'Is It Snappy?' is an iOS app that I use to diagnose whether LED bulbs are going to be shit in stores before I buy them. The IKEA bulbs have been cheap and decent.
You can also use any electronic rolling shutter with manual shutter speed - e.g. an Android phone with Camera2 API support and any of several camera apps with full manual settings. Set the shutter speed fairly high and preview or photograph the light source; flicker appears as scanlines, e.g. https://i.imgur.com/6kSoSfX.jpg.
FWIW I bought four IKEA bulbs a few years ago and all of them made a low buzzing sound. Couldn't stand them anywhere but the bathroom.
On the other hand, if you're looking for IoT light bulbs, their Tradfri system is a lot cheaper than Hue and I've read that their gateway has reasonable security practices and a good API. I would bet that those are more premium products that they wouldn't have released without making sure the electronics are quiet.
> FWIW I bought four IKEA bulbs a few years ago and all of them made a low buzzing sound. Couldn't stand them anywhere but the bathroom.
LED or CFL? The latest batch of LED's they've only had about a year, the phosphors were switched around in their 1000 lumen (lm) and 1600lm E26 bulbs. They also advertise 100lm/W.
These are not the junky dirt cheap 80lm/W 60W (800lm) equiv bulbs that you can pick up everywhere now (and I don't recommend for lighting a room).
Also, watch for open boxes, I bought ~$200 in bulbs last time and one of the globe bulbs I bought was an obvious return and did not work.
Old HN thread about the iOS app: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14023196