Smart, colorful accent lighting, unbeatable price

The affordable Wyze Light Strip Pro allows you to easily add smart, programmable accent lighting to any space, and control it via mobile phone or voice.

Whether you want to turn your dormitory into the ultimate party area, or just want to provide soft lighting under the kitchen cabinets, Wyze Light Strip Pro can easily and cost-effectively achieve various accent lighting goals. It is a thin and flexible LED light strip that you can attach to almost any indoor surface-whether behind a TV or headboard, or on the edge of a fish tank or stairs-and control it via mobile phone or voice. Light Strip Pro starts at $33.99, which significantly weakens the competition without compromising functionality or features. It provides many interesting effects and useful automation, has a microphone to synchronize the beat of the music, and works with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. All of this makes it the winner of our new Smart Light Bar Editor's Choice Award. 

Wyze has manufactured two versions of this product, Light Strip and Light Strip Pro. Both have blue, red, and green LED clusters, spaced 1 inch apart, and can display 16 million colors. They are available in two lengths: 16.4 feet and 32.8 feet, with a width of less than 0.5 inches, double-sided tape on the back, easy installation, and a life expectancy of 25,000 hours. 

As for the differences, the Pro version is priced at $33.99 for 16.4 feet and $49.99 for 32.8 feet. It can display up to 16 different colors at a time and provide advanced lighting effects. The standard light strip, which costs $27.99 for 16.4 feet and $39.99 for 32.8 feet, can only display one color at a time and provides fewer and more basic lighting effects. The only other difference between the two is that the Pro version has a protective epoxy coating that helps improve durability, so if you accidentally hit it, you are unlikely to damage the LED. However, the epoxy coating does not make it weatherproof or waterproof. Both versions are for indoor use only.

In this evaluation, we tested the 16.4 foot version of Light Strip Pro.

Whichever you choose, the strip comes with a power adapter, controller, alcohol wipes to clean the wall before installation, adhesive clips to reinforce the strip if necessary, and a quick start guide. The 32.8-foot version is not a long strip, but two 16.4-foot strips with a controller in the middle. Unfortunately, you cannot connect multiple Wyze bars together. But the strips are trimable; they have designated cut marks every 4 inches, so you can shorten them to fit your desired position. 

To set up the light strip, you first need to find an area to install the controller and make sure its wires can reach the socket and the desired lighting location. After finding a suitable location, clean it with the supplied cloth, then remove the adhesive backing of the controller and secure it firmly in place, making sure that the side buttons are available. Next, use a rag to clean the installation location of the strip and let it dry. Finally, insert the strip into the controller, peel off the film from the adhesive backing of the strip, and start pressing it into place. 

If you install the light strip at a 90-degree angle, Wyze says to avoid bending the light strip where the LEDs are; instead, make a ring and reinforce each side with the included clips. If the strip is too long for the position you want, you can cut it at the designated mark; make sure you have unplugged the power adapter before performing this operation. If the adhesive is not strong enough, you can use the attached clip to reinforce the strap, but I don’t need it. 

For me, the most difficult part of the installation process is choosing a location to hide the controller and power cord. I ended up installing Light Strip Pro on the mold around the living room window, and it worked perfectly in this position. Because I have a sofa under the window, the controller and wires are not displayed. The entire process of selecting a location, cleaning molds and walls, and installing light strips takes about 45 minutes. 

After installing the light strip, open the Wyze application (for Android and iOS), click the plus sign in the upper left corner of the home tab, and select Add Device> Wyze Light Strip Pro. Then, press and hold the side button of the controller for seven seconds to enter the pairing mode. The LED on the controller will flash blue and yellow to indicate that it is ready to pair, and then you can follow the instructions in the Wyze app to complete the pairing of the device with your account.  

When setting up, you need to grant apps permission to access your location and use Bluetooth. After you grant these permissions and select your home Wi-Fi network, the app will start searching for your light strip. In the test, it found the strip almost immediately, and then gave me the option to create a custom name, and I was very happy. 

You can operate the Light Strip Pro using a wall-mounted controller, a mobile phone via the Wyze app, or voice via Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. 

The controller has two buttons. The front buttons allow you to change the color of the strip (press once), or turn the power on and off (press and hold). The side button allows you to switch modes (press once) or put the strip in pairing mode (press and hold). 

The Wyze app provides finer control. If you have multiple strips, you can combine them to control them at the same time, or separate them to control them individually. At the top of the app, there is an on/off button and a dimming slider that allows you to adjust the brightness of the strip from 1% to 100%. 

The remaining functions are divided into three main parts: design, scene and music. In the upper right corner is a settings menu, which contains options for automatic lighting. 

In the "Design" section, you can manually select a color or white tone (1,800K warm to 6,500K cool) from the wheel, or choose a preset color palette. 

In the scene, you can choose from the default settings, such as night light, comfortable, bright and vibrant (all various white shades), as well as some more colorful options, including energy, games, movies, and meditation. Wyze provides these same default scenes for excellent bulb colors, and if you have two devices, you can easily coordinate your lighting scheme. If none of these are to your liking, you can create a custom scene and adjust your strips to your favorite white tone or color with a single tap. 

In terms of music, Wyze provides many customizable effects, the names include shadows, jumps, blinks, marquee, color focus, water, waves, meteors and stars, making Light Strip Pro flash like a carnival. The controller has a built-in microphone, so when you play music, it will synchronize with the beat, which works well in the test. When you click on the "Music" section for the first time, Wyze will display a warning to anyone with photosensitive epilepsy.

After selecting the music effect, you can set the sensitivity to low, normal or high; choose the way the light is displayed from other options (the options vary depending on the effect you choose); and choose up to four colors or switch automatic colors, this Will create a rainbow. It’s fun to play with various music options; these features really differentiate the Pro model from the standard version. In the test, I found that they did a good job of synchronizing the lights with the music. 

If you want to create a party atmosphere at home, please choose the Pro version, because the standard light bar can only emit one color at a time and provides less lighting effects.

In "Settings", there are several functions that can easily realize the automation of the light strip, including sleep program, timer, holiday mode and sunlight matching. Using the sleep program, you can program it to automatically fade in when you wake up in the morning, or when you fall asleep at night. The timer allows you to program the strip to automatically turn on or off at a specific time. The vacation mode automatically turns the strips on and off at different times of the day, making you look like you are at home. Sun Match automatically adjusts the color temperature of the strips throughout the day to mimic natural sunlight. 

With Alexa and Google Assistant, you can use your voice to turn the Light Strip Pro on and off, as well as adjust its brightness and color. The virtual assistant also allows you to set up Routines to automate your lighting.

To connect the strip with Alexa, open the Wyze app, go to your account settings, click Smart Integration, and follow the instructions on the screen. To connect it with Google Assistant, launch the Google Home app, click the plus sign in the upper left corner> Set up device> Partner with Google, then find the Wyze Home list and log in with your Wyze credentials. In the test, I have no problem connecting Light Strip Pro with the two virtual assistants. Light Strip Pro always responds quickly to voice commands, such as "Alexa, open my living room Light Strip Pro" and "Hey Google, turn off my office light strip". 

Wyze has always provided feature-rich and easy-to-use smart home gadgets at lower prices than competitors, and Light Strip Pro is no exception. It greatly diminishes our previous editing choices in this category, the TP-Link Kasa smart multi-color light strip, which costs $69.99 and is only 6.6 feet long. Other light strips we reviewed, including Eve light strips and Philips Hue Play gradient light strips, cost more. Wyze Light Strip Pro allows you to easily and economically add colored accent lighting on the back of your TV or on almost any other surface in your home, at a price much lower than the competition, and won our Editors’ Choice Award.

As for whether to buy Light Strip Pro or save a few dollars on the standard model, both versions allow quick peel and paste installation, support applications and voice control, provide a series of effects and automation, and have a microphone for music synchronization. They can display millions of colors and a range of white tones, but the standard Light Strip can only emit light one at a time, while the Pro version can output up to 16 tones at the same time. If you only want basic accent lighting, then the standard version may be fine. However, if you want to illuminate your room like a disco, choose Light Strip Pro.

The affordable Wyze Light Strip Pro allows you to easily add smart, programmable accent lighting to any space, and control it via mobile phone or voice.

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Angela is a smart home and wearable device analyst for PCMag. She previously worked as a PCMag reporter for eight years. Prior to that, she was a reporter for SC Magazine, covering hackers and computer security. She has also written for several newspapers, including the North Valley Suburbs in New Jersey, the Dominion Post in West Virginia, and the Union Town Herald in Pennsylvania. She graduated from the Perely Isaac Reed School of Journalism at West Virginia University.

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