After Utorch’s sympathetic table lamp and motion-sensing night light, we thought we’d try another product from the manufacturer as well.

The first stage in building a smart home is often embodied in the replacement of luminaires. We also started the process for him based on this scheme, a colleague of s3nki is already well it moves forward in this, I'm still at the foundation. The protagonist of our present article will accordingly be the smart bulb named Utorch LE7.

Main specifications

Much has been left out of the above summary (16 million shades, adjustable color temperature and brightness, etc.), which are covered in detail below!

Packaging and installation

I could still tell you about Magyar Posta's slightly adventurous package delivery - literally they dropped the package - let it be enough that the colored box proved to provide adequate protection. After the opening, it was not worth expecting a huge surprise, in addition to the bulb, he ran for a little guide, and then we were done with that. I didn't take much advantage of the latter, which is a great example of the fact that I didn't have to worry much about the commissioning, things went almost unexpectedly into the fleet:

1. I downloaded the eFamilyCloud app with lightning speed with the QR code in the attached brochure;
2. Registration cannot be escaped, but a disposable email is enough for him. Please note that you only have 60 seconds to enter the confirmation code !;
3. I wrapped around the light bulb, which let me know with a flashing red light twice a second that it was ready to connect;
4. After authentication, eFamilyCloud will be interested in the following basic information: location (optional but worth specifying), name, location of the light bulb in the house (bedroom, living room, kitchen, etc.) and password for the WiFi network;
5. After a few seconds of syncing, the app connected to the bulb, leaving the device ready for use.

The whole procedure took no more than two minutes, though I didn’t even bother to provide a high-strength Wi-Fi signal to the phone, I just armed it within range. In my case, this was not necessary, but otherwise the reset is as follows: With a pause of a few seconds, the lamp must be switched on and off until it starts flashing intensely. I think my colleague is scratching the wall wildly as he reads these lines, and Xiaomi Yeelight has caused a much more serious headache for him:

“Not connecting to the network is NOT a burner fault, but a router setup. It took me two days to acquire this knowledge. Don’t start searching the net, you don’t have to ping Xiaomi’s server, you have to do one thing. DNS settings should not use the router's own IP address, you must enter Google DNS addresses! So, if so far e.g. if the DNS was set to 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1, enter 8.8.8.8 as the primary DNS instead, 8.8.4.4 as the secondary DNS. The burner will connect to the server and everything will work. Heureka! ”

So not everyone was as lucky with their smart bulb as I was with the Utorch LE7…

The utility

EFamilyCloud has quite an acceptable rating (3,8 and 4,7 points), I must say that it is not unfounded. The software I feel is suitable for both beginners and advanced; basic customization can be done in an unconsciously easy-to-use interface, but we also have the option of in-depth configuration. Let’s start with the basics: color temperature, saturation, colors, predefined schemes, and light effects that adapt to the rhythm of the music.

I only had a single heartache: I allowed access to the microphone, yet the lights matching the music playback did not appear at all, the eFamilyCloud operated with random effects. Too bad this is why, thankfully, the other services have been running smoothly. Among the factory-installed schemes, the rainbow mode is noteworthy, where you can enjoy fast-paced alternations of bright colors, and “Gorgeous” offers essentially the same, with only much finer changes. As you can see, a total of eight different profiles have been added to the software, we cannot define custom templates. White light and color lighting appear on a separate sheet according to their order and manner, and the 16 million hues can be fooled by the saturation and brightness to your liking. Finally, it’s worth noting that with the software, we can turn the lights on and off, so we don’t have to get out of bed if we know our smartphone next to us.

Advanced users are supported by the app with the following options: Scheduled Mode and Automation. It now appears that once we have entered our location, eFamilyCloud will be in the picture for the current weather: humidity, temperature, wind speed, etc. Hold on, depending on this information, we have the ability to create automated mechanisms, that is, to track changes in weather with lighting technology. Scheduling can also come in handy when you’re traveling anyway, as with thoughtful settings we can make it look like there’s some activity in our home. The only problem with this is that the parameterization in these menu items is not followed in real time by the burner, so fine-tuning is thus considerably more difficult.

In the app we can create different groups (simultaneous control of several smart bulbs), nor is it incidental that the burner can be connected to Google Home and Amazon Alexa. When pairing with Alexa, it is worth following the instructions step by step, if we did everything well, then e.g. you can bombard the device with the following commands:

• Alexa, turn on my light;
• Alexa, set my light to 80 percent;
• Alexa, turn on my bedroom.

Summary

I was pleased to find that the Utorch LE7’s smart slap-easy usability didn’t impose nerve-racking minutes on me, nor did its commissioning cause a headache even with zero experience. So cheapness didn’t come out in such an area, which of course I don’t mean I was dealing with a flawless product. In the field of music, the performance is not very steep; The list of shortcomings is reinforced by the integrated speaker, and eFamilyCloud did not behave perfectly when tracking sounds, although this may be resolved over time. The luminous flux mysteriously doesn't show up anywhere, in my experience the 7-watt LED bulb is ideal for a medium-sized room at most - the bar is already vibrating strongly around 20 square meters - if you want to solve the lighting technology with just one piece, it can be little. Other than that, I can’t report any meaningful flaws, and I would point out again that because of its spade-pack of placement, the burner is boldly recommended to those who are now familiar with this world!

The Utorch LE7 is still available for purchase at Gearbest (click on the picture!) For only $ 9,99 (on sale!). If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!