Aura Kasih
IKEA has unveiled a significant enhancement to its beloved Varmblixt lamp, transforming its whimsical donut-inspired design into a sophisticated smart home accessory, complete with dynamic color-changing capabilities, adjustable dimming, and seamless integration into modern connected living ecosystems.
The Varmblixt, already a celebrated piece for its playful aesthetic reminiscent of a confectionary delight, has undergone a remarkable technological evolution. This updated iteration transcends its role as a mere decorative item, emerging as a fully functional smart lighting solution. The introduction of color-changing LEDs, precise dimming controls, and robust smart home compatibility positions the Varmblixt as a compelling option for consumers seeking both style and substance in their home décor. Testing in a contemporary teenage bedroom setting revealed its efficacy as a versatile bedside lamp, capable of imbuing a personal space with a nuanced and engaging ambiance. The user experience, even from a discerning 15-year-old, garnered a notable commendation for its aesthetic and functional appeal, a testament to its successful fusion of design and technology.
A Design That Captures the Imagination, Enhanced by Modern Intelligence
The Varmblixt’s defining characteristic is its distinctive, rounded form, which evokes the universally appealing imagery of a donut. This design allows for dual functionality: it can be elegantly mounted on a wall, serving as a striking wall sconce, or positioned flat on a surface as a table lamp. The inclusion of an extended power cable further facilitates flexible placement options within a room. A key differentiator between this smart iteration and its predecessor is the material finish. While the original Varmblixt featured a glossy exterior, the new smart version boasts a sophisticated matte finish. This subtle textural change not only enhances its visual appeal but also serves to accentuate the broader spectrum of colors it can now display. The earlier model was limited to a singular orange hue, whereas the smart Varmblixt unlocks a vibrant palette, offering a far more dynamic and personalized lighting experience.
At a retail price point of $100, the Varmblixt positions itself as a premium, yet accessible, smart home accessory. For those familiar with the market for accent lighting, this price point represents considerable value. While its light output of 180 lumens is not engineered for task-specific illumination, it provides a more than adequate glow for creating atmosphere or offering gentle light in a smaller room. The bright white setting is sufficiently luminous to cast a usable light, making it ideal for ambient settings rather than focused work.
Intuitive Control and Curated Color Palettes
Ease of use is a paramount consideration with the Varmblixt. An integrated button on the device itself provides a simple and immediate method for turning the light on or off. Complementing this is the included Bilresa remote control, which comes pre-paired for immediate functionality. This remote features two intuitive buttons that offer comprehensive control over the lamp’s features. Users can effortlessly switch the light on or off, adjust its brightness through a stepless dimming mechanism, and cycle through twelve preset color options. These curated colors, carefully selected by the lamp’s designer, renowned artist Sabine Marcelis, span a range of whites, blues, greens, pinks, oranges, and yellows, offering a thoughtfully composed spectrum designed to complement various moods and decors.
The lamp’s LED bulb is engineered for longevity, boasting an impressive lifespan of 25,000 hours. Furthermore, a significant advantage for long-term ownership is the user-replaceability of the bulb, a feature often overlooked in integrated LED fixtures. The Bilresa remote also utilizes readily available AAA batteries, which are generally more economical and easier to source than the coin-cell batteries commonly found in other smart home remotes.
Expanding Horizons: Smart Home Integration and Ecosystem Compatibility
The Varmblixt’s smart capabilities are significantly amplified when integrated into a broader smart home ecosystem. Through IKEA’s dedicated Home Smart app, and by utilizing the Dirigera hub (priced at $109), users unlock a vast array of functionalities. This integration allows for access to hundreds of additional colors beyond the preset twelve, enabling precise customization of the lighting environment. Furthermore, users can establish automated schedules for the light, create personalized sleep and wake-up routines, and seamlessly pair the lamp with other smart devices such as motion sensors and additional lights within the same room.
The lamp is also fully compatible with Matter, the emerging smart home standard. This allows for integration with established platforms like Apple Home, Google Home, and Amazon Alexa, offering an alternative to the Dirigera hub for users who already possess a Matter-compatible controller, such as an Apple HomePod, Amazon Echo Show, or Google TV Streamer. A key feature enabled by Matter is Adaptive Lighting, which can dynamically adjust the white light hue throughout the day to mimic natural daylight patterns, promoting well-being and circadian rhythm synchronization. Apple Home’s Adaptive Lighting feature is also supported.
Navigating the Smart Home Landscape: IKEA’s Matter Initiative
The Varmblixt is a significant component of IKEA’s expanding smart home portfolio, which now features an array of affordable devices, with many starting at under $10. A cornerstone of this new generation of smart products is their reliance on Matter-over-Thread connectivity, a departure from the Zigbee protocol employed in IKEA’s earlier TRÅDFRI line. This strategic shift to Matter signals IKEA’s commitment to future-proofing its smart home offerings and ensuring broader interoperability within the evolving smart home landscape. The suite of new Matter devices includes smart bulbs like the KAJPLATS, motion sensors such as the MYGGS PRAY, the GRILLPLATS smart plug, the BIL RESA smart buttons, the TIMMERFLOTTE temperature and humidity sensor, and the ALPSTUGA indoor air quality monitor.
The universal compatibility of these Matter devices, whether paired with the Dirigera hub or any Matter-supported platform, eliminates the need for proprietary hubs for users who have already invested in Thread-enabled Matter controllers. This democratization of smart home technology is a crucial step towards wider adoption.
While the promise of Matter is substantial, the initial rollout has encountered some challenges. Like other manufacturers introducing Matter-over-Thread devices, IKEA has experienced intermittent connectivity issues, both with its Dirigera hub and various Matter platforms. The company has been actively addressing these concerns through a series of software updates for the Dirigera hub over recent months. These updates appear to have mitigated many of the initial problems, and the Varmblixt lamp and its accompanying remote have demonstrated improved stability and reliability in testing. The initial onboarding process for the Varmblixt and remote to the Dirigera hub was successful on the first attempt, and connectivity has remained largely stable throughout a week of continuous use.
The integration into Apple Home via Matter presented a slightly more protracted setup process, requiring multiple attempts before a stable connection was established. However, the subsequent sharing of the device from Apple Home to the IKEA Home Smart app using Matter’s Multi-Admin feature proved unsuccessful. The most effective method for achieving dual-platform functionality involved initially pairing the lamp with the Dirigera hub, then generating a Matter code within the IKEA Home Smart app to connect it to Apple Home.
Standalone Charm and Enhanced Functionality
A key advantage of the Varmblixt, distinguishing it from other smart lighting products, is its operational independence. It functions effectively with its included remote right out of the box, without the necessity of a central hub. The setup process is remarkably straightforward, eschewing the often-complex pairing procedures associated with IKEA’s older TRÅDFRI system. Even though the remote was not pre-paired, IKEA’s typically minimalist instructions provided clear guidance for connecting the lamp and remote with a few simple button presses. Once paired, the lamp responded promptly to single-press actions for power, double-presses for color changes, and long-presses for dimming. Minor occasional lag was observed after connecting to the Dirigera hub, but this did not detract significantly from the overall user experience.
Connecting the lamp to the Dirigera hub involved a reset of both the lamp and the Bilresa remote, followed by scanning their respective Matter QR codes into the Home Smart app via an iPhone. Upon successful connection and placement within the same virtual room in the app, the option to pair the remote directly with the lamp became available.
The IKEA Home Smart app unlocks a comprehensive suite of control options. Users can remotely adjust brightness, select from an extensive spectrum of colors and tunable whites, activate adaptive lighting, and define custom scenes. The app also offers pre-set Sleep/Wake scenes, which gradually adjust the lamp’s brightness over a 30-minute period, providing an ideal transition into and out of sleep, particularly suited for a bedroom environment.
With the remote integrated into the Home Smart ecosystem, its functionality can be further enhanced. It can be configured as a scene controller, allowing users to activate custom scenes created within the app with various button presses. This provides the flexibility to instantly conjure specific lighting ambiances, such as the preferred purple hue that complements the room’s decor, or other scenes tailored to different activities. The remote’s capability to manage multiple lights means that if a room is outfitted with additional IKEA or Matter-compatible lighting and smart plugs, the Bilresa remote can orchestrate them all, a remarkable feat for a device priced at just $6.
Synergistic Integration and Future Potential
Further enhancing the Varmblixt’s utility, connecting it to the Dirigera hub enables seamless integration with IKEA’s new $9 MYGGS PRAY motion sensor. This allows for automated lighting control, where the lamp can be programmed to illuminate automatically upon detecting motion. The app provides basic customization options for motion detection sensitivity and timing. The affordability of such accessories, with motion sensors and smart buttons previously costing upwards of $30, underscores the increasing accessibility of advanced smart home features.
The Varmblixt represents a new benchmark in affordable, stylish, and functional smart lighting. Its design aesthetic, broad feature set when integrated with smart home platforms, and ability to harmonize with home decor make it a standout product. It successfully marries form and function in an aesthetically pleasing package.
In a market often saturated with smart lighting products that prioritize flashy RGB effects, the Varmblixt offers a more versatile and sophisticated approach. While competitors like Govee and Nanoleaf offer vibrant color displays, the Varmblixt’s appeal lies in its subtler elegance and broader applicability. Brands such as Philips Hue and LIFX provide aesthetically pleasing fixtures, but at a significantly higher price point, and often without the user-replaceable bulb feature. IKEA, leveraging its heritage in home furnishings, its commitment to affordability, and the artistic vision of Sabine Marcelis, has delivered a smart lamp that is not only visually appealing but also exceptionally practical and economically sound.
Photography and videography by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge
Lisa Mariana