I don’t think it’s worth buying Mirabella Genio lights for your smart home setup. They tend to have connection issues and won’t last as long as many other bulbs. Here are the best Mirabella Genio Alternatives in Australia:
Philips Hue – The Best Mirabella Genio Alternative
When it comes to smart lights, it’s worth spending a little bit more to get a high quality product that will just work. I use the Philips Hue smart bulbs in my smart home setup and in my testing they are the most reliable and longest lasting smart lights you can buy.
I’ve had the same set of Hue Bulbs for the last 5+ years. And they’ve always worked without any connection issues and none of the bulbs have died. You’ll find similar reviews on Reddit from other Hue users and they tend to be the best reviewed smart lights available.
Philips Hue bulbs work best with a Hub. The Mirabella Genio bulbs don’t use a hub and instead connect directly to the Wifi. I’ve found this setup has a lot of issues and most people will end up experiencing periods where they can’t connect to their lights. The Hue Bridge or hub, connects using the Zigbee protocol. I’ve found this has been super reliable and I haven’t experienced an issue.
I would recommend starting with one of the Hue, starter packs. This has everything you need to get started. You can then add bulbs to your setup as needed.
Why I recommend Hue Bulbs
- Best Device Support – Philips Hue supports Apple Homekit, Google Home, Alexa and more. No matter what type of smart home you have, the Hue will work with it. The Genio Smart Lights don’t work with Apple Home and don’t support seamless setup within Google Home.
- Highest Quality LEDs – The LEDs in the Hue bulbs aren’t the same cheap LEDs you’ll find in the Mirabella lights. These are probably highest quality LED you can buy and it makes a huge difference. These bulbs will really last 10+ years with daily usage. The cheap LEDs you get from Aldi and Woolies need to be replaced every couple of years.
- Reliable Connection – Although hue lights will work without a bridge, they work best with the Hue Bridge. This will guarantee a rock solid connection to your lights and let you control them remotely.
- Large EcoSystem of Products – As well as indoor lights, you can also get Hue smart outdoor lights, switches, motion senses and power outlets.
- Brightest Colours – Although I don’t really use the colours, Hue does have the brightest colours. I’ve found the Genio bulbs to be quite dim in colour mode. The Hue bulbs maintain their brightness even when displaying colours.
- Tried and Tested – Hue is one of the oldest smart light brands. They are tried and tested and have a huge user base.
Find out more about Philips Hue Smart Bulbs here
Meross Smart Bulbs – Best Cheap Alternative
If you want a cheap alternative to the Mirabella smart lights, I would go with the Meross Bulbs. These smart lights are comparable in price to the Genio lights, but they have better features and have better connectivity.
The Meross Bulbs support Apple Home and Homekit, so they will work with your Apple Devices. The Genio Bulbs don’t support Homekit.
I’ve found these bulbs to have fewer connection issues than the Genio bulbs and they do tend to work with most modern routers. Genio bulbs don’t work well with Mesh routers and many of the standard routers from Australian ISPs.
Overall these are just a much better alternative to the Genio bulbs. While these are nowhere near as good as the Hue bulbs they are still a step above Genio.
Find out more about Meross Smart Lights
LIFX – Best Lights with No Hub
If you’re looking for a smart light that works similarly to the Genio Bulbs, than I would recommend the LIFX bulbs. These bulbs require no hub and connect directly to the Wifi Network. This is similar to how Genio lights work. Unlike the Genio Lights, the LIFX bulbs support Homekit so they will work seamlessly with your Apple Devices.
Personally I’m not a huge fan of smart lights that don’t use a bridge or hub, but if you are looking to go this route, the LIFX are the best quality option. You may still experience the odd dropout and connection issue with these bulbs but in my testing they performed significantly better than the Genio bulbs.
Find out more about the LIFX Bulbs
Nanoleaf Essentials – Best Lights with Thread Support
The best Thread Enabled Smart Lights you can buy are the Nanoleaf Essentials bulbs
Thread is a new technology for connecting to your smart devices. Instead of each smart light or smart device connecting to the Wifi network, Thread Devices create a mesh and can connect to one another. It’s a much more efficient way to network smart devices. Thread is also an open technology. Meaning you won’t be locked into an ecosystem (like Google Home).
If you’re looking to future proof your smart lights, I would buy a Thread enabled light. (Hue lights will also support Thread via the Hue Bridge in a future update).
The Nanoleaf Essentials smart lights are the best Thread Enabled smart lights you can buy right now.
Find out more about the Nanoleaf Essentials Bulbs
Kogan Smarter Home Bulbs
Kogan SmarterHome is a line of smart products such as smart kettles, smart heaters and of course smart bulbs. They all run using the SmarterHome app.
The big problem with the Kogan Smart Home bulbs is they don’t support Apple Home and Homekit. While you might have an android device now, in the future you might switch and you shouldn’t need to switch your smart home devices too!
