Wiz Neon Flex Strip Review vs Twinkly Flex & Hue Gradient

Aug 16, 2023

By: Author James Smythe

Posted on 5th July 2023

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With so many PC gamers obsessed with RGB lighting for their gaming PCs and various peripherals, we have seen a growing number of smart light brands focus on products that are designed to allow people to be creative with their ambient lighting.

Smart light strips have been a mainstay for years. Companies like Nanoleaf quickly became popular with its range of shaped RGB wall lights, and these seemed to be a compulsory requirement for anyone posting in /r/battlestations/.

An alternative product that has become popular is flexible neon strips which are an evolution of the RGB light strip. These neon strips cover the RGB LEDs with a thick flexible tube which can twist into any shape with the lights facing outwards. This gives you the opportunity to be your creative self and design some beautiful light décor for your home, in the shape and on the wall of your choice.

I have previously reviewed the Twinkly Flex and found it visually impressive compared to the Twinkly Line I reviewed at the same time. The only issue I had with it as that the 2M length was a bit short, and it was quite expensive for what you get.

The new Wiz Neon Flex Strip is essentially the same concept, but this is both cheaper and longer than the 3M flexible neon strip.

As far as the Wiz Neon Flex Strip goes, the marketing material states that its direct visible strip light is 3 meters long, easy to bend and install with mounting accessories, making it suitable to create beautiful shapes to enhance your interior design. Set the mood with uniform light for movie nights with your family or dynamic light modes delivered by the flex strip’s gradient effects. This product will be your perfect companion for decorating your house and setting the right tone for your parties.

There are two different options to set up Wiz lights. I find the easiest method is when you are connected to the same 2.4GHz network you plan to use the light with. In this scenario, the app will automatically detect that there is a light to be set up, and you just need to connect it. It is one of the easiest IoT products I have set up.

For some reason, I was completely unaware that Wiz had launched a new separate version of their app. I only noticed it when I was looking at what integrations could be done with the light.

Wiz now supports Matter for some, if not all, of their products. The Wiz Neon Flex Strip is one of those products. I can’t say I have been overly keen on Matter so far, I find it to be a bit of a convoluted system with Google Home. But, it will improve over time, especially when more products support it.

If you want to use Matter, you will need to use a compatible Matter Smart Home Hub. I used the Google Nest WiFi Pro, but a Google Home Mini, Nest Mini, Nest Audio, Nest Hub (1st and 2nd gen), and Nest Hub Max can all work as one.

One issue I have with Matter is the set up process. It’s stupid. When you connect the light, Google will force through a popup to connect a new Matter enabled device. But that requires you to scan a QR code, but you have to get the QR code from the app. Perhaps I am doing something wrong.

The easiest method I have found is to skip the set up at first, tell Google to stop pestering you with it, then when you are ready, go into the Matter section of the app, copy the set up code and click the start set up button.

You then need to go to Google Home and add a new device. It will then say a new device is found, and you can skip the QR code set up and select the manual code option.

Another issue with Matter is that Wiz already worked with Google natively, so when you add the devices with Matter, you can end up with duplicates.

These criticisms of Matter apply to all Matter enabled devices, not just WiZ.

I recently reviewed the excellent Homey Bridge, and it is a superb way to bring multiple brands into one ecosystem. It can sometimes be problematic to add newly launched products because they are not properly integrated into Homey yet. However, with Wiz, it connects via an API and seems to work with all their products without issue.

I was able to and the new G95 filament bulb and this Neon Flex Strip without issue via the

Sadly, I have zero artistic creativity, so I have not exactly created any impressive artwork with the Wiz Neon Flex Strip, yet. I tried to create a heart for my partner, and I don’t think she appreciated my artistic skills.

When you decide on your permanent design, the package includes plastic clips that you can slot the tub into. The clips have a small screw hole, and screws are included, as well as 3M tape. The 3M pieces also have holes in them, so you can create your shape, use them 3M pieces for the initial mounting, and then fix everything in more securely with the screws.

Like all the WiZ products with RGB lighting, the Neon Flex Strip has an extensive range of colour options.

You have the static colours, which are broken down into white light or functional. Then the dynamic lights with various settings such as candlelight, fireplace, sunset and more. Alternatively, you can use dynamic lighting for a wake up/bedtime light.

Then you can manually assign a static colour.

The light settings work well for me, but I find that Philips Hue has better customisability. The Twinkly app also had superior functionality that allowed you to create customised lighting based on the actual placement of the light.

Philips Hue doesn’t have a product quite like this, but the Gradient lightstrips are similar. The main difference is these are designed to sit behind your TV/monitor, and you can use the Hue Sync app or HDMI Sync Box to synchronise the lighting to your media. Wiz lacks this functionality, which is likely deliberate as it would cannibalise Hue sales.

Both Philips Hue and Twinkly support the Razer Chroma RGB Lighting Ecosystem, which will make them better for integration into gaming systems. However, it looks like this may be possible with Wiz, but with a bit more effort.

The Wiz Neon Flex Strip has an RRP of EUR 99.99 / GBP 89.99

The Twinkly Flex (Multicolor edition) has an RRP of £130 for the 3m model or £100 for the 2m model. Though it looks like Amazon has it for £80 and £120, respectively.

Philips Hue doesn’t technically have a like-for-like product, but they have gradient lightstrips with options for PC and TVs. Alternatively, they have t 5M outdoor lightstrip for £215.

Govee has the Neon LED Strip Lights, which is 3m and priced at £80.

Govee also has the RGBIC Gaming Neon Rope, which is 3M for £95, but this can sync with Razer Chroma.

You then have random brands with some more affordable choices, such as:

As usual for a lot of products such as this, if you are already a Wiz user, then the Wiz Neon Flex Strip is an excellent addition to their quickly expanding product range.

Admittedly, I am more of a Philips Hue fanboy, but that’s largely because I started with them first, and you tend to commit to one ecosystem unless you want dozens of smart home apps on your phone.

As usual with Wiz, I find this brand has a good balance of products that are available, features and price. For example, I think Wiz Neon Flex Strip is significantly better than the Twinkly Flex.

Summary

The Wiz Neon Flex Strip is an excellent addition to their quickly expanding product range of Wiz lighting products. I think it is priced about right, with the Wiz ecosystem being superior to cheaper brands and I prefer it to the Twinkly Flex.

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I am a UK tech blogger and have been in the industry for over 10 years now, running Mighty Gadget and its sister sites and contributing to other sites around the web. I am passionate about all tech, including mobile, wearables, and home automation. I am also a fitness fanatic, so I cover as much fitness tech as possible.

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Posted on 5th July 2023

Categories Reviews, Smart Home