Nanoleaf Shapes – Mini Triangles Smarter Kit (5pk) – Multicolor
$119.99
Last updated on October 13, 2024 3:40 am Details
Specification: Nanoleaf Shapes – Mini Triangles Smarter Kit (5pk) – Multicolor
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Photos: Nanoleaf Shapes – Mini Triangles Smarter Kit (5pk) – Multicolor
8 reviews for Nanoleaf Shapes – Mini Triangles Smarter Kit (5pk) – Multicolor
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Nanoleaf Shapes – Mini Triangles Smarter Kit (5pk) – Multicolor
$119.99
nickcal –
A few years ago, I started amassing my smart lighting collection. I started with LED RGB bulbs and then moved on to more advanced equipment like the panels from Nanoleaf. At the time, the company only had light panels, but in the three years since then, Nanoleaf has increased its line of smart lighting products to include Shapes and the Canvas. I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to add the Canvas to our collection, but not Shapes – until now.
Shapes are designed to allow the user to create a more flexible lighting design with the use of multiple light panel geometric shapes. These include Triangles, Hexagons, and Mini Triangles. The Mini-Triangles are the version I added. One thing to note here is that the Shapes work with other Shapes, but not with the standard Light Panels or the Canvas. They each have their own method of connecting between the individual light panels.
The Mini Triangle light panels arrived in a very informative package. The box had illustrations, photos, and main features outlined on the sides. When I opened the box I found the light panels (5), linkers (6), mounting tape (6), controller (1), mounting plate (5), and the power supply. One of the things that caught me by surprise as I was removing everything from the box was just how small the mini triangles are. They are about one-third of the size of the standard Light Panels from Nanoleaf, which are also triangular in shape. The packing list for the box states that there are mounting plates included. These plates are already pre-installed on the backs of the light panels and are designed to breakaway should you need to remove the panels from their installation site. Because the mounting plates breakaway, you should be able to remove the adhesive tape much easier than previous models of Nanoleaf’s smart lighting and thus protect your walls from unwanted damage.
Setting up the light panels is pretty easy. One thing that should be remembered is that they can’t be used with a 5Ghz Wi-Fi network. Our home network is dual-band so I didn’t have any issues with connecting. The part of this process I wasn’t thrilled about was that I had to go to Nanoleaf’s website in order to have the installation instructions. A quick start guide is included in the box, but it doesn’t actually give you the startup instructions. You will want to download the Nanoleaf app and install it from there. Yes, they are compatible with HomeKit, which I did include in the installation process, but the pairing process goes much more smoothly if you start in the Nanoleaf app.
Aside from the app, the only thing you need to get started is for one of the Mini Triangles to be mounted to the control panel and for power to be connected. Then, you only have to go to + in the My Devices menu of the app. You will select ’Shapes’ as the product and then ‘Start Pairing.’ You’ll be asked to enter or scan the pairing code and then you’ll be connected and ready to go.
The light panels are very bright, but give off a soft, smooth light. They are designed to be touch-sensitive and to react to sound – as long as they are on the right mode. They come preloaded with several scene programs, but the beauty of these lights is that you can create your own, too. I have not gone through that process yet, but I did turn on some music to see how well they reacted to sound and was impressed with how sensitive they are. I’ve seen some lights that just bounce with music, but these light panels end up dancing with music and sound. I’m thrilled with the addition of the Mini Triangles to our home. I do wish I could connect them to our existing Canvas or original Light Panels, but for now, these tiny smart lights will live on their own.
TechGuru –
These little mini triangles lights are so cool and it lights up my monitor area well with different colors and patterns. This pack comes with 5 mini triangles and connectors, double sided stickers for wall placements, power adapter and quick manual.
Don’t get this pack if you are looking for to place in large room and expecting accent lighting or lighting up the entire room as this is not going to be making you happy. These are mini mini as it is described.
Setup: Its easy to download the various pattern from app or you can customize your own pattern. I would suggest to plan your pattern and try connecting it using the connectors, power it up before installing the 2-sided tape and mounting on the wall. Also, make sure to connect the little controller that works as wired remote to power on/off, increase or decrease brightness, music, changing scenes. Mobile app is very intuitive. Just download the nanoleaf app for mobile from Appstore or google play store and the app allows you to select various scene, changing colors to music etc. App also lists all smart devices that works with Apple HomeKit for easy control and automate with each other. I have added my motion sensor to work with nanoleaf for turning on at a scheduled time at my office when it detects motion and turn off after a period of time. It also support touch options to control various functions like increasing or decreasing brightness, changing scenes or colors that can be customized in app.
Overall, this mini triangles are a great addition to your existing shapes or for a smaller area. Don’t expect to light up the entire room with this. Its just a cool décor but for the price not sure if its worth it when other options are available for cheaper.
SamsungUser –
So cool. I was debating to get the large triangles so for the minis to see how they work and if I liked them. I LOVE them! I’m ready to get the 15 panel pack and combine them with the minis! If you’re thinking about these for you’re, I highly recommend you wait no more! You won’t be disappointed with all the features and Ambience they add to your room
zero325 –
The new Nanoleaf shapes design is an awesome update to an already cool design. The 5 pack is just enough to get started. It comes with everything you need and go up in minutes. With only 5 tiles you won’t have a ton of options in layout, but you can still put something cool together. I do wish I had more shapes and sizes to expand on, but more are certainly available.
The colors are great, the app does its job and the updated control module is a better implementation than over previous generations. This time around the control module is a separate piece that can be added to any side. Instead of sliding tabs to connect the tiles, a more secure click in place connector is plugging them all together.
Although I think the product is great, I do find them to be on the expensive side. Not that the product isn’t of value, at the current mark it’s in the premium price range. The good news is that unlike previous generations the expansion tiles don’t see to be as bad. For about the same price as this kit, you can pick up an additional 10 small triangles. That’s pretty cool.
I love the brightness of the tiles and all the great features. These are touch and sound reactive – you can liven up the ambiance of any room with just a few clicks in the app. Also make note that unlike some other home lighting kits you won’t need any additional hub. The control panel mounts to the lights and that the app leads you the rest of the way. If you want to add a cool and colorful lighting accessory to a room, make sure to check these out. If you’re anything like me, you may want to pick up a couple more if the pocketbook permits!
dren –
Good concept, but this package configuration didn’t make a lot of sense to me.
The first thing that frustrated me about these was when I first opened it up and tried to figure out what shape I wanted. The thing is that the connectors have to connect along a side of a triangle to the side of another triangle in perfectly matched up ways. This means that you are very limited in what shapes you can make. I tried every configuration I could think of, but ultimately if you use all 5 triangles there are only 6 shapes you can make. You can attach these shapes to your wall at different angles, but for those of us that played a lot of Tetris growing up you know that you can rotate a shape around as much as you want, but its still the same shape. If they had included the flexible connectors so you could put it around corners or even make it pop out in a more 3D shape, that would help a lot. Sadly, those connectors come separately and cost more. This left me with a bad taste in the mouth right off the bat as I felt like this starter pack was a bit of a bait and switch telling you all the endless possibilities but only giving you 6 and trying to force you into buying more units (all of the expansion packs being a bit pricy as well as to little or too much for what I really needed to let my creativity flow). In the end I settled for a simple shape that with the controller attached to the bottom look vaguely like a cat.
Once I got it set up we played around with the app, which I don’t think is very user friendly. I think they tried to find a balance between giving you a multitude of options and being user friendly, but they missed the mark on user friendly. Nanoleaf also jumped on the bandwagon for minimal included instructions to be eco-friendly, while also making it as non-language specific as possible by mostly having pictures. The result was a very confusing setup as I just tried to figure out what was going on. Online they have a much more in depth instruction page and I recommend reviewing everything there before setting up your system. For example, there are absolutely no instructions on how to use the buttons on the controller in the box, but online you find out you can quickly move to a white light mode by tapping the plus and minus buttons at the same time. I think they do have a pretty robust controller system, they need more work on their instructions.
I have Smartthings so I connected my lights to that. The connection was a breeze, which speaks to the quality of their programing, even if they don’t explain to the users super well how to use it. I also ended up mounting my lights in our main room where a picture would have hung. We’ll use it to have dancing lights when we listen to music or just let it cycle through scenes to have some fun colors in the room. Where I really let the lights shine is that we have small kids and using smartthings I can have it flash specific colors at me to let me know what is happening. For example, if they open the door to leave their room after bedtime it turns red to let me know I need to go check on them. When the motion sensors register no motion, it will turn green and let me know everyone is asleep. I do wish there was a better way to hide the plug though, but that would be asking a bit too much.
Overall the designers and programmers have done a great job with these lights. The marketing team needs to work on their instructions and a better design for what’s in the box. 5 mini lights in a starter pack just feels lame. I do wish there was a better way to hide the plug though, but that would be asking a bit too much. 3 stars overall. 1 star for creativity in a product, 1 star for connectivity to smart home systems and 1 star for the real potential they have here. Minus 1 star for the instructions and another star for putting together a starter pack that just doesn’t make sense.
mino –
They feel well made and look pretty good. I cannot say that the color is perfect – there is some shadows visible within the shapes depending on the brightness. I haven’t had any problems with them. My only complaint (which is a moot point after purchase) is that they are very expensive. Very much a niche product for creative types or gamer types like this old man.
SwigglesMilam –
Nanoleaf Shapes, Mini Triangles Smarter Kit is a 6-piece kit with 5 LED panels and a control strip. It lets you explore color and light through an infinite combination that can even be synced to any genre of music. The LED Mini Panels are all shaped as equilateral triangles with a connection slot on each side. The connection pieces (also included in the kit) easily allow for numerous configurations by snapping and connecting the triangular pieces. With the synchronization of the app, colors, intensity of colors, patterns and rhythm can all be configured to make lighting for any mood imaginable. Lighting can be created to be used as ambient lighting or functional lighting, but in any case, the product results in a decorative accent for any space. Additional ‘add-on’ packages and accessories such as a remote and rhythm connector can also be purchased and added, each allowing for more creativity to be employed and more elaborate designs to be created.
At first, I had a difficult time pairing the connection strip to the app on my iPhone. I am not sure whether it was the phone or product, but it did take an unusual amount of time to Bluetooth the two and sync the product to the app. Once I accomplished this task discovery of the product really began. It was not until I saw the depth of the app’s design did, I realize that my own creativity was probably my only limitation with this product as the app allows for an infinite combination of all colors or hues of the color wheel, tints and shades of each and the variation of each’s intensity. Designs can be saved as scenes and rhythm patterns designated for each design. Through use of the app, the product can be synced to Alexa, Google Assistant, Smart Things and IFITT. It can also be configured to be controlled by touch.
This is a unique product in that it can add decorative ambient or functional lighting while taxing one’s creative abilities. It is useful art and can be exhibited as such.
Batlacit –
I’ve been at least aware of Nanoleaf’s products for a while, and while I always thought they were a very cool idea I was never all that inclined to actually try them for myself. Now that I have though, I’m a little surprised that I managed to hold out this long. These things do almost everything I could ask out of a modern lighting system, and they do it with style.
The biggest problem I had when doing my initial assembly was figuring out what kind of shape to build with five triangles. There were a few suggestions on a flyer that came in the box, as well as a shape designer in the app that can construct randomized patterns based on the number and type of panels you have and then use augmented reality to let you preview it in your space, but I quickly came to realize that the more abstract designs that really appealed to me didn’t quite work with just five triangles. I can definitely understand why they refer to this as a starter kit. Fortunately, the hardware was very accomodating of my indecisiveness. Everything snaps together like legos, and comes apart just as easily. And when I finally settled on my final design – an admittedly somewhat boring pillar that had the benefit of allowing me to completely hide the one visible wire behind a curtain – installation was a snap. Each panel is held in place with removable adhesive strips specially sized to a rotating circular plate they clip into on the back, so getting them up on the wall is as easy as peeling off the paper backing and holding it in place for 30 seconds. The fact that the clip swivels is particularly appreciated, as it means there’s at least a bit of wiggle room if you mess up the orientation of the first panel like I did. The kit also comes with a single spare connecting clip and adhesive panel, just in case you make a mistake that requires a more drastic fix.
Once the lights were finally up and powered, I switched over to the app and was again pleasantly surprised at how well thought out the process of getting it set up was. Pairing the phone with the lights was as simple as tapping it against the controller block to scan the NFC chip, then providing the login credentials for my router. I’ll admit that I was a bit worried at first that I might run into trouble here as the directions say that you must have your phone on a 2.4ghz wifi band rather than the faster 5ghz band due to the lights not having 5ghz support. While my router does support both, it uses a single SSID for them which means it’s generally up to the phone to decide which band it’s connecting on rather than the user. But my fears turned out to be unfounded, as the setup process went off without a hitch even with the combined network. And once I had the app set up, it quickly guided me through the process of getting the system integrated with Google Assistant for voice control, programming in a few basic scenes, and setting up gestures for the touch-sensitive panels. There’s definitely still a bit of room for improvement here – I’ve noticed that the app is less responsive than what I can get with a lot of other smart lighting systems and it does have a habit of occasionally reporting errors which then immediately resolve themselves, but the UI design and overall experience is smooth enough that I’d feel comfortable recommending it even to someone who isn’t particularly tech savvy.
Which brings me to actually using the lights. Again, I’m very pleased. The panels offer a very soft and diffuse light which can be adjusted to be bright enough to serve as your primary source of illumination for the room or made more subdued to serve as an accent. The panels are smart enough to work out the shape they’ve been assembled in on their own, and can use that to adjust the built in and user-created light scenes. There are three basic types of these: static lights which basically just mimic a conventional light fixture, dynamic light shows which transition through a set of colors on a loop, and reactive ones which will change color and intensity in response to any sound the controller picks up. I’ve mostly been leaving them on the light show mode to avoid them flashing white every time my dog barks at something he sees out the window, but I’m definitely going to be making use of the music visualization settings on my next date night and/or party (assuming, of course, that the pandemic lets me do either of those ever again.) I can only imagine how impressive the effect would be with an even larger array of panels.