REVIEW – LED light strips are cool. They can add accent colors to your home decorating. Most LED strips display one color of your choosing. Twinkly, a maker of app-controlled, addressable LED lights recently released Twinkly Line. Let’s see why this isn’t your father’s boring old LED light strip.
What is it?
Twinkly Line is an LED light strip that can be controlled with an attached controller as well as with an app. Because each LED is individually addressable, you can create cool, multi-color designs as well as moving light designs.
What’s in the box?
- Twinkly Line LED strip with attached controller and power pack
- US plug adapter (already attached in this photo)
- User manual
- Thank you card
- Cord clips
- Adhesive mounting pads for the clips
- Stickers
Hardware specs
- Indoor/outdoor rating: IP20 (indoor only)
- Controller connectivity: Bluetooth, WI-Fi
- Color profile: RGB — Red, Green, Blue (+16 million colors)
- Number of LEDs: 90
- Lead length: 2m / 78.7in
- LED strip length: 5 feet – can be extended with an optional extension kit
- Electric wire: black wire
- Adapter input: 120V – US | 240V – EU/UK max 50/60Hz
- Adapter output: 15W (5V ⎓ 3A)
- Life span: Over 30000 hours
Design and features
If you’ve seen an LED strip, then you know what this looks like. Most that I’ve seen have been white, but Twinkly opted for black. It is the only option they offer. The controller is connected in-line between the strip and the power pack. There is a button on the controller that allows you to flip between a few lighting options without using the app.
This photo shows the termination end of the strip. It has a port that allows you to plug in an optional extension strip to increase the length to ten feet.
The entire back of the strip is coated in 3M adhesive so you can mount the strip without using clips or screws.
They do include two small clips and adhesive pads for running the power cord.
Setup
First, I attached the US plug adapter to the power pack. Then, I plugged the LED strip into the end of the power cord.
Since I already had the Twinkly app installed, I was able to have it scan for new lights, once I plugged the power pack into the wall.
Using the app, you can choose to map the design of your lights and create custom lighting effects.
Performance
Using the lights is fun.
You can control power and brightness in the app. If you have Twinkly Music, you can have the lights pulse to the ambient sound. You can set timers to turn the lights on and off. I opt to use automation through Alexa for that. Twinkly also supports Google Assistant.
The included animations are slick.
Here’s a look at several of them.
You can also create custom animations, limited only by your own creativity. Another really cool feature of Twinkly lights is that you can group them together with other Twinkly lights. You could create a really cool holiday display, using these inside a window and then sets of Twinkly Strings for your outside display, all synced together.
The one issue I can find is the same one I have found with all Twinkly lights. While they are certainly cooler than regular LED lights, they are pricey. At a penny under $100 for a five-foot light strip, you have to really evaluate whether they’re worth the hit to your wallet.
What I like
- Rich, vibrant colors
- Cool animations
- Extendable and groupable
What I’d change
- It’s pricey
Final thoughts
If you are looking for really cool accent lighting for the interior of your home, Twinkly Line should be on your shortlist for consideration. There are certainly lower-cost options out there, but most won’t do all the things Twinkly Line will do.
I opted to spring for the additional five-foot extension to bring the total lighted length up to 10 feet. Here’s what it looks like on top of our sliding door blinds valence.
I’m pretty happy with the results and look forward to seeing other’s reactions when they come to our home.
Price: $99.99 – five-foot extensions are available for $59.99
Where to buy: Esbenshades; Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Twinkly.
