In the summer of last year, Philips Hue introduced a trio of white ambience and colour bulbs collected under the Lightguide series. Not too soon after, however, all three distinctive bulbs were pulled from their store. The company stated at the time “…in recent tests, an aesthetic inconsistency was detected that is not in line with the experience we envisioned.” prompting a recall.
Now Hue, without much fanfare, it would seem, has relaunched one of these three bulbs, which under the collection was known as the ‘Elipse’. It still retains the same name, although, of course, it’s currently the only light in this series.
The bulb comes with its own more or less unique shape but is all capable of both warm to cool whites, as well as the full range of 16 million colours, as standard. The glass portion of the bulb is clear, much like the filament bulbs the company released a while back, although the LEDs in this case come in a rather missile-shaped feature that certainly gives it a 70s retro vibe. Due to this peculiar shape and the clear globe, the bulb is only capable of 500lm (6.5W), but as it’s clearly designed to be seen, and almost certainly more for mood lighting, this should be ok.
The company also sells the Lightguide ‘cord’ fitting to go with the bulbs, as seen in the picture above. Currently, this fitting is available in Hue’s own store in black or white, whilst places like Amazon.de only sell the black version. The bulb itself is available via Hue’s website or via Amazon.de for a still pricy €100!