How bright is the Philips Hue Bloom?

The Philips Hue Bloom is meant to provide white and multicolor accent lighting anywhere in your home. It's not really mean to be used as a primary light source, a reading lamp, or anything that actually requires a decent amount of light. Place it behind your TV to give your movies or favorite shows some additional atmosphere, or paint your wall with light, but you'll want something else if you're looking for a utility.

Wattage isn't what it once was. LED lights always have a much lower wattage than their incandescent counterparts while providing the same amount of light. Still, if you're buying a bulb or light, especially one as expensive as LED smart lights can get, you still want to know how bright it can get.

Enter the lumen. Lumens are a unit we use to measure the brightness of a light. The more lumens, the brighter the light. The Philips Hue Bloom, for example, can output up to 120 lumens, while a standard Hue White & Color Ambiance bulb can output up to 800 lumens.

The Philips Hue Go is a newer accent/ambient light that outputs up to 300 lumens. Its primary feature is its portability, so you can also walk around and provide splashes of color to a room with it thanks to its battery. The Go also features on-device controls for switching between 12 pre-programmed colors — though, like the Bloom, you'll want the Hue Bridge to get the most out of it.

For portability, on-device controls, and even more light, it might be worth it to drop the additional $20 on the Hue Go over the Bloom.