Philips Hue Go portable table lamp review: more than just a bedside light

The Philips Hue Go portable table lamp is an unexpected triumph. If you’re a fan of smart bulbs in your house, this product is likely to appeal and I can tell you now, you won’t be disappointed. I had been searching for new bedroom lamps for some time and wanted something I could fit my existing Philips Hue colour bulbs into, as I love the sunrise wake-up setting in the mornings. I wish I’d seen this before I made my purchase. 

The Philips Hue Go is a relatively small lamp that is not only ideal for the bedside table but looks just at home in the living room or on a coffee table. Perhaps the cleverest thing about this lamp though is that it is completely portable. The light lifts off its charging base so that it can be used anywhere, without wires. 

While this isn’t something you’d normally need your bedside or table lamp to do, it does make it ideal for other occasions. It can be placed at the centre of a dinner table to create some nice mood lighting or moved to an outdoor table when sat out on warmer summer nights. 

Of course, having this portable functionality means this isn’t going to be the cheapest option. However, after a few weeks of using the Philips Hue Go, I’d say it’s worth it. 

Price and availability

The Philips Hue go portable table lamp went on sale on 21 February 2023 and is priced £139.99 / $159.99. This model is not currently available in Australia. 

Design and features

The Philips Hue Go stands just 35cm (13.8 inches) tall and is 14.2cm (5.6 inches) wide. That’s a little smaller than most standard table lamps but is the perfect size for a bedside table. It also means it’s small enough that it can be placed on any table without dominating the space. 

It comes in two main colour choices of black or white, though the removable grip handle on the main shaft of the lamp also comes in two colours – teal or sage green for the white lamp, and dark grey or orange for the black. Personally, I would have liked to see a chrome or silver colour option, but that might be moving away from the Philips Hue look a bit much. 

The base of the lamp is a charging base and the lamp sits on it much like an electric kettle, allowing you to lift it off and place it on again with ease. The lamp also has an IP44 rating, so is splashproof. Though the top of the lamp looks like a lamp shade, this is in fact solid, with the light projected out the bottom, much like an upside down version of its Bloom uplighter. 

On the very top of the lamp is a single rubberised button. When pressed this allows you to turn the light on and cycle through nine different light colours and temperatures, including dynamic lighting effects such candlelight and meditation. A longer press turns it off again.

The Philips Hue Go, like all Philips Hue products, connects to the Philips Hue app, and therefore can be controlled through the app or via a smart assistant such as Alexa or Google Assistant. You can connect the app to the Go via a Philips Hue Bridge but also directly via Bluetooth, which means you can still control it, even outside of the home.

Using the Philips Hue Go

The beauty of the Philips Hue Go is that it’s very capable as a standard table or bedside light, with the benefit of having a Philips Hue colour bulb built in. That alone makes the price competitive and not all that different from buying a standard lamp and a smart bulb. However, it’s the portability of the lamp that really sets it apart. 

When I first set the lamp up, I wasn’t really thinking about moving it around, so I found a place on a side unit where it looked nice – next to my turntable. I linked the Philips Hue Go up to my living room lights, which include a Bloom uplighter that sits behind my TV, to give some atmosphere. 

Having some friends over for dinner, I moved the Go lamp over to the dinner table, for a more atmospheric lighting than the room spotlights. Then, on another night, I moved the lamp to my outdoor table, to give a bit of light while sat in the garden. It was here that I realised that the portability of this lamp is lamp is by far its killer feature. I could even take this on a camping trip, or out into the park if I wanted. 

The lamp, when fully charged will last away from the base unit for upto 48 hours, with just a 6W bulb inside. That means you could easily use the Philips Hue Go unplugged over multiple evenings before having to plug it back in. 

Perhaps more important than all the extra features is the quality and strength of the light, and here it doesn’t disappoint either. Philips lists the Go as a 370 lumen device, though it’s slightly brighter (530 lumen) at 4000k temperature, which is a white light temperature. This lamp isn’t designed to bathe your room in light, but it’s ideal for adding atmosphere and even for reading under. 

Should I buy the Philips Hue Go?

As the headline of this review says, the Philips Hue Go is more than another table lamp. The portable nature of the device means that you can place it in locations where you wouldn’t otherwise consider placing a plugged-in lamp and makes it suitable for both indoor and outdoor use. 

Even when on its base though, the lamp is great at providing atmospheric or functional local lighting. It’s ideal for the bedroom, living room, kitsch or study and overs a full range of colour options from the Philips Hue app. The button on the top of the lamp means you can use it without the app too, including the ability to easily set one of the pre-set colour recipes. 

While the price of the lamp is fairly high, if you were to buy a lamp and a Philips Hue colour bulb instead, the difference is minimal. Plus of course, here you get a device that can be used unplugged for upto 48 hours. 

Overall, I think this is a great looking light with some really useful features. I actually prefer it to the Philips Hue Signe lamps in terms of looks and love the ability to move it around more than I ever expected to. 

Also consider

Philips Hue offers five other options in its table lamp range in addition to the Go portable lamp. Its Play light bar, Bloom and Iris are all uplighters rather than downlighters (like the Go), so are better suited for placing against a wall to add atmosphere. 

The Philips Hue Signe table lamp is a modern design, which also comes in a floor lamp form. This is a brighter lamp that will draw attention in a room but doesn’t offer the same portability as the Go. 

There are plenty of smart lamps available that are less expensive than the Philips Hue lamps, but these rarely offer the same range of features. Another alternative is to simply buy a smart bulb, such as the Philips Hue bulb, and turn any lamp into a smart lamp.