Nanoleaf Strip review

How many writers does it take to review a lightbulb?

One. Obviously, just one. C’mon, guys, get with it.

The Nanoleaf Strip, an oddly sexily named bit of tech, is a smart lightstrip. That’s, uh, kind of it. That’s what it is.

Wow, I’m so efficient.

LED the way

Something neat is the circadian setting, which alternates the brightness and colour of light based on the time of day. Artificial sunrise alarm clocks are neat, and that’s been my main use case.

There’s an adhesive strip running the length of the Strip as well, meaning you can glue it to your wall. Or your bookshelf, headboard, child, whatever you want to be brighter.

Note: Do not glue lights to your children. Regardless of how funny it would be.

There’s obviously the smart app controls (more on these later), but also a physical suite of buttons in case you’re feeling old-school. The controller is bulky, true, but also has little sticky bits to secure it in place so you can flap blindly at it in the dark. I know, because I did that.

Alexa I’m begging you

I love the Strip, mostly. It’s amazingly bright and very responsive to the Nanoleaf app. However, there are downsides; the LEDs glare a lot off screens and eyeballs unless you offset them for more diffused lighting. Yes, that’s what you’re supposed to do, but I know at least one of you weren’t going to do that, so you’re welcome. They also have a really bad time connecting with Amazon Alexa, to the point that I can’t actually get it to work.

I think this is because the Nanoleaf Strip is part of their Essentials range, which doesn’t have the same behind-the-scenes wizardry as the bulbs, or Lines, or what have you. However, Alexa is supposed to work with them as of earlier this year, so I dunno. It’s odd because the other Nanoleaf stuff in my house works fine.

It’s a weird point of failure and more than likely an update compatibility thing on Amazon’s end, of which there are many, but still worth knowing. I’ve actually noticed this a lot with smart devices recently, but I’ve bought 4 Alexa devices, so I’m too entrenched in their ecosystem to justify the switch to Google… Yet.

Pretty sweet night light

Nanoleaf products range from affordable lightbulbs to less affordable Shapes and Lines, but they’re universally good products and the Strip is no different. It’s also about $100 NZD, which puts it on the “oh cool that’s about as much as a smart lamp from another brand” part of the scale. I think it’s worth it. It’s versatile, bright, and does (most of) what you want.

Ultimately, the Strip has found a home behind the headboard of my bed, giving nice diffused lighting and circadian pleasantness for reading or forcing yourself out of the bed in the morning if you’re willing to set up the routine. And, aside from the Alexa issues, it’s perfect for that.