Everybody knows Philips’ superb Hue lighting system, but it’s often seen as an indoor thing. The Hue outdoor lighting range has grown significantly in recent months, and the Hue Lily is the best outdoor lighting you can buy today. It brings the same ease of use, flexibility and – crucially – app as Philips’ indoor lights, and it’s capable of creating some really great outdoor effects. Put all that together and you have a T3 Awards 2020 winner.
Part of a large and growing array of Hue Outdoor lights, Hue Lily is sold as a system consisting of three matte-black low-voltage spotlights made of durable aluminium, and the lights come with mounting stands for walls as well as spikes for ground installation.
You can then buy add-on Lilys until you have an entire plantation of them.
Total coverage is around 25m (the lights are connected by 5m lengths of cable with waterproof connectors) and you can add additional lights at any time. Each light produces 600 lumens, which we found was more than enough to light up trees and shrubs of up to 4m in height. With certain colours you get a more 'ambient' effect.
Philips Hue Outdoor Lily XL: like Philips Hue Outdoor Lily, but bigger
This year, Philips took things up a notch with Hue Lily XL. As you can probably guess, this is a larger Lily, and a significant upgrade. Brightness is upped to a maximum of 1,050 lumens, which is great for bigger gardens and those who want to get more creative with colours and effects.
With people spending more time than ever in the garden this summer, Hue Lily in its various forms keeps selling out, and deservedly so. It's the most versatile and excellent outdoor lighting you can get.
• T3 Awards 2020 – all the announcements so far.
