Good idea to use Wifi Bulbs if wifi is spotty?

Since you want to use them with an Echo pop that doesn’t have zigbee, I fail to see the alternative. You could always choose another protocol and have a hub of that protocol, but you’re always going to need wifi for the echo.

As per the controller software, I would just like to say that Home Assistant (/r/homeassistant) is by far the most used one. It’s also one of the most active open source projects on GitHub.