Best Nanoleaf sets: choose the right kit for you

Nanoleaf Lines offers something a little different from other Nanoleaf shapes, which are all tiles of one sort or another. Lines are light strips that connect together in a range of shapes.

There’s a really wide range of platform support, meaning you can probably do as much with this smart light set as any other. However, although it’s physically easy to set up and, in the app, get to grips with the basics of controlling the lights, there’s a steep learning curve to explore more advanced features.

The Screen Mirror feature will ensure your lights complement your monitor’s display but you won’t be able to use them with your TV unless you have a PC or laptop plugged in. 

You can customise your set with Lines Skins in matt black or matt pink for £14.99/US$19.99. Lines are rated for a total of 25,000 hours of use and come with a two-year warranty. That’s five hours per day for around 14 years.

This screen mirror and light strip kit (for TVs of up to 65 inches) takes real-time samples of the colours on your TV courtesy of the included camera that you’ll set up on top of or below the display and recreates them instantly around the edges of the screen.

Set up can be a bit of a chore but once you’re ready to go, you can choose from four mirror modes that ramp up the colour and intensity. You can even add a rhythm mode on top to pulse in time to the score.

The only issue was that the strip provided was slightly too short to go all the way around the TV in our test – even though it was of the correct size in theory.

With the Elements set, Nanoleaf has created a set of lights that looks good both on and off – important really, in decorative lights.

The panels have a textured, wood-effect finish that adds a touch of Scandi aesthetic to your wall. In our opinion, they’re one of the best looking Nanoleaf sets. The lighting also reaches to the edge of the panels, which is an improvement on earlier sets.

However, all this comes at a price. Not only are they expensive but their features are limited. Instead of supporting colours, they only display a range of white light. This means they won’t respond to your TV and don’t have gaming gear integration.

The music integration is also a bit patchy but there are other good features in the app, such as scheduling and gesture control. 

Bear in mind that if you’re not confident in setting them up, the included manual isn’t a huge help and you might have to watch a YouTube video or two.

Nanoleaf Shapes are far from cheap but they’re a dynamic way to combine smart lighting with wall art. You can combine panels of different shapes (there are two sizes of triangles, plus the hexagonal panels we reviewed, all of which can be used together) to create your own interlocking designs.

They’re easy to set up and use, although the app is not very helpful at explaining all of the features.

Shapes can be set up to complement your TV or monitor and have touch sensors so that they can be used for games. You can adjust their brightness and they should last for 25,000 hours (34 years for two hours per day).

They can be controlled via their control panel or the app, although for some features, you’ll have to use the desktop app, rather than the mobile version. And they’re compatible with Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and more.

They come with a 2.5m power cable, which will give you a bit of leeway in positioning your design.

Nanoleaf Canvas is a follow-up to the original set, but it’s not as advanced as Nanoleaf Shapes. It consists of nine square LED panels that you can arrange as you like and mount on your walls in just about any configuration.

Connecting and mounting the LED tiles is quick and easy, the Wi-Fi signal is solid, and the app and smart assistant support are easy to integrate, so you can quickly control the lights from your phone or with voice controls.

There’s an optional mode to have the tiles change colour in response to music, but the rhythm support is flawed, although fun. It’s also very dependent on how close to your speakers you can get the panels. The system is expensive, especially if you have ambitions to build a sprawling design with tens of panels.

Finally, the ‘cross’ effect produced by the LEDs in the centre of the panels is a bit jarring, and detracts slightly from the overall visual.

Still, it’s great fun playing around with designs for different occasions or moods, and once you’ve set it up, it’s a brilliant piece of interactive wall art that doubles as mood lighting.