At $229.99, the Nanoleaf Mild Panels (previously often known as Nanoleaf Aurora) are presumably the priciest sensible lights you might get to your dwelling. Regardless of this, we’re already planning as to after we’re going to splurge on extra panels to steadily creep throughout our partitions, like some type of do-it-yourself Aurora Borealis. 

Sure, they’re not as wallet-friendly as we’d like them to be, however they’re by far some of the fascinating mild setups we’ve performed round with just lately. With mesmerizing colours, an infinite variety of programmable scenes, and the flexibility to simply broaden your creation with extra panels, The Nanoleaf Mild Panels are a welcome addition to actually any conceivable house.

Nanoleaf Mild Panels Value & Availability

The Nanoleaf Mild Panels can be found now through the corporate’s web site, and retail for $229.99 for a starter pack of 9 panels. You should purchase an enlargement pack of three extra panels for $59.99. Then there’s the non-obligatory Rhythm improve module for $49.99 if you would like your lights to have the ability to react to sound.

You’ll be able to after all purchase and ship them immediately from Nanoleaf, or native retailers akin to Virgin Megastore at present have just a few in inventory, priced at AED 839 for the starter pack, and AED 299 for the enlargement pack.

Design & Options

The starter pack accommodates 9 panels, the facility hub, linkers to attach the panels collectively, and pre-cut double-sided tape to mount the whole lot up. There are additionally particular screw-mounting kits you could order from Nanoleaf, however in our expertise the double-sided tape was greater than sufficient to carry them securely.

The one draw back to utilizing the tape is that they’re supremely troublesome to take off your partitions with out appreciable effort. A misaligned tile fortunately tore some paint off the wall after we pried it off, so watch out if you’re sticking these on.

The panels themselves are triangular in form, and are made from pretty light-weight plastic. The triangular form makes for some fascinating designs, so we’re joyful that Nanoleaf opted for this as a substitute of an ordinary sq. form. 

At either side there’s a small slot the place you slide in one of many embrace linkers, after which slide one other panel onto that so as to join them each. The linkers additionally come as a versatile sort (bought individually), which might can help you set up the Nanoleaf Mild Panels on a wall after which have them creep upward onto the ceiling for instance.

The facility hub could be related to any panel, and simply has two buttons on it – one for energy, and the opposite to cycle via out there mild patterns. It comes with a reasonably lengthy cable that connects to an influence brick, which then has its personal lengthy cable working to the mains energy. So regardless of the way you’re organising the panels, you will discover a method to get energy to them. You have to to get a bit artful in terms of hiding the facility cable, because it does are likely to distract from the great thing about the Mild Panels themselves.

Set up & Setup

Earlier than you excitedly begin sticking your Nanoleaf Mild Panels to the wall, it’s a good suggestion to choose a design first. There are triangular items of paper between every panel once they’re shipped, so these are nice to put on the ground and use as a form of template to get some inspiration. Or, you’ll be able to fireplace up the app itself and let it generate a design for you based mostly on the variety of related panels.

Making use of the panels to the wall took a little bit of persistence – you’ll need to be sure that the whole lot is sweet and straight in order that your design doesn’t begin to look wobbly when you add on extra panels. The double-sided tape holds the whole lot very firmly, so as soon as they’re on the wall there’s little to no hazard for them popping off.

We discovered it barely tough when connecting the panels collectively as soon as we began sticking them on the wall. There’s solely a really small slot wherein to slip within the linker, so in as soon as occasion we unintentionally slid it behind the panel as a substitute of into the slot, so we needed to pry it off the wall to get better our misplaced linker. However in the event you’re cautious and affected person, you will get the whole lot up on the wall with none incidents.

As soon as your design is up on the wall and also you’ve plugged within the energy, your lovely creation will come to life, and also you’ll be prepared to attach it to the Nanoleaf app. The app itself is the place you management your lights, arrange scenes, and replace your system’s firmware. It’s price noting you could’t management your Mild Panels remotely via the app – it’s important to at all times be on the identical community because the Mild Panels so as to make any modifications.

Utilization & Scenes

As soon as turned on, it’s instantly evident simply how cool the Nanoleaf Mild Panels make any house look. Whether or not they’re a stable coloration or only a mild palette of fixing hues, these lights are a pleasure to take a seat and watch. At 100% brightness they had been a bit too brilliant for our house, so we’d suggest retaining them at about 80% brightness or much less.

The ‘Colour’ part of the app lets you cycle via both stable or altering coloration schemes, whereas the ‘Rhythm’ tab lets you assign scenes that react to audio accordingly (extra on that later). You may also create your individual scene, which is really the place the enjoyable begins. There’s a slight studying curve, however when you’ve mastered it you’ll start creating your individual mesmerizing scenes.

If you happen to’re not feeling as artistic, then there are tons of of community-created scenes you could browse and obtain to your Mild Panel in only a few faucets. This was somewhat buggy for us, as after we selected to obtain a specific scene, the app stated that it couldn’t join with the Mild Panel, however confirmed that the scene had been downloaded anyway.

General, as a supply of ambient lighting the Mild Panels are attractive, and an instantaneous conversation-starter. Our creation had a complete of 12 panels, however issues find yourself trying extra spectacular at across the 20-panel mark, simply because the lights then have a bigger space to mess around with.

Rhythm Module

The non-obligatory Rhythm Module is presumably the perfect addition to your Mild Panels. This small system slots into any free slot, and makes your Mild Panels react accordingly to sound. It additionally means you’ll be able to modify particular Rhythm scenes within the app, so you’ll be able to flip any house into a way more vibrant one, due to the altering colours and patterns.

The Rhythm Module is pretty receptive to ambient sound or music, and taking part in Meghan Trainor’s All About That Bass resulted in some nice visuals on our wall. You may also join an audio supply on to the Rhythm Module through a three.5mm cable, in case you desire a extra responsive really feel.

Good Residence Integration

The Nanoleaf Mild Panels combine with most sensible dwelling setups or units, and are appropriate with Amazon Echo, Google Residence, HomeKit, IFTTT, and extra.

When paired with Amazon Echo for instance, you’ll be able to flip your lights on or off simply by mentioning the identify of your Nanoleaf Lights Panel. You may also change brightness ranges or the colour, however you’ll be able to’t activate the Rhythm module or swap to some other coloration scenes, which is unlucky. So that you’ll nonetheless need to have your telephone close by if you wish to do something extra than simply turning the lights on and off.

Verdict

So simply who’s the Nanoleaf Mild Panels aimed toward? Properly, it’s for anybody who needs to brighten up their house – actually. If you happen to assume you gained’t get enthusiastic about a few mild panels caught on the wall, then assume once more. These items are an incredible addition to have, and the truth that you’ll be able to seamlessly add on further tiles at any time is a large bonus.

On the draw back they’re nonetheless fairly expensive, and the double-sided tape signifies that as soon as they’re caught up, you’ll be able to’t simply pop them off and rearrange them as you want. Regardless of this, they’re nonetheless an incredible purchase, and the addition of the Rhythm Module offers them a complete new aptitude.

The Competitors

Every week after we obtained our palms on the Nanoleaf Mild Panels, LIFX introduced Tile – their tackle wall-mounted tiled lights. The LIFX Tile retails for about $249.99 and comes with 5 panels, with every panel having 64 ‘zones’ that may be individually managed for far more finer results.