Connected by TCP Smart Lighting System

The TCP kit contains three 11-watt A-Lamp LED light bulbs, a gateway that links the bulbs to your existing home network and the internet, an Ethernet cable, and a discrete remote that lets you control the lights manually.

The glossy white remote is 4.5-inches long and tapered to fit comfortably in the hand. It has a power button, a dimmer control, and four numbered buttons for controlling specific lighting groups. A fifth button controls all groups at the same time.

The bulbs put out 800 lumens, which is equivalent to 60 watts from a typical incandescent bulb, and according to TCP, use 80 percent less energy. Better yet, the LED bulbs are rated for 25,000 hours of life, or about ten years, and they come with a two year warranty. Unlike the Philips Hue bulbs, they are not capable of changing colors; they emit soft white (2700K) light and are dimmable down to around 5 percent.

The gateway is a small black and white box that measures 1.2 x 4.7 x 2.3 inches (HWD). It has an Ethernet port and a power jack on one side and power, LAN, and WAN status indicators on the top. There's also a button that you can press to search for any new lights that you've added to the system.

You can control your lights remotely using an iOS or Android mobile device but TCP does not offer a web app which lets you log in from a PC that isn't directly connected to your local network. In other words, you can't use your PC or Mac browser to control things remotely via the web.

The mobile app has three small tabs at the bottom of the screen labeled My Lights, Smart Control, and Settings. The Settings menu has four areas; in the Your Lights & Fixtures area you can name each bulb, change the room name and icon, and choose a control group for the discrete remote. You can also change the room name and color icon in the Manage Rooms area, as well as add or delete lights for each room.

Finally, the My Lights section lets you view and control individual lights for each room. Here you can tap on each bulb to turn it on and off or dim it using the slider control. You can also use the room buttons at the bottom of the screen to control every bulb in the room at the same time (on, off, and dim).

Smart Controls let you create scenes, or schedules, for each light. With the Schedule option you can have the lights turn on and off at specific times and specific days of the week, or you can just have them to turn on at sunset and off at sunrise.