Essentials Matter Bluetooth & WiFi Smart Multicolor LED Lightstrip 200" Smarter Kit (5m) - RGB & Whites, Controller, App & Voice Control (Works with Apple Home, Google Home)

So I want to start off and say I have had a bunch of LED strips, I started with the Cync by GE light strips that kept disconnecting and we’re super unreliable, I replaced those with some Govee light strips that were cheap and reliable but they were dim, didn’t have real white LEDs, and were slow to respond. I have hue bulbs all over my house but the Hue light strips are just too expensive. I have an Apple TV 4K to control these lights over Thread, and these lights are just as responsive and reliable as my Phillips Hue bulbs for a lot less money. They are really bright, the box said each strip is 2200 lumens. The colors are also very vibrant but not as bright as the white. The white is also adjustable from a warm tungsten white to a cool daylight, they can also change with the time of day through homekit. So automatically during the day they will be daylight balanced, and at knight they will turn warmer and reduce their blue light output. Homekit integration was super easy, just Sven the weather code in the package or the code printed on the bottom of the controller. They are very well built, the actual hardware feels premium, and they are really sticky. My complaints would be that they are short so you will need a lot of them. Also the cable from the strip to the controller is short also it is flat and stiff making it a little tricky to hide the controller box if you need to. Anyways I would highly recommend these lights, they were easy to set up, cheaper than the hue light strips, far more reliable than the Cync light strips, and are brighter than the Govee light strips with real white LEDs unlike the govees.

Over the last year, I have become a big fan of Nanoleaf products. I find them very reliable, easy to install and use, and wonderfully functional. I recently changed to a dual-monitor setup for work and I wanted to add some lighting to them. Because my monitors are mounted to the wall and I don’t move their position, I decided to opt for the 5 meter Nanoleaf Essentials Matter light strips to wrap around the back of both monitors. The length was more than enough so I brought it down to light the back of my desk as well, and these lights are meeting all of my expectations. Wonderful color selection, brightness adjustment, super smooth gradients. I love the “scenes” function because I was able to create my own gradient that matches the gentle, smooth rainbow gradient that is on my keyboard so everything looks very cohesive. The biggest winning factor for me is the significant reduction of eye strain as my desk is in a darker corner of my home and staring at the screen for nine hours can get difficult. I have tried other cheap RGB strips in the past and all of them left me wanting, especially when they come with those tiny remotes that always get lost, so I am now a loyal customer to Nanoleaf. I love the app, easy installation, hassle-free beautiful lighting that makes my house feel like home. 5/5.

I was on the lookout for a ~6ft long homekit-native LED strip - and Thread connectivity was a bonus. This fits that criteria, and it's a good price. However, they make a couple of claims that I would consider to be... questionable at best. First, the product title says "with remote" - and I think most people would assume that a lightstrip "with a remote" would mean a wireless remote. Cheap $10 strips from overseas have those. But no, they are referring to the fact that the control box, which is attached to the light strip via a 4 inch long cable, has buttons on it that you can press to control the lights. I would call that "on-board controls", not a "remote". Be aware of that if you wanted to take advantage of the "remote". Secondly, the item description says "Dynamic color-changing Scenes with customizable motions like Fade, Highlight, and Random. Transition colors slowly for an ambience that sets the perfect mood, or turn up the speed to get the party started" - BUT, you can only take advantage of that if you use their janky third-party app to control the lights. If you wanted to connect this thing up to your Apple Home and use an automation to fade the lights off - you're out of luck. With Homekit, all you can do is instantly-switch the lights to whatever color and brightness you want. No fades, no transitions. I really wish there was a simple toggle option to "always fade to requested color", over 1 second or whatever - EVEN if I have to use their app to configure it the first time. Those gripes out of the way - this is really a nicely-executed Homekit device. It has NFC for adding the device intially as well as having the QR code if your device doesn't support NFC. It automatically added as Thread since I have a Thread router, and it's behaved perfectly since added. Always instant response. If they had an upgraded version of this light strip for $10 more that supported pre-configurable transitions, I'd be all over that as well.

The whole system was rather good. AT FIRST. The app on IOS adds into the HOME automation app and then to adjust colors it isn't completely intuitive. But that's a nitpick. I would have given 4.5 stars. I had the lights and puck rather well secured and nothing was moving. But then after a few weeks there was some sporadic flicker and blinking. Then a few weeks later they wouldn't change color or were stuck on a color I hadn't picked. A videoconference where I was redfaced. I was amused ... but then nothing would change off of red using the software. Turn out the connector was weak. A little re-seating and back ok for a little while. THen the connector just failed.. a little more than a week after the return policy expired. So if you only want to use this product for a few weeks, this may be the purchase for you. if you want to use it for longer, look elsewhere.

Works great, bright, and wide array of colors. Light strip bends quite easily, making it simple to attach to something like the back of my TV. Works seamlessly with Homekit, easy setup, have not had any problems with it disconnecting, which is an issue I have had with other light strips. The option to have it react to sound is pretty cool too. For the price, I would highly recommend

This strip is good for one thing only: color-specific accent lighting. If you’re after precise colors, you’ll be very happy. If you just want white/neutral room lighting, and think of this as an “upgrade” over the Essentials strip with color as a bonus feature, you’ll be very sad. Compared to their older “essentials” strip, this one is significantly dimmer, can’t be extended, and doesn’t support the “circadian lighting” feature. So, in a room that contains an existing essentials strip, it’s an annoying and distracting mis-match, and you do NOT want to pair them in Apple Home or the new one works even worse. I’m going to have to move this one behind a TV or something, and get another of the old strips for room lighting. It’s still a quality product, and the setup and connectivity have been bulletproof. I think it’s mostly a failure of documentation and positioning on Nanoleaf’s part. They should just make clear that this is really only intended for colored accent lighting. Then people like me wouldn’t get annoyed by misunderstanding what it’ll be good for. But here’s what still surprises me: if it’s intended for accent lighting, behind TV’s and furniture… why don’t they provide/support cuts and corner connectors, which you need if you’re going to match the shape and size of furniture?? For $60, with easy installation, I guess it’s still a fair price. But there’s an annoying gap in the market between “no-brainer” light strips you can’t do anything with and the pro-grade stuff you can customize. Not their fault, I guess, but corner-connectors don’t seem like such a huge ask…

We have bought Nanoleaf products starting 5 years ago. They have worked exactly as advertised and are easy to operate using either the Nanoleaf app or Apple Home kit. They look great and have offer a great variety of colors and patterns and it is very easy to adjust the brightness. Although the lights are small they are bright enough to light a medium sized room. The lights are very thin and the adhesive was easy to apply and sticks to a variety of surfaces.

Okay I don’t often review something unless it truly amazes me or piss me off. These lights are amazing. I don’t even know why I had hue lights to begin with. Easy set up. No need to pay extra for a bridge. Paired fast to my home pod (older version) and has amazing features that I had to buy extra or find free crappy apps to make it work. Example: fading, music pairing etc. and surprisingly bright! I honestly thought my hue was bright but wow (have I said wow a bit too much?nah this thing is great!) and the price is fantastic. I highly recommend this! Only downside so far is I can’t seem to get my Alexa to pair to this one. But I feel I will figure this out eventually.