Cree Lighting Connected Max Smart Led Bulb A21 100W Tunable White + Color Changing, 2.4 Ghz, Compatible with Alexa & Google Home, No Hub Required, Bluetooth + WiFi, 2Pk, CMA21-100W-AL-9ACK-B2

Bought this to replace 100 watt incandescent bulbs in bedroom. Now all lamps can be turned on together, Alexa group, OR separately. Can also dim and change shades for nighttime. For fun can be set to any color you want. Alexa knows many but not all but the App lets you control them completely. I first bought one for a bedroom floor lamp and it worked so well I added 2 more for 2 bedside lamps.

I bought this 5 times and two of my boxes were old versions. There's 2 different version. A dead giveaway of which is which before opening the box is that on the bottom of the OLD box, it'll start mentioning something about Apple and Siri. On the bottom of the NEW box, it'll mention Google first before talking about Apple.If you look at the bulbs themselves, there is an FCC ID. The OLD one is "2ANDL-WB8P" which was approved in 2020 and the NEW one is "2ANDL-CB8P" approved in 2021.The OLD version when it turns on and off fades on and off. The NEW version when it turns on and off just flicks on and off. The OLD version reminds me of how a traditional light bulb would turn on and off. The NEW version reminds me of a traditional LED light bulb the way it should be. The OLD version has a firmware update in the CREE app to v1.1.6 for some reason. No idea what the difference is, but is mandatory. The NEW version does not have a firmware update and is set at 1.0.0. The color ranges may be the same on both bulbs, but in real life, they appear different. No idea which is the actual correct one.The NEW version has less/cleaner components on the board vs the OLD version. The NEW version has a stronger BT and WiFi antenna of 2.2dBi vs 2.0dBi.There's a lot of technical data on these bulbs that I honestly don't understand. Just Google the FCC IDs to find them. They all work fine, but I have 6 bulbs and I prefer they all be the same. It happens that I got 6 of the new ones rather than 6 of the old ones. The CREE app works wonderfully alongside the Alexa app so I have no idea what people are talking about. Pairs beautifully and one of the easiest things I've paired in my Alexa app. It also saves your wifi information so if you need to pair more things in the CREE app, it'll save you that hassle and then it'll automatically detect it in your Alexa app after it's paired.

Easy to setup and get on the network. Simple app used to configure. No extra network device needed. We had the Hue lights before and ended up switching to these because the Hue kept loosing network connectivity.

Update a few days later, one of the bulbs disconnected from Alexa and I assume my home Wi-Fi. I have two bulbs set up on either side of my bed and within less than 10 ft of my Alexa Echo. I was able to reconnect the one bulb by going to the cree app. If this happens again, these bulbs they both be going back. Stick with the sengled brandI purchased two different brands of smart bulb, Cree and Sengled. The cree bulbs required I set up their application on my phone. I then had to manually select each bulb and sign them into my Wi-Fi connection. Then connect to my Amazon account and authorize Alexa. It took more time to set up one light bulb and get it running then it did to set up three of the other brand which set up directly in my Alexa application. Cree is a good brand, so this was a bit of a letdown. I would not buy this brand again in fact I'm ordering more bulbs but I will order the other brand.Once they were set up and connected to my Alexa app they work fine. They're nice and bright and I have color control and they do integrate with Alexa just fine. It's just the setup process which is very frustrating.

The lights are nice and bright out of the box. Downloaded the app, Bluetooth doesn't connect on my Samsung S24 Ultra, if Bluetooth doesn't connect they try it over the WiFi but at 2.4 ghz, guess what, my phone doesn't have 2.4 ghz. The technology is too old. So no connectivity for me. Great as a light but don't expect setup to work if you have newer tech.

Love that it is very bright with different shades of white and various colors or very fun if that is wanted. Nice to be able to ask Alexa to turn on and not have to drop things to turn on light.

I have three "smart" lightbulb brands: Phillips Hue, Meross, and these CREE bulbs. I wanted to install these in sconces outside around my garage. These are very bright and adjustable. They are easy to install and set up and a value leader.

Love these bulbs so far no problems use them with Alexa