Nanoleaf Essentials Lightstrip
Affordable and feature-packed.
The Nanoleaf Essentials Lightstrip isn’t remarkably different from most others available on the market today. The starter pack is a 2m strip that’s a touch over half-inch wide, housing 21 LEDs per meter in groups of five.
Meter-long expansions are available, and up to eight can be connected to the Lightstrip for a total of 10m. Anything more and the brightness will be affected.
Like the Nanoleaf light panels, the Essentials Lightstrip has a peel-and-stick adhesive layer on the back, and comes with a power cable connected to a small controller (also with its own adhesive pads) at one end and a rather chunky AC adaptor at the other. Another small cable connects the strip itself to the controller via tiny pins.
The controller can handle all the basic functions – power on/off, cycle through single colours and dim/brighten the light. It can’t change Scenes, though, for which you will need to use the Nanoleaf app.
Setting up the Nanoleaf Lightstrip isn’t very different from any other light strip on the market. You need to measure the surface you want the lights on, then cut the required length and stick it on. You can’t cut anywhere, of course – Nanoleaf has marked the correct spots with a scissor icon at intervals of 33cm, so your final strip might be either a little small or a little longer than you might need, an issue you’ll face with any light strip.
The light strip has a rated life span of 25,000 hours, with white light temperatures ranging from a warm 2,700 Kelvin to a cold 6,500 Kelvin. There’s also support for 16 million colours but only a single colour can be displayed at a time.
For a light strip, the Essentials is bright – where the Philips Hue V4 White and Colour Ambiance has a maximum brightness of 1,600 lumens, the Nanoleaf tops out 2,200 lumens, with average brightness of 2,000 lumens.
If you already have an Apple HomePod mini and have connected the Lightstrip using Thread protocol, then you’ll find the lights responding to any command immediately. On the other hand, if you’ve connected via Bluetooth – which is what will happen if you don’t own a HomePod mini – the lights take between two to four seconds to respond, even if you’re well within range.
Like the smart bulb, the Lightstrip’s most interesting features are yet to be rolled out, like being able to mirror a monitor’s colours, which would look great if you use the strip as a bias light. This functionality is already available on the Nanoleaf Shapes panels, but is yet to make its way to the Essentials line.
LED light strips aren’t new, but to get one that’s as affordable, and smart, as the Nanoleaf Essentials Lightstrip isn’t easy. This is the first light strip from the brand known for its wall panels, and Nanoleaf has got it just right. The Essentials Lightstrip is bright, produces beautiful colours and is easy to set up. Some of its more interesting features, however, are yet to be rolled out.
Sharmishta Sarkar