Philips Hue Bridge Pro review: The smart lighting upgrade you don’t see, but absolutely feel
The addition of Wi-Fi removes the need for a fixed Ethernet cable on the Hue Bridge Pro. Picture: Signify.
The Philips Hue Bridge Pro is a product most people barely notice, yet it quietly transforms how smart lighting works. While I don’t think this is the upgrade for everyone, after migrating all my Hue setup, the improvements were immediate.
At first glance, the Philips Hue Bridge Pro looks familiar, finished in a sleek, matte black rather than white, it feels more premium and better suited to modern homes. The compact, understated design means it still disappears into the background, which is exactly where a hub should live. And if you use the Ethernet port, you do not need to worry about placement in the same way you would when connecting over Wi-Fi.
The build quality is excellent. It feels solid, well-ventilated and clearly designed with heat dissipation in mind. Philips has completely redesigned the internals, and while you never see that work, you absolutely feel the benefit in daily use. The biggest hardware change is the addition of Wi-Fi, which removes the need for a wired Ethernet connection, although I set up with the latter. For anyone whose router isn’t nearby, this small change makes setup far more flexible.
Inside the box, you get the Bridge Pro, a USB-C power adapter, a cable, and a simple setup guide with a QR code. Setup is painless, especially if you have already installed Hue devices before.
The Bridge Pro is powered by vastly improved hardware, including a quad-core Cortex-A35 processor running at 1.7GHz, paired with 8GB of DDR4 RAM and 8GB of eMMC storage. In plain terms, it is effectively a small computer dedicated entirely to running your lighting system.
Capacity has been massively expanded. The Bridge Pro supports up to 150 lights and 50 accessories on a single hub, alongside storage for up to 500 custom scenes and far more complex automations. Native Matter support is built in, making it future-proof and far easier to integrate with platforms like Google Home, Apple Home and Alexa.
Security and privacy have also been strengthened, which matters more as smart lighting becomes deeply embedded in daily routines.
I have been using Philips Hue for years and currently run well over 30 lights, including LED strips, outdoor fixtures and multiple entertainment zones. On the older Bridge, I noticed performance becoming inconsistent after installing more lights. Commands would lag, some lights would miss colour changes, and voice assistants would occasionally fail.
After migrating my entire setup to the Bridge Pro, the difference was immediate. Commands execute instantly, whether I’m using the Hue app, Google Assistant or Siri. Even complex scenes and multi-room colour changes happen in a fraction of a second. Syncing lights to my TV feels noticeably smoother and more responsive.
Migration itself took less than 30 minutes. Room names, scenes and lights synced automatically, and reconnecting to Google Home and Apple Home was painless. I encountered no bugs, no lag and no setup issues. For the first time in years, my Hue system feels flawless.
The big new feature is Motion Aware lighting. Using Zigbee signal analysis between three or more Hue lights in a room, the Bridge Pro can detect movement without a physical motion sensor. Walk into a room, and your chosen scene activates automatically, then switches off after a set time. It works surprisingly well and feels like a glimpse of where smart lighting is heading, but the downside is that you need at least three compatible Hue lights in the area for it to work.
Alongside the Bridge Pro, I also tested the Philips Hue Festavia globe string lights, installing them along my hall ceiling to see how they integrated into a real-world setup. While designed primarily for outdoor use, they work just as well indoors, especially in spaces where you want a softer, more decorative glow.
In a garden, pergola or patio setting, these lights really shine. The globe design looks elegant rather than novelty-led, and the build quality feels robust enough to withstand outdoor conditions year-round. Each globe light can be twisted out of its fitting and is watertight thanks to a rubber seal in the housing.
Brightness is excellent for ambient lighting, and with full Hue colour and white control, they can switch from subtle warm tones to vibrant festive colours in seconds.
Paired with the Bridge Pro, responsiveness was instant, and creating custom scenes was quick and easy. Whether for summer evenings outdoors or seasonal decorations, the Festavia globe lights are a versatile, premium addition that can turn any setting into a festive occasion. I used these lights, along with two others in my hall, to test the new Motion Aware feature, and it worked well. It means I no longer need the Philips Hue indoor motion sensor there, so I moved that device to another area.
The Philips Hue Bridge Pro turns an already powerful system into something more powerful with useful new features. Faster, smarter and more reliable, it’s an easy recommendation for serious Hue users, even if it might be overkill for smaller Hue setups.
Hue Bridge Pro €90, Hue Festavia globe string lights €220 (14M, 20 bulbs) www.lampmasters.ie
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