Nanoleaf, Major Headache
This is a personal review of the Nanoleaf Light Panels. I received this Smarter Kit with Rhythm as a gift from my friends. There is no way I would buy these myself as they are way too costly for what they achieve and I much prefer Philips Hue bulbs instead.
This is going on year 3 of my ownership of this product and it has been in three residences so far. First, in my parents’ old house, then in my apartment, and now in my parents’ new home. The reason I write this is because moving this product to a new home (or new Wi-Fi network) is an absolute pain. Nanoleaf touts to be “Smarter by Design” but end up being dumber to connect to a home network, start up, and sync to my phone app and my desktop app. First, it does not connect to a 5Ghz network which was really annoying when my apartment Wi-Fi was set to 5Ghz by default. Thankfully I am tech savvy enough to open my network settings and disable 5Ghz while I set up the lights and re-enabled the network afterwards. Re-establishing a connection when moving to a new Wi-Fi network involves completely resetting the device and connecting it like a brand new kit. In the time since I obtained these, Nanoleaf added QR codes to their devices and NFC pairing, mine doesn’t have these but now that I think about it — this should’ve been a default addition from the start.
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The other gripe about these triangles is that the app is buggy and has always been. Even now as I set up the lights for the 3rd time, the app is failing to connect the first time and needs to be rebooted. Other issues with the app is a slow sync to the lights, so when changing the colors or brightness there is a noticeable lag. The app sometimes refuses to start, so you will need to force quit and try again. And finally, the app sometimes will crash while changing any setting of the lights.
Lastly, and this is more to do with the included Command strips than the lights themselves but do not expect these strips to actually hold these lights up for a long time. In my first residence, they were so strong that they ripped the top layer off the dry wall but were still strong enough to stick back on to the wall again. This was odd because Command is supposed to come off easy by pulling the tab parallel with the wall, but instead they stick too hard. In my second residence, they stuck on the wall for about 3 months before the weight of the lights brought the panels tumbling off. I ended up using clear tape to harness them to the wall and that worked, but included strips won’t cut it. Now I default to using them laying flat on the top of my bookshelf, which is actually pretty nice to have it illuminate decorations and the wall behind it, but don’t count on keeping them on the wall for a nice design or pattern.
What I’ve learned is that it’s better to cough up your money for Philips Hue or similar products. Those bulbs are meant to be products for your home, they reliable and work properly. They sync quickly and work everytime. I now own 9 Hue bulbs, one lightstrip, and one accent light and none have failed or disappointed. I will admit that any color changing smart bulb is costly, so be prepared to shell out the cash for this fancy party trick, but I sync my lights to my desktop and it creates a very immersive experience in my room. The Nanoleaf panels do so too, but always with a hiccup. I would not put my trust in any of their other products, plus they are way too costly and feel like they attach a huge price for the color changing gimmick.
Before I end this, I do admit that the Nanoleaf panels have some good to them. The scenes you can create in the app are very immersive, smooth changing, and responsive. The Rhythm attachment actually works pretty well and can adapt to more sound appropriately. I’ve enjoyed movie nights with dimmed lighting from these panels as well as music sessions with responsive light dancing. Hue is good, but in comparison the Nanoleaf panels are more direct in presenting color to match sound. Also, at the brightest level, Nanoleaf will always outshine the Hue bulbs. Hue is meant to be more of a room light but Nanoleaf is meant to be an accent so it will always been brighter than room level. Put these panels at max brightness and they can illuminate a room all by themselves. There is never a worry that the colors from my Hue bulbs will hide the colors of the Nanoleaf panels, because the panels are brighter. But, don’t let that be the reason to buy these. If Philips ever makes a similar product, and my panels break, I might consider replacing them with the Hue equivalent.
