Nanoleaf Shapes – Hexagons Smarter Kit (7 panels) – Multicolor

These lights are one of the best purchases I’ve ever made. They can instantly transform the environment and are a game changer during covid times, especially. I can turn my living room into a dance club, cozy cocktail lounge, etc. by messing with the settings. Setting the colors to music is fun too. It really feels like these lights are getting me through the covid, pacific NW gloomy winter.
Three friends have bought these after seeing them at my place. The fact that they function as lighting, an art piece, and a magical transportation machine makes them a steal for the price. For $200 or less, you can feel like you’re somewhere else, impress your friends, and tie an environment together. I haven’t played around too much with the touch component of these lights but imagine kids would get a kick out of them.

They are amazing! I didn’t think I’d fall in love with these lights as much as I did. I had doubts about paying that much for led lights but I can honestly say it was worth it!

These Nanoleaf Shapes (Hexagons) are a fabulous addition to a room, and when working, they really add a nice dimension and ambiance to your space.
SETTING UP THE LIGHTS:
I have over 70 smart devices on my network, so am no stranger to setting up connected smart products. The integration of these Nanoleaf Shapes had me almost pulling my hair out.
To start with, the QR and Home Kit icons that are engraved into the back of the control panel would not talk to the app. Whenever I scanned them, the auto scan function would highlight the edge of the control panel, or a cut out on the back, but NEVER affix itself to either of the codes on the back. I then resorted to the printed card inside the box. Finally, the Home Kit code was recognized, it showed that I was trying to connect a light, so I proceeded. Well, I was repeatedly given a message that the light was unreachable. So, troubleshooting online, if you keep attempting, you are given an option to input the code that is above the Home Kit icon. I repeatedly entered that code, and was told that the code was invalid for my product. After more online research, I found out that I am not isolated in my issue and should contact Nanoleaf. I wasn’t going to be defeated, so I continued to try. Doing a scan on my wifi network, I could see the product, (Shapes with a 4 digit code), so I looked at connecting via AP, instead of scanning the QR/Home Kit code. In doing so, it showed that I was connected to the light, but then the Nanoleaf app was showing the light as Unresponsive. I reset the Nanoleaf Hexagon several times, to no avail. I persevered some more, I had been troubleshooting for almost 2 hours and getting very irate. Well, finally, the product took down my network, and stripped over 50% of my smart devices from my network. A call to AT&T and over an hour of troubleshooting later, I had to do a hard reset on my router. My smart products came back online, so I gave the Nanoleaf another chance.
Again, more issues with connection, and then finally, by using the Home Kit app, and not the Nanoleaf app, I was able to get the lights connected, and responsive.
ENJOYING THE LIGHTS:
Now that I was able to access the lights, and control them in Home Kit, I opened up the Nanoleaf app, and finally the lights showed up as responsive in there too. I was able to play around with the lights.
The product itself is very easy to clip together, power up and get lit up (once the above issues were resolved). Please be aware that when you plug in the panels and start to clip them in, keep your hands away from the connection terminals. You can feel a small shock from them if you come into contact with them.
Everything you need to connect the lights and attach them to the wall is included in the kit, but if you want to make a design wrap around a wall, you need to purchase separate flexible cables/connectors.
As soon as you clip the lights into the connectors, they light up. They are touch sensitive and react to touching, dragging your finger over them, or tapping them. They offer 16+ million colors and a white light range of 1200K-6500K by pressing the – and + button at the same time. Each press changes the light output. We’ve been most impressed by the music visualizer (or even just your voice makes them react). My son loves this feature and keep shouting at the wall! Constantly asking Alexa to play different songs to see how they react. And talking of Alexa, there is a Nanoleaf skill available, which I have connected and enabled so that the Shape lights are voice activated. I can just say ‘Alexa, turn on Shapes’ and she’ll turn them on and off as requested.
They also have ‘Layout Detect’ which makes sure that the lighting flows smoothly between each panel, and doesn’t jump around to different light panels when using preprogrammed lighting scenes. One power supply can power up to 21 panels, and one control panel can control up to 500 panels, so the lighting possibilities are only limited by your creativity.
I chose to mount the Shapes to the wall using 3M Command strips and not the included adhesive, and I’m glad I did. I read online (while researching the connectivity issues) that the adhesive supplied is really strong. When I initially mounted the lights, I had them too high for my son, and had to reposition them. Using the Command strips made that nice and easy.
The lights work with Apple Home Kit, Google Assistant, Alexa, IFTTT and Smart Things.
I’ve used the Home Kit app to get them connected, the Nanoleaf app to control settings and Alexa to voice control them.
I’m pleased with the lights, their functionality, their brightness and their versatility, now that they are connected, but that initial experience with the product really was terrible, especially when I was so excited to receive them and set them up.
Hopefully my experience with the set up of the lights was somewhat of a rare occurrence. Otherwise, they really are a nice product!

These lights are really cool, and a work of art! They attach to your wall with double-sided tape. You create your own design. Plug it in. Connect it to your WiFi. Download the app. And you can change the color patterns, and how the lights react to the Sound of Music! Very Cool! A GREAT & EASY way to decorate and Light Up a wall or room!!