The Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus are a clean way to add accent lighting to any surface, and offer a fantastic range of brightness and colors to choose from. Pairing them with a Hue Bridge will unlock their true value, but even on their own they still are a great addition to any space.
Accent lighting can really improve a room, and the Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus is a strong option. These LED strips are easy to install, and unlike older Hue products, you don’t have to buy a Hue Bridge to use them. You can control them with Bluetooth for basic use, while adding a Hue Bridge later unlocks more advanced features.
The light strips are very bright and flexible, so they’re easy to place under counters, along baseboards, or along stairs. You can choose between plain white light or full color lighting, which makes it simple to create the right mood for different spaces and occasions.
Adjusting the size is easy. You can extend the Hue Lightstrip Plus by adding extra sections, or cut it shorter to fit your space. The strip is flexible, durable, and comes with a long power cable, making it easy to hide wires for a clean setup.
While the Hue Lightstrip Plus is more expensive than most alternatives, the higher price makes sense. The build quality is excellent, setup is simple, and the Philips Hue ecosystem is one of the best available. It’s a reliable, high-quality light strip that works well in almost any space while staying neatly out of sight.
The Hue Lightstrip Plus retails for $79.99 / £69.99 / AU$134,95 for a 80-inch (2m) version. Additional 40-inch (1m) extensions are available at $24.99 / £19.99 / AU$49.95, and can be extended for a total of 33ft (10m).
The Hue Lightstrip Plus has a clean, low-profile design that blends in easily. It’s made up of small LED lights inside a clear protective coating, with a sticky backing so you can attach it to almost any flat surface.
A nice bonus is that the strip can be cut shorter if needed. There are marked cut lines to guide you, and Philips includes a clip that lets you reconnect cut pieces later (this works only with newer models). If you need more length instead, you can simply add extension strips, which plug in at either end.
At one end of the Hue Lightstrip Plus is a small control box that the strip plugs into, which then connects to a long power cable and a fairly large power adapter. The control box has adhesive on the back, so it’s easy to stick out of sight.
Hiding the cables themselves can be trickier, though. The power cord is white and quite noticeable, so it’s worth planning the placement carefully to avoid visible wires.
Installing the Hue Lightstrip Plus is very straightforward. Decide where you want it, peel off the backing, stick it in place, and turn it on.
The only slightly confusing part is the app. There are two Hue apps: one for Bluetooth control and another for use with a Hue Bridge. If you start with the Bluetooth app, it quickly finds the lightstrip and lets you control it right away.
When it comes to color and brightness, the Hue Lightstrip Plus is very capable. It offers a color temperature range of 2,000–6,500K, which simply means it can go from very warm, candle-like light to cool, daylight-style white. With a maximum brightness of 1,600 lumens, it’s bright enough to light up countertops, desks, or even large accent areas.
The app includes ready-made lighting modes like reading, nighttime, or soft floor lighting, so you don’t have to adjust settings manually. You can also install the Hue Sync app on a PC, which lets the lights react to games, music, or on-screen colors—great for gaming or movie setups.
The app itself is easy to use and allows basic automation, such as lights slowly turning on in the morning or switching off after a set time. The lightstrip also works with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, so you can control it by voice. Apple HomeKit support requires a Hue Bridge, which is worth knowing if you’re in the Apple ecosystem.
An important point: while you can control the Hue Lightstrip Plus via Bluetooth or Zigbee, it works much better with a Hue Bridge. Pairing is simple, and the app guides you through transferring your settings and preferences.
With the Hue Bridge, you can control the lights from anywhere in your home, set up more advanced routines, and organize lights into groups. The lights respond quickly, and changing colors or brightness only takes a few taps.
One limitation: you can’t animate sections of the strip. Picking a color changes the whole strip, so effects like rainbow patterns or lighting only part of the strip aren’t possible. It’s great for mood lighting, but not for more complex visual effects.
The Hue Lightstrip Plus performs flawlessly and looks great, but the $80 base price can feel steep, especially if you add $25 extensions. The Hue system works beautifully, but budget-conscious buyers might consider cheaper options.
For those who can afford it, the Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus delivers impressive lighting quality that’s hard to beat.
You want stylish lighting
The Hue Lightstrip Plus can be set up and hidden away almost anywhere, so you’ll spend a considerable amount of time first trying to decide which corner of your house you’ll want to illuminate.
You need something bright
Whether you’re lighting up an entire countertop or just enough light so you can walk to the bathroom at night, the Hue Lightstrip Plus shines brightly under any circumstance.
You already own Hue lights
Integrating with a Hue Bridge really opens up the Hue Lightstrip Plus, so if you’re already invested in the Hue ecosystem, these lights will be a no-brainer.
You’re on a budget
These lights are expensive for a reason, so if you’re not thrilled with the price tag or the idea of forking out more for extensions, then you might want to look at cheaper alternatives.
You want specific lighting control
One drawback with the Hue Lightstrip Plus is that the entire strip changes to one particular color, so more nuanced lighting schemes are going to be difficult to pull off here.