Twinkly Dots Review

Reviewed by Melody Floyde

My son loves keeping up to date with the latest gadgets and technology so when we were asked if we would like to try out a set of Twinkly Dots LED Lights we jumped at the chance. Having had a quick search on google I was really curious to find out what was so special about the Twinkly Dots, which retail at an eye watering £114.99, compared to the basic set of LED lights that my son already has in his bedroom which were about £20.

The Twinkly company was born in Italy in 2016 with the dream to light up everyone’s life with great technology and a bit of magic. And that sounds exactly what we could do with in our house at the moment so we couldn’t wait to try them out.

The Twinkly Dots came in a sturdy cardboard box which was really appealing with images of the lights on the front, and on the back was a summary of all the features of the Dots and some screen shots of the Twinkly App (which is needed to control the Dots). Inside the box were the lights themselves, secured with a Velcro strap, the controller, a plug, some adhesive pads, some stickers and an instruction book. I was impressed that, with the exception of a small plastic bag containing the adhesive pads, the packaging was entirely cardboard. This is great in terms of sustainability and was a big plus point from me. We were lucky enough to be sent a set of 200 Twinkly Dots with transparent wire (they also come with black wire) which measure 10 metres in length. This is long enough to fit most of the way around my son’s bedroom and will also be perfect for the Christmas Tree in December!

Having had a quick read through the instruction booklet, which was really easy to follow with a series of diagrams and step by step text, my son and I got stuck into setting the Twinkly Dots up.

Firstly, we had to download the Twinkly App, which is available for free on both the App Store and Google Play. This is important as it’s where all the magic happens! It was really simple to pair the Dots to my phone via Bluetooth, and then connect them to our home Wifi and then we were away! This literally took a couple of minutes.

After opening up the App and turning the Dots on it became very evident what the difference was between Twinkly Dots and the LED lights already set up in my son’s bedroom. Firstly, the Twinkly Dots are controlled via an App, they have over 16 million different colour combinations which can match any mood or theme (I’m taking Twinkly’s word for this!), they can be used indoors and outdoors, they react to sound, they’re mappable, there are pre-set effects and light combinations which can all be personalised, or you can set up your own colours and patterns from scratch. The Twinkly Dots are also compatible with Alexa, Google Home and other systems. They also have a timer setting within the app so you can decide when they come on and when they switch off which will be great for bedtime.

We have literally had so much fun with the Twinkly Dots trying out all the different effects and personalising them, they really are pretty awesome. It’s been like a disco in our house for the last week. There are 30 pre-set effects on the App with great names such as Unicorn Sun and Candy Cane, which look great as they are, but all of these effects can also be personalised within the app to change the brightness, speed, intensity and for some of them even the colours. There is also the option to create new effects as well as the option to make a “playlist” of effects which is stored on the device’s own memory. This means that you can pre-set a series of light effects to run for a certain amount of time. Oh and not forgetting the option to control the Dots with your finger via the App by dragging over the image of the lights to make them light up exactly as you want them to.

We also discovered that the Twinkly Dots can react to sounds and we’ve had great fun putting on music and watching the lights move in time to the beat.

One thing we haven’t quite mastered yet is the mapping function. Where you can scan the Twinkly Dots on the App, using the phone’s camera, which then shows a map of where they are meaning that each single dot can be customised as you wish. The App automatically defaults to show the lights in a Christmas Tree arrangement, and I have to tell you this I can’t wait to get our Christmas Tree out in December and put these lights on it – we are going to have literally the best lit tree in town! (I had to strongly resist the temptation to get up in the attic and get the tree down to test them!). At the moment the Dots are going to go up in my son’s room but he is under strict instructions that as soon as we get to 1st December they are going on the tree!

I have been really impressed with the Twinkly Dots, they are the best lights I have ever come across and having the ability to be controlled via the phone app is great. You can sit down in comfort and create a vast array of lighting effects to suit your mood and surroundings. I would highly recommend them for any tech lovers, they are sure to impress any visitors and they will also keep you amused trying out all the effects (not sure how long it would take to find all 16 million colour combinations though!). I would still hesitate to pay £115 for lights for my Christmas tree, but I can definitely see what you are getting for your money and they would be a lovely gift for that tech lover in your life. They seem to be durable so if they last for a number of years they would be a good investment.

Rating: 5/5

RRP: £114.99

This product can be purchased from Amazon here.