As an early adopter of smart home tech, I was one of the first to retrofit their entire home with Smart Lighting and Switches. In particular, I’m a huge fan of voice-activated LED Strip Lights like the new ones by Twinkly that I’ll review in this article.
Whether it’s behind a TV, under a table, or above cabinets—LED strips can transform any room with colourful lights. That said, the LED strip lighting currently in my home is limited. They can only change to a single colour at a time. My tech dream is to program effects on LED light strips to display multiple, moving colours. If you ever saw the front of the car “Kitt” on the 80’s TV show Knight Rider, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
Finally, a company has a solution that does just that. I’m reviewing the Twinkly Flex LED Tube and the Twinkly Line LED strip. These are app-controlled, flexible RGB (Red Green Blue) lights that provide an endless amount of lighting effects in any colour spectrum.
This is perfect for movie nights, holiday festivities, game rooms, and more. To say that I’m excited about this review would be an understatement. So let’s get our geek on, starting with the unboxing.
Unboxing the Twinkly Flex and Line lights
The Twinkly Flex is unlike any LED light I’ve reviewed before. It’s a flexible LED tube light that resembles retro neon lights. The Flex unit I received is 6.5 feet long but a 7-foot version is available online. A long power cord is connected to the tube with a big power button. Included in the box are small plastic clips, double-sided adhesive, and small screws.
The Twinkly Line starter kit comes with a 5-foot LED strip connected to a long power cord. Unlike the Flex, the Line LED strip is extendable with an additional 5-foot extension kit. Two 5ft LED strips can be connected to create a single 10ft strip. The extension kit also includes a black extension cable that allows you to connect two LED strips, but not continuously.
This is helpful if you need some flexibility in your design and placement. An adhesive strip is pre-installed on the back with additional plastic clips to keep the strip and power cable secure.
Setting up the Twinkly Flex and Line lights
As soon as I unboxed both lights, I had one of those rare tech Eureka moments. I knew exactly where I was going to install the Twinkly lights—in my home studio where I film all my tech product reviews.
I hate seeing exposed wires so I carefully planned how I was going to run the power cables. Thankfully, the Twinkly lights come with super long power cords which gives users a lot of placement flexibility.
In my studio, I have foam sound tile diffusers on the wall. I carefully ran the power cord on the sidewall where I already had a plastic cord cover installed. From there, I ran the 5ft line strip on top of the foam tile. I then connected the extension cable and ran it behind the tile. From there I connected the extension strip and ran it underneath the tiles. Now the top and bottom of the foam tiles had LED strip lighting with no exposed cables.
For the Twinkly Flex, I decided to mount it on the wall above the sound tiles. Initially, I used adhesive tape to mount the plastic clips on the wall. However, with the weight of the LED tube, the plastic clips fell off. I used the small screws to mount the plastic clips to the wall.
The hardest part was figuring out a design. I ended up changing mine many times. After some trial and error, I ended up with a design that simulates a mountain range. Once again, I used the foam tiles to hide the power cables. After it was all said and done, I was very happy with the final result. My studio backdrop now has a futuristic look that looks great on camera.
Installation tips and tricks for LED light strips
In installing the Twinkly lights, there’s a couple of things you need to know. First, to get the best lighting, install the Twinkly Line LED strips under or over surfaces. Basically, you want to avoid having to see the LED lights. Each 5ft strip has 90 LEDs on it.
From my extensive experience with LED lights, they look the best when the light is being reflected upwards or downwards without seeing all the individual lights. This is why I installed the strips above and below the sound tiles.
Second, get some help to install the Twinkly Flex LED tube light. Figuring out a design by yourself is hard. I ended up installing and removing a lot of plastic clips. If you’re by yourself, you’ll have to use additional clips to keep the tube on the wall. To avoid putting unnecessary screw holes in the wall, get help.
Using the Twinkly app to control lights
Once the lights were installed, I downloaded the Twinkly app and connected the lights. The setup uses a combination of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to connect the app to your home network. Once connected, the Twinkly app provides endless lighting effects. To my surprise and delight, both Snake and Kitt (Knight Rider) effects are included in the app. There are also holiday-inspired effects such as Snow, Candy Cane, and even Flag colours.
The effect options are endless. Users can edit effect colour combinations, speeds, and even set up effect playlists. It’s basically every customization feature I wanted with LED lighting inside one app. I’m a kid in a candy store.
The Twinkly lights also support Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. This makes it super easy to turn the lights on and off via voice. The app also gives users the ability to set schedules for turning the lights on and off.
Final thoughts on the Twinkly Flex and Line lights
To me, the Twinkly Flex and Line lights demonstrate the true potential of LED lighting. They’ve created solutions that are easy to install with an accompanying app that brings endless effects and customization options. That said, there are things that I would like to see.
First is the ability to connect multiple Flex LED tube lights. While I love the ability to design the lights, 7 feet is just not long enough. It’s such a tease. You want to continue the design but you can’t. I don’t know if that’s possible with LED tube technology, but I sure hope they figure it out.
Second, they need to offer longer LED strips. The 5ft line starter kit will not be enough for most users. I highly recommend you consider purchasing the 5ft extension kit with the starter kit. Hopefully, they will offer extension kits that are longer than 5 feet.
Still, Twinkly has thoroughly impressed me with Flex and Line lights. I honestly can’t get enough of the LED effects. It already has me reimagining how I would light my entire home. Imagine having LED strips above the crown molding of a home and the snake-effect running around your home. That would be so geeky, so cool.
As a tech reviewer with over a decade of experience I’m a tough fella to impress. Out of all the tech gadgets I reviewed for Best Buy this year, I would have to say this is my top gadget for 2021.
If you’re into mood lighting and want to take advantage of everything LED lighting technology has to offer, I highly recommend you try the Twinkly Flex and Line lights. These are 100% Handy Andy approved.
The feature I liked most mentioned in this review is that the lights can be controlled by an ap.
I love the additional plastic clips to keep the strip and power cable secure.
I love that the lights are compatible with Google Assistant.
I love the wireless connectivity feature to the app!
What I liked most about your review was that there are so many effects and customization options.
I like that there are endless light effects. It helps to keep your home interesting and give it that feeling of something new every so often.
I like that the Twinkly Flex and Line Lights come with super long power cords with provides placement flexibility. Thanks for the opportunity.
Feature I like the most is the app has many features and you can make different shapes.
I like the fact that I can use the same animations I’ve created for their strands/curtains/icicles/clusters on these…. and group them together with my outdoor lights!
The colour customizations are my favourite
you can customize /bend them to whatever shape you want
I love that they are so flexible and can be used to create different patterns and words
Very cool to be able to customize effects with the app and control with Google Assistant
“I hate seeing exposed wires so I carefully planned how I was going to run the power cables. Thankfully, the Twinkly lights come with super long power cords which gives users a lot of placement flexibility.”
this part in your article answered the other question i had. these lights seem neat.
I have Google Assistant and it would be such fun to control the app. I would enjoy changing the colours and the speed of the lights. It would be a lovely feature to have all seasons of the year.
I love being able to control the lights through the app
I like the flexibility of the lights to make your own design with the lights as well as using the Twinkly app to change the colour of the lights.
I love that these lights take all desired highlights and put them in one product : app use, changing colour and flexible! Could it get any better
I really do love the idea that I can control the lights using the Twinkly app or Alexa to work the lights or change the colors. Great way to light up dark areas.
LOVE the ability to change the lighting effects through an APP. We are in the process of redoing our “nerd room” and have been looking for lighting solutions. having the ability to change up the lighting effects makes me a tad bit giddy!
The adhesive strips on the Twinkly Flex and Line lights are a nice addition! This would look great downstairs in the family room.
I like that the lights come with the app feature.
Having the adhesive strips plus clips to hold these in place is a great feature. That is always an issue for me using the led light strips/lines. The flex lights sound great; I can think of lots of applications for this type of flexibility. Gorgeous effects.
Wow, pretty, flexible and seem so easy to use. I would use Twinky lights in my entry way as a special way to greet visitors.
Oops Typo Twinkly Lights.
I love that twinkly flex comes in a 7′ version! and its customizations make them so versatile.
I would place these in my grandmother’s room, when arises each morn in a positive and happy way at age of 89! l
I like the fact that you mentioned the super long power cord because I also hate seeing exposed wires.
I like the app control feature
I like the ability to connect multiple Flex LED tube lights and like you, 7 feet just wouldn’t be enough for me!! the more the merrier!!
I looove that there is an app to play with and customizze. Great feature and great review Andy!
I l8je the idea that I c@n control the lights through an app
My favourite feature is that it is remotely controlled by an app and flexible in different setups.
I love that there are holiday inspired themes in the app. Year-round fun!
I love that there are so many different effect combinations! It makes it so much more interesting.
I really like how you tried to make a mountain range design, and sorta, kinda failed at that but A+ on effort! 🙂
Great review. I like all the options for placement and control.
I love the idea of adhesive strips plus clips to hold these in place
I also love the reference to Kit an all time favourite
I really like that they are app-controlled, and they are flexible ! Can be so creative with them!
I like that you talked about the ability to control the lights with an app as well as the best ways to use the lights.
I like that the Twinkly lights also support Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. So, you can control the lights via voice and
set schedules for turning on and off.
I like Using the Twinkly app to control lights.
I like the ability to use it with Alexa!
The LED effects would be what sells me n these
I like that you are able to control the lights with alexa.
Using this with Alexa would be really cool.
We like that the line LED strip is extendable with an additional 5-foot extension kit.
CONTROL!!!
I/we would use this in our living room ..and then we can control the lights and not need to use our kitchen light which is ++ bright ..Right now we have christmas lights on in our living room
I like the ability to use it with Alexa as my kid loves to use Alexa. Thanks for the article and pointing that out!
I like being able to use the Twinkly app to control the lights!
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