We’ve known about the benefits of LED lighting for years: less electricity and longer life. These things alone have driven many of us to switch purely to LED bulbs and even smart bulbs. But LED lighting doesn’t end with light bulbs: LED strip lights are one of the best ways to enhance everything from your gaming PC to your kitchen cabinets, and they’ve come a long way from the early days of PC lighting.
Whether you’re looking for simple, efficient lighting to lower your electricity bill or voice controlled disco lights that sync with your music, there’s something for everyone in the world of LED strips. From the basic and tasteful, to over-the-top customizable, these are our favorite LED strip lights – and click here to find them in the UK.
TL;DR — These are the Best LED Strip Lights
- Wyze Light Strip Pro
- Corsair iCUE Lighting Node PRO RGB Lighting Controller
- Elgato Light Strip
- Corsair LS100 Smart Lighting Kit Starter Kit
- Govee Wi-Fi TV Backlights Kit with Camera
- Maxonar Wi-Fi Enabled LED Strip Lights
- Nanoleaf Shapes Hexagon Smarter Kit
- Nanoleaf Essentials Lightstrips
- Ikea Myrvarv
- Twinkly Flex
1. Philips Hue Bluetooth Smart Lightstrip Plus
Best LED Strip Lights
Philips Hue products lead the way in smart lighting, and Philips hasn’t been shy in the LED lightstrip market. The Philips Hue Bluetooth Smart Lightstrip Plus shows just how far Philips’ lighting know-how extends. This lightstrip spans just over 6.5 feet to start, but you can add extra 40-inch extension strips to stretch that up to a total of 33 feet.
The strip has up to 1600 lumens of output, letting you get plenty of brightness, though you can also dim it down as needed. And, not only do you get full RGB color but tunable white lighting as well. You can wake up with a bright white, enjoy some color throughout the day, and settle in for the evening with a warm white. Since this lightstrip is controlled over Bluetooth, you also don’t have to factor in the cost of a Philips Hue Hub like you would with many other products, though you can add one to your setup later on if you want even more smart home integration for the strip.
2. Wyze Light Strip Pro
Best Budget LED Strip Lights
The Wyze Light Strip Pro offers a surprising level of control for a more affordable light strip. It may not have as refined a color palette as you’d get from a light strip that provides RGB as well as individual white LEDs for different color temperatures, but it does take some of the fuss out of nailing your ambient lighting by automatically adjusting the color temperature for the time of day. That’s already impressive for a strip as affordable as this, but Wyze ups the ante by also breaking the strip up into 16 segments that can each be controlled separately, letting you get multiple colors going at once across the length of the strip.
You’ll also get convenient control with the Wyze Light Strip Pro. Other budget strips might provide simple Bluetooth control or a basic remote control at this price, but Wyze has a Wi-Fi-connected controller, letting you manage your lights through the Wyze app from home or anywhere in the world you can connect to the internet. You can also control the lights with Google Assistant or Amazon’s Alexa.
3. Corsair iCUE Lighting Node
Best LED Strip Lights for PC
When it comes to RGB lighting, Corsair is king of the hill in the gaming PC space. This kit comes with a set of four lighting strips, as well as the Lighting Node Pro RGB Controller, which can also control Corsair’s array of RGB case fans. Most importantly, they integrate with the company’s proprietary iCUE software.
iCUE gives you more control over your case lighting than virtually any other system. Using the software, you’re able to control each individual LED and assign a huge array or presets, effects, and animations. If you’re running other Corsair gear like PC fans or a gaming keyboard, these light strips are also able to sync up for easy matching or even send animations across your devices.
4. Elgato Light Strip
Best LED Strip Lights for Streaming
If you're hoping to get a light strip that can team up with the rest of your lights to make for a more compelling set when you're streaming, then the Elgato Light Strip fits the bill. This light strip hits a powerful 2,000 Lumens, so you can really add some dazzle to your set, and it delivers flick-free lighting to avoid spoiling your footage.
This light strip might not be the simplest to get up and running, as it lacks physical controls, but it's really meant for a more purpose-built setup. That's because it connects with Elgato's Stream Deck platform, so you can quickly make light changes on the fly from your computer, phone, or physical Stream Deck. These smarts will let you easily control the mood of your stream with the simple press of a button.
5. Corsair LS100 Smart Lighting Starter Kit
Best Hybrid Desk/Monitor LED Strip Light Kit
It was only a matter of time until Corsair offered RGB lighting outside the PC, and they’ve made quite a splash with their innovative LS100 Smart Lighting Starter Kit. Every LS100 lighting strip features a built in diffuser for smooth, flowing RGB lighting. Most importantly, using the software, you can choose to use this kit on the back of a monitor or any custom arrangement you choose, making it a perfect fit (and length!) for the back of a desk.
Using Corsair’s iCUE software, you can easily choose from a wide array of preset lighting effects or create animations all your own. When used as a monitor lighting kit, you can even sample your screen for outstanding bias lighting. These light strips aren’t the brightest because of the built in diffusers, but the level of customization and versatility is hard to beat.
6. Govee WiFi TV LED Backlights
Best LED Strip Lights for Your TV
Bias lighting is cool for many reasons. For one, it's good for your eyes. Having a bright screen in a dark room can be tough on your eyes, so getting some light behind the screen helps. With the Govee Wi-Fi TV LED Backlights, you get some incredible bias lighting for your TV. This light strip doesn't just splash a solid color behind your TV, but actually offers highly dynamic lighting that can add to the visual experience of whatever you're watching.
Govee's 12.5-foot light strip attaches to the back of your TV and uses 114 RGB LEDs in a number of individually controlled zones to make a veritable light show behind your TV. With the included camera attached to your TV and calibrated to your screen, the light strip can react to whatever's displayed, helping a scene's ambiance spread to the whole room. If there's nothing on the screen and you still want a dynamic light show, you can run the Music Sync mode for lighting changes that react to audio. Since the setup connects to Wi-Fi, you also get the typical smart home controls.
7. Maxonar Wi-Fi Enabled LED Strip Lights
Best LED Strip Lights for Your Room
LED lighting can enhance the look of any room. This kit from Maxonar comes with two 16.4-foot rolls, each packing twice the LEDs of competing brands for a total of six hundred emitters. It also comes with a full DIY kit to cut, connect, extend these strips to match your dimensions exactly. Whether you’re lighting up a display cabinet or adding mood lighting to an entire room, this kit will deliver the brightness and customizability you need.
Since mood and accent lighting work alongside the other lighting in your room, smart home compatibility is more important than ever. Thankfully, these strips are Wi-Fi enabled and will work with Amazon Alexa and Google Home and even integrates with online systems such as IFTTT.
8. Nanoleaf Shapes Hexagon Smarter Kit
Best LED Strip Accent Lighting
The Nanoleaf Shapes Hexagon Smarter Kit is a great way to get started with an LED strip accent light particularly because it doesn't confine you to an actual strip. Rather than being just a long row of LEDs that can only really go on a corner or tuck away somewhere, Nanoleaf's shapes are designed to stand out, creating a stylish, light-up piece of art for your walls. The Shapes Hexagon Smarter Kit includes seven panels which you can combine together however you like. You can put them in a row, zig-zag, or make a shape.
Nanoleaf's Shapes lights can also combine together across different shapes. So, if you start with the Hexagon Smarter Kit, you can later add on more hexagons, large triangles, and small triangles. The kit includes a controller that can manage up to 500 panels and a power supply that can support 21 hexagon panels. With the hexagons, multiple triangle sizes, and full RGBW lighting, you can really use Nanoleaf's lights to create a unique look in your room.
9. Nanoleaf Essentials Lightstrip
Best Smart LED Strip Light
If you're after an affordable lightstrip that can connect to your smart home for more control from wherever you go or with whichever home automation tools you like, then the Nanoleaf Essentials Lightstrip will be right up your alley. The lightstrip has a Bluetooth-connected controller, but it can connect to a border router using Thread for more control. Conveniently, you can also just change the lights by physically using the controller, a smart usability feature some smart devices lack.
The Nanoleaf Essentials Lightstrip comes in two parts. The first you'll need is the starter kit, which includes the controller, power supply, and a 40-inch or 80-inch light strip. You can then add on extra strips, stretching the entire strip up to a total of 10 meters in length with extra segments beyond the starter kit. The power supply included in the starter kit can put out 30 watts, which is enough to run the whole system at a dazzling 2,000 lumens. With the strip, you'll get your choice of color and a range of white color temperatures. Plus, if you have other Nanoleaf lights, you can sync them up.
10. Ikea Myrvarv
Best Diffused LED Strip Lights
The effect of LED light strips is often best when the strips themselves are hidden from direct line-of-sight. Seeing the individual LEDs themselves can be a bit much. But, if you can’t hide the strips and have them shine from that tucked away location, the Ikea Myrvarv light strip works well out in the open thanks to its implementation of diffusion.
This LED light strip comes built into a two-layer light-diffusing tube. This creates a consistent lighting effect along the length of the strip, rather than feeling like a series of individual lights, plus it makes the lighting gentler to look directly at. The strip uses just 12 watts while putting out 1,200 Lumens total. You’ll get a 6.7-foot strip with dimmable white LEDs glowing at a warm 2700K. While the strips can’t be extended, the Tradfri wireless dimmer driver you need to pair the strips with will let you run multiple strips in parallel.
11. Twinkly Flex
Best Flexible LED Light Strip
A lot of light strips will let you set them up in different positions, but they aren’t always pretty when you need to bend them or display them out in the open. The Twinkly Flex solves this by embedding the LED strip in a highly flexible, translucent housing. It also includes hardware to let you attach the strip to your walls.
The flexible housing lets you set up the light strip like it’s your own custom neon light. The strip is 6.6-feet long, so you can make a little decoration out of it, like an abstract shape or something more specific with combined strips. However you set it up, the translucent tubing will let it glow pleasantly and diffusely in contrast to the directional glow of bare LEDs. The strip will let you customize the lighting with different colors and even animations. And, if you have several strips, you can group them together in the app for more precise control.
Where to Get the Best LED Strip Lights in the UK
What To Look for in LED Light Strips
Just as the market for LED light strips has expanded, it’s also become more complicated to find exactly what you’re looking for. If you want to make sure you’re getting exactly what you hope for, be sure to follow these tips.
Don’t worry too much about brand name, instead focus on features and reviews. Most of the LED light strip market is dominated by small brands you’ve probably never heard of before. This can be confusing and a bit intimidating, but try not to worry too much. Instead, focus on the features the light strip offers. Does it have the Bluetooth connectivity you’re looking for? Is it single-color, RGB, or RGBW? Remember, while RGB strips can produce white, only RGBW strips can produce a clean white like true lightbulb. Once you’ve decided that it meets your needs, look carefully over the pictures, and then see what other users have to say in the review section. Those three things will offer you the best insight into whether the company is rebranding a cheap strip or is actually in the business for the long run.
The second thing to look for is the type of lighting the strip actually provides. Don’t rely on the picture alone, especially if you’re purchasing an RGB strip. If you’re searching for white lighting, be sure it has the color temperature you’re looking for. If you’re shopping for RGB, you’ll want to find out how its RGB lighting works. Can you set it in sections or is it whole strip only? Is the lighting static or does it flow? Are their presets and, if there are, can you customize them or create your own? With so many options, don’t be afraid to move on to another listing if these answers aren’t clear.
Third, pay close attention to how you control the lighting. Many low-costs strips use a remote while more expensive often features smartphone apps. While the remotes can work just fine, you’re often more limited in color, brightness, and customization than app-enabled lighting strips. If you do choose an app-integrated strip, be sure it connects the way you intend. Bluetooth light strips offer more fast and easy setup, but smart home integration, such as Amazon Alexa or Google Home, require Wi-Fi.
Finally, keep in mind how long of a strip you actually need. It’s possible to cut many LED strips to size, so you don’t have to be exact, but if you’re going for RGB, shortening the length could impact what lighting is able to be displayed and how well your strip matches the app. Don’t cut the tail off your rainbow.
Chris Coke is a tech critic that cares way too much about mechanical keyboards. Check him out at IGN, MMORPG.com, or PC Perspective. Follow him on Twitter @gamebynight.
