Amazon Basics Smart A19 LED Light Bulb, Color Changing, 9W (60W Equivalent), 800LM, Works with Alexa Only, 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi, No Hub Required, 1 Pack by Amazon Basics

There was virtually no setup involved. I turned on the smart bulb, waited a minute, then started my Alexa app on my phone. The app immediately found the new device and walked through a couple of steps in the configuration process.
Now it works great, and I can use voice commands on my Echo Shows to turn the light on/off, change color and brightness, etc. I have also created routines to turn it on/off at set times when I am away in the evening.

When the bulb sets up properly, it works well. However, the first set of four bulbs I bought (two years ago) have had sporadic problems retaining their configuration for WiFi, color and brightness after recovery from our (unfortunately) frequent power outages (we experienced >40 outages totaling over 228 hours in 2024 alone!), and one or two of the bulbs needed to be re-added as a new device every few times we had power outages.

Eventually, one of the bulbs fully stopped being able to be set up–it would not go into reset mode, despite many attempts at the reset procedure that I am VERY familiar with, having had to execute it maybe a dozen or more times in the two years I had the initial set of bulbs.

So I ordered a replacement box of four, figuring I would toss out the defective one and have some spares in case another one was defective. The first new bulb I tried to set up (and I tried 12-15 times total before finally giving up) flat out would not find the 2.4GHz WiFi networks (an eero mesh network with two SSIDs with different passwords) in my home–see the included photo of the WiFi selection screen. Resetting Bluetooth on the phone, resetting WiFi on the phone, resetting the phone, resetting the eero mesh network, resetting the main wired router, and resetting the internet connection ALL failed to alter the behavior. The bulb simply never found ANY WiFi networks. We’re physically distant enough from the nearest neighbor that there was no interference from other WiFi networks, and my signal strength within 5 feet of the bulb was full, as is seen in the attached photo. After 12-15 total attempts, I gave up trying to set up the first of four bulbs. The second one I tried set up with no problems, so the issue was clearly a defective bulb, not environmental.

Even though I did not plan to put the remaining bulbs into service yet, I tested them out to make sure they were not defective like the first one was, and BOTH of the remaining two exhibited the same defective behavior–would not find/show any WiFi networks to connect to. I’m returning the defective units for a replacement, but I am not hopeful I will have much better luck with the replacements. So to recap, three of four in one box were unable to find any WiFi networks, despite the WiFi signal being strong and having no interference.

In short, when they work, they work well and I am mostly happy with them (though I wish there was a custom color wheel like some other bulbs offer, and I wish the preset colors were a closer to what they appear on the Alexa app screen), but the reliability is still not there.

Also, I wish there was a way to configure them so that they would *NOT* automatically turn on following a power outage. I realize that when they think they have been reset, they will come on at full brightness in one of the white shades, but if the power fails and comes back, or power browns out in the middle of the night, it takes several minutes before the Internet, main router, WiFi routers and Alexa are back online sufficiently to turn the bulbs off again, which pretty much means that everyone wakes up–we use them in the nightstand lights in our bedrooms.

I know these are “Basics” but the reliability needs some work.

UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE!!!

I did some poking around online and discovered that the problem is my too-smart-for-its-own-good Amazon-branded eero WiFi mesh network, which broadcasts a single, unified SSID for the 2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz bands, and therefore trips up these not-so-smart Amazon-branded WiFi Smart Bulbs, and simply don’t display ANY network selections OR MANUAL NETWORK CONFIGURATION UI IN THE ALEXA APP when they’re provisioning using the Alexa app. Way to go, Amazon, making products that don’t work together! The solution is to use the eero app’s Troubleshooting page (Gear Icon “Settings” in the lower right, then “Troubleshooting” tile), and tap the “My device won’t connect” tile. From there, use the “My device is 2.4 GHz only” tile, and finally the “Temporarily pause 5 GHz” button. Work quickly, because even though this pause is allegedly 30 minutes, and provides a comforting countdown timer, I have found that after 4-5 minutes, the eero CLAIMS it is still in the pause mode, but the bulb reverts to responding as though the 5GHz band is active again, and doesn’t display any networks to connect to or any way to manually enter a network SSID.

A side-effect of that solution is that a LOT of “smart” devices that *ARE* connected using 5 GHz lose their connections, so they have to be power-cycled once the 5 GHz band has been resumed (manually using the “Cancel” button where the “Temporarily pause 5 GHz” button was, or by the expiration of the 30-minute pause timer). I recommend using a Guest network that is restricted to 2.4GHz and connecting your 2.4GHz-only devices, like the current revision of these bulbs, to that guest network.

In all…pretty clunky, and not friendly, Amazon, and it cost you two-way shipping to get me a replacement set of four bulbs, because none of the four I ordered initially connected to WiFi, so I figured they were verkakte and exchanged them for a new box of four bulbs.

Please try to get your hardware engineers and software engineers in your different product lines to test interoperability of Amazon-branded devices you send to market. There’s no good excuse for having the trouble-free configuration steps depend on customers having old technology or disabling features in their new technology.

Works great, easy set up, and I don’t have to use a separate app to control or set up. I appreciate that it’s a quality bulb without being too expensive. I love being able to set the brightness level and have it match the other bulbs I have, and it’s small, but I like that when the bulb turns off it dims and then goes out.

These bulb work perfectly with the Alexa hub and even meshes well enough with Alexa commands to adjust color, brightness, and routines to come on and off right from the Alexa interface. These are super easy to install and get connected to your network especially if you have a prime account because it can be pre-programed in the ordering process to be nearly plug and play with the exceptions of a few personal configurations of naming them what you wish. Ordered three packages of 4 and of the 12 bulbs all but one worked properly. The one that didn’t work properly did everything but come turn off when commanded from the voice prompt. Would order these again and would recommend.

This bulb connected faster than any other brand that I have purchased in the past. I have been struggling to reconnect a previously functioning Singled bulb, but to no avail. I finally gave up and decided to try this new Amazon basics brand. What a dream to connect! All I had to do was plug it in open my camera to the little piece of paper that was attached with the barcode and it was set up. Highly recommend. Honestly, I’m probably going to buy 10 more.