People have been transitioning from traditional sources of lighting to new, efficient and safer ones for some time now. This new trend meant saying goodbye to some much loved traditional lighting bulbs like the incandescent 100W, 70W, 60W, and 40W. Now that traditional bulbs are being phased out, new-age LED bulbs are taking their place.However, this transition hasn&#;t been a smooth one. While we used watt information to judge the power and luminosity of incandescent and fluorescent bulbs, LEDs follow a different scale. You now need to know about Lumen information to gauge the power and intensity of a bulb. This is the reason why choosing the right LED lighting product can be a daunting task.
BLUE DIAMOND contains other products and information you need, so please check it out.
In addition, the LED market has been booming with manufacturers coming out with new and innovative products. So you don&#;t just have one type of bulb to choose from, there is a wide variety of products available. This guide is going to help you narrow down on the LED product that is the best for your space and/or project.
What Kinds of Lighting Options Can You Choose From?
Though LED lighting products are the most efficient way to light your space and projects, they aren&#;t the only way. Even incandescent technology has improved to include bulbs that offer great luminosity while consuming less energy and leaving a smaller carbon footprint.
Before we jump into the details of the different lighting options you can choose from, here is a price comparison chart to help you see the bigger picture.
LEDCFLIncandescentEstimated Lifespan25,000 Hours10,000 Hours HoursWatts Per Bulb8.5W14W60WCost Per Bulb$5$2$1Number Of Bulbs Needed
For 25,000 Hours Of UseKWh Of Electricity Used
Over 25,000 Hours212.5KWh350KWhKWhTotal Cost Of Electricity For
25,000 Hours
(@0.10 per KWh)$21.25$35$150
This chart is helpful in seeing that even though LED light bulbs have a greater cost up front, they save you tons of money in electricity bills and replacement costs later.
Incandescent Lighting
If we ask you to imagine holding a bulb, you&#;ll probably think of an incandescent one. This traditional source of light has been in use for ages. Ever since Thomas Edison invented it, the incandescent bulb has been working the exact same way. Electricity heats a tungsten filament encased in a glass dome making it glow.
Incandescents ruled the world of lighting until the advent of more sophisticated lighting technology like LED. Now most traditional bulbs have already been phased out. However, incandescents aren&#;t dead yet. You can still find some non-traditional versions of these bulbs available in the market. Manufacturers are always looking to tweak the initial design to make them more efficient and environment-friendly.
Fluorescent Lighting
Compact fluorescent lights or CFLs were introduced as a great alternative to incandescents before LEDs hit the market. CFLs consume less energy than incandescents and are more cost effective. They are shaped like an incandescent bulb and used the same standards for determining energy and luminosity requirements. It seemed that they would be great for transitioning to more efficient forms of lighting. However, they didn&#;t make as big a splash in the market as desired.
The main reason for that is the color temperature of the bulbs. The cool white light didn&#;t attract a lot of people. Also, these bulbs tend to require a lot of maintenance. For example, you can&#;t turn them off and on for shorter periods of time because that decreases their life expectancy significantly. They also take some time to reach their full luminosity when turned on. There hasn&#;t been a lot of research and development on CFLs making them non-dimmable. In today&#;s day of smart lighting technology, CFLs simply can&#;t compete.
Halogen Lighting
For people who are not ready to jump on the LED or CFL bandwagon, halogen lighting is the answer. Halogen bulbs look just like incandescent ones, they just have halogen gas in the glass dome surrounding the tungsten filament. This gas helps to push the burnt up tungsten back into the filament so that it burns for longer.
Halogens provide the same amount of luminosity as incandescents while being slightly more efficient. This makes them a more desirable option for people who don&#;t like the color produced by CFLs. Also, CFL bulbs contain traces of mercury, that is harmful to you and the environment. Halogen gas isn&#;t hazardous at all which makes Halogen bulbs more environment-friendly.
LED Lighting
We saved the best for last. LED lighting technology is eons ahead of any other lighting option. Light Emitting Diodes or LEDs are mounted on a microchip and illuminate when electrical current passes through them. The actual process is not that simple, you can learn more about it here.
LED lights are 90% more efficient than incandescent bulbs because they require much less energy to work. They also don&#;t emit heat the same way as traditional sources of lighting. That makes them last longer and environment-friendly. According to Energy Star and Illuminating Engineering, LED lights are supposed to last for decades. This is because they don&#;t burn out like traditional sources of light. Instead they under a phenomenon called &#;lumen depreciation&#;.
According to this phenomenon, LEDs get dimmer and dimmer over a period of time. Engineers test LEDs for 9 months straight to see when the LEDs will start producing light at 70% of their original brightness. This point is called the &#;L70&#; and it is the current standard used to measure the longevity of LED lights. This means that if a LED light says that it will last for 25,000 hours, its really saying that the bulb will last for 25,000 hours to fade to 70% of its brightness.
Though LED lights are the gold standard in lighting nowadays, they aren&#;t without flaws. LED lights are still prone to mechanical, electrical, and physical damages that might render them useless. However, good LED manufacturers offer warranties to ensure you don&#;t have to face the brunt of any unforeseen damage.
Why is LED the Best Lighting Option?
- Energy Efficient
- Led lights can are 90% more energy efficient than traditional sources of lighting
- Cost Effective
- LED lights consume less energy,last for longer,and don&#;t require maintenance saving you lots of money in the long run
- Environment Friendly
- LED lights are not made of harmful materials and have a very small carboon footprint making them safe for the environment
- Versatile
- LED lights can be used to light spaces that traditional sources of light cannot reach. They can also be used as grow lights for your plants
- Durable
- A single LED bulb can last you 25,000 hours giving a hassle-free lighting solution
What are the Different Types of LED Lights?
One of the reasons why LED lights are growing in popularity is that they are extremely versatile, both in terms of types and uses. There are many different varieties of LED lights available in the market. But you can categorize all LED lights into three broad categories.
LED Light Strips
As the name indicates, LED light strips feature a tape that has LEDs and other components mounted on it. LED light strips come in different shapes and sizes. They are extremely versatile. You can use them to light tight spaces and unusual corners. They are also great as grow lights for your plants.
LED light strips are available in different formats:
Flexible LED light strips give you the freedom to easily light any space you want. LED strip lights like and can also be used creatively to light your events and projects. These strips come with adhesives on the back so installing them is fairly simple. You can stick them onto any flat surface easily. You can also use LED aluminum mounts to mount the strips on any surface you want. For its flexibility, you can even use the LED strips to present your robotic welding machine price in a trade show. This would definitely attract a lot clients to visit your booth.
Rigid LED light strips are great for commercial and industrial lighting. If you are the company that manufactures industrial robots for sale, and want to extinguish your industrial robots in the exhibition, you could use rigid LED strips to decorate your booth. These strips can also be easily mounted on any surface. These light strips are weatherproof so they are perfect for lighting outdoor spaces, events, and projects.
Flexible LED Light Strips
Flexible LED Light Strips
Rigid LED Light Strips
Rigid LED Light Strips
Silicone LED Light Strips
Silicone LED Light Strips
Silicone LED light strips are covered in a thick layer of silicone, making them both weatherproof and flexible. These light strips are also called rope lights because of the way they look. These lights are great for wrapping around round spaces and objects like trees. They are also safe to use for lighting accent pieces in homes and commercial spaces.LED Light Panels
LED light panels feature a number of LED light strips grouped together to make a panel. These panels are available in different shapes. But the most common shapes are square and rectangle LED light panels. LED light panels are used to light small and large spaces like events and stadiums.
Flexible LED light panels are famous among filmmakers and cinematographers for lighting videos and movies. This is because they are easy to carry and store. You can also make these panels yourself by combining different LED light strips together. This makes them very versatile as you can control the shape, color, and brightness of your light panels.
LED Light Bulbs
LED light bulbs are the most common type of LED lights found in the market. You can find LED light bulbs in different shapes like candle, luster, spiral, globe, and more. They are also available in different colors and brightness. Dimmable bulbs let you control their brightness so you can adjust the lighting of your space according to your mood.
What Factors Should I Consider Before Buying LED Lights?
The wide variety of LED products can make it hard for you to choose the best one for your space or project. To make the process as hassle-free as possible, we have put together a list of factors that you should consider before buying LED lights.
These factors will help you understand the basics of LED lights. You will then be able to match the right product to your lighting need. Let&#;s start by taking a look at some technical information related to LED lights.</span >
Technical Factors
The most daunting aspect of transitioning to LED technology is that it has different technical parameters than traditional sources of lighting. For example, before LED technology, the brightness of a bulb was measured by its power draw (its wattage requirement). For LEDs we use lumens to do the same.
This can be confusing when you&#;re trying to figure out what kind of LED light you need to buy to replace an incandescent or CFL one. Take a look at this chart, where we break down that information for your convenience.
Light Output (Lumens)Power Draw (Watts) LEDsCFLsIncandescents-58---813-----------
This means if you want to replace a 40W incandescent bulb, you need to buy a LED bulb that has 450 lumens and a power draw of 4-5W.
But what exactly are lumens and why are they important? Also, what other technical factors do you need to consider to choose the best LED light for your need? Read on to find out.
Lumens
Lumens are used to measure the brightness of LED lights. The word &#;lumen&#; is derived from the luminous flux that measures the total light produced by an LED. The lumens of a LED light are expressed in numbers ranging from 200 up to (or more) followed by the abbreviation &#;lm&#;.
LEDs use lumens instead of watts as a metric for measuring brightness because they don&#;t require nearly as much energy to run as traditional sources of light. For example, a 100W incandescent bulb is considered to be bright enough to light a large room. Since LED lights require considerably less energy a 100W LED light may be able to light an entire stadium.
This means watts are no longer a viable tool to measure brightness. Even modern-day incandescents and CFLs now use lumen rating to showcase their brightness. This doesn&#;t mean that you don&#;t need to consider the wattage rating for LEDs at all. You still need that information to calculate the power draw of your LED light. More on that later.
Correlated Color Temperature (CCT)
A great advantage of transitioning to LED lights is that you can actually choose the right color temperature to light your space. Correlated Color Temperature or CCT information indicates the warmness or coolness of your LED lights. CCT is measured in Kelvins (K). Warm white light has a lower Kelvin rating while cool white light has a higher Kelvin rating.
Kelvin rating is in numbers ranging from to . Candlelight has a Kelvin rating of while clear blue sky has a Kelvin rating of 10,000. Kelvin rating will tell you the actual color your LED light will produce. Take a look at the chart below to see how Kelvin rating can help you choose the right LED light.
LED Light Strip CCTLight AppearanceAmbianceRecommended ApplicationK &#; KWarm WhiteCozy, Intimate,
Calm, Invitingliving rooms, bedrooms,
waiting areas, lobbies, table,
and floor lampsK &#; KCool WhiteBright, Vibrantkitchens, offices, commercial
spaces, basements, elevators,
task lightingK &#; KDaylightCrisp, Invigoratinggarages, bathrooms, display
areas, industrial spaces,
warehouses
Color Rendering Index (CRI)
Another technical specification you should keep an eye out for is the Color Rendering Index or CRI of LED lights. CRI tells you how objects look under a light source as compared to what they look like under sunlight. A higher CRI means more clarity and vividness. LED lights have a higher CRI than CFLs and other traditional sources of light.
CRI is measured from a range of 0-100. Generally, a CRI of higher than 80 is recommended for LED lights being used in a domestic setting while a CRI rating of 90 and above is acceptable for commercial and industrial lighting projects.
Energy Rating
The final technical specification you need to consider is the energy rating of the LED lights. The energy rating for each LED light is measured in Watts (W). LEDs consume considerably less energy than traditional sources of light. However, you still need the wattage information to see whether the LED light you choose is compatible with your power source or not.
Wattage information helps you determine the &#;power draw&#; for LED lights. This is particularly important when you&#;re buying LED light strips or panels. This is because they have multiple LEDs mounted on them.
Design Factors
Now that you have a firm grasp on all the technical aspects of LED lights, let&#;s discuss some aesthetic ones. The best thing about LED lights is that they are available in all kinds of shapes and sizes. You can even design bespoke shapes and get creative with your lighting projects.
Size and Shape
You can find LED products in many different shapes and sizes. For LED bulbs, you can choose shapes like candle, spot, globe, linear, spiral, and more. For LED panels you have square, rectangle, oblong, and even circle and oval shapes available. You can find each of these shapes in different sizes as well. So you have the freedom to choose the shape and size that fit your space and project. For example, you could choose shapes like linear and spiral to decorate your garden. Besides, it is also recommended that you set the warm color as it&#;s easier to create an atmosphere and is more aligned with friendship garden quotes.
When choosing LED light strips, the size of the strip is an important consideration. You also have to look at the density of LEDs on the strip to determine how much light the strip will produce. You can choose any length of strip you like. Most LED strips can be easily cut and connected, so you have the freedom of customizing your lighting.
Installation
It is important to consider how you are going to install your LED light. You can easily install LED light bulbs in lamps and fixtures around the house. Or you can install with aluminum profiles for LED. However, it gets trickier if you have to install LED bulbs for recessed lighting or in-built fixtures.
LED light panels don&#;t require much effort in installing. Rigid or flexible panels just need to be mounted on a stand and connected to power to work. You may need to mount these on the wall or any other surface, in which case you will need to be familiar with some basic installation tools.
Flexible LED light strips have adhesives on the back so they can easily stick to any flat surface. Rigid LED light strips need to be mounted but that can be done easily as well. However, if you&#;re looking for specialized lighting like under-cabinet lighting, staircase lighting, or profile mounting you might need professional help.
Control
Another important consideration while buying LED lights is how you plan to control them. Do you want to be able to dim the lights or change color? Do you want to control your lights via your smartphone or voice control? What kind of features do you want to control?
All these questions will determine the kind of LED product that is best for you. For example, not all LED light products are geared toward smart control. So, if you were looking to control the lights in your home with your smartphone or Alexa, you will need to install compatible LED products.
Most LED light strips can be controlled by LED light strip remote controls . You can find both digital and analog remotes in the market with varying degrees of control. Some allow you to control the brightness of your LED lights while others add in color changing features as well. You can also use inline, DMX, and DALI controllers with LED lights depending upon your requirement.
How to Choose the Best LED Product for Your Lighting Project?
The space or project you want to light will determine the shape, size, color, and type of LED light you need. But here is the catch, you can use different LED lights interchangeably. So, which LED light is the best one for your lighting project?
There are many ways to answer that question. Here are some points to ponder:
Type of Space:Residential spaces can be lit using LED light bulbs and LED light strips. LED light panels might seem a little out of place when lighting your homes (unless they are used in recessed lighting and installed into walls). Industrial spaces with high-accuracy pick n place robot usually need more light so they use LED strips and panels to make sure they are well lit. The same is true for commercial spaces. However, some shops and stalls can also use LED light bulbs to showcase their products.
Size of Space:LED light panels take more space to install. Whether mounted on a stand or installed in the wall, LED light panels are suitable to light larger rooms and spaces. LED light bulbs can be conveniently installed in fixtures and lamps so you don&#;t really have to worry about the size of the room. However, bear in mind that larger spaces will require a greater number of bulbs to light. LED light strips are the most versatile in this case, they can be used to light large spaces and small. You can also install them to light unusual spaces like nooks and crannies.
Power Supply:LED light bulbs are powered by the electrical connection of the fixture they are connected to. So, you don&#;t have to worry about connecting them to power separately. LED light panels will need to be connected to a suitable power source like a plug-in or battery. If they are being installed in your wall, they will need to be connected to the main power supply. The same is true for LED light strips. You can power them through a battery, connect them to a plug, or hard-wire them to your main power supply.
Ease of Installation:If you&#;re going to be installing the LED lights yourself, bulbs are the easiest to install. LED panels mounted on stands are simple to set-up and so are flexible LED light strips. You might need to call in professional help for installing LED panels in walls and mounting LED light strips with profiles.
Budget:The type of LED product you choose depends on how much you are willing to spend on a project. For example, a large warehouse can be lit using LED bulbs, panels, or strips. You will a greater number of LED bulbs to light the space, so there is a larger upfront cost. Also, you will need to install fixtures for the bulbs. LED light panels can be mounted on stands and will cost much less. You will need lesser panels since they can produce more light. However, they will need more space. If you install them in the walls, you will need to pay for a professional to do it. You can install LED light strips to the walls yourself, if the walls are smooth. If they aren&#;t, you will need to mount the strips which will cost extra. When choosing an LED product based on your budget, factor in the cost of purchasing, installing, and energy to get an exact picture of the overall expenditure.
Personal Preference:Finally, the type of LED light you choose depends on what you like. If you are more prone to using bulbs than that is the way to go. If you feel more comfortable using LED light panels than that is what you should choose. LED light strips can offer great versatility and are easy to use and customize. If you don&#;t really have a preference, they are a good option to choose.
To help make the choice easier for you we&#;ve put together this chart that shows you the kinds of projects each type of LED light is suitable for. You can use our recommendations as a reference when choosing LED light products for any designated space.
Types of LED LightsRecommended UsesResidential
CommercialIndustrialSmaller ProjectsLED Light StripUnder-cabinet lighting,
staircase lighting,
accent lightingDisplay case lighting,
shelf lighting, task
lighting, signageWorkbench lighting, task
lighting, grow lighting,
machinery lightingEvent lighting,
outdoor lighting,
mood lightingLED Light PanelRecessed lighting,
pendant lighting,
counter lighting,
wall lightingWall lighting,
display area lighting,
billboard lighting,
stadium lightingFactory lighting,
wall lighting,
task lighting,
grow lightingPhotography lighting,
stage lighting,
event lightingLED Light BulbMood lighting,
lamp lights,
chandelier lights,
wall fixture lightsWall fixture lights,
billboard lighting,
display case lightingFactory lighting,
wall lighting,
task lighting,
grow lightingPhotography lighting,
stage lighting,
event lighting
Conclusion
Choosing the best LED light product can be a harrowing process if you don&#;t break it down into workable steps. The sheer variety of LED lights on the market can be overwhelming but if you focus your search you can find the right product. There is no doubt that the future of light is LED technology. So make the transition today.
LED light strips are a fun and easy way to spruce up a room, adding pops of color to a media center, a wall or even under a bed, or just bringing much-needed lighting to a dark area under a cabinet. Water-resistant versions even let you add lighting in a snap to your patio, deck or garden path. And smart strips can integrate with the rest of your lighting, or simply respond to music or other sounds around the house.
To help you figure out which LED light strip works best for your situation, we tested 10 popular models. Whether you&#;re looking for indoor or outdoor lighting, responsive smart strips or just something basic, we&#;ve found the best LED light strips available for any setting.
Govee Wi-Fi RGBIC Pro Strip Lights
The best LED light strips overall
Govee
The Govee Wi-Fi RGBIC strip lights perform brilliantly and give you longer lengths and more coverage for less money than the competition. The easy-to-use app lets you create warm ambiances and color-changing special effects for entertaining or everyday use.
From $37 at Amazon
The Govee RGBIC Pro Smart LED strip lights give you vivid, ever-changing colors, simple controls and more coverage for your money than the competition. Smart home integrations are simple and don&#;t require a hub, and they&#;re simple to mount with a secure adhesive backing. If you&#;re looking for the greatest range of color effects and want plenty of coverage for your money, look no further.
RGBIC light strips (IC stands for &#;Independent Control&#;) can display more than one color at a time, unlike RGB lights, which show only one color. That means using the Govee app you can customize different segments of the strip to show different colors, or create lighting effects that look like the lights are jumping or cascading or chasing each other, with individual diodes turning on and off or changing color rapidly for a rolling or snake-like effect. There are dozens of preset scenes to choose from, in addition to 11 music modes, making these great for a teen&#;s bedroom, a dorm room or when you&#;re hosting a party. They are a ton of fun to use.
The strips are voice reactive, so when connected to your sound system, the lights will flash and dance in time to the music.
The light strips come in 16-foot, 32-foot and 64-foot lengths, typically divided into two reels sharing a single power adapter and control box for manual use. They&#;re thin, with a light coating over the diodes, and very easy to bend for installation.
The lights are vivid and reasonably bright (they put out 820 lumens, similar to a string of 60W lightbulbs), they&#;re true to color and they can be dimmed to create ambiance when needed. They can be integrated with voice assistants (Alexa and Google Assistant) without a hub, giving you control over colors, schedules, music and much more. I had no issues with connectivity or placing the lights with the adhesive backing.
Govee light strips are also more affordable than others with similar features &#; basically, you get longer lengths and more coverage for less money. Combined with the easy-to-use Govee app and color-changing special effects for entertainment and fun, these light strips will not disappoint.
Our issues with the Govee LED strips are pretty minor given the overall solid performance and value of the system.
The most frustrating downside here (which is common to all RGBIC strips) is that because of the integrated chips that allow the multiple color effects, the Govee strips can&#;t be cut to size. This means that unless you plan to use up an entire run (the shortest length these come in is 16 feet) illuminating your media center or gaming battle station, you may end up with a lot of excess to hide away. Govee also sells an RGB version of these, which can be trimmed to length, but the color effects are more limited, and overall we prefer the RGBIC version.
Also, since Govee doesn&#;t include corner connectors like the Philips strips, you can&#;t easily make clean right angles. We ended up looping the strip under itself where we wanted to make a 90-degree turn, hoping it wouldn&#;t come away from the floor or create a dark spot at the apex of the bend.
Given the lack of corner connectors, to make right-angle bends with the Govee (and the other RGBIC strips we tested) we found it easiest to make and secure a loop, which we found more difficult (and a less efficient use of the LEDs themselves) than systems that could be cut to length.
If you are looking for more details, kindly visit Narrow LED Strip.
Andrea Smith/CNN Underscored
Another issue is that while Govee makes a ton of light strip products, you can&#;t just add accessories to the system you already have. For instance, while the set we tested responds to sound, it doesn&#;t respond to on-screen colors, and you can&#;t add just a camera &#; you&#;ll have to purchase a different light strip set, the Govee Dreamview T1 Immersion Backlights. That said, the overall cost is still lower than some systems (like the Philips) that do let you add individual components, but it&#;s worth keeping in mind.
In addition to a set of LED light strips, the Dreamview package comes with an external p camera to capture the colors on the screen and automatically have the LEDs reproduce effects that correspond to the show or movie you&#;re watching, or the game you&#;re playing.
Govee Wi-Fi Outdoor Strip Lights
The best outdoor LED light strips
Govee
If you're looking to create a colorful ambiance for outdoor entertaining, Govee's affordable Wi-Fi Outdoor Strip Lights are RGBIC, so they give you a huge range of color options, they're weather-resistant and they're easy to install and configure.
Read our review
$70
$50 at Amazon
Sengled Smart Wi-Fi LED TV Light Strips
The best LED light strips for TV backlighting
Sengled
Sengled's affordable RGB light strips come in easy-to-mount lengths that save you money when mounting on a TV or monitor for backlighting effects, and have plenty of smarts to provide the perfect ambiance and audio-synchronized lighting effects for most TV or gaming situations.
Read our review
$80 at Best Buy
Govee Wi-Fi RGBIC Pro Strip Lights
The best LED light strips overall
Govee Wi-Fi Outdoor Strip Lights
The best outdoor LED light strips
Sengled Smart Wi-Fi LED TV Light Strips
The best LED light strips for TV backlighting
Philips Hue LightStrip Plus
The best splurge LED light strip
What we loved
Bright colors with multiple options, plus they are flexible, easy to install and configure and give you more coverage for less money than similarly spec'd competitors.
Lots of color possibilities and installation options in an IP65-rated weather-resistant strip.
A package of precut lengths with corner connectors makes it easy to set up behind a TV or monitor without waste.
The best-looking LED light strips with the most integration options and control and sync possibilities.
What we didn't like
A lack of corner connectors makes tight bends difficult to negotiate during installation; adding accessories to an existing setup may mean buying more strips than you need.
Power brick isn't water-resistant and needs to be positioned in a weatherproof outlet for extended use.
RGB only, so they are limited in the range of effects they can produce; can't sync to color, only to sound.
The Philips strips are much more expensive than others and make the most sense if you're already invested in Hue lighting in your home.
Key specs
RGBIC; available in 16.4- and 32.8-foot lengths; syncs to audio; available in kit with camera for color sync.
RGBIC; available in 16.4- and 32.8-foot lengths; IP65 weather resistance.
RGB; kit fits 45-inch to 75-inch diagonal TVs.
Available in a variety of lengths; can sync directly to HDMI input or audio with accessory; can connect with Hue bridge for integration with other Hue lighting and smart home products.
Price
$37
$50
$80
$100
These thin, flexible circuit boards are packed with small LED (light-emitting diode) lights that are controlled through an app and in most cases can also use your voice with a smart speaker.
We love that they can be bent, and some can be cut to size for use around a door frame, under a cabinet or anywhere else you want to add some color. Plus, they don&#;t use as much electricity as incandescent bulbs and will last for years.
Though some LED light strips display only one color at a time, others can show multiple colors or dance to the beat of music, allowing for endless combinations and hours of dazzling fun.
LED light strips can be installed just about anywhere you have a flat surface &#; under kitchen cabinets, on a back deck or patio railing or in a child&#;s bedroom &#; but it&#;s important to note that not all light strips work well in all locations. Some are for indoors only, while others are waterproof for use outside the home. Some light strips are better for entertainment use with their ability to pulse or change colors to the beat of the music.
Whether you want lights for a TV room or a cascade of color outside, here&#;s what to look for when purchasing a smart LED light strip.
If you already own smart lights, you might want to consider strip lights from the same brand, especially if they require a hub or bridge. For instance, the Sengled and Wyze light strips we tested have Wi-Fi built in, so there&#;s no need for a hub, while the Philips Outdoor light strip does. If you don&#;t already own one, you&#;ll be adding on the cost of the hub to the cost of the strips.
Make sure the light strips work with the smart home ecosystem you use, whether that&#;s Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant or Apple HomeKit. Most work with Alexa and Google, but only two that we looked at are compatible with Apple HomeKit. This is important so you can use your voice to control the light strips.
Think about where you&#;re placing the light strips. Under a bed or inside a bookshelf, or outside on the deck? You can put them anywhere; your only limitation is the availability of a power outlet. If placing them in a bathroom, consider a water-resistant light strip in case it gets splashed or there&#;s a lot of moisture.
For outdoor use, look for one with at minimum an IP44 rating, meaning the strip can get wet and withstand jets of water. An IP65 rating, like the Govee Outdoor LED Strip Lights have, means it can be exposed to all weather conditions.
Make sure your lights have something to reflect off. If you place them facing toward you, all you&#;ll see is LED lights. Unless you intend to use them to shine down and add direct light, place them facing away from you toward a wall or the ceiling so you&#;ll get that diffused effect you&#;re looking for.
Light strips are typically held in place with double-sided adhesive on the back of the strip, but some that have a heavier silicon coating or are a bit thicker and bulkier for waterproofing work better with the included mounts and screws. Be sure you&#;re able to use screws in whatever it is you&#;re mounting to before choosing this type.
The area will need to be prepped by cleaning it and wiping it down with an alcohol pad to ensure a proper hold, so make sure you have access to the entire area. Proper prep is what will keep the light strips in place.
Are the lights being used to create ambiance or for entertainment? This will help you decide whether to buy ones that can display segment colors and sync with music. If you&#;re looking for entertainment, make sure the strips have a built-in mic to pick up the sound. For ambiance, you don&#;t need anything more than a simple strip that shows one color at a time.
Light strips come in all different lengths, so it&#;s important to measure the area you want to cover before you make a purchase. Some strips can be cut, while others can&#;t, so measure twice to be sure. If you&#;re putting lights on the back of a TV or PC, you&#;ll want to choose a light strip like the Sengled Wi-Fi TV strips or the Govee Immersion TV Backlights, which come in shorter lengths so there&#;s less waste if you need to cut to size. If you want to light the side of a wall or run it under a countertop, opt for the longer strip, but be sure there&#;s an outlet nearby for power.
Color and color temperature
Most of the multi-color light strips we looked at are RGB, which means they can display any combination of red, green and blue color. Typically, there are 16 million color combinations to choose from. There is no &#;true white&#; in RGB lights, but variations of white can be created.
If you&#;re looking for a truer white along with multiple colors, then get an RGBW light strip, which has a dedicated white LED alternating between the RGB diodes. These are typically a little more expensive.
Different tones of white light help create the mood in a room. Daylight white is good for home office use or anywhere you need to be focused, while warm white is perfect for creating a relaxing mood. Warm lighting is often used in the family room or bedroom where you&#;re trying to create a calming atmosphere.
Some strips can display only one color at a time, while others can be segmented, showing multiple colors at once. If you&#;re using the lighting to create a party atmosphere, you&#;ll likely want one that can show multiple colors and create fun dancing and cascading types of effects.
The brightness of LED lights is measured in lumens. For reference, a standard 60W lightbulb gives off around 800 lumens. Most of the lights we tested give off between 1,400 and 1,800, making them extremely bright. They can be dimmed, but it&#;s important to know how bright they are and how low they can be dimmed when considering what situation to place them in. Some of the ones we tried are still way too bright for a bedroom even at the dimmest setting.
Look at the number of LEDs per strip. The more LEDs there are, the more light you&#;ll get, and the more accurate that color will be.
Color temperature describes how warm or cool a light&#;s color is. Temperature is measured in Kelvin (K) degrees. Lower numbers produce a warmer temperature, which gives off a yellowish tone, while higher is much cooler, producing a blue tone. Most strips have a range of 2,700K to 6,500K, with the higher number producing a natural daylight temperature.
We installed and tested 10 different LED light strips in different areas and locations in and out of the home. They were installed under kitchen cabinets, under a countertop, on the back of a TV, on a back deck and along a garden walkway, to name a few.
We downloaded and connected the strips to the brand&#;s app and tested the features within the app. We looked at the user interface and judged how easy it was to set up and access preset scenes, create schedules, create music- and sound-triggered effects, set up integrations with voice assistants such as Alexa, Google and Siri and keep the app and strips connected.
We also evaluated the installation process, looking at light strip flexibility and how easy or difficult it was to bend a strip to fit the space. We also tested the special connectors some of the strips provide to create a right angle.
We tested the durability and adhesive by gently tugging on the strip a few days after installation. We tested the hold on the outdoor strips after a soaking rain.
We considered the color brightness of the strip, the length, the number of LEDs as well as the ability to cut to size and how much waste is created with unused portions.
We evaluated smart home integrations and the reactive lighting (TV and music) modes on those that offer it.
Wyze Light Strips are a very inexpensive option for adding color or accent lighting to a room, and while they are very bright at 1,800 lumens (perhaps due in part to the lack of a protective coating over the LEDs), we found them a bit thin and flimsy compared to the others. The RGB strips respond quickly to dimming and tuning, though you can display only one color at a time.
Like others we tested, they work over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth (no hub required), and you can use Alexa or Google Assistant voice commands to turn the lights on and off, change the color and set the brightness level. They&#;re easy to install, they come in 16.4- and 32.8-foot lengths like much of the competition (and can be trimmed to fit, since they are RGB rather than RGBIC) and they sync to music as you&#;d expect. However, to access basic preset scenes like &#;energizing&#; and &#;movies,&#; you need to use the app. While we&#;d suggest spending a bit more if you can for a more durable strip, for the price they work as advertised, so if you&#;re looking for a basic LED light strip to add a splash of color and have power available nearby, these will suit your needs.
The Wyze Light Strip Pro, the company&#;s RGBIC model, can display up to 16 colors per strip. It has everything the standard version has and comes in the same lengths, but it&#;s more customizable and gives you access to effects that sync with your games, movies and shows. You can also easily group multiple strips and control them all in the app, giving you endless hours of fun creating your own custom scenes for both lighting and music syncing.
The Pro strip has a protective epoxy coating over the LED lights, so they felt a lot sturdier and less flimsy than the cheaper Wyze strips, but they still don&#;t match the quality of our top picks. Color output also isn&#;t quite as true, and the app is not as user-friendly as the Govee and Philips strips.
If you&#;re looking for a bright light strip with millions of color options and don&#;t need an exceptionally long run, the 16.4-foot Kasa Smart Light Strip from TP-Link is an affordable RGBIC option that works with Alexa, Google Home and Samsung SmartThings, but you do give up a few features for the lower price tag. There&#;s no audio synchronization mode, so these won&#;t react to music or the sound from the TV, and it doesn&#;t offer any preset scenes to choose from in the app, only animated effects that add a flicker effect or light up certain areas of the strip.
It&#;s easy to install and set up, there&#;s no hub needed and you can control the lights and create your own scenes to save to a preset button. You can access those presets, along with other basic controls, in the app, using your voice or on the remote control. That said, there are no corner connectors as there are for Philips or Sengled, so you&#;ll need to make loops in order to create 90-degree bends, limiting useful length.
The upgrade version, the Kasa Smart Premium LED Light Strip (KL430), comes in lengths up to 33 feet and ups the brightness of the strip from 550 to 1,400 lumens but only comes in 6.6-foot lengths, with 3-foot extension kits costing about $25 each, so this route will get pricey pretty quickly, at which point you might want to look to Philips Hue products.
The Kasa light strips will work well in a home that already has Kasa light switches, smart plugs or other Kasa devices in the house, as it&#;s really simple to set schedules and control them all in the Kasa app.
The outdoor version of the Philips Hue LED strip lights is a bulkier, more rectangular affair than its indoor sibling, topped with an opaque coating that helps make this light strip weatherproof (with an IP67 rating) and diffuses the light so you see one smooth strip of colorful light rather than the individual diodes. The coating creates an illusion of one vibrant light across the whole strip, and it was lovely to look at.
Unfortunately, the bulk makes the strip far less flexible, and you can&#;t cut or extend them like you can with the Philips Hue LightStrip Plus. I had a difficult time trying to bend it into a corner. It comes in 7- and 16-foot lengths, and it can&#;t be cut or daisy-chained &#; If you need to make longer runs, you need to have another power outlet available for a new strip, limiting its usefulness on patios.
They mount with an included bracket and screw hardware system (there&#;s no adhesive option) which may limit your options if you rent or have HOA restrictions. I wanted to mount a 7-foot strip on my back deck but couldn&#;t since I live in a condo and can&#;t drill holes into the deck railing or gutter. I did place it into the ground along my garden to light up the pathway, but this can only be done if you have power nearby.
The Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance Outdoor Lightstrip requires a Hue hub for voice control (Alexa, Google Voice and Apple HomeKit), and that&#;s a separate cost if you don&#;t already have one. While the light strip looks and functions beautifully, if you don&#;t have nearby power or can&#;t drill holes to mount it, you&#;d be better off getting our top pick, the Govee Outdoor light strip, which also costs a whole lot less.
Twinkly Dots are not technically light strips but rather a Christmas light-esque string of tiny LEDs that you can wrap around items like a deck rail or other curved surfaces that don&#;t have a flat surface for an adhesive strip. The individual dots, which are spaced an inch apart, can be put in place with adhesive (it comes with flat dot-shaped adhesive backings), but you don&#;t mount the connecting wire. The special effects and premade animations were plentiful.
As lovely as they look and as easy as they are to put in place, setup was incredibly difficult. The app, which was less intuitive than the others we tried, took over a dozen tries before it recognized our Dots over a local Wi-Fi connection. Once we got it set up, the lights offered lots of fun options and patterns but never got very bright and often didn&#;t show the true color. Each time I tried to choose purple, I got variations of blue instead. They&#;d be fine for a party or a kid&#;s room (teens and creative users will enjoy playing with the effects and syncing the lights to music and sound), but those looking for true, bright colors may be disappointed. Dots aren&#;t extendable or cuttable, but they do come in a variety of sizes. You can buy strings of 60, 200, or 400 LED Dots.
These RGB Wi-Fi-enabled light strips are super bright at 1,600 lumens and give you a wide variety of white light settings, but they lack some of the features that make other strip lights so fun and attractive. There&#;s no music sync mode, there are no preset scenes to choose from (though you can create your own) and the adhesive backing is not strong enough. This was the only light strip that pulled away with a slight tug once we mounted it. The strips are also the widest we tried, with a thick coating on the sides of the strip, not just over the LEDs on the front. Though meant for indoors, they looked more like the Philips strips designed for outdoor use.
The app is confusing; it doesn&#;t properly scale for larger text sizes, and we found it difficult to set schedules and create scenes.
The strips come in 6.8-feet lengths, which can be trimmed (though the cut-off sections can&#;t be reused). It can be daisy-chained, so you can buy and connect 3.4-foot extensions, but you&#;ll be spending $25 for each one. You can buy the 16-foot TP-Link Kasa light strip for a third of the price, which we recommend over this one, or step up to the Philips Hue if you want more control and synchronization options.
If you want to learn more, please visit our website CCT Flexible Led Strip.
Comments
Please Join Us to post.
0