Honestly, I kinda went the other way and stuck with smart bulbs for my yard. My house is newer, but I still didn’t want to mess with switches and wiring—just seemed like a bigger project than I was ready for. The bulbs have held up better than I expected, even through some pretty rough storms last winter. I did have to replace one after a year, but swapping a bulb is way less intimidating than pulling out switches or crawling around in the crawlspace.
I get what you mean about switches being less finicky, though. Sometimes the bulbs lose connection for a bit if my WiFi hiccups, which can be annoying. But for me, the easy install and not having to touch the wiring won out. Maybe it’s just beginner’s luck, but so far, it’s been pretty painless.
Yeah, I get where you’re coming from. I actually did the opposite and went with smart switches for my yard lights. I was nervous about the wiring at first, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought—just killed the breaker and took my time. The main thing I like is not having to worry about WiFi hiccups. Like you said,
That used to drive me nuts when I tried smart bulbs inside. But honestly, if your bulbs are holding up outside and you don’t wanna mess with wiring, that’s a win. Swapping bulbs is way less hassle than crawling under the house, for sure.“Sometimes the bulbs lose connection for a bit if my WiFi hiccups, which can be annoying.”
I get the appeal of just swapping bulbs, but honestly, I’ve always been wary of relying on WiFi for something as basic as lights. In my old house, the walls are thick and the signal’s spotty—
—that’s exactly what drove me to switches. Wiring was a pain, sure, but now everything just works, no matter what my router’s doing. Maybe it’s just me, but I’d rather deal with wiring once than keep fiddling with tech that’s supposed to be “smart.”“Sometimes the bulbs lose connection for a bit if my WiFi hiccups, which can be annoying.”
I ran into the same headache with WiFi bulbs in a client’s old farmhouse—signal just wouldn’t reach the back porch. Ended up swapping to smart switches, and yeah, fishing wires through plaster was a pain, but now the lights never flake out. If you’re already opening up walls for other work, I’d lean switches every time. Bulbs are easy, but reliability wins out for me.
I get where you’re coming from—switches are rock solid once they’re in, no doubt. But I’ve actually had better luck with smart bulbs in a couple of tricky spots, especially when I didn’t want to mess with old wiring or patch up plaster. Mesh bulbs (like Hue) seem to play nicer in weird layouts, at least for me. Plus, swapping out a bulb is way less hassle if something goes sideways. Guess it depends how much you want to tear into the walls...
