We're huge smart lighting enthusiasts here at T3.com, and have been testing outdoor smart lights now for over half a decade. And, in our opinion, if you're shopping in this sector then you shop for some of the best Philips Hue outdoor lights.
This is because Philips Hue has the biggest and best range of outdoor lights, and thanks to its best-in-class app, the firm also offers the best experience to consumers when it comes round to customization and personalization.
And, for us, that latter point really is why people buy outdoor lights – to customise the look and mood of their home's exterior. And that's where Philips Hue outdoor lights excel. From wall-mounted lights to light strips, uplighters and more, Philips Hue has a wide range of smart lighting that can completely transform your outdoor space.
When it comes to picking the best outdoor lights, these Philips Hue outdoor lights will give standard lighting a run for its money, as with smart bulbs you are able to change the colours of the lights, the brightness and the dimness, depending on the atmosphere you’re looking to create.
And Philips Hue really does offer some of the best smart bulbs on the market, plus they’re easy to set up and use via an app on your phone. Plus they have an extensive range of lighting options to choose from, and we’ve picked out some of the very best in this list.
Check out our full guide to the best Philips Hue outdoor lighting below, for all your garden needs. And if you want to add extra ambience to your outdoor space, why not check out T3's best patio heater and best patio furniture buying guides for more inspiration?
The best Philips Hue outdoor lights 2023
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You're not short of pedestal light options in the Hue range, and while we have a soft spot in our hearts for the classically-styled Econic pedestal, we can't look past the razor-sharp appearance of the Nyro. Bursting up from beside your path or patio with its sharp coated aluminium features, this is an absolutely stunning light before you've even switched it on. When you do, you get a downlighter with all the colour options Hue is famous for, and one which won't get in your eyes.
It has enough weather resistance to deal with splashed water, which means it'll be fine in the rain, but we probably wouldn't set a sprinkler on it just in case. At 1,000 lumen, it's one of the brighter options in the Philips Hue range, which means you'll get some significant path coverage. If it's a modern look you're after, this is the Hue light for you and there's a similarly sexy wall light version if you're trying to make everything match.
Stick the Impress Outdoor pedestal in any outdoor spot and it's guaranteed to add a touch of style and class as well as some pretty bright illumination. The lamp is capable of reaching 1200 lumen (though you don't have to go that bright if you don't want to), and you can go with a solid white or all the colours of the rainbow.
As you would expect from an outdoor lighting fixture like this one, it comes with IP44 waterproofing, so it's well protected against the elements. Note too that it's a fairly chunky piece of kit, measuring 40 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm (that's 15.7 inches x 3.9 inches x 3.9 inches), so factor that into your planning too.
Considering the very reasonable price that you'll pay for the Impress pedestal, and the decent number of tricks you can do with it, this is definitely one of the best Philips Hue outdoor lights at the moment. The Impress is also available as a wall light, and we've got a Philips Hue Impress vs Hue Turaco guide to explain how it compares to Hue's cheaper wall light option.
The Philips Hue Lily Colour Ambience Spot Light set is a low-voltage spot system, comprised of three matte black aluminium spot lights and replete with mounting stands for walls and spikes for ground installation. These spots are fantastic for lighting up shrubs, flowers and trees.
Setup is straightforward, especially if you already have an outdoor power outlet. Simply join the three spots together using the supplied three lengths of 5m cable and two waterproof connectors, and stick them in the ground or mount them to decking, a wall or fence post. Total coverage is about 25 metres in length, which is ample for most medium-sized gardens. However, you can always add another two for extra range (single Lily spots retail at £80 each).
The Lily spots produce a light output of up to 600 lumens, although some colours will be less bright so perhaps steer away from fully saturated colours and select a slightly lighter hue. That said, once full darkness descends, these lights proved plenty bright enough to illuminate trees and shrubs up to about four metres in height. Beyond that, the light softens somewhat. Highly recommended – despite the rather steep price. Check out our Philips Hue Lily vs Philips Hue Appear guide if you want to see how they compare to another Hue wall-painting option.
We love the Lily, but for larger gardens, bigger trees, or for those who want slightly more than its small-ish cone of light, the Lily XL is a significant upgrade. It bumps the brightness way up to 1,050 lumen, giving it enough photon-pushing power to light up just about any lawn on its own; if you feel you need more than one, you've either got some significant acreage or you're going for some nifty colour-mixing effect. Either way, you've got options.
We appreciate the slight redesign to the Lily frame here, which adds a small hood to (hopefully) stop this dazzling you as you gaze into your outdoor space. It's IP65 rated, so it's fully suitable for a regularly watered lawn; that's enough waterproofing to adequately protect the Lily XL from jetting water. Feel free to turn the hose on it.
Lights are about far more than just making dark things bright. They can be a significant architectural addition to your home. The Appear's triangular projection, emanating from both ends of the cylindrical fitting, is amongst the most striking in the Hue range. It's perfect for making a dull wall into a feature, or used in a pair it's a neat way of highlighting a doorway.
It's IP44 rated, so there's no need to install under a canopy or porch, though as with all Hue wall mounters you'd be best served getting a professional to do the dirty work. You can of course tweak the Appear to hit whatever colour or white temperature suits your wall the best, and compatibility with Hue automations means you can keep its lighting confined to darkness hours or switch it on and off to feign occupation when you're out.
The powerful 2,300-lumen Welcome is so much more sophisticated than your average bog-standard floodlight. For starters, its colour balance and brightness can be infinitely adjusted to suit the mood. Because it kicks out so much diffuse illumination without dazzling everyone like a halogen bulb, it’s a top choice for evening entertainment. It’s also perfect for security, especially if used in conjunction with Philips’ battery-powered infrared sensor. The Welcome requires both professional installation and a Hue Bridge.
Like many Hue outdoor lights, this reasonably priced circular wall model requires invisible wiring and an electrician to install it, so perhaps consider having it wired in while having the porch decorated; unless of course you’re simply replacing an existing wall light.
The Daylo produces an attractive arced light effect that casts a soft glow on the wall while throwing a decent amount of illumination across the porch. Being of the Colour Ambience variety, you can change the colour tone in a thrice using the Hue app or by shouting in the direction of any Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple HomeKit device.
At a shade under £110, this is a great value entry into the amazing world of Hue. Believe us, once you tried one Hue product you’ll be filling the house with them – at great cost it must be said.
Who said smart lights have to be boring? Certainly not whoever designed the Econic Outdoor Wall Light for Philips Hue, because this is a smart light that doesn't look out of place even in the most elegant and luxurious settings.
All the usual Philips Hue goodies are here, including a wide choice of colours, white and colour ambiance, integration with the Hue Bridge, and so on and so on. Through the app you can turn the light on and off, pick your colours, set up schedules, integrate the light with other smart home devices, and more.
It offers high light output, so a medium-sized garden or yard can be covered, and it's IP44 rated for weatherproofing too. Definitely one of the first outdoor lights you should be considering from the Philips Hue range.
Hue Colour Ambience strips are a popular choice for narrow and wide-beam boats since they consume very little power and are able illuminate a wide area while being concealed from view. They also add a touch of classy ambience to contemporary living rooms. Well here’s a two-metre weatherproof version to tack behind the façade of your conservatory, under your decking or anywhere else you think requires a strip of colour.
Like the Lily spots above, this is a low voltage self-installation model that comes with its own transformer and 4.25metres of cable. The strip itself is two metres long and can’t be cut to length so make sure you have the required distance to install it. Also bear in mind that there’s large transformer box 1.4 metres from the plug so you might want to figure in how best to conceal it.
As with all outdoor Hue lights, its operating temperature range is -20°C to 45°C – hardly a concern in the UK. The Lightstrip Outdoor boasts an illumination range of between 850 and 900 lumens – more than enough to create an aura bright enough for an al fresco evening under the stars.
If a choice of 16 million colours doesn’t rock your boat and all you want is a pleasant warm white light to illuminate the patio, verandah or balcony, consider this small, stripped back version of the Econic above. The Fuzo measures 13cm x 14cm and uses a 1,150-lumen LED bulb behind its frosted plastic housing and tough but stylish aluminium surround. There’s no glass enclosure on this model but that can be a good thing since there’s less chance of water droplets leaving their mark and upsetting the ambience.
As with all of the outdoor Hue products on this page, the Fuzo requires a Hue Bridge (available separately) to function correctly. Just remember that this one is a white-only model which can only be dimmed or brightened.
If you want to illuminate large outdoor features such as high walls or fences, this is the Hue light for you. It's made tough with IP65 water resistance and a big metal plate to direct the light upwards without bleed, and once it's connected to a power supply (sold separately) you can daisy-chain multiple lights to illuminate even very large areas. Like other Hue products it connects wirelessly to the Hue Bridge, which enables you to set scenes and automation via the increasingly impressive Hue app.
It isn't the cheapest outdoor lighting solution but it's one of the most elegant, and part of the price tag is because it's build to a higher standard and higher water resistance standard than many rivals. That's particularly important for lights designed to be placed on the ground and/or against walls or fences like this system: they need to withstand a lot of water over a long period of time. You can probably buy cheaper, but you'll most likely end up buying again and again.
Best Philips Hue Outdoor lights: what you need to know
So, how did we get here? Philips Hue was first launched in 2012 and while the range was slow to expand at first, Philips has recently mounted a major expansion. 2018 saw Hue making it outdoors for the first time, and in early 2020 the company introduced a whole host more lights to the outdoor selection.
The Hue system has traditionally been based around a hub controller which deals with the tricky task of talking to and controlling a houseful of smart bulbs. The Hue Bridge, connected to your router, uses the Zigbee smart home protocol to communicate, meaning it operates on its own slice of the radio spectrum, with a theoretically longer range and less potential interference than competing Wi-fi bulbs.
While the £50 Bridge adds a little extra cost (it's included with some indoor bulb packs, but not outdoor kits) its 50-bulb capacity, long reach and high reliability make this the perfect system for smart garden lighting. If you're an existing Hue user any outdoor lights you add should work just fine with your indoor Bridge. Zigbee is technically a mesh network; as long as your Hue Bridge can reach the closest garden light, it should be able to pass messages on to those further down the path.
With recent bulbs, the Bridge is no longer (technically) required; Philips Hue added additional support for Bluetooth as of its mid-2019 releases, though you lose a whole host of functionality connecting that way. Advanced functions go out of the window, and the convenience of being able to connect to your lights remotely through the internet is also in the bin. Go for the full Bridge experience if you can.
So, whether you want to fill your garden with ambient light, get everything flashing away for a party, or hook up a Hue PIR and add a little security, there's something for you.
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