Twinkly Strings 250 LED’s Multi-colour Christmas Lights Review

Christmas is coming and in my house every year my wife gets more and more excited and our house gets more and more decorated.

Last year we used some smart plugs with our Christmas lights which was a great upgrade on our set-up as Alexa could set up timings for when the tree lights up. This year we have taken the smart home functionality up a notch and got asked to review some smart app-controlled Christmas lights. 

In this review, we were sent a set of Twinkly lights and the strings option which comes with 250 lights and is available with the Twinkly app for full customisation. They currently cost £124.99 and are available from the Twinkly website among other online stores such as Currys and even some garden centres.  

 

Who is Twinkly?

Twinkly is a brand from the Italian tech company Ledworks which is a leader in smart lighting and launched back in 2016. They have since become a global brand in smart lighting, the team at Ledworks saw a gap in the market for transforming the classic Christmas decoration and turning them into smart devices that can create large-scale lighting installations.  

Twinkly has since created a wide range of decorative lighting such as: 

• Cluster
• Curtain 
• Dots
• Festoon
• Flex
• Icicle
• Light Tree
• Line
• Spritzer
• Squares
• Strings

 

First Impressions

The Twinkly string lights take Christmas lights to a whole new level and are packed with a dozen lighting effects, the ability to even customise your own colour creation which will create some impressive light shows which are all created with the help of the Twinkly mobile app.

Let’s take a closer look. 

Unboxing 

Twinky keeps things simple they come in a cardboard box that is of good quality meaning I can put the lights back in the box once Christmas is finished.

Also in the box are the 250 multicoloured LED lights that are 20m in length that are UK mains operated with a 3.5m lead length and Wi-Fi/Bluetooth controller.

Design

The Twinkly Stings come in 4 size ranges:

• 100 LED with 8m lit length
• 250 LED with 20m lit length
• 400 LED with 32M lit length
• 600 LED with 48m lit length

In this review, we have the 250 LED option to test the Twinkly string comes with a traditional design of any other set of Christmas lights. They come with a braided black wire (Green also available) you then get RGB LEDs that are each separated by 8cm between each LED. The LED feel nice and sturdy and use a diffused flat lens for uniform diffusion of the emitted colours you select. 

At the end of the cable, you have an in-line controller near the end of the string which allows you to cycle through the light options if you do not want to use move through the 30 colour options simply pressing the button beyond the controller is a little more cable and a rather large 24V power adapter. The Twinkly lights are also IP44 certified meaning they could even be used outside and could handle rain and even snow without any concerns. In this review, we decided to use them on the Christmas tree in the living room. 

 

 

Set up 

 

First up download the twinkly app and connect the lights to your home Wi-Fi network and create a Twinkly account via Facebook or Apple or via using your email address. I did not see the option to sign in using an android device which is a little concerning. If you are an android user just sign up via the email option it won’t take long. I decided to sign up via my Apple account for this review as am using an iPhone 13. 

 

You then need to press the Twinkly controller until the status light goes a greenish blue colour once that happens you can pair your lights to the app. (You may need to move your phone closer to the controller just so it can pair). When the app asks you to connect to your Wi-Fi network just add the long Wi-Fi code we all have in case-sensitive format and you be connected.

 

Now decorate your tree with the lights once they have all been placed on the tree go back to the app and you need to scan the lights via the app using the 3D scanning option that involves you scanning the LEDs from multiple angles. Here is my issue the app should provide more information on the scanning as I found myself trying to scan all around the tree instead of just stepping back and running the 3D scan which will indicate where all the lights are with a very good degree of accuracy. I did figure it out in the end. 

 Now if you did not have the lights on the tree but on a flat surface you would select the 2D scanning option in which you just point your camera on your phone at the lights and allow the app to scan the LEDs either option takes about 10 seconds.

Features 

This is where these Christmas lights stand out from the crowd using the app you have 30 preset animations such as Rasta, Unicorn Sun, Rainbow stripes, Carnival, Glow, and Candy Cane to just name a few. 

You can even download additional animations from the online store there is such a wide range of patterns you will be spoilt for choice.   You can also customise any of the preset animations and with the colour, stripe width & speed of light changes.

Below is a short video of some of the colour options you can do with the lights:

 

There are also some art options like a sunset or an Andy Warhol Marilyn Monroe. These are more likely to only work on a multi-string installation on a flat surface.  On a Christmas tree, it does not look good but is a nice option if you’re going for a multi-string option.

If you want to really ramp up the customisation the app gives you a blank canvas that you can either tap or swipe on the lights displayed on the app and pant the lights with wide or thin colours and you can even make your design sparkle below is an example of what I did using this function. 

You can even select a number of playlists that will cycle through up to 10 effects so you have Glow for 2 minutes then it will switch to Carnival and then a different colour option like Unicorn Sun and run on a cycle this is good if you like my wife who could not decide what she liked the best.

 

A unique feature is if you purchase the additional Twinkly Music accessory which is a dongle with a built-in microphone. Then there is the fun part when you’re playing all the classic songs the lights will pulse to the tune of that song. Just be careful as the microphone will also pick up your voice. In testing, we found the dongle did do a nice job of syncing the lights to your playlist. 

The Twinky lights can also be incorporated into your smart home setup if you have an Alexa or Google Assistant home set up. You can use a series of voice commands such as power on/off, adjust the brightness and change the primary colours. You can also use your smart assistant to include elaborate schedules that include sunset triggers so your house is all Christmas-ready for when you get back from home. The only downside to the smart home functionality is your smart assistant can not switch the animated effects so it’s a little limited on the control front.  

 

 

Verdict

Twinkly 250 Multi colour LED pack makes for an impressive holiday decoration with a number of animations which will make your Christmas tree stand out. These lights are not cheap so if you are on a budget you might want to avoid them.  Having said that these lights really do give you the ultimate custom tool. Speaking to my wife she said if red and white were the seasons must have colour and the next year it’s just all white these lights allow you to customise them without having to go out and rebuy a new set of lights. Also when you think about how much we spend on Christmas decorations it’s a long-term investment.

The smart home integration is a work in progress its good for the basics such as saying “ Alexa let there be light” you can switch them on and when it’s time switches them off with a simple command. They also allow you to set timers I just would have liked Alexa to allow you to switch between your favourite colour combos instead of me having to do this via my phone.   

 

Overall, if you can look past the rather expensive price tag for Christmas lights you will not find anything on the market as good. Set up is easy to do and the app does provide you with simple steps. I think if you are someone who wants customised Christmas light displays then these outperform the standard lights we had on a Christmas tree last year and making them smart is not a bad idea at all.   

Product Rating: 

Design: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0   

Setup: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0

Features: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0

Smart Home Functionality: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars4.0.         

Value for Money: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars4.0.    

 

Overall ranking: 4.6 out of 5.0 stars4.6. – 4.6 Stars 

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