisma Smart Wi-Fi LED Multicolor Bulbs. A light that connects directly to my router and can be controlled remotely for right around $20. Sign me up.
The Prisma is the multicolor version of the company’s standard LED bulb, the Geeni Lux. Similarly, the Prisma comes in three different sizes that all have the same features. They are:
- Geeni Prisma 450 (A19) – 40-watt equivalent and 450 lumens
- Geeni Prisma 1050 (A21) – 75-watt equivalent and 1050 lumens
- Geeni Prisma Drop (BR30) – 65-watt equivalent and 700 lumens
To set up the bulb, you’ll need to download the Geeni app (available on iOS and Android) and register an account. This app may not only be used to control this LED bulb, but any of Geeni’s other products. From there, it’s about connecting the bulb to your wireless network (only connects to 2.4GHz). Like some other Geeni products we tested, the Prisma had some issues at first but did eventually connect.
Playing with the bulb inside the app is fairly straightforward. You can turn it on and off, adjust the brightness, and change the color all inside (there is a giant color wheel for those who like choices). Lag wasn’t bad when turning on or off, but it did hang a bit at times when trying to switch to a new color. Options to set a schedule or timer are also available. A “scenes” section allows syncing up with other Geeni bulbs or using some preset color options. These range from flashing from one color to the next, fading in and out of a particular color, or a rather fun one dubbed “Gorgeous” which rotates through the color wheel. These don’t seem particularly useful unless you’re throwing a nightly rave.
One disappointing aspect of the app were the options to set your light based on scenarios such as sunrise/sunset, temperature outside, or humidity levels in the area. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get these to work. It feels like a part of the app the designer created but never got around to implementing. These aren’t mentioned in the marketing materials so we won’t knock them too hard for it, but they would be nice additions.
Turning to bulb performance, we’d liken it to an off-brand LED. It works fine but just feels like it’s missing something. Placed side by side with a name brand LED bulb of identical lumens, it looks dull. We’d recommend skipping the Prisma 450 for this reason and going with either the 1050 or Drop. The 450 feels more like a 25-watt equivalent than a 40-watt. When it came to color, it was impressive to see the millions of options you could configure in the color wheel. But despite that freedom, the colors didn’t pop as much as we had hoped.
Google Home and Amazon Alexa support is available on the Prisma. Both took a little more effort than we had hoped to connect but eventually did. Voice controls worked smoothly and you can even adjust the brightness with it. Unfortunately there is no IFTTT support at this time which would work great with a color changing light.
I wanted to like the Geeni Prisma LED Bulb because it’s just so darn affordable. Unfortunately, it fell flat. Still, at it’s current price it can find it’s niche as a novelty item. It’d be a fun nightlight in a kids closet or a gift for someone off to college who wants jazz up their dorm. But if this is meant to create a specific mood in an important room in your house, I think you’ll be disappointed. You’re better off spending more for a higher quality bulb or waiting for the prices of smart multicolor LED bulbs to inevitably come down.
