Another review of a Yeelight product, the branch of Xiaomi that deals with lighting with bulbs, lamps that have the characteristic of being able to be connected both in Wi-Fi (for “smart” activities) and in Bluetooth (for direct commands ).
We could define it as the Chinese response to the Hue Philips production that is increasingly expanded in the field of quality and decorative lamps thanks also to the integration into the global brand Signify of the Italian company Luceplan.
Returning to Yeelight: the Chinese production aims at cheaper devices but not for this reason with a lower level design: the round version (which you have seen on this page) and the square version that we examine here have a minimal and attractive design, a very high variety of direct controls from many home automation platforms, a sturdy and elegant aluminum chassis and only the polymethylmethacrylate of the lighting body betrays, but only to the touch, the economic nature of the product.
But let's get to the analysis of the product, its capabilities and let's see it at work
Packaging and assembly
The product arrived directly from China a few weeks and we do not know if the versions recently distributed from the Netherlands have different equipment. In any case it is a classic cardboard box that holds the disassembled lamp protected by a cellophane and the remote control with a polystyrene protection: the aluminum of the chassis and the unbreakable PMMA certainly do not offer themselves to any damage during transport.
As soon as the package is opened, inside the single plate of the chassis it is not possible to see the LED strips that act as emitters with two long parallelepipeds in the center: the transformer and the box that houses and protects the link.
The equipment includes the very elegant white remote control, whose functions will be examined later that connects / pairs via bluetooth with the simple simultaneous pressing of two buttons. Obviously, the protective tab must be removed to make the internal battery work.
The lamp is declared insect-proof and it will certainly be difficult for animals of any size to enter through the 4 hooking holes, protected by a repair or by the cable entry hole that pass through an elastic rubber gasket that tightens in any case the cables.
Once the position or the squaring with respect to the walls has been determined, simply position the schassis to determine the position of the four holes, equip yourself with a drill and use the supplied plugs to drill the ceiling, pass the power cables into the hole with gasket and connect it to the internal box.
The translucent part is made of light polymethylmethacrylate and is very easy to install thanks to 8 aluminum-colored clamping levers that allow insertion and disassembly with extreme immediacy but which presumably you will no longer use the illuminating part for life due to the “impermeability” to insects of the ceiling light.
Once installed we can control it directly with the room switch but if we want to use it in a “smart” way we have to leave the power on and manage everything from the remote control, smartphone, voice (siri, alexa, google assistant) or from a home automation system compatible.
The remote control
In addition to the obvious switching on and off functions, the remote control controls the ceiling light via bluetooth also those of adjusting the light intensity, the color temperature and a special function Cozy Moonlight , which lowers the brightness to a single lumen, useful for not leaving the room in the dark and consuming as little as possible to accompany sleep or have a minimum of visibility in the room.
Lighting performance
We installed the ceiling light in a room of 16 square meters and we must say that the 42 watts of the LEDs stand out: using the neutral colored light the luminous flux, despite the PMMA shielding is even overabundant and we have to keep the light intensity at about 50/60% under normal operating conditions (it is a hobby room with drums, musical instruments and 3D printing tools): Yeeligh recommends the ceiling light for rooms of 30-40sqm and depending on the required lighting level it may not be absolutely an exaggeration.
From the point of view of color temperature and intensity we can decide the behavior from the remote control and decide with the App if we want the last condition to be repeated with the next switch on or not. Temperatures range from very warm neutral warm white to almost blue cold. In the photos below you can see shots with warm white and the special Cozyi Moonlight mode that simulates the light of the moon but on warm tones.
In the app there are also “macro” details such as “candle” lighting which, while not exploiting the color, cycle on the hottest color temperature with a faint and inconstant lighting effect.
Management from the App
If you register with the Yeelight application on iOS or Android you have the possibility to manage the ceiling light from Wi-Fi, from your smartphone and from Google or Amazon Alexa smart speakers and interestingly also from Siri through your iPhone or Installation (from iOS) thanks to Siri commands.
Below we show you in a series of galleries all the possible implementations with the various operating systems and voice control systems.
Let's start with the installation we made on iOS but obviously the ceiling light can be controlled at the same time by all systems.
As usual, the home automation device must be connected to the same 2.4 GHz network as your router and smartphone.
Installation from iOS and inclusion in Siri commands and iOS Widgets 
Inclusion in Google Home on Android and activation of Widgets on the desktop Below we see a series of screens that will allow us to configure the ceiling light with Android, OK google (this also on iOS), to control timers, special functions, and color temperature (on iOS and Android) to turn it off with the MiBand when we go to read and finally to activate widgets for direct control from the home of an Android phone.
Inclusion in Alexa In this series of screens we find the inclusion in the Alexa system (on iOS and Android) and the possibility of having in addition to direct voice control also the inclusion in a group of devices and the inclusion of the lamp in a Routine that is activated with the “Goodnight” that turns off lights, TV, etc.
As seen, the possibilities of interaction are endless and only missing, unlike its cousin Xiaomi Mija – Yeelight BedSide Lamp 2 that we tested on this page, the possibility of being inserted directly into the home page of the Home / Homekit commands.
Conclusions
A lamp that does its duty, it is easily controllable with the supplied remote control in its main features but at the same time it is very versatile in home automation controls. We have been using it for a few weeks now and we are highly satisfied with its performance and interaction capabilities. If you are interested in the round model that shares with this materials and finishes but with less lighting capacity, we refer you to our other review. For its power and practicality, this is certainly suitable for rooms of 16-20-25 square meters. The only thing to worry about is not to scratch the methacrylate surface before and during the assembly phase.
Pro
Excellent lighting capacity, modern and minimal design, wide versatility with home automation systems.
Cons
Not directly compatible with Homekit
Retail price
The lamp can be ordered on Gearbest at a price ranging between 130 and 140 Euros.
