Nanoleaf today announced the upcoming launch of the Nanoleaf Smart Holiday String Lights, which are able to integrate with Matter-compatible smart home platforms like HomeKit.
The two 10-meter light strands include 250 addressable LEDs that can be set to 16 million colors and multiple shades of white that range from 2700 to 6500K. With IP44 water resistance, the 250 lumen lights are able to be used indoors or outdoors.
Lights can be controlled with the Nanoleaf app, with the Home app, or with Siri voice commands. With the Nanoleaf app, there are customizable color palettes and light animations, plus an option to sync with music that's playing. There are nine preset scenes such as Holiday Magic and Crackling Fireplace.
Because Nanoleaf's lights are Matter-enabled, a Matter-compatible smart home hub like the HomePod mini or recent Apple TV 4K is required to use them with HomeKit. The lights can be controlled via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Matter over Wi-Fi, plus there are physical controls available in case a smart device is not around when you want to change the color or turn the lights off.
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I'm pretty sure that my wife would skin me alive if I bought 3-4 of these to replace our $1 incandescent bulbs that we bought on sale after Christmas! I mean, I'm an Apple fan, so I'm no stranger to paying a premium, but this is a bit beyond the pale for me. And I get that the cost of development, production and promotion has to be covered with a profit, so I'm not dissing on Nanoleaf at all. Just beyond what I can personally justify. I hope they do well as they look great, though I do have to wonder about the look of the black strings on a green tree. For Christmas tree light I would definitely prefer green, though maybe they are trying to make these stand out against all the cheap string lights on the market.
I was a big fan of Nanoleaf products a few years back (has it been a decade already?) but their stuff always seems to fail. I’ve had 10ish of their products and all of them have failed (and so have the warranty replacements to a degree). I think I’m down to 2 functioning panel controllers now. Considering the price of entry, I expect a lot better. I can’t recommend Nanoleaf anymore.
I was with Hue for awhile...then switch to Nanoleaf a couple of years ago because the bulbs were less expensive & a hub wasn't required.
Nanoleaf was fine / solid for me, they worked as expected...but I always felt like the colors from Hue were brighter. I also preferred Hue's app to Nanoleafs.
The other big issue for me was just the availability of Nanoleaf. It seemed much easier to find Hue everywhere from Hone Depot, Target, etc. Nanoleaf products were either sold out & had small or no section in Smart Lighting Depatments in retail stores. Plus, it was either bulbs or the wall shapes. I'm glad to see them release more products, but...I'm out.
I recently switched back and I'm happy I did. Nanoleaf wasn't bad for me & the price was great, but overall I much prefer Hue.
