Customer Ratings & Reviews

The Key Light Neo is an excellent product and can really level up your content creation or conference calls. People don’t realize how important it is to have good lighting when creating content, you can have the best camera in the world but without lighting it’s just not going to give you what you expected. The Key light Neo is that easy to use and convenient light fix for that. I do YouTube videos and I used to own a pretty expensive camera setup with a big light to get the video looking great, with this I find using it in conjunction with my iPhone I get a really good looking video, especially when doing talking head sections. Design: simple but stylish. It’s all white and doesn’t get in the way. It’s also quite small so easy to travel with for things like CES where I will make daily update videos from my hotel room. It has 4 buttons, two of which select the tone of the light, 1 on/off button and a dial to control your brightness. This is everything you need in a Key light. It also works with your MacBook and you can control tone and such from your laptop, and you can use it with a stream deck which will be my next purchase And overall this is fantastic and has made it so I can now have a fully mobile content creation setup no matter where I go. Trust me, if you don’t like the video quality when you’re creating then this will make you extremely happy once you’ve tried it

First and foremost, the function of this is to provide illumination when creating content or doing video chats. With options for both bright white light, and a softer light with the ability to dim each easily with a knob, the Key Light Neo is a great product. It's extremely basic, and I mean that in a good way. Plug it into a USB power source and you've got 3 buttons for Power, White Light and Soft Light. You also have a knob to adjust the brightness. That's all and it's welcome in a world where everything needs to be adjusted by a remote or through an app. Physical controls are awesome! My only real complaint with the Neo is the size/weight. I had some trouble stabilizing it on top of a computer monitor and found myself wishing it had a better method of attaching. There's also just hard plastic underneath, where some felt or rubber might make a huge difference with it staying put. I ended up folding the base up and putting it on my desk, underneath my monitors. It still works, but I don't find myself worrying about it falling off. Overall, I use this for Teams calls and it works great. I have windows behind me, so being able to get some light in front of me has helped me not be washed out of the video calls. For the price, it's a good option and it works well. I recommend it for people who need something simple on a budget.

The Key Light Neo, from Elgato, is a small portable primary lighting source that provides soft, diffused illumination that is flicker-free. Powered alone, it is capable of providing 400 lumens output using USB-A (computer) power, 700 lumens output using USB-C (computer) power, and an impressive 1000 lumens output using a 5V/3A charger. Only a USB-A cable and a USB-A extension cable are included. Navigation is simple by way of four controls on the face of the Neo: on/off, two presets for lighting temperature (warm vs. cool), and an intensity control that can control both illumination intensity and, very crudely, some basic variation in color temperature. It is designed for use in proximity to your subject matter (typically yourself) and I think the illumination is quite flattering – the diffusion minimizes glare and harsh shadows (like wrinkles). But the size of the light (small) prevents it from effective illumination at a distance of more than a few feet away from the subject. This is a close-up light designed for close-up imaging/video. If you are using your Key Light Neo plugged directly into your PC or Mac, you can download a USB Control app that allows you to tune the intensity of the light (which you can already do using the on-light intensity control) but it also allows you to fine-tune the color temperature. Using the app on your smartphone, you can tune the Neo over WiFi when using a 5V/3A charger to power the unit. Your choices can be “saved” into either one of the preset buttons on the Neo face. I prefer to make changes in color temperature in the recording app rather than trying to micromanage the lighting temperature. The Neo has a tripod mount to provide control over lighting placement and comes with a screw-in monitor mount that is extremely functional. Used alone, the flattering softness of the light gives a great naturalistic look to people that is a refreshing change from the lit-all-over uniformity of the now-ubiquitous ring light fanaticism. But for illumination in a video, the size and necessary proximity of the light means that whoever is illuminated won’t be able to move too much without having a noticeable effect on the natural contour shadows cast on their face - the diffusion of the light helps prevent shadows but it isn’t a miracle worker. And while the Neo operates as advertised, there are several things I do not like about the unit. Physically, the light does not feel sturdy or well-made at all – taking it out of the box, I immediately felt like this was more of a toy than a tool. And while I understand how you would benefit from a constant supply of power (USB) for extended video shoots, I couldn’t understand how in late 2024 this thing did not contain a rechargeable battery for added portability (especially for the asking price). Finally, I felt like the color/temperature control ON the unit was very clunky and unusable – and I don’t like needing to rely on an app to smooth that process out.

The Elgato Neo is a unique round LED light that can be attached to your Monitor or Laptop screen to give variable color and intensity lighting to your video calls. The “stand” that comes with the light is a “V” shaped plastic apparatus that clips over the top edged of your screen. It works OK, but does need some adjusting and if not set up carefully can fall off your monitor. It does offer a ¼ inch thumb screw that can be used to attach the light to other stands. The included instructions are very basic and printed in tiny print. It’s best to use the URL code and go to their website for the best information. The packaging is very basic cardboard, supporting “green” packaging. The unit comes with two cables. A USB-C to USB-A cable and a USB-A to Female USB-A extension. I would have liked a USB-C to USB-C for connecting to my laptop. Most of us have those lying around. USB-C offers more power hence more brightness over using USB-A on a laptop. Actually 700 lumens over USB-C vs 400 lumens on USB-A (unless you are using a USB-A power adaptor that can supply 3 amps you can archive 1000 lumens over USB-A) The Control Center apps help make light adjustments easier. The Windows or Mac based Control Center is found on the Elgato site and works when the light is connected to one of your computer USB jacks for power. If you use a separate USB power supply you may need to download the Control Center App for your phone which controls the light through your WiFi. Both Apps work, but I found the one on my IOS phone to be glitchy in some situations. FYI, the App for the computer hides in the Hidden Icons area down on your taskbar. For simplicity, don’t use the apps, I just control the light with the controls on the actual light. 3 buttons, and a power button. Color and brightness can be easily controlled on the light itself and it remembers your last used settings. Performance as a video light is very good. More than enough brightness is available with any type of power supply. Color of light is adjustable from bluish to warm. I found the light to be glare free if brightness is not too high. It does enhance skin tones and works well to offset lightning that might be behind you. This light will definitely offset major backlighting in your environment. CONCLUSION: It is expensive, but it’s well made and does what it’s intended to do with minimal glare. The light is larger than I expected, but its size does disperse the light and glare much better. The included stand is ok as long as you know it can be knocked off if you are not careful. Placement on either side of a built-in camera is necessary in some cases. I would recommend this light for just about anyone that wants to make themselves look better on camera, and that’s likely a lot of people!

The Elgato Key Light Neo is an interesting key light that offers many great features. The Elgato comes packed with a USB-C cable for the power, a long USB extender cable, and monitor mount. The Elgato can be connected by plugging it into your computer’s USB, or you can plug it into a USB power plug. Unfortunately, this has to be hardwired in order to use. The light does have Wi-Fi built-in so you can download the app on your smartphone and control the light setting remotely, although I’m not sure why that’s even necessary as there’s controls right on the light itself. The cable management bracket that attaches to the back of the light is really convenient and hides the access cable out of sight. Installing the light is very easy, you just mount it on your monitor and plug the USB cord into your computer. You can either download the software to have light controls, or you can just use the physical buttons that are right on the light itself. Keep in mind that the only way to get 100% brightness power is by plugging it in directly to a USB power block and with the USB-C cable only, if you try to use the USB extender, it will only max out at 40% brightness. As far as the functionality and performance of the Elgato, I am very impressed. The light it projects makes a huge difference in video calls and/ streaming. There are different shades of white light that can be selected depending on your environment and preference. The key light does a great job at eliminating shadows and giving yourself a better presence. The only downside is if you wear glasses, you will get the reflection of the light in them. This can be fixed by tilting your light and angling your head. Overall, I like the Elgato Key Light Neo. It does a great job at enhancing your video streams/calls. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking to start streaming or enhance their video calls.

It works well. Not worth the price sunce there are better options on amazon for less.