After reading reviews, I was pretty nervous about ordering these seems how some people made it seem like a lottery order with quite a few different complaints. That could still be the case. Several people mentioned black or white bottom bulbs, but I'm still not sure what that means, since I didn't see anyone who mentioned them post a picture of the different kinds they were talking about.
But in any case, when I ordered the 4 pack they were all the same, as pictured with box, and they all work. The exact model is KL130 for anyone who's curious. I got the 4 pack because I was worried about getting mismatched versions, so I guess at least in my case that worked. I just ordered a second 4 pack to do the rest of my apartment, so if they wind up being different, I'll come back and say so.
I also read one review that said the bulbs were off and wouldn't go in their sockets which gave me doubts as well, but they do, in fact, fit into a standard socket. I got 3 of my 4 pack into my overhead fan light (the standard kind with gold metal, ridged glass and brown wood blades you see in apartments everywhere), then tested the remainder out in my bathroom mirror 4-light strip (again, the cheap medicine cabinet kind you see in low rent apartments everywhere) and then again into my old-timey touch lamp and it worked in all of them, so unless you have exotic fixtures of some kind, you're good to go. Also slightly surprised that they worked in my touch lamp, so if you were wondering about that, just touch to the highest light setting and you're good to go.
I was also kind of worried about how the setup would go since a few people said it was wonky, but not how and I didn't see the actual process pop right up in the first few pages of reviews, so I'll just include it here:
1. Download the "Kasa Smart" app, create a login and verify your email.
2. Put a light into your target fixture, turn it on to make sure it works, then turn it back off again.
3. Hit the plus sign in the upper right hand corner of the app.
4. Tap on the "Device" option
5. Tap on the "Smart light" option
6. Tap on the "Smart bulb KL100 series" option
7. The first prompt says "First, make sure the power is off on the light you're replacing. Swap the current bulb with the smart bulb", you've already done this, so tap "Next".
8. The next prompt says "Power on the light, wait about 5 seconds until the smart bulb blinks 3 times". Do that and then hit next.
9. It'll connect and then ask you to sign into your wifi.
10. You'll get a prompt for your bulb to update, do that.
11. Give the bulb a name.
12. Done
Optional #1: If you want to put a cluster of bulbs into a group so they all change colors/dim simultaneously like I wanted to with my 3 fan lights, make sure you've set each bulb up separately, then hit the + sign in the upper right hand corner and tap "group". Then select the bulbs you want to put in a group and give it a name. The main interface page will show groups on top as well as each individual bulb below.
Optional #2: Set up with your Alexa/Google/whatever. I jumped the gun on connecting Alexa before I added the bulbs and she announced each time one was installed that I could now control "TP underscore ... blah blah blah" by talking to her. Kind of highlights the importance of the names if you're going to be doing this because no way are you saying its given device name to control it. I mean, unless you're into that kind of thing, no judgement, but not for me.
Even though *I think* I got the model everyone was a bit displeased with, aside from putting in the wrong wifi password on the first attempt and having to delete and reinstall the app to fix it, setup was surprisingly easy and quick. Zero wonkiness actually wound up happening, so another win.
In terms of brightness and color versatility, when it's at it's brightest in white, I can't tell the difference between it and the intense spiral LED's it replaced...which is to say they're capable of being blinding if that's what you need.
For color versatility you legitimately get a whole color wheel to choose a color with and then the hardest part is really just picking one since all the colors look pretty cool. In an entirely dark room at night, the colors at full brightness somehow give a dimmed feel while still providing all the light you could want to look around with. As a dark mode everything person, it's a strange surprise best of both worlds scenario I keep double checking when I think it's actually dimmed by reading the book titles in perfect clarity across the room.
The dimming feature is on a percentage wheel similar to a speedometer and is also pretty nice.
Overall, I'm really happy with my purchase and that the reviews freaked me out for zero reason. If you get the 4 pack and/or the same version bulbs as I did, you should be all good :).
MK
Rustam Alikhodjaev
Winter
Nicholette Altamirano