Nanoleaf Lines Review

EDITORS' RATING : 8 / 10
Pros
  • Bright and colorful
  • Extremely simple to set up
  • Beautiful both on and off
  • Music effects built-in
  • Analogue controls built-in
Cons
  • Prohibitively costly
  • Modularity somewhat requires additional sticker purchase

The latest LED light system from Nanoleaf goes by the name Nanoleaf Lines. These are LED light bars that are sort of the opposite of what they've released in past editions. The first several sets of Nanoleaf products were LED light shapes connected in combinations chosen by the consumer. With Lines, Nanoleaf still has a modular system for placement, but the lights shine at the wall instead of outward.

The distinction is major, when it comes to the way these lights can be placed on a wall. Nanoleaf Lines connect at their tips to 6-sided hubs that stick to your wall. These hubs have plastic caps that allow your design to have a sort of "final" look to it – rather than leaving any connector pins exposed.

Nanoleaf Lines are every bit as high quality, simple, and surprisingly versatile as their predecessors. The only part I'm disappointed by is the fact that I cannot continuously change positions of each of the lights without getting replacements for the replaceable sticker backs for the hubs. Unless I place the whole lot with perfect accuracy and never move them again – which I COULD do, but I'm too fickle.

NOTE: Whenever I say "hub", I'm speaking about what Nanoleaf refers to as a "Lines Mounting Connector." They have fancy names for each element in this set, as is right for a product made with the quality and cost we're experiencing here.

Colors can be controlled wirelessly with a smartphone running the Nanoleaf App. You can also do some basic control with the controller cap – that fits over any Lines Mounting Connector like any other flat cap. This cap is handy if you don't want to mess with the app every time you want to turn the lights on or off, or control the various effects these lights are capable of working with.

You'll notice a music note button – this activates the lights' reactive audio mode. Audio input is handled by a single microphone along the power line – which you can place out of the way and effectively hidden, so long as your wall is white. The reactive audio mode is an excellent feature and more than welcome as a standard feature with this set. (In some of the earlier Nanoleaf light sets, a reactive audio component needed to be purchased separately.)

There'll also be skins for the lights at some point in the future* – for now, they're white. The first skins that'll be released are Black and Pink. *UPDATE: They're expected to be released in December of 2021.

Nanoleaf Lines kits are available for pre-order starting on October 14, 2021 from Nanoleaf and Best Buy. The first "Smarter Kit" will include 9 Lines and will cost approximately $200 USD. There's also an Expansion Pack with 3 Lines available for around $80 USD. Be warned: Once you have the initial set of Lines, you're going to want as many as you can possibly afford – they're addictive and fun to the max.