The Philips Skylight is a successful roof window illusion
23-10-2026
Translation: machine translated
Pictures: Martin Jungfer
Do you have your office in the basement or a bathroom without natural light? Then the Philips Skylight might be something for you. It brings the blue sky into the room. I have tried out the lamp.
What do submarines, intelligence agency torture chambers, and staff cabins on cruise ships have in common? No daylight. The typical windowless Swiss bathroom also fits into this category. Architects often build for floor area ratio, rather than for you to see the morning sun while putting on makeup or shaving.
With the Skylight, you can "transform rooms," as the manufacturer puts it. Specifically, by having the lamp "bring the feeling of daylight indoors." Furthermore, it helps regulate your biological clock and can even support the body's natural vitamin D production.
Is this lamp the enlightenment many people wish for? Philips offers me a lamp for a test. I accept, because there is a room in a vacation apartment that has no window and only gets a little daylight from the hallway. I install the lamp there, supported by an expert. Christoph is an electrician and has screwed more lamps into ceilings and walls in his life than I have written articles for the magazine.
Together with him, I unpack the Skylight from the box. For the test, I received the small version. It measures 45 by 65 centimeters and is eight centimeters high. The larger version is even 90 centimeters long by 60 centimeters wide.
The first impression is positive. The lamp is well protected by cardboard; there is no Styrofoam or plastic. The Skylight is additionally packed in a kind of pillowcase. Besides the lamp, the box contains instructions for assembly and operation, safety instructions, a remote control, the ceiling mount, as well as screws and wall plugs.
The Skylight consists of a white metal frame and a plastic panel that looks like frosted glass. Everything is cleanly and high-quality processed; there are no sharp burrs that otherwise often occur in the injection molding process. The lamp feels smooth all around.
How do you mount the Skylight?
The metal provides weight: The Skylight weighs a good six kilograms. This also explains why the ceiling mount should be installed with ten screws. However, Christoph and I daringly decide that we will only drill eight holes (five millimeters) into the solid concrete ceiling. The work is done quickly – especially for him as a professional with a professional tool, i.e., a hammer drill with real power and a vacuum cleaner attachment.
We mark the holes with a pencil. Philips has designed the frame cleverly. This makes it possible to attach the lamp straight even if the drilling is not perfectly precise, for example, exactly parallel to the edge between the ceiling and the room wall.
We use the screws and wall plugs that Philips included. They are not brand-name products, but good enough. With the cordless screwdriver, the screws are sunk within minutes, and the frame sits firmly on the ceiling.
Now it's time to hang the lamp. And that is meant literally here. Two steel cables with carabiners connect the lamp to the ceiling mount. As soon as the Skylight is secured this way, Christoph gets to work on the electrical wiring. He puts the wires from the ceiling into the plastic block with terminal strips. They are the old-fashioned screw-type ones. In the price range of the lamp, modern push-in terminals would also be nice, says Christoph. Finally, the ground wire is connected.
Now the vertically hanging and wired lamp just needs to be moved horizontally to the ceiling. For this, we position it on the wall mount and then slide it just under two centimeters so that it clicks into place. That is clever. To remove it, it is enough to push the Skylight slightly upwards against the ceiling and slide it in the opposite direction. Then it is released again.
The mechanism has one small disadvantage: A gap of a few millimeters remains between the ceiling and the top edge of the lamp. The Skylight is therefore not visually completely connected to the ceiling.
How does the Skylight shine?
The gap is forgotten as soon as I switch on the lamp for the first time. After pressing the light switch, it consumes 40 watts and shines with full intensity, i.e., 3800 lumens. For context: That is the brightness of six old 60-watt light bulbs or one modern LED construction spotlight.
The Skylight emits light through the milky rectangular surface in the frame. This actually creates the illusion of a skylight. Especially because the lamp works with sky-blue light in "Energize" mode. The installed LEDs do not illuminate the inside of the frame evenly, which creates a shadow effect like a real window. The small room where we mounted the Skylight looks much brighter, and it seems to me as if there were suddenly a window up on the ceiling.
In the following video, you can see the light effect when I cycle through the different modes.
A few practical figures on the luminosity: At a distance of about one meter from the lamp, I measure 400 lux in the strongest "Energize" mode. In offices, according to labor inspectorates, an illuminance of 500 lux must be reached. For this, there are often corresponding lights above the desks. The Skylight from Philips achieves almost the same brightness, even though it hangs at a ceiling height of 2.60 meters in my case.
My test device has a bonus: It is equipped with the VitaUp module. The Skylight emits light with UVB radiation after pressing the button on the remote control.
Our body needs UVB radiation to produce vitamin D. Philips is not allowed to claim that the lamp produces vitamin D in users. There is no scientific evidence for this. Therefore, phrases like "can support" are used. The radiation from the Skylight is also still factors lower than during a walk at lunchtime. But: The light from the Skylight hits the skin with the right wavelength for vitamin D production, i.e., with about 280 to 320 nanometers.
How do you operate the Skylight?
As written above, the easiest way for me to operate the Skylight is via the light switch on the wall. However, I don't get the maximum out of the lamp that way. Because it offers five different brightness levels: "Refresh," "Energize," "Focus," "Relax," and "Rest." The first three levels are the brightest, the other two are significantly darker. Regardless of these preset light levels, you can set and adjust the brightness as desired.
For this, there is a remote control. I pair it with the lamp by pressing and holding the power button. The remote control reacts to touch but provides no haptic feedback. It is also not illuminated, which makes switching it on in the dark difficult. Especially because the device is square and I cannot feel the power button placed at the top left. It is more practical, however, that the small panel is magnetic. So I can attach it to a metal surface. Or I use the small metal plate included in the delivery and stick it to the wall. This way, the Skylight remote control is always well organized.
Ideally, you don't touch the remote control all day. Namely, when you use the "Auto Rhythm." With this option, you switch on the Skylight, whereupon it simulates the light over the course of a day. Philips recommends starting the mode between six and eight o'clock in the evening. Then the duration of the light scenes best matches reality. The Skylight itself has no built-in clock. Also annoying: Even at night, the Skylight never gets completely dark; it remains in "Rest" mode, where it still glows minimally. This disqualifies the daily rhythm mode for any bedroom.
I can activate the vitamin D mode via remote control. However, there is no display on the panel indicating whether the mode is currently active. I have to look up at the Skylight for that, where a small blue LED lights up.
And what about Hue?
Perhaps you only clicked on the test report because you are a fan of Philips' Hue system. You might have already considered how to integrate the Skylight into your scenes. Well, I have to disappoint you.
The Skylight series is not compatible with Hue. Even though the lamp comes from the same company. Even though one would wish for it and could also expect it. After all, the Skylight in the small version already costs around 500 francs. Even a table lamp for a fraction of the price is Hue-capable. Well, Philips has decided to bring the Skylights to market without smart control, no Zigbee, no WLAN, no Matter over Thread. Nothing. For me, a missed opportunity.
Those who want to can use a workaround. For this, you use a wall switch module. This way, you can at least switch the Skylight on and off via the Hue app. However, scene control or lighting mode still do not work.
Lighting accessories
EUR54,90
Philips Hue Wall-mounted switch module (1-channel) for non-smart bulbs, single pack
In a nutshell
A successful illusion that would be even better if it were smart
What the Philips Skylight can do was previously more common in professional settings, such as offices, lobbies, and medical practices. The lamp provides a very successful illusion of a skylight. This is achieved because the light intensity and temperature, in combination with the frame, create a play of shadows. Despite a total of ten screws, the installation is quite manageable even for laypeople. The Skylight also impresses with a clear and easy-to-understand remote control. Only the circadian rhythm mode clouds the positive overall impression. To use it, I must turn on the Skylight in the early evening and live with the fact that it never gets completely dark. For Hue fans, it is a disappointment that the lamp cannot be integrated into the smart home – and perhaps even a reason not to buy the lamp.
Pro
- switchable UVB radiation
- uncomplicated ceiling mounting
- intuitive remote control
- five different lighting moods
- Effect like a skylight
Contra
- missing Hue compatibility
- cumbersome start for daily rhythm mode
Martin Jungfer
Head of Content
Martin.Jungfer@digitecgalaxus.chJournalist since 1997. Stopovers in Franconia (or the Franken region), Lake Constance, Obwalden, Nidwalden and Zurich. Father since 2014. Expert in editorial organisation and motivation. Focus on sustainability, home office tools, beautiful things for the home, creative toys and sports equipment.
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