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TP-Link Tapo L900-5 RGB LED Strip Evaluation Rating
Generalize
TP-Link Tapo L900-5 is a good LED strip, easy to set up and use. It is difficult for it to shine in a crowded market, but Amazon’s discounted price makes it more attractive.
advantage
- Good buy for £17
- Easy to set up
- The Tapo ecosystem has a wider range of options than similar or cheaper LED strips
- Cuttable design makes it available for more practical installation
shortcoming
- It is not very worthwhile to calculate with the full RRP
TP-Link continues to expand its product range within its reasonable price range Tapo Sub-brand.
Recently, this includes the addition of two LED strips, the Tapo L900-5 that I am reviewing today and the slightly more expensive RGBIC multi-color Tapo L920-5.
Tapo L900-5 and Tapo L920-5: RGB and RGBIC light strips
You will see two different light strips online, RBG and RGBIC. For Tapo, L900 is RGB, and L920 is RGBIC.
They all have RGB lights, allowing you to get a variety of colors.
However, RGBIC is so named because it has an independent control chip (IC), which allows the strip to set the RGB color separately. Therefore, this provides you with a more visual impact.
However, RGBIC does have a disadvantage. For more complex circuits, you cannot trim the strips. Therefore, if you plan to install LED lighting in practical places (under cabinets, etc.), RGB can provide a more flexible and neater installation.
Since you cannot cut Tapo L920-5, TP-Link covers the top of the light strip with a PU coating to provide a waterproof and durable coating to protect your LED. It is not suitable for outdoor use, but it may be able to handle a small amount of beverage spills.
Specification
- 5m multicolor LED light strip
- Only one color at a time (instead of addressable/RGBIC strips)
- Cutable strips (RGBIC can’t do it)
- Dimmable
- Timetable and timer
- Voice control using Alexa/Google
- No hub
- 3M adhesive
- 5000 hours life
- With a maximum luminous intensity of 2100 mcd, TP-Link claims to be 20% brighter than any other product.
Settings/applications
Setup is standard for most IoT devices, but I would say it is easier than average.
The only minor problem is that I inserted the LED the wrong way. First of all, the shape of the plug looks like it is inserted in a certain way, which is what I did. I did not notice the arrows on the plug and the strip, which need to point to each other, which is the opposite of what I did.
After turning on the light, the Tapo app quickly recognized the light, and I could pass my 2.4Ghz WiFi password without any problem.
is using
These lights have nothing to cover. They are very basic, but can fulfill your main expectations of WiFi connected light strips.
The main screen allows you to select 7 different colors and set the brightness-with these basic RGB LEDs, it has only one color at a time.
There is an effect page that can provide you with a wider range of color options and some predefined effects. These basically switch between color/brightness, etc. The effect is very basic. Due to the limitations of RGB, you can get some flickering effects through some of them, which is good for decoration.
Then you have the function of syncing to sound. For this, you need to have the app open in the foreground, so if you plan to use it at night, this is not the most practical solution. As you might guess, when this feature is enabled, it will use the microphone on the phone to synchronize the lights with the music being played.
Like most smart home products today, you can connect to Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant for voice control.
As the Tapo ecosystem expands, you can use light strips as part of the scene of other Tapo products. Currently, the conditions you can use are one key, one trigger time, and they also have a trigger device. I assume you can use one of the smart security cameras as a trigger device.
Prices and alternatives
The suggested retail price of Tapo L900-5 is £29.99, and it is currently on Amazon for only £16.99.
The RRP of the multicolor Tapo L920-5 is only £5. If both products are at full price, it makes more sense to choose a multi-color option, which will have a more impressive lighting effect.
There are many random brands of LED strips, but most of them need to spend more money.
The Govee LED strip is almost exactly the same as Tapo, the hardware looks the same, and the application has the same music synchronization function.
Basic Govee lamps are more expensive than Tapo L900-5, but you can buy lamps up to 10M. However, they also released a new RGBIC that allows multiple colors. The 5 million version is less than 20 pounds, and the 10 million version is less than 37 pounds.
The main advantage of Tapo is (at least for me) that I have multiple Tapo products and it is best to put them all in an ecosystem.
At the other end of the spectrum, you have the Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance LED smart strips of £2 million, priced at £70 or £2 million Philips Hue Gradient The light strip is 130 pounds. These are excellent products, but when you compare affordable solutions like this, the prices seem crazy.
Afterwards Blink line 1.5 million pounds is 80 pounds. With these, you can map LED lights and create custom designs.
comprehensive
TP-Link Tapo L900-5 is a good LED strip, easy to set up and use. It is difficult to shine in a crowded market, with full RRP I would say this is a tough recommendation, but the current Amazon discount makes it worthwhile.
If there is no discount, you’d better choose the more impressive RGBIC Multicolor Tapo L920-5.
With the development of the Tapo ecosystem, I tend to stick to this series of products instead of Govee, which seems to be worth the money.
Last updated on 2021-12-19 / Affiliate link / Image from Amazon Product Advertising API
