Tapo offers up a cheap and cheerful LED strip to brighten your day that mostly delivers on its budget value.
We all need a bit of colour in our lives, and with this the latest fad in tech customisation you can do so with immense style. That’s why I agreed to give this smart LED light strip a try, as my desk could do with some serious spicing up lighting-wise.
And as I just experienced with my last review that featured a shit-ton of RGB lighting, it’s the little things in life that can transform your gaming environment for the better.
The TP-LINK Tapo L-900-5 (rolls right off the tongue) is yet another neat little light strip crammed into an ever more crowded marketplace. So is it worthy of your dosh? Let’s take a look…
The key features/specifications
- A 5m LED light strip that supports multiple colours
- A 5000-hour life span
- 2100 mcd max luminous intensity (TP-Link claims this is 20% brighter than the competition)
- One colour at a time function (sorry, no addressable RGBIC light here)
- Voice Control with Alexa/Google (No Siri)
- No Hub required, just a Wi-Fi connection and the Tapo App
- Cuttable strips (which you can’t do with RGBIC)
- A Dimmer function
- Schedules and Timers
- 3M sticking tape on the back
The unboxing experience is easy and uneventful, with QR codes helpfully plastered about the packaging linking to the app you’ll need to download to set everything up.
Included in the box are:
- The LED light strip
- A basic Power brick
- Control unit connector
- A quick start guide
Once you’ve registered in the Tapo app you’ll need to pair your device, connect it to your WiFi network and update it to the latest firmware. This is all very straightforward.
You’ll then be prompted to set up a smart assistant, for which Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant are available. As I’m an iPhone user, the lack of Siri is a disappointing omission.
App powered effects are reasonable but very limited
As you’d expect, the app features a variety of predefined lighting effects, as well as the usual palette of boring static colours. If you only use the physical button on the control module, you’re limited to just these colours.
Despite lots of fancy names like Aurora, Bubbling Cauldron and Haunted Mansion, the effects aren’t massively exciting, as the lights on the strip are just too far apart to create a nuanced effect. A fully-addressable solid light strip would work better.
The app pops up with helpful suggestions on how best to cut and bend the lights, which is nice
You can create your own custom effects, which basically let you mess with the predefined colours of one of the baked-in effects. It’s easy to do, but a bit limited.
You can also make use of a sync-to-sound function, but only if you leave the app open and active on your phone, so the mode is basically a novelty.
Speaking of novelty, the app pops up with helpful suggestions on how best to cut and bend your light strip, with nice little pictures to illustrate it all in a way even a simpleton would understand. So that’s nice.
The Tapo ecosystem and voice control expands the strips capabilities
Setting up your aforementioned smart assistant of choice (sans Siri) gives you what you’d expect, voice control functionality to switch between your custom colours and states. And if you have additional Tapo products you can of course synchronise your moods across the range of devices.
All standard fare these days, with integration very easy thanks to the simple yet easy-to-use app.
The price is reasonable, but there’s plenty of competition
Available discounted to £16.99 on Amazon from its usual £29.99 as of this writing, the Tapo L-900-5 is definitely budget-friendly.
If the limited functionality is putting you off though, its more capable sibling the L-920-5 featuring RGBIC (RGB + a built-in Independent Chip) that displays multiple colours and gets a lot brighter (but can’t be cut), is just a few quid more at £32.99.
As for the rest of the competition, there are just too many to list, but most have equivalent capabilities that lack a decent app but may include more in the box, such as a longer light strip and remote control, at the same price point as the L-900-5.
Granted, you’re taking a gamble on a cheap Chinese knock-off as opposed to a Tapo which is a respectable Chinese product. But if you only want to cough up about fifteen quid you may just think fuck it, why not buy the flimsy crap for the extra bits you’ll get. That’s up to you.
Conclusion
The TP-Link Tapo L900-5 is a decent LED lighting strip for its price, with an easy setup via the Tapo app and some pretty effects built-in. However, as its more capable bigger brother – the Tapo L920-5 – can be had for just a bit more dosh you might prefer that instead. There are also plenty of other light strips around this price that might entice you more, even if they are of lesser quality.
If you decide to get this little lighting strip though, you should be satisfied that it’s a reliable and well-built product, that won’t break the bank when you finally give in to that uncontrollable itch to light up your life that little bit more.
