Which Philips Hue lightstrip should you buy?

Philips Hue sells more lightstrips than any other product type, and the range has just been through its biggest shake-up in years. Solo, OmniGlow, Flux Ultra Bright, Gradient, Lightstrip Plus, Play Gradient, and three different outdoor strips all sit on the shelf at once, some arriving and some on the way out. The names give you no clue which is which.

This guide sorts them. Every strip here connects over Zigbee and joins the rest of your Hue setup through a Hue Bridge, and most of the indoor strips also run over Bluetooth on their own. What separates them is colour handling, brightness, whether you can cut or extend them, and where they can live.

The range at a glance

One colour or a gradient

The first question to settle is whether the strip shows one colour at a time or several along its run. Length and brightness come second.

Solo and Lightstrip Plus are single-zone. Pick red and the whole strip is red. That is fine behind a bedhead or under a kitchen cabinet, and it is why they cost half as much per metre.

OmniGlow, Flux, Gradient and the two new outdoor strips are gradient strips: different sections of the strip can show different colours at the same time, so a sunset scene actually looks like a sunset rather than a single orange stripe. Hue calls the blending on the newer strips ChromaSync. If you are lighting a ceiling cove or wall-washing a living room, the gradient strips are the ones that produce the effect you have seen in the marketing shots.

The current indoor range

Solo: the value pick

Solo is the strip to start with. Every length puts out the same 1,700 lumens at its brightest, which is more than the old Lightstrip Plus managed, and the 10m run is the longest single strip Hue has ever sold at $294.95. It is wrapped in a silicone sleeve, bends around corners, and can be cut to length. The one hard limit: it cannot be extended. Buy the length you need, because you cannot add to it later.

Solo also runs over Bluetooth straight from the Hue app, so it works before you own a Bridge.

OmniGlow: the one designed to be seen

Every other strip on this page assumes you will hide it behind a pelmet or under a shelf. OmniGlow is built to be looked at: its LEDs sit close enough together that the strip reads as one continuous line of light with no visible dots. Run it along open shelving or up a wall in plain view. It is a gradient strip, brighter than Solo, and like Solo it can be cut but not extended. At $279.95 for 3m you are paying for the finish.

Flux Ultra Bright: the powerhouse, and the only one that extends

Flux Ultra Bright is the brightest indoor strip Hue makes, reaching 4,800 lumens on the 5m version. That is enough to light a room from a cove, not just decorate it. It is also the only strip in the current range you can extend, with a 2m extension at $99.95, which makes it the default for long ceiling runs. It is a gradient strip and it is meant to be concealed: mount it out of sight and let the wall carry the light.

The TV strip: Play Gradient

The Play Gradient lightstrip is a different product wearing the same name. It clips to the back of your TV in three sizes (55", 65" and 75"+, from $429.95) and projects colour onto the wall behind the screen. To make it mirror what you are watching, you need two more boxes: a Hue Bridge and the HDMI Sync Box, which sits between your sources and the TV. Without the Sync Box it still works as a normal gradient light with scenes and automations. It just cannot follow the screen. Budget for the full chain before you commit.

Outdoor strips

The outdoor strips run on Hue's low-voltage outdoor system: a weatherproof strip fed by a plug-in power supply, rated IP67 so weather and hose water are fine. None of them can be cut or extended.

Neon Outdoor ($399.95) is the outdoor answer to OmniGlow, a dot-free line of light for eaves and garden edges. Flux Outdoor ($299.95) is nearly three times brighter and built to be hidden, washing light across a wall or deck. Both include their own power supply and can also join an existing Hue low-voltage run.

If you are chaining several outdoor lights off one supply, that is what the 40W ($104.95) and 100W ($149.95) outdoor power supplies are for. Each strip draws 30W, so the maths matters: a 40W supply runs one strip, and the 100W unit gives you headroom to combine.

The older Lightstrip Outdoor (2m and 5m) is single-colour, needs a Bridge (no Bluetooth fallback), and is now in run-out. It is only worth buying at clearance pricing, and only if you are happy with one colour at a time.

What Hue is discontinuing

In late 2025, Signify began phasing out four strips: Lightstrip Plus, the indoor Gradient lightstrip, the first-generation Solo, and Lightstrip Outdoor. All are still on Australian shelves while stock sells through, mostly at deep discounts.

A run-out strip can be a genuine bargain, with two warnings.

First, extensions are family-specific. Lightstrip Plus extensions only fit Lightstrip Plus, Gradient extensions only fit Gradient, and neither fits anything in the new range. Hue's own compatibility notes say even Plus and Gradient parts do not interchange. If you buy a discontinued 2m base planning to extend it later, the extensions will only get scarcer.

Second, there is no official replacement map, but the pattern is clear enough: OmniGlow and Solo take over from Lightstrip Plus, Flux takes over from the Gradient lightstrip, and Flux Outdoor replaces Lightstrip Outdoor. If you are starting fresh, start in the new range.

Which strip for which job

• Under-cabinet or behind a bedhead: Solo. Single colour is all you see at that distance, and it is the cheapest way in.
• Ceiling cove or indirect room lighting: Flux Ultra Bright. Brightest, and extendable for long runs.
• Visible shelf or feature line: OmniGlow. It is the only one that looks finished when exposed.
• TV backlight: Play Gradient, and budget for the Bridge and Sync Box.
• Alfresco or garden: Flux Outdoor for brightness, Neon Outdoor for a visible neon line.
• Long single-colour runs on a budget: Lightstrip Plus at run-out pricing, eyes open about extensions.

Whichever you choose, our guide to buying Philips Hue in Australia covers the Bridge question, bayonet fittings and local stock, and if Hue's pricing is the sticking point, the wider best LED strip lights guide covers the alternatives we stock.