The bottom lineA solid, local-only Zigbee bulb that doubles as a signal repeater. It costs a bit more than the bargain bulbs, and in our house that's worth it.
What we like
- Pairs directly to Home Assistant with no app or account
- Works as a Zigbee router, so it relays signal to nearby devices
- Good dimming range for night-light automations
What we don't
- Repeater bulbs on a wall switch become a mesh hole when someone flips it off
- More expensive than end-device-only bulbs
Where we use them
Seven of our 31 lights are ThirdReality bulbs, mostly in the kitchen and hallways where motion automations run all day. They respond fast, dim smoothly at night, and have been the dependable part of our setup.
The one gotcha with repeater bulbs
A bulb that relays Zigbee signal only relays it while it has power. If a kid flips the wall switch off, every device that was routing through that bulb has to find a new path. Put repeater bulbs in fixtures where the wall switch stays on, or cover the switch with a smart switch or a simple switch guard.
Bottom line
If you’re building a Zigbee lighting setup from scratch, use bulbs like these in the always-on spots and save the cheaper bulbs for the edges. More in our mesh failure write-up.
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