The new LIFX Z light strip from LIFX is the best kind of unnecessary.
I recently got married and with that moved into a new home. The most exciting prospect of the new home was the ability to kit the whole house out with smart stuff. I’m about as acquainted with DIY as Hitler was to children’s parties but I managed to change all of the light fittings to fit my smart bulbs. So now I have a fully LIFX controlled house, a big step up from our original Color 1000 review where I was just rocking the one bulb in a lamp. I can now appreciate the full extent of the LIFX capabilities, scheduling the room lights to come on at sunset, turning the bulbs on at night before we arrive home in the dark and making the lounge lights flash red when someone owes me rent in Monopoly.
The most recent addition to my LIFX eco system is the LIFX Z, a new LED strip light that they released a few months ago as part of their generation 3 product line. I bought the starter kit which comes with the AC power pack and 2 metres of strips, the LED strips are split into 1 metre lengths which join together easily and then a small button on the AC pack connects the strips together extending your strip to the new length. With each 1 metre strip there are 8 customisable colour zones, which allows for an assorted medley of colours.
Some people have reported having issues with the LIFX Z’s connectivity, where it would seemingly drop connection often. However, I haven’t had any issues with this and in my testing the strip has always been connected and ready to go, this might be something to bear in mind though when purchasing, depending on the router and connection your experience may differ.
I’ve enjoyed having a new way to light the room in conjunction with my existing bulbs and it’s brilliant having them all inside the same app, LIFX do a great job of creating a seamless eco system.
Being fairly new to the scene, the LIFX Z still has a few areas that could do with a polish up. I found that the colours displayed on the screen don’t quite match up to what the strip itself displays, it also seems as if the strip doesn’t have quite the same colour range as the bulbs do, I’m not sure if that can be fixed with a software update or if that’s just the nature of LED strips.
Another perhaps poor man’s gripe is that you need to buy the starter kit to get the AC pack, you can’t purchase it separately. With my set up I can only fit one strip in so I have a spare extension knocking about in the box. It would be great if I could buy the AC pack without the strips and then set this extension up in another room.
The LIFX Z is a great way to draw attention to a particular area of a room or make a boring set of cupboards a hang of a lot more interesting. With the ability to change the colours on the fly you can make them new and interesting every day. You definitely don’t need the LIFX Z like you might need the standard bulbs, but it adds another level of customisation and creativity to your set up that’s a little hard to resist. It will also impress your friends and confuse your Nan.
The LIFX Z has me excited about the future of the LIFX range. You can check it out here!
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