Twinkly - Smart Light Tube-Flex 200 RGB LED Gen II - White

Amazingly bright and vibrant colors, much better than most other led strips. If you are looking for leds that really look like neon lights these are it. And if you are debating because of the price they would be 100% worth it in my opinion they are probably the best led lights that i have. They also come with papers to help you mount them easily in certain designs. The images dont show the true colors that they can make but they do show one of the designs you can make with the paper.

Easy to use but requires some creativity to fully utilize its potential. Twinkly provides a few templates to try out. Google "single line drawings" for further inspiration. I made a violin but had to make (3D print) my own mounts to capture the pegs.

These are awesome! Lights themselves are very good quality! The app on the other hand need some attention! It actually works with Alexa with changing to solid colors but, you cannot access custom settings

PROS - Hanging hardware included - Flexible - Long cords - Great app full of customization options - Can pair with music and make your lights dance with Twinkly Music device (not included) CONS - Not moldable (hardware required) - Difficult to work with OUT OF THE BOX Everything was packaged quite elegantly and you immediately get the sophisticated vibe Twinkly is going for. Minus one hiccup the setup was simple. You need to turn on "location" on your phone for some reason for it to find the device so just a heads up. I really like how it offers the option to use your own wifi or use it's own direct wifi in case you don't want to add yet another device to your router. Twinkly was nice enough to give 4 full size design templates to use to help you hang. At the least, it gives some inspiration for your own ideas if you don't choose one of them. Good luck if you do though, but more on that below. The Flex has an elegant look to it. It's smooth like an old neon light and no bulbs are visible when off. The LED's are very bright and vibrant and look beautiful when lit up no matter if it's day or night. They were very generous with the cord length too which is a big plus. APP The app is where the product really shines (ha). There are a bunch of effects preinstalled or you can download more from the Twinkly store. Since there are some seasonal effects I assume the store will be updated from time to time. Almost every effect can be further customized, too. While that already gives you an array of options, you can also completely create your own effects (based on a few templates) or even by painting all 200 lights. Combine these features with the design mapping tool that scans your design in real time, the possibilities seem endless. There is a lot of fun to be had here. What's also nice is the Twinkly has it's own memory storage so it doesn't take up space on your mobile device. FLAWS As cool as it all is and sounds on paper, it could have been executed a little better. I thought it would be flexible as in it being moldable but its only flexible in terms of holding it in place with the mounting hardware. If it was just a little more pliable it would be significantly more helpful. You essentially have to screw the mounts into the wall which is a shame unless you don't plan to change your design later. I'm not keen on putting that many holes in my wall in case I'd ever want to. I have absolutely no confidence the mounts would work with just 3M strips so that idea is out, too. The light is too tough and continuously tries to unravel so they won't be strong enough to hold. This makes the product which is potentially limitless, also kind of limited. I don't have much faith in the screws they give you to stay in the wall either, unless you get enough of them into studs because of how much resistance the Flex has. Since I didn't want to directly mount the light on my wall I had to get creative. I used the hardware to create a design on a thick piece of cardboard I had. After a lot of finagling I did manage to create a theropod (dinosaur) footprint, or rather, the best I could to make one. The Flex is tough to work with and it took a while just to do what I did (see picture) but I got it done and I'm pretty happy with the result. My thought was I can now hang the whole thing on the wall with some 3M strips. I'll be switching out the cardboard for a similar material or a light piece of wood later for a more elegant look. At the very least I can use the cardboard with the screw holes as a template. I recommend doing this for your own design, especially if you are looking to make it permanent. The product itself is very well made and has amazing features. If you plan on having just one permanent design on your wall than the potential flaws won't be an issue for you. You still need the patience to draw out your own template and get it up on your wall, though. Otherwise, you'll have to get creative like I did. The value for the price starts to dip once you go that route since you have to spend money on some kind of mount (IE board, frame etc...) and possibly hanging hardware. But aside from these issues, there is a LOT of potential with the Twinkly Flex.

The Twinkly Smart Light Tube-Flex 200 RGB LED Gen II is a pretty great piece for an entertainment, gaming, or special area in your house. I have heard about the greatness of Twinkly for a while and this is my first personal experience with the company. I could obviously see what I was getting into before purchasing it, but I was impressed when I first opened the box. Inside I found the flexible light tube, the instructions, several templates that you can follow, and then the bracketing/tape pieces to put it up. It was pretty easy to assemble, set up, and adjust for the most part. When they say “flex”, it really lives up to billing. It will take a little bit to get it out its original coil, but after that, it’s good to go. The Twinkly application is simple, but does have a few flaws. One big thing to pay attention to is the frequency of your Wi-Fi. I usually run my phone on the 5 GHz , but I had to shift over to the 2.4 GHz because that’s the only supported frequency for things. After getting through that, it was easy to change the colors, set the timer, or check other options. One thing that I still can’t get to work is the mapping of the lights. I am encountering errors every time I try it and I haven’t found a resolution yet. I’ve updated the firmware, rebooted the phone, disconnected and reconnected the network, but I still can’t get the light to map with the app. It would be nice to check out more of the functionality with that in place. Taking that away, I am actually pleased with the app. It would be nice to take the timer out of 24h format though. Very minor, but still something the developers should consider. Also on the app front, I am working on getting it to pair and work with my Razer Chroma Studio. That one is a little tougher to figure out, but it does work. It will be cool to have it synced with everything at some point. I am in the middle of remodeling my gaming area so I haven’t mounted it on the wall just yet. However, I did play with it and it’s pretty easy to maneuver. You will need to use the brackets to hold it in place. I look forward to figuring out my design and making it happen soon. Until then, I am using it for ambient lighting and fun when the kids use the room. All in all, it’s pretty cool and functional. I can’t wait to have it up permanently and maybe have it as a talking piece for meetings. It will certainly help to create my own “brand”. I will definitely look at Twinkly products more in the future after my maiden experience with the Twinkly Smart Light Tube-Flex 200 RGB LED Gen II.