By: Julie Clover
Popular home lighting company Nanoleaf today unveiled its newest product—smart, multi-color outdoor string lights that provide HomeKit-compatible decorative lighting for decks, porches, backyards, gardens, pools, and more.
Nanoleaf is known for its unique lighting designs, and outdoor string lights are no exception. The bulbs have an angular, pentagonal shape, making them geometric rather than soft. They are made of hard clear plastic and look like they are made of crystal or ice. If you're looking for cozy, romantic lighting, Nanoleaf lights may not be the right fit due to the shape, but if you're looking for fun, eye-catching lights, they're perfect.
Each bulb has multi-color LEDs so you can control lighting individually and set it to any color, including shades of white. If you unscrew one of the bulbs, there will be a second protective plastic dome inside, which further diffuses the light. The bulb shape may not look cozy, but the light can be soft yellow and white or any other shade of the rainbow, plus there are dimming controls. Colors are accurate and it works well with blues, purples and greens that can sometimes be distorted by LED lighting.
Outdoor string lights are designed for ambient lighting, even at 100 percent brightness. they are duller depending on the colors used. Nanoleaf claims their light output is 55 lumens per bulb, so a 15-meter filament produces a total light output of 1,100 lumens. They are available in 15 meter (49 ft) and 30 meter (98 ft) lengths, with the 15 meter version offering 20 bulbs and the 30 meter version offering 40 bulbs.
Strands can be spliced together, but the maximum length is 45 meters or 147 feet, which is equivalent to one 30-meter strand and one 15-meter extension. For anything larger, you'll need separate kits with multiple power supplies. The lights have thick black cables to make them weatherproof, so these probably aren't lights you'll want to use indoors unless you have a room that has an industrial feel to it.
The cord between them is 6.5 feet long. the power supply and the controller, and then another foot or so between the controller and the first light. The lamps are spaced about two feet apart and hang down four inches, so they look best when hung from beams or used on outdoor light poles.
The lamps are IP65 waterproof and the controller is IP67 rated. . , so they can be used outdoors in rain and bad weather without protection all year round. Nanoleaf offers a two-year warranty on the lights.
Aesthetically, Nanoleaf outdoor lights are great, but the connectivity needs improvement. They connect to HomeKit through Matter, and Matter devices continue to run into issues on the Apple platform. I think this is more of an Apple issue than a Nanoleaf issue because I see the same issues with Matter regardless of the device, but it is an issue that any potential buyer should be aware of.
Outdoor lights have randomly turned off or become unavailable multiple times for no particular reason. Sometimes disabling them fixes the problem, and sometimes they just start working again after becoming unavailable. As a caveat, I don't know if Matter/HomeKit The compatibility issue is exacerbated by my Wi-Fi network or other factors. I have an Orbi Wi-Fi 6E mesh network, and although my standard HomeKit The products generally seem reliable (especially with hubs), that's not the case. Outdoor string lights are mostly functional and outages are not permanent, but it's worth noting that lights may not always work smoothly for HomeKit users.
I would prefer the native HomeKit support of Matter for light, but it is only Matter. There is no Thread support, and as with other Nanoleaf products, you can only use the 2.4 GHz network.
On the plus side, Nanoleaf has one of the best smart home apps. The app has built-in scenes for outdoor garlands, but I can also create my own or use scenes created by other Nanoleaf users. Nanoleaf also has an AI feature where you can enter any phrase like “tropical sunset” or “ocean waves” to get a custom scene with colors that match your goals.
The AI works with a fairly wide range of suggestions and I get a good range of colors. The only downside is that it has one color change template, but Nanoleaf supports other templates when you create your own scenes or upload them. Since they can connect to HomeKit through Matter, you can use Siri commands and turn them on and off using the Home app.
The Home app also supports automating outdoor lights to turn on and off at specific times, or pairing them with other Home kit devices.
Bottom Line
Nanoleaf's outdoor lights are some of the neatest outdoor lights I've ever seen, and the colorful LEDs go well with the geometric shape. . They are expensive and ineffective if you have a large area to light, but one or two strands will enhance any outdoor installation.
I haven't seen outdoor string lights perform flawlessly, and have had to deal with some outages, so what you should know about this. I hope that future updates from Apple and Nanoleaf will fix any existing issues that Matter-enabled devices are still experiencing.
How to Buy
Nanoleaf Outdoor String Lights are available for purchase on the Nanoleaf website. A 15-meter strand costs $100, and a 30-meter strand costs $180. Additional 50-foot expansion packs are available for $70.
Note: Nanoleaf provided MacRumors with an outdoor string kit for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received.
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