I tried the CHEAP and EXPENSIVE monitor light bar | Must Have Computer Desk Accessories
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 29 сен 2024
- The BenQ ScreenBar Halo and ScreenBar Plus are awesome for your setup, but they can be pretty expensive, so is it worth just to get a cheap one instead?
BenQ ScreenBar Halo (Wireless desktop dial): amzn.to/3PXnkfk
BenQ ScreenBar Plus (Wired desktop dial with click): amzn.to/3b7OYr0
Quntis Monitor Light (Cheap light I tried): amzn.to/3zBsNTu
Xiaomi Mi Computer Monitor Light Bar (Popular cheap light I haven't tried): amzn.to/3PTPxDA
Generic Lighbar (Cheap light I haven't tried): amzn.to/3ODgASH
My favorite external drive: amzn.to/3Os9Wi3
My favorite dock: amzn.to/3oyqWZz
My little Thunderbolt 4 dock: amzn.to/3yVRicC
#screenbar #lightbar
- - - - - - - - -
❤️ SUBSCRIBE TO MY RUclips CHANNEL 📺
Click here to subscribe: / alexanderziskind
- - - - - - - - -
📱LET'S CONNECT ON SOCIAL MEDIA
ALEX ON TWITTER: / digitalix
- - - - - - - - -
Raffle: to enter the raffle, just leave a comment, and I will announce the winner on Twitter (I'm @digitalix on Twitter). Subscribe to the channel for more content like this and other fun stuff.
PRIVACY POLICY and FULL DISCLOSURE:
°We participate in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com
°If you purchase something from our affiliate links will get a small commission with no extra cost to you. This makes it possible for us to make more videos. Thank you!
°We DO NOT collect, store, use, or share any data about you.
![BenQ Screenbar BUYER GUIDE [Standard, Plus & Halo]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/3IUd29UYr3g/mqdefault.jpg)
Xiaomi Monitor Light Bar is much cheaper, it has wireless remote and about the same quality. BenQ is really overpriced for a strip of LEDs.
Exterior quality is slightly worse, but there's a night and day difference between the interior quality.
Unless you've been living under a rock, Xiaomi light bars are prone to breaking within the first year.
There are 100s of complaints about them on Amazon and other online retailers.
@@StardustLegacyFighter they are 20bucks, you don’t expect the best quality but matte plastic with a remote at that price is really good, also not many people are saying it breaks easily. And that’s fine because manufacturers can have defective products. Anyways for 20 bucks it’s already really good. Also you are just hating on Xiaomi since it’s possible to buy 8 of the Xiaomi light bars for the price of 1 Benq halo
I'm a SWE student! I just set up my desk for my journey and would definitely put these to great use on my journey to becoming a SWE!
That bleep cracked me up. Appreciate your sense of humor man.
Glad you enjoyed
been using the qunatis one for a couple of years now, super worth it, its cheap and does the job.
After seeing the difference in your video between a session on the computer in the evening with and without these lights, I am reconsidering getting such lights :D
I like the low-light recording more. 😎
Thanks for the review, that would be great for my desk when I am working early in the morning.
Great content and quality of content!
LEDs flicker because they're on AC, actually all lights flicker on AC, LEDs just switch on and off faster so it's way way more noticeable.
These light-bars are powered by DC so they shouldn't flicker. As the current and voltage should be constant.
It's because AC is a sine-wave, which goes from positive to negative and back, through 0, again and again.
Every time it's at (or close to) 0 there will be no (or not enough) power to generate light.
And because LEDs are Diodes they only let current flow in one direction so they are off when it's negative, so they'll generate light like: dim->bright->dim->off->off->off repeat.
More expensive LEDs have a rectifier which converts the negative part into a positive so the sine-wave will be more like bumps making the light go: dim->bright->dim->dim->bright->dim repeat. And then they could also add a capacitor which will smooth out the curve by charging up a little when there is more power and using that stored power to release and to give back when there's less, so it will go: dim-> less bright-> less dim->dim->less bright-> less dim repeat.
Incandescent lights flicker ,but the wire will retain heat so it keep shining, it acts like a capacitor (it stores heat power stead of electrical power)
The way LEDs (and all other light sources) emit light is also interesting, google images of "light source spectrum"
great review! keep doing ;)
well I wanted can you make a dedicated video of benchmarks you do.
You know you're doing a great job on content when companies start sending you their products!
You know companies are well aware of how easily youtubers push products, when they send their products to so many youtubers for 'review' for 'free'
The Xiaomi is really solid. Can just recommend them.
They turn on when the display is active and they also have a wireless remote.
Was thinking about getting the BenQ before but the price and the fact that I want to test it before paying a lot, made me buy the cheaper product.
Sometimes youtube nails to refer a video.
Thank it did with you. Luved the channel.
Really good review Alex. The BenQ lights are expensive but seem to be well-made. The XIAOMI Mi light bar appears to be very well priced and well built, that could be a good alternative to the BenQ.
I've got the Quntis and use it a lot and it's great. However, I haven't compared it to a higher end one because of the prices. Based on the reviews that I read and my experience, it's perfect for me and have no issues with it at all. I could honestly never justify buying a $100 light bar when this works so well as is.
Same here. Have the Quntis for several months now and love it.
@3:20 No. LEDs do not have to flicker.
There are three reasons they typically do, and all of them are because it’s cheaper to make them that way:
1. Using AC power directly. Since AC goes through a cycle 50 or 60 times per second, cheap LEDs will flicker 50 or 60 times per second*.
2. If an LED is off half the time it uses half the power*. Whether that’s to meet standards, put some marketing on the box, or to save battery power: Flickering can save energy
3. For dimming. The cheapest way to dim is through Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM). Better lights will use PWM frequencies of 5000 times per second or even 25000+ if you’re lucky, but it’s still the cheaper way. It takes more parts and more circuitry to do variable voltage or variable amperage but both of those have Zero flicker.
*There are some edge cases (as there always are) where that’s not strictly true
After Watching over 20 videos I choose Benq Halo, Thanks for the video
I love your content, Alex!
You're doing all developers and future developers out there a service when it comes to software development content and the tools for development.
Keep up the good work!
Now there's a giveaway, you're gonna see more comments than usual. LOL. 😂
I all seriousness though, I enjoyed the video. Didn't knew about light flickering can cause strain. I am currently going to be joining university for computer science, and will be coding and doing assignments late night a lot. I'm a night owl, so this can definitely be of my use. So if you wanna give it away, I'm up for it!
Hmm, now I need to consider buying the BenQ lights. I normally use a map that comes out from under my monitor but having it in the way is a pain.
Have the Quntis lights on my two monitors. It works OK, just nothing special. Thanks for reviewing these.
I've been using Xiamoi Mi light bar for over a year and it's been doing really great considering it's a budget one. The light trajectory is actually asymmetric unlike the other light bar within similar price range. One downside is that the wireless controller is a bit finicky. The rest is great.
i have the same light bar, i find that pressing the remote with 2 finger on the edge works better. Apart from that its great and for the price i dont have much complain.
Worth it's price. IT's doing the job great.
There's a lot of better cheap alternatives to the BenQ. Quantis seems like the bottom of the barrel in terms of quality between all the cheaper ones.
damn $180
Speaking of LEDs, as long as they are DC powered (5, 12, 24V) they should not flicker, no reason for that. Flickering may occur when adjusting brightness, which is more often done by PWM rather than adjusting current (monitors with flicker free badge uses this method).
230V ones often flicker because of tiny power supply which is unable to keep voltage stable and you get 50/60Hz multiplied by 2 in most cases.
One thing to note is not to install the screenbar too tight on your monitor because it will make it bleed for a longer use, especially with the cheaper screen bar. A lot of users having this problem, so be careful.
good to know thanks
Watching this with my BenQ halo light lol. The price is worth it due to the quality. The wireless remote is also really convenient.
The BenQ look nice but are just way to expensive. You can buy large monitors for that price.
Nice thumbnail pasta
I tried
I was sceptical whether the monitor lights are worth it, thanks for clarifying it out.
Never thought of things like that. Always used desktop lamps or smth. But the idea looks interesting. Curious how to combine it with a web cam.
I’ve been using the Quntis bar since December and it’s held up pretty well - definitely worth the price and it shows 0 signs of breaking.
Only problem I had is with thicker monitors (old Acer Z35) where I had to use command strips to actually attach the light bar.
Really informative review, thank you.
I was pondering switching from desk lamp to a monitor lamp and now, when I saw these BenQ ones in action I do want it even more.
Although, I'm using a MacBook Pro right in front of the monitor and I'm afraid that the laptops screen with glare coating might reflect the light too much. :/
Hello Alex, the flickering you are talking about happens on light bulbs because they are made cheaply, as they lack of a current transformer, the one that converts mains (source of alternating current) to a stable direct current used by LEDs. They are simply electric diodes that when current flows with positive voltage they lit up, while in the other way they simply block the flow and don’t lit, usually it is done with main frequency 50/60Hz.
The lights in the studio and the ones you’re showcasing uses DC current either from a proper (beefy) transformer or via pc’s psu.
I think LED lights only flicker if they are PWM controlled. I've been enjoying your videos. I just transitioned from IT specializing in Macs to a web developer.
To be honest, I thought it was a marketing gimmick until I watched your video. Thanks for sharing!
Yikes. Those are too pricey. I've been using the Mi Light bar by XiaoMi and it's been working great. Got it for about $30 a few months back and has definitely helped light up my workstation.
They are excellent as screenbar light, but they are very expensive for what they are. If BenQ could make a budget friendly under 100 $, it would be great. Anyway, great review!!!!
BTW, avoid working in dark mode environment. Better switch lights on. Your eyes will thank you.
I wanted to buy Benq lightbar, but unfortunately, wasn't able to find it in my country. So I ordered another lightbar from aliexpress: it's Baseus "i-wok 2 Youth". Bought it for $35.35, but currently it costs $42.99.
The bar is good overall, I have only small complains: I see that tiny light sliver even when lightbar is angled down completely), and ambient light behind is not powerful enough IMO.
I can recommend it (especially considering a price).
I like the Halo lightbar from your review. so I might try it in the future. Thanks for review!
Not ALL LEDs flicker. The crappy LEDs flicker because they're PWM driven, basically switched on and off thousands or tens or hundreds of thousands of times a second, which is MOSTLY imperceptible to the human eye, but if it is done poorly (cheaply) or if you are sensitive to it, you can notice it even when it's done well. These lights I'm guessing are powered by a good linear LED driver that just directly controls the power that the LED receives (voltage, amperage, etc) instead of just turning it on and off really really fast.
Fun fact, incandescent bulbs flicker too!! Because AC power is, well, Alternating, there is a 0-voltage-crossing point where the lights TECHNICALLY turns 'off' for a split second as there is no power passing through it because it is getting 0 voltage(this is also why big beefy electronic things, usually motors, use 3-phase power as there are no 0-crossing points with 3 phase power). It is functionally invisible to the human eye and probably most cameras because incandescent bulbs happen to produce light when heated to over 4000F and it can't cool down far enough to perceptibly 'dim' in the split second that it receives no power during that 0-crossing.
Love this video.. Exactly what I was looking for.. New subscriber on board
Great review Alex, and much appreciated as many reviews don’t cover the finer aspects of the quality of the light and the holding mechanism.
Only thing I’d ask if you have time is to share your thoughts on using a web camera with these light bars. My issue is that if it’s a pain to do so, perhaps the light bar I need is the type that clamps onto your desk and hangs well above the monitor vs laying along the top of the monitor. 🤷🏽
Alex you really rushed in reviewing the cheaper monitor light bar Quntis, I have two of these Quntis and they're great.
1. You forgot to peel the plastic protector that is on the light itself.
2. You should have read the manual for the light on how to use it, it was dimming by itself because you have the auto-brightness mode on.
3. You can adjust the light bar having 2 plastics that comes with the package to fit your monitor as you want.
Benq are way better but for the price I will stick with the quntis. I bought two of them on a deal for $30
Thanks for the candid review, very apt comparision between benq and affordable alternatives.
Very good review Alex!
I have a handcrafted light up my desk and I don’t use it a lot because I can see the leds with my eyes and It’s very uncomfortable. Even If I don’t win oje of the BenQ’s lights, I probably will buying the cheaper one haha.
Cheers from Mexico 🇲🇽🙌🏼
Xiaomi is awesome. It has magnetic mount, remote control and PROPER angle to do nom make you blind. BenQ is more expensive and light angle in real life is WAY different comparing to the claimed one.
it was all fun and games until i saw you only have a 100k subs, genuinely thought you were atleast a 500k sub channel. amazed by the light i want to pick one up for my setup for streaming since my room doesnt have good lighting. i think ill pick the cheaper one up looks good on front camera hope its the same for webcams
I actually thought about getting a monitor light like this. Thanks for showing these light bars and going into the details (didn't know there was such a thing as flickering on LEDs).
Most LED bulbs in EU are not flickering. If they do, usually they are some stylish/cheesy light fixtures. I always test them with phone camera
These products have very limited to no use at all as most rooms have at least 1 or more light sources available. What's much more important is to combat eye strain/fatigue with 6500k bias lightning. These monitor light bars should actually be mounted reversely to light the area behind your monitor.
can you someone elaborate on the "how they work" by "flickering" vs incandescent lights which are on.
what does he mean and sources and led lights dont "light" by flickering
Great lights! Would be great to win, but my chances are pretty low) But thanks for the review, pretty and cool detailed) Useful videos)
I have very bad luck, no hopes for this giveaway.
but still trying this one, BTW love your videos & I have seen your growth since first m1 video & wish you good luck 100k very soon!
I've been wondering myself if I should buy one, the extra factor in my case is I have a Samsung G9 (ultrawide) monitor so not sure how to address that use case.
Really love your videos, especially your comparision videos of the Apple Silicon chips, I'm really excited about the future of ARM chips in laptops as these are the devices that would benefit greatly from power efficiency.
Also, I'm interested in getting a light bar for myself, the BenQ seems a little too pricey for my liking, are you able to pick up one from Xiaomi and test it?
Keep the good work
Which slomo mode was used in the video? I tried HD 240. Should it be enough to see the flicker? Great video as always!
Ive been seeing more and more people using these lights over their monitors but I havent yet really gave a big look into them. I hope I win so I can experience this myself. Great channel btw :)
I have a keyboard tray and a Bluetooth keyboard (no backlight). I’m wondering if this would work for me.
The Benq lamps are nicer, better developed, little sweet things that took time to engineer. I would pay the extra and would get the PLUS model. The Halo lamp has too much "ammenities".
Plus is the sweet spot.
I always thought I was just getting fatigued from programming late at night, now I know I can blame the ikea bulb ;)
no all leds do not flicker only crappy ones, check youtube reviews, but all other lights flicker at some amplitude!
Do you by any chance get Tesla cars to review? I'll take them off your hands if you do get them and are finished reviewing them
If you connect the cheap one to your monitor it automatically turns on/off with you PC. Thats what i do, i also have the cheap one and it's really nice for the money
In all fairness with the Quntis, which I've used for about a year, if you had simply read the manual, you would have found it really easy to use.
Hey, Alex! Could you also check and tell if the benq's sit comfortable on the MacBooks as well?
I don't have Twitter but I had my eyes on these for a while. 🙋🏻♂️... I'd love to have one 😮
tactile remote is definitely better to use. that remote on the halo version just doesn't seem nice to use. i've seen multiple reviewers comment negatively on it already.
I've had the Quntis for a few weeks now and all the mentioned negatives are trivial negatives to me. For the price you can't beat it.
I have bee using the Quntis light for 6 months now and find it fantastic, why pay more when this does the same work for me.
Leds meant to flicker.. im an ee and thats not true. Drive them with a ripple free dc voltage current source and zero flicker.
Thank you fornthat video on a monitor light, been searching for a very long time thank you for that video been wanting to for me eyes also.
im using xiaomi, cant say how it does compare to others but for the price its really affordable plus the handy remote which is alright to use
I hope I win one of these lamps, would actually be very useful for me! great videos by the way Alex!
I love your videos. They are really useful for programmers.
a Good Life Lesson, if you Get Chosen You're Not Special!, You're Just Random
LED bulbs can be PWM-free (no flickering), so this bars are no better than normal light in room
Nice video! Xiaomi Monitor Bar is much better in my opinion. You can buy it in Amazon around 40 usd.
Love to have a Benq one, I have a cheap one I bought in Pricesmart, not bad, but I like the options the Benq have
Hey, Alex! Can you please provide a link for the USB hub as well? Please....
I was just thinking about one of these and I saw the cheap and the BenQ ones and was like maybe has done a review. Lol
whoaahh! I was so late to watch this - I wish I won a give-away on this (on my dreams) :D - badly needed this light bar
I've been pointing an LED desk lamp to the back wall as a poor man's backlight, so these look great
I like you are adding some reviews to the mix. switches it up a bit. Just don't start teaching people how to ace Amazon Interviews or anything like that.
😂
I need a monitor bar light but i dont have sufficient money 😓can you please giveaway me or i buy it leter 👍
I need to replace my light bars one of them is dead. the benQ would be a sweet upgrade. So if not too late I am up for the win !
Great! I don’t have a led bar for my monitor but I’ll consider buying it in the future after this video
Funnily enough I was looking for it and the review has really helped. Hope I win one of these :)
You work in complete darkness? Do you think we're that naive, c'mon...
Really need those lights. Been working everyday morning till night and now my eyesight is getting bad.
These look pretty useful actually. I didn't think the purpose was to relieve eyestrain
Thanks for a video. Did you order 24gb air? If yes- when it will come?
I've been watching your reviews on the M1 Max vs M1 Ultra for development. Good stuff. I just bought the M1 Max Mac Studio and a LG monitor a few days ago. Big upgrade over my previous iMac. The BenQ ScreenBar'a are pretty nice.
Xaomi are excellent lights and are cheaper than the BenQ and also better than most cheaper options.
Love your videos, new to the channel. Really honest reviews!!
I still think you are 900k subs short, dude love your content and real world testing
Loved it!!
I wish Apple made such light bars for their own monitors (and iMacs).
Been considering one of these for my set up… Are the capacitive buttons on the halo any good?