Swedish flat pack and furniture specialist Ikea has announced the launch of Trådfri.
Trådfri meaning wireless in Swedish is a smart lighting solution based on the ZigBee Protocol – the same as market leader Philips Hue.
LED Lights or bulbs connect to a hub that’s connected to the internet via an Ethernet connection.
Bulbs are controlled by an innovative looking motion controlled disc that also doubles up as a switch allowing you to dim the lights between 3 set temperatures – 2200K, 2700K, and 4000K.
Note there is no colour changing functionality, making it aligned with Philips Hue Lux range.
The big difference to this solution is cost, this is very cheap! Bulbs start from an amazingly low $16.99 with an impressive 25,000 hours life span. While the hub is only $28.49.
One interesting feature is they announced these will be compatible with other products, for example fitting into the hugely popular storage range.
Trådfri has currently only been launched in Sweden – hopefully it with roll out to the U.K. In the near future.
As soon as we can get our hands on one we will give it a full review.
However from what we know so far this is an exciting development as there is currently nothing at this affordable price point in the market.
Here is their super cringe advert for them: