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

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.

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.

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.

I’ve used a few lightstrips before, but the Nanoleaf Essentials Matter is definitely my favorite. It was the easiest light strip set up process via Bluetooth and WiFi.The colors are bright, vivid, and change smoothly adding a nice, cozy vibe to my living room. If you’re looking for a lightstrip that’s easy to use and looks awesome, this one is worth it and is kind of a steal at the price point