Philips Hue White and Colour Ambiance Starter Kit Review: Now With the Bridge Pro
The Hue colour starter kit you buy from Philips in the UK today is not the one most reviews describe. The headline kit now pairs three E27 bulbs and a smart button with the new Bridge Pro, at £219.99. We pulled together T3’s test of the Pro, the specialist Hue blog Hueblog with its reader thread, and the small set of buyer ratings so far. Then we worked out what the bulbs cost to run.
Where the reviews line up
The kit we are reviewing is Philips Hue’s “Starter kit: 3 E27 bulbs + Smart button + Bridge Pro”, listed at £219.99 on philips-hue.com on 8 October 2026. Our three sources are T3, which tested the Bridge Pro hands-on and gave it a Platinum Award. Hueblog is a Hue-only specialist site, and its Bridge Pro Q&A drew 61 reader comments. The retailer ratings at Alza and B&H Photo add 19 buyer reviews between them. Most of what they say is about the Bridge Pro, because that is what has changed. The colour bulbs have been the best-reviewed part of Hue for years.
All three agree on three things. The Pro is faster and holds far more: Philips says more than 150 lights and 50 accessories, against 50 lights on the old Bridge, and T3 found Alexa responses quicker. Moving from an old Bridge is easy for Hue-only setups, at five minutes in T3’s test and 20 to 30 minutes for a 75-light system in a second hands-on test by Mighty Gadget. MotionAware is clever but limited. It turns three or more bulbs in a room into a motion sensor, but owners keep saying a real sensor still does the job better.
The honest caveat: if you are starting from nothing, you pay for capacity you may never use. Three bulbs are a long way from 150. Philips still lists the older two-bulb kit with the original Bridge at £139.99, marked “only a few left”, and up to ten bulbs will run on Bluetooth with no bridge at all. Buy the Pro kit if you plan to light most of the house, or if you want Matter, remote control and automations from the start.
The three reviews this summary is built from
- T3Hands-on test of the Bridge Pro added to an existing Hue home. Platinum Award, May 2026.
- HueblogHue-only specialist blog. Its Bridge Pro Q&A has 61 reader comments, and most are about migration problems.
- Alza and B&H Photo4.7/5 from 10 reviews at Alza (Austria); 9 reviews at B&H (US). Small samples, and neither is a UK shop.
Before the review: which kit are you actually buying?
Philips sells several kits with almost the same name. On 8 October 2026 its UK starter-kit page listed the 3 E27 + smart button + Bridge Pro kit at £219.99 and a 2 E27 + dimmer switch + Bridge Pro kit at £194.99. The older 2 E27 bulbs (1100) kit with the original Hue Bridge was listed at £139.99, marked “only a few left”. Several older Bridge kits now say “item no longer available”. Retailers still sell older stock, so check that the box says Bridge Pro if that is what you are paying for. The bulbs differ too. Philips lists the Bridge Pro kit’s bulbs at 1,100 lm and 8.1 W (class D), and the older kit’s bulbs at 1,055 lm and 11 W (class F).
Specification at a glance
| Spec | Figure | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| In the kit | 3 White and Colour Ambiance A60 E27 bulbs, Hue Bridge Pro, smart button, power adapter, batteries | Philips UK product page spec list; its “What’s in the box” panel was empty |
| Brightness per bulb | 1,100 lm at 4000 K | Philips, Bridge Pro kit page. Older Bridge kit bulb: 1,055 lm at 4000 K |
| Power per bulb | 8.1 W on; 0.2 W standby | Philips (the page gives no units; watts assumed). Older bulb: 11 W |
| Energy class | D | Philips. Older bulb: F |
| Colour temperature | Philips lists 1000–20000 K for this kit | Unusual figure we could not confirm. Older bulb page: 2000–6500 K |
| Running cost, three bulbs | About £8.20 a year at 3 hours a day (£7.00 lit, £1.21 standby) | Our sum at 26.32p/kWh, full brightness. Bridge Pro’s own draw not included |
| Bulb life | 25,000 (hours, by convention) | Philips gives no unit |
| Lights per hub | Bridge Pro: 150+ lights, 50+ accessories, 500 scenes. Old Bridge: 50 lights, 12 accessories. Bluetooth only: 10 lights | Philips. Hueblog reports hard limits of 186 (Pro) and 63 (old Bridge) |
| Radio and standards | Zigbee and Bluetooth in the bulbs; Matter through the Bridge | Philips. No Thread listed for this kit |
| Bridge Pro size | 92.3 mm across, 26 mm high | Philips |
| Warranty | 2 years | Philips UK product page |
| Price | £219.99 at Philips Hue; £207.21 at Amazon.co.uk | Philips checked 8 Oct 2026; Amazon via a PriceSpy listing, 8 Oct 2026 |
T3
Who they are: Lizzie Wilmot is T3’s Senior Staff Writer for Home, covering smart home, lifestyle and beauty tech, so smart lighting sits within her regular beat, though this hands-on test covers the Hue Bridge Pro rather than the full kit.
T3 tested the Bridge Pro on its own, added to an existing Hue home, so read this as a review of the hub in the box, not of the kit. Setup took about five minutes, including a short firmware update. The lights, scenes and automations moved across through the app. Philips says the Pro is up to five times faster than the old Bridge. T3 found Alexa responses quicker, sometimes almost instant. The headline capacity is 150 lights, 50 accessories and 500 saved scenes, and the reviewer did not come close to the light limit. The Pro also adds Zigbee Trust Centre encryption and Matter, and it worked with an Echo Show 8 without trouble.
T3 had two criticisms. The Pro’s £79.99 price is about double the old Bridge, and many of the automations it shows off were already possible before. A second hands-on test, by the UK blog Mighty Gadget (90%), moved a 75-light system in 20 to 30 minutes. Updating every light’s firmware beforehand took hours, though, and Friends of Hue devices from other brands had to be paired again by hand. Mighty Gadget called the built-in AI assistant “basic and underwhelming”.
Watch: I upgraded to Philips Hue Bridge Pro - SHOULD YOU?
An owner moving to the Bridge Pro from the old Bridge, which is the same question T3 answers. It covers the hub, not this exact starter kit.
Watch on YouTube ↗ Independent YouTube video — not made by or for Shopbam.Hueblog
Who they are: we could not find a published profile for Fabian; the test was chosen because Hueblog is a specialist Philips Hue site, and its 61 reader comments add owners’ experience.
Hueblog covers nothing but Hue, and it gives the most exact figures we found anywhere. Philips says “more than 150 lights”, and Hueblog reports the Pro’s actual hard limit as 186 lamps, against 63 on the old Bridge. Philips itself quotes 50 for the old Bridge. On MotionAware, Hueblog says the bulbs can detect movement between at least three lights in a room. That is free when it stands in for a motion sensor, but using it for Hue Secure alarms or notifications needs a subscription. Hueblog saw no real sign of Thread on the Pro.
The 61 comments are more useful than the article, because they come from people who have already switched. One reader moved 50 devices in about 25 minutes but had to move some older bulbs back afterwards. Others report Friends of Hue devices needing to be paired again, and KNX gateways, Harmony remotes and Ambilight TVs that stopped connecting. One reader warns that the Pro needs an internet connection and cannot be migrated offline. Another notes that MotionAware offers only four motion areas. These are upgrade worries, so a first-time buyer with only the kit’s three bulbs will avoid most of them.
Watch: Philips Hue Bridge Pro & Essential lights: Unboxing, Set-up, MotionAware and Matter over Thread!
An unboxing and first setup that covers the MotionAware and Matter points Hueblog raises. The bulbs shown are Hue’s cheaper Essential range, not the White and Colour Ambiance bulbs in this kit.
Watch on YouTube ↗ Independent YouTube video — not made by or for Shopbam.Alza and B&H Photo
Who they are: Alza is a central European online retailer and B&H Photo a US camera and electronics retailer; both carry ratings from their own shoppers, but we could not find either’s review policy, so treat them as unverified owner experience of non-UK models and weigh the pattern.
We could not find a UK retailer showing buyer reviews for this exact kit with a review count, so these are ratings for the Bridge Pro sold on its own, by shops outside the UK. Nineteen reviews is a thin sample. Treat them as a list of recurring themes, not as a score.
At Alza, buyers praise fast, stable running, an easy move from the old Bridge (one says about 20 minutes), and Apple Home and Siri support. The complaints are concrete. SmartThings support is incomplete, some devices did not carry over into Apple Home, MotionAware works only with newer bulbs, a real motion sensor still works better, and one buyer saw no gain over the old Bridge. The two B&H reviews we could read score 3/5 and 4/5. One buyer found Alexa about eight to nine seconds slower than on the old Bridge, which is the opposite of T3’s result. Another regretted that the Pro cannot be powered over its network cable.
Watch: 💡 Hue Bridge Pro 2025
A general Bridge Pro video. The search listing did not show its language or presenter, so we cannot tell you more about it.
Watch on YouTube ↗ Independent YouTube video — not made by or for Shopbam.Strengths and weak points
What holds up
- Room to grow: 150+ lights on one Bridge Pro, against 50 on the old Bridge and 10 on Bluetooth.
- Faster voice and app responses in T3’s and Mighty Gadget’s tests.
- Matter through the bridge, plus Alexa, Google, Apple Home and SmartThings.
- Bright bulbs at 1,100 lm each, and cheap to run: about £2.33 a bulb a year at three hours a day (our sum).
- MotionAware adds motion detection with no extra sensor, if you have three or more bulbs in a room.
- Remote control and full automations, which Bluetooth-only setups do not get.
What people complain about
- £219.99 for three bulbs. The older Bridge kit is £80 cheaper with one bulb fewer.
- Moving from an old Bridge can mean hours of firmware updates and pairing other brands’ devices again.
- MotionAware needs several newer bulbs in one room and offers only four motion areas.
- The built-in AI assistant is described as basic.
- No power over the network cable, and it needs an internet connection to set up.
- The warranty is two years, no more than the cheaper kit.
If you are building a smart home around the kit, Hue works with the Amazon Echo Dot Max for voice control. Lamps that take a plug rather than a bulb can go on a Tapo P110 smart plug, which also measures energy use. The Hive Thermostat Mini, Ring Battery Video Doorbell 2K and Yale Linus L2 smart lock are the other smart-home devices we have reviewed. Check each one’s Alexa, Google or Apple Home support against your own setup before you plan any routines that tie them together.
Who it actually suits
Buy it if you want colour lighting in more than a room or two, and you plan to keep adding bulbs, strips and switches over the years. It also suits you if you want Matter, remote control and automations from day one, or you are starting fresh and would rather not migrate an old Bridge later. Paying £219.99 for the Pro kit now costs about the same as the £139.99 older kit plus a £79.99 Bridge Pro later, and you get a third bulb.
Look elsewhere if you want colour in one lamp or one room. Two or three bulbs on Bluetooth with no bridge will do that, up to ten lights and with basic routines only. Also look elsewhere if you have a big, mixed-brand Zigbee setup and dread pairing it all again. The older £139.99 Bridge kit is still the cheaper way in while stocks last.
What we could not check
- The kit itself, as a kit. Every test we found covers the Bridge Pro on its own, or older Bridge kits. We found no UK editorial review of this exact £219.99 bundle.
- The 1000–20000 K colour temperature on Philips’ page for this kit. It is far wider than the 2000–6500 K listed for the older bulb, and we could not confirm it. Treat it as unverified.
- Units on the spec sheet. Philips prints 8.1, 0.2 and 25,000 with no units. We have read them as watts, watts and hours.
- The Bridge Pro’s own power draw, so it is left out of our running-cost sum.
- UK buyer ratings with a sample size for this kit. Philips, John Lewis and PriceSpy showed none on the pages we read, Amazon blocks us, and Argos and Currys did not turn up in search. The 19 reviews we cite are for the hub alone, from shops outside the UK.
- Whether the old Hue Bridge is discontinued. Philips’ pages say “only a few left” and “no longer available” for some Bridge kits, but nobody we read confirms the old Bridge has ended.
- The videos. All three were confirmed by search listings, not by opening them, because YouTube does not load from here. None names its channel, and none shows this exact kit.
- Light limits. Philips says 150+ (Pro) and 50 (old Bridge), and Hueblog says 186 and 63. We have printed both.
Sources last checked 8 October 2026. Hue kit prices move a lot around sales events, so check the listing in front of you, and the hub named on the box, before ordering.