Philips recently released the Philips Hue Centris. This is a smart ceiling lamp with a light bar and some spots. The Centris can be operated via the Philips Hue app; this is possible via WiFi (with a Hue bridge), but also via the bluetooth connection (without a bridge). You can set the lamps warm or very cool and support a total of sixteen million colors.
Philips Hue Centris
Price:
€ 399.99 (white and black)
Fitting:
GU10
Number of lumens:
3650
SMarthome Integrations:
Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant, Homey, IFTTT, Nest, Philips Hue, Samsung SmartThings
Kelvin:
2200K to 6500K
Works with:
Android, iOS and Windows 10
Website:
Philips Hue website 9 Score 90 
- Pros
- Safe hanging system
- Sleek design
- Pleasant light output
- Extensive app
- Smarthome integrations
- Negatives
- No opening for cables
- Design does not suit everyone
- Expensive system
For this review, we look at the model with a suggested retail price of 399.99 euros. It has a light bar and three spots on one side of the lamp. The colossus at the front of the ceiling is 87.3 centimeters wide, 11 centimeters deep and 14.3 centimeters high, and available in black and white. There is a maximum brightness of 3650 lumens, as well as support for Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant, Homey, IFTTT, Samsung SmartThings and Nest.
Philips Hue Centris is safe to hang
With such a high suggested retail price, you can expect a few things from your product. In any case, it is not due to the installation and the safe suspension system. The Philips Hue Centris is easy and quick to hang with two holes to be drilled in the ceiling. You attach the mounting bracket to it. That metal bar is equipped with a carabiner and another mounting system, so that the box really does not fall down (unless the entire ceiling comes down).
The design does have two drawbacks. Firstly, the sleek design should only just match your interior. You don’t have a choice for the shape, only the color (white or black). Philips Hue also assumes that you hang the Centris exactly above the central box and the terminal block. There is no opening on the casing, so you have to make it yourself if you want to hang it in a different place. That detracts from the stylish design.
Control via Philips Hue app
You control the Philips Hue Centris via the free Hue app, available for Android and iOS. After the accident of the lamp, which is a very simple process, you suddenly get four more lamps in your house. The three spotlights and the light bar are separate lamps, even though they are in one housing. This makes it possible to set the lamps individually, which is a great idea. Each lamp can have its own brightness, color or warmth and that simply offers many possibilities.
It also speaks for Philips Hue that they allow this form of personalization. A somewhat lazy manufacturer might have thought of keeping the same setting for all lamps, but that is not the case here. That is possible when you add them to a room or zone, for example. But it’s not necessary. For example, you can adjust the light intensity for part of the surface to be illuminated, for example at the table, so that games at the table remain fun for everyone.
You also get access to all the conveniences and possibilities of the Philips Hue app. In addition to colors, brightness and warmth, you can also set scenes. You can turn the lights on or off individually, but also in one go. In addition, you can include them in your routines (existing or not) and they can work together with all kinds of accessories you may already have. Unfortunately, Philips does not supply dimmers or the like, which would have been a nice addition.
Quality of light
Where a normal Philips Hue lamp is good for 800 lumens of brightness, we see that the lamps in the Philips Hue Centris (the version of 399.99 euros) have a maximum number of lumens of 3650. That is a decent amount of light that provides many rooms with sufficient light quality. In addition, there is a matte plate in front of the lamps, so that the brightness is almost never painful for the eyes, unless of course you look directly into it. In general it is soft and fine light.
What’s also pretty cool are the themes you can set. That is of course possible with any Philips Hue lamp in the house, but the fact that you now immediately bring a cluster into your home offers possibilities. If you opt for the sunset in the Savanne, two lamps will turn red and two lamps yellow. The Arctic dawn provides the colors turquoise and blue and Spring Flower for two types of pink. Because it comes from one container this time, the room also colors proportionally in the chosen colors.
Voice control and integrations
A smart product is of little value without sufficient integration. Because there are a lot of voice assistants and smart home systems out there, and people have to have something to choose from, it is nice to see that there is support for Google Assistant, Apple HomeKit and Siri, IFTTT, the Dutch Homey and platforms such as Fibaro, and more. You can therefore include the lamps in existing networks and platforms; there is little that is currently unsupported.
If you have already connected Philips Hue to your Google Assistant, the lamps will automatically appear in the list within the Google Home app, in the room that you have set within the Hue app. However, adjusting the location of the lights for the Google Home app afterwards proves to be challenging. We did not manage to move the lamps in Google Home, while that is possible in the Philips Hue application. A small blot on an experience that is otherwise positive for the most part.
Philips Hue Centris – conclusion
Look, nothing prevents you from buying a few smart bulbs yourself (from Ikea or Innr, for example) and making your own ceiling light. Perhaps there is already a fixture in which you can simply replace the lamps, perhaps you are just very handy yourself. Either way, a ceiling lamp really doesn’t have to cost as much as the Philips Hue Centris. That is also the biggest disadvantage of this product: the price tag. For roughly 400 euros you can do a lot of fun things.
However, when you are dealing with a proven system like Philips Hue, the installation is so flawless, the operation is so incredibly simple and extensive and you have the certainty that the lamp box will only come down when the ceiling gives way, then you will understand why you can best make the investment in the Philip Hue Centris. Moreover, the Centris has a sleek design and can be used as mood light or for parties and game nights.
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