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I have so many ways to control my Philips Hue lights at home -- my Google Nest Hub, my Pixel Watch 2 or Pixel 9 Pro XL -- that you'd think I'd have no reason to look into any other device to control my lights, because, why?
But when the Philips Hue Wall Tap Dial Light Switch came out, I was immediately intrigued, and decided to grab one with the expectation that I'd probably return it. But quite the opposite ended up happening. I use it everyday in lieu of all the other methods I used to use.
The Dial will run you $50, and it's almost never on sale. So if you're looking to buy one, and you see any sort of discount, I'd suggest you just go for it. The biggest discount I've ever seen is happening right now, thanks to Amazon's Labor Day sale. Right now, the Tap Dial is 7% off, but you can apply an additional 15% coupon, saving you nearly 25% off a device that's rarely on sale to begin with.
If you're not keen on Hue's typical high price tags, you can find even deeper discounts on Govee's excellent lights right now.
What I like about this light switch
The Dial itself looks like a hockey puck with four buttons on the face, with a rotating outer wheel to brighten or dim your lights. The four buttons each have little dots numbered 1 to 4, so you can feel which button you're pressing, even in the dark. The buttons can be assigned to a single light scene, cycle through all scenes, or activate an automation you've created in the Philips Hue app. The amount of customization you can do with this thing is pretty impressive.
There's something interesting about returning to a physical object to control your lights when initially, the idea was to break away from your light switch. There is a more traditional light switch plate that you can install on your wall (I have mine next to my dusty, neglected light switch). The puck itself is magnetic, so you can easily pop it onto the plate or stick it on your fridge or wherever.
If I had one complaint about the Dial, it'd be a very specific one, and it's that it only works with one room or "zone" in your home at a time. While you can reassign the Dial to another room from within the app, I'd love the option of having each of the buttons control different scenes for different rooms. I tend to only use one button since it cycles through my scenes, leaving the remaining three buttons largely left untouched.
That specific complaint likely won't matter to most people, and it still doesn't keep me from highly recommending the Philips Hue Wall Tap Dial Light Switch. For more, check out the best Labor Day deals under $25.