Philips

Philips Hue Gradient Light Strip

The Philips Hue Gradient Light Strip is a smart LED strip that displays multiple colours simultaneously along its length, designed for TV backlighting and ambient accent lighting within the Hue ecosystem.

### Overview

The Philips Hue Gradient Lightstrip (Ambiance) is a premium smart LED strip that sets itself apart from standard light strips by displaying multiple colors simultaneously along a single strip. While most other light strips provide a single color at a time, the Hue Gradient Lightstrip offers a multicolored array that can gradually move between three different colors at once. Featuring gradient technology, this lightstrip blends different colors of light together at once and is flexible and extendable up to 10 meters, letting you add a brilliant blend of color to any space.

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### Pros

- **Multi-color gradient display:** The Ambiance Gradient Lightstrip produces multiple colors of light at the same time, making it easy to set the mood in a room with a single fixture — a meaningful upgrade over standard strips that forces you to choose just one color per zone. - **Up to 1,800 lumens of output:** The more opaque top cover provides more complete lighting in the room — up to 1,800 lumens available — making it bright enough to serve as genuine ambient room lighting, not just decorative accent glow. - **Extendable and flexible layout:** You can extend up to 33 feet with Hue gradient ambiance light strip extensions, sold separately, so it can scale from a short shelf run to an entire room perimeter without replacing the base kit. - **Deep smart home integration:** You can control up to 10 lights via Bluetooth, or connect to a Hue Bridge for full smart home integration, including control of up to 50 lights, automations, and voice control with compatible devices. Philips Hue and Spotify also integrate to provide a deep lighting and music experience, allowing users to visualize music with synchronized light.

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### Cons

- **Premium price:** At roughly €149.95 for the basic set consisting of a power supply unit, ZigBee controller, and two metres of light strip, the Ambiance Gradient Lightstrip is almost twice as expensive as the Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus — and extensions add further cost on top. - **Hue Bridge required for full functionality:** You need a separate peripheral called the Hue Bridge that connects directly to your router; while it may seem overkill for a single strip, Philips Hue has an entire line of household lighting the Bridge can control. Budget accordingly if you don't already own one. - **Not optimized for TV backlighting:** The Ambiance Gradient Lightstrip was not designed to be used with a TV or a monitor; the Hue Play Gradient Lightstrip is a better option for TVs or monitors, as it comes pre-calibrated and with the necessary mounts for screen sync. - **Extensions are not cross-compatible:** The two types of lightstrips and extensions are not interchangeable; however, you can add both types of lightstrips to a Room or Zone in the Hue app to control them simultaneously.

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### Who It's For

This strip is the right pick for existing Philips Hue users who want to elevate a living room, bedroom, or kitchen with dynamic, multi-color ambient lighting behind furniture, along shelving, or under cabinets. It's great for lying along a wall or behind a couch, as it provides bright light and a sturdy design. If you're already invested in the Hue ecosystem and want a visually striking centerpiece that plays well with scenes, automations, and voice assistants, this delivers.

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### Not Right For

Buyers who want a TV or monitor backlight that syncs with on-screen content — for that use case, the **Philips Hue Play Gradient Lightstrip** (which requires a Hue Sync Box) is the purpose-built, properly calibrated choice.

The multi-colour gradient effect is genuinely unlike anything a standard single-zone strip can produce.