Is lighting a Drift Globe a bonus action?

Question

I'm in a combat...running towards an enemy. I use the first activating word (light vs Daylight)...is it a bonus action? Am I still able to attack when I reach my enemy?

For reference, the Drift Globe item states:

This small sphere of thick glass weighs 1 pound. If you are within 60 feet of it, you can speak its command word and cause it to emanate the light or daylight spell. Once used, the daylight effect can't be used again until the next dawn.

You can speak another command word as an action to make the illuminated globe rise into the air and float no more than 5 feet off the ground [...]

Answer 1

Speaking a command word does not take an action unless it says so

The driftglobe's description reads as follows

This small sphere of thick glass weighs 1 pound. If you are within 60 feet of it, you can speak its command word and cause it to emanate the light or daylight spell. Once used, the daylight effect can't be used again until the next dawn.This small sphere of thick glass weighs 1 pound. If you are within 60 feet of it, you can speak its command word and cause it to emanate the light or daylight spell. Once used, the daylight effect can't be used again until the next dawn.

According to the DMG, one of the things that you can do without using an actions is:

You can communicate however you are able, through brief utterances and gestures, as you take your turn.

Since driftglobe doesn't specify that speaking the command word takes an action or bonus action, it would seem to fall under this category, and thus be treated as a free action

Answer 2

Lighting a Drift Globe is a free speech action

The DMG under Activating an Item says:

Activating some Magic Items requires a user to do something Special, such as holding the item and uttering a Command word. The description of each item category or individual item details how an item is activated.

If an item requires an action to activate, that action isn't a function of the Use an Object action, so a feature such as the rogue's Fast Hands can't be used to activate the item.

From this we understand that if activating an item requires an action it will say so. The same would apply to using a bonus action. This places it now outside of actions into either object interactions or free actions. Generally speech is a free action, so there is no reason to think this would be anything other than a free speech action.