I hear you on the Zigbee thing—I went down a similar road. Ended up mixing cheaper Wi-Fi bulbs in rooms closer to the router and Zigbee for tricky spots. Not perfect, but saved me a few bucks without constant dropouts...
Yeah, mixing Wi-Fi and Zigbee is probably the best compromise. I found adding a cheap Zigbee repeater (like an IKEA Tradfri plug) halfway between tricky spots helps stabilize things even more. Worth a shot if dropouts creep back in...
Good call on the IKEA plugs—I threw a couple into my setup last year and they definitely helped smooth things out. Still get the occasional hiccup, but nothing a quick reset can't fix. Overall, pretty solid for the price.
"Still get the occasional hiccup, but nothing a quick reset can't fix."
Yeah, that's pretty much been my experience too. I went with Philips Hue bulbs a couple years back—bit pricier than IKEA, but they've held up well. Honestly, I was skeptical at first about the whole smart lighting thing... seemed like just another gadget to fuss over. But now, I wouldn't go back. Being able to dim or change colors from the couch is surprisingly handy.
One thing I've noticed though: reliability really depends on your Wi-Fi setup. When I upgraded my router last year, most of those little glitches disappeared overnight. Before that, I'd occasionally have bulbs randomly disconnecting or lagging behind commands. So if you're still getting hiccups regularly, might be worth checking your network strength or placement.
Anyway, sounds like you've got a solid setup going already—nice job keeping it budget-friendly too. Smart home stuff can easily spiral into an expensive hobby if you're not careful... speaking from experience here!
I've had mixed luck with smart bulbs myself. Started out with some budget ones from Amazon—worked okay at first, but they'd randomly disconnect every few weeks. Upgraded to Hue bulbs about a year ago, and it's been smoother sailing since. Agree about Wi-Fi though; once I moved my router to a more central spot, most of the random dropouts stopped. Still get the odd delay here and there, but overall pretty solid now.
