Nanoleaf Compared: Panels or Lamps for Which Room?

Clarify the task first: decoration, ambience or room light

Before you decide on a Nanoleaf product, a simple question is worthwhile: is the light meant to show something or to illuminate something? A glowing wall picture above the sofa, behind the desk or in a teenager’s room is decoration. It sets accents, creates mood and becomes a focal point. A lamp in a ceiling fitting, by contrast, has the task of making the room usable, that is, allowing reading, cooking, working and finding your way around.

These two tasks are often mixed up in retail because both go under the term smart lighting. Technically, though, they are different. Wall panels are small surfaces with a limited amount of light, designed for effect. An E27 light bulb, by contrast, has to deliver enough lumens to carry a room. How much light a room needs in principle is explained on our page How many lumens per room. It helps to put the manufacturer information for the following products in context.

On this page we compare three Nanoleaf products for which we keep a product analysis of our own: a panel set with colour, a panel set in a wood look with white light, and a four-pack of light bulbs. We do not cover other Nanoleaf series here because we have no analysis of our own for them. All information comes from the listing and manufacturer documents. We have no documented hands-on testing to offer, we did not have any of the products in hand, and we have not measured anything.

If you are planning the lighting of a room from scratch, the lighting calculator helps you separate main light, task light and accent light. Panels almost always belong in the third group.

Nanoleaf Shapes: colour panels for accent light and scenes

The Nanoleaf Shapes Hexagon Starter Kit is the representative of coloured accent light and scenes in our selection. According to the listing, the panels can be freely arranged into a pattern, the shapes are compatible with future Shapes forms through a Connect+ function, and the colour palette covers more than 16 million colours as well as various shades of white. In addition, according to the listing, there are Rhythm scenes that link light and music, and a touch function in which the panels react to touch.

We have no manufacturer document for this model. That is why lumens, watts and kelvin are deliberately missing here. What the listing does not name, we do not write. For planning this means: the brightness per panel is open as far as we are concerned, and if you plan the panels as a light source for a workspace, you are working with an unknown quantity. As wall decoration that is unproblematic, as room light it is not.

The modular construction is practical: you can start small and extend the area later, as long as the parts fit together. Before buying, check how much free wall space you have, how the panels are supplied with power and where the socket is. The listing answers these questions only in part, and a look at the manufacturer’s documents is worthwhile before ordering.

The set suits you if you want a visible, coloured light object that can be controlled by app and reacts to music or touch. It suits you less if you are looking for calm, warm home lighting or need a reliable brightness figure.

Nanoleaf Elements: wood look with white light and low brightness

The Nanoleaf Elements Starter Kit with 7 panels relies on a different design. According to the manufacturer, it is seven wood-look hexagons with touch and music synchronisation, Wi-Fi in the 2.4 gigahertz band and only 22 lumens per panel. The elements glow warm white to cool white, so it is not an RGB system. They are mounted with adhesive strips or with separate screw brackets.

The figure of 22 lumens per panel is the most important piece of information on this page. It shows that the set is intended as glowing wall decoration, not as lighting. Seven panels together make a decent surface, but a small amount of light. If you want mood in the living room in the evening, you can work with it. If you want to read or work in the room, you additionally need a real light source.

The combination of natural look and white light is appealing. It looks more restrained than a colour set and suits rooms where rainbow colours would be out of place, for example in the hallway, bedroom or study. How warm or cool the light turns out in detail is not given in kelvin by our source. A classification of colour temperatures is on the page Colour temperature and kelvin.

Nanoleaf Matter Essentials: lamps that can provide room light

If you know Nanoleaf from the name of the panels, it is easy to overlook that the brand also offers ordinary light bulbs. The Nanoleaf Matter Essentials E27 four-pack is a four-pack with RGBW light, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Matter. The listing names the Nanoleaf app over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth as control routes, as well as integration into smart home systems through Matter. According to the listing, schedules can be set up, for example, with Apple Home or the Google Home app.

The manufacturer document gives concrete figures for this lamp, under the identifier N7501B02-4A60E: according to the manufacturer 900 lumens average and 1,000 lumens maximum brightness per lamp, 9 watts with ten per cent tolerance, under 0.5 watts in standby at 230 volts, a white range of 2,700 to 6,500 kelvin, a colour rendering index of 90 or above, 25,000 hours rated lifetime and the E27 cap. According to the manufacturer the lamp body measures 6 centimetres in diameter and 11.1 centimetres in length in the faceted A60 shape. These figures do not appear in the listing text itself.

That makes the lamps the counterpart of the panels: they are not wall decoration but light bulbs that fit into existing lamps. Whether 900 lumens are enough for your lamp and your room depends on shade, room size and task. Again, the page on lumens per room helps as a guide. We have a page of our own on the standby consumption of smart lamps in general: Standby consumption of smart lamps.

Our analysis names one limitation clearly: according to the documents, the lamps work directly on your own Wi-Fi, without Thread radio and only on the 2.4 gigahertz network. If your router switches this band off or your home network is overloaded, you will notice it during set-up.

The comparison at a glance

The table only places values side by side that are stated on the respective product page. Where a detail is missing, it says not stated, because we do not estimate anything. We do not give prices. We class the price band by design and scope and refer to the shop for the current amount.

The price bands are our rough classification by scope and design, not a manufacturer statement. Current amounts are shown in the shops and change constantly.

You can read the table as an indication of the roles: Shapes provides colour and interaction, Elements calm white light in a small amount, and Essentials real light output in the lamp holder. If you need several roles, combine them rather than overloading one product.

Alternative to Nanoleaf: wall light from Govee

If you are mainly looking for the panels as coloured wall light, you can consider an alternative to Nanoleaf. According to the manufacturer, the Govee Glide Wall Light 6+1 is model H6062 with segmented RGBIC light, more than 40 scene and music modes, app and voice control, and a freely arrangeable 6+1 configuration. According to the listing, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi control colours, brightness and effects through the Govee Home app, and in DIY mode 24 colours can be displayed at the same time.

The limitation we make for the Nanoleaf panels applies here too: the light belongs on the wall and creates atmosphere. The manufacturer’s product page does not give a reliable brightness figure for task or main light. These are bars, not panels, so the look is a different one, and the touch function of the Nanoleaf sets is absent from the information.

We do not derive a ranking from this. Which design you like better is a matter of taste. What matters is the area you want to cover, the control you use and the system your other lamps run in. You will find more on systems, bridges and radio standards in our smart lighting category and on the page Hue Bridge and lamp limit.

Who suits what, and what to check beforehand

The documents give a decision aid by task, not a rating:

• You want a coloured light object with scenes and music: the Nanoleaf Shapes Hexagon Starter Kit suits you if you can live with an unknown brightness per panel.
• You want calm wall decoration in a wood look with white light: the Nanoleaf Elements Starter Kit with 7 panels suits you as long as you do not expect any significant amount of light.
• You want smart, coloured room light in existing lamps: the Nanoleaf Matter Essentials E27 four-pack suits you if your router provides the 2.4 gigahertz band.
• You are looking for coloured wall light in bar form: the Govee Glide Wall Light 6+1 is an alternative to the panels.

Check four things before buying. First, the wall space and the position of the socket. Second, whether your Wi-Fi runs in the 2.4 gigahertz band. Third, which smart home system you use, so that voice assistant and Matter connection really fit together. Fourth, whether you additionally need real room light, because wall panels do not replace it. You can plan your room light with our lighting calculator.

A note on sleep: coloured and cool white light late in the evening can affect the phase of falling asleep. Basics are on the page Light and sleep. The circadian function that the listing of the Essentials lamps names is a comfort feature. It is not light therapy, and light does not replace medical treatment in any case.

If a product does not fit into this grid, look at the product analyses. They state which information comes from the listing and manufacturer documents and which gaps we do not fill. Our line stays the same: what is not substantiated does not appear on the page.