Roku Smart Bulb SE Color

Smart light bulbs used to cost a lot and almost all of them relied on a hub to connect to your home network. But newer options, including the Roku Smart Bulb SE Color ($9.88 for one, $17.99 for a pack of two) don't suffer from either downside. This multicolor LED bulb supports voice and app controls and conveniently pairs with other Roku products. That said, it doesn't work with nearly as many third-party smart home devices as the similarly priced, Wyze Bulb Color ($22.99 for a pack of two), which remains our Editors' Choice winner.

Bright Colors, Limited Interactions

Roku's A19-shaped LED bulb has a standard E26 screw-in base. It measures 5.0 inches long by 2.5 inches wide and can display 16 million colors. The dimmable light has a brightness range between 30 and 1,100 lumens and its white light temperature range goes from 1,800K (warm) to 6,500K (cool). The bulb should last more than 22 years (25,000 hours) depending on usage, which is about average for an LED. The Wyze Bulb Color has identical specs, for comparison.

The Bulb SE Color uses an embedded 2.4GHz Wi-Fi radio to connect to your home network and a Bluetooth radio to pair with Roku's mobile app. It works with Alexa and Google Assistant voice controls, as well as Roku's voice service if you connect it to a compatible media streaming device such as the Roku Ultra. You can also configure it to interact with Roku's other smart home devices. However, it doesn't support HomeKit, IFTTT (unlike the Wyze Bulb Color), or Matter.

This light doesn't offer any transitional or special mood lighting effects, but it does have a handful of neat features, such as Sleep Routines (which simulate sunrise lighting to help you wake up in the morning and sunset lighting to help you fall asleep at night) and Sun Match (which automatically adjusts the color temperature to mimic natural sunlight). The app also includes a handful of preset color and white temperature scenes. Unfortunately, you can't sync it to your TV for complementary lighting like you can with a Philips Hue smart light.

Roku Smart Bulb SE Color App Experience

The bulb uses the same Roku Smart home app (available for Android and iOS) as other Roku devices such the Indoor Smart Plug SE and the Indoor Camera 360 SE. It appears in a panel with a power button on the app's main screen. Tap that section to access a large color wheel that lets you pick a custom color for the bulb. There’s also a brightness slider and a choice of four white color temperature and full-color scenes (or presets). Select the Temperature tab to access a white temperature wheel that lets you pick a custom shade.

A gear icon in the upper right corner takes you to the Settings screen. Here, you can configure Sleep Routines, create Scenes, set an on/off timer, enable Sun Match mode, and enable Vacation mode (the bulb turns on and off at random times to make it seem like someone is home when you aren't). Tap the Rules option to create shortcuts for controlling multiple Roku devices with one tap, create on/off schedules, configure location-based triggers, and create rules for Roku devices to trigger the bulb and vice versa.

Roku Smart Bulb Setup and Performance

You have to install the Roku mobile app and create an account to use this bulb, but the entire setup process shouldn't take more than a few minutes.

To begin, simply tap the plus icon in the upper left corner of the main screen, select Add Device, and choose the Smart Bulb Color in the Lights & Power menu. Follow the instructions to screw in the bulb; when it begins pulsing, tap Next to pair the bulb with the app. Then, enter your Wi-Fi details, specify a name for the bulb, and install any available firmware updates to complete the installation.

The Roku Bulb worked well in testing. It delivers warm, yellowish low-temp whites and cool, blueish high-temp whites, while colors across the spectrum look bright and saturated. The bulb has no trouble following schedules and responds instantly to app commands. Alexa voice commands to change colors, adjust brightness, and turn the bulb on and off work without a hitch.

The Sun Match setting works as intended, with the bulb automatically adjusting to deliver warm white light in the morning and cooler white light in the evening. The Sleep Mode functions well; the bulb shines a warm, dim white hue in the morning, gradually becomes cooler and brighter throughout the day, and then slowly dims until it goes dark at night.

A rule I created for the bulb to turn on and display a red color scene at 50% brightness when a Roku Indoor Camera 360 SE detects motion worked without fail, as did an Alexa routine for the bulb to turn on when an Arlo Pro 5S camera captures movement.

An Affordable, Colorful Smart Bulb

At a little less than $10 per bulb, the Roku Smart Bulb SE Color is a low-cost smart lighting solution that works particularly well in homes with other Roku devices. It offers adjustable white hues, a 16-million-color palette, and brightness dimming, while support for app and voice commands make customization simple. That said, if your smart home includes devices from many different brands, the Wyze Bulb Color remains a better choice because it works with IFTTT. That advantage is ultimately why it retains our Editors' Choice award for smart light bulbs, despite its slightly higher cost.