> On the other hand, going with Phillips Hue or similar will lock me into that ecosystem - which also dictates which lights and switches I could use.
Good news, there's no lock in with Hue. I have about 20 of those bulbs around my house and they all work great with the generic Zigbee coordinator attached to my Home Assistant box. I don't use the Hue Hub, nor do I use the app.
Alongside those bulbs I have another 15-ish Sengled bulbs that also speak Zigbee. They're cheaper and similar in quality, but the color temps don't get as low as Hue. (2700K vs. 2200K on the Hue)
Only caveat with the Hue bulbs is that if you need to reset them for any reason, you'll need either a Hue Hub or one of their dimmers to do that. So I guess there's a little lock-in on that front, but it's not an ecosystem thing where you're stuck.
Good news, there's no lock in with Hue. I have about 20 of those bulbs around my house and they all work great with the generic Zigbee coordinator attached to my Home Assistant box. I don't use the Hue Hub, nor do I use the app.
Alongside those bulbs I have another 15-ish Sengled bulbs that also speak Zigbee. They're cheaper and similar in quality, but the color temps don't get as low as Hue. (2700K vs. 2200K on the Hue)
Only caveat with the Hue bulbs is that if you need to reset them for any reason, you'll need either a Hue Hub or one of their dimmers to do that. So I guess there's a little lock-in on that front, but it's not an ecosystem thing where you're stuck.