Yeelight Monitor Light Bar Pro review: A must-have desk accessory to reduce eye strain

Yeelight Monitor Light Bar Pro review: A must-have desk accessory to reduce eye strain

Yeelight built its name on the back of affordable lighting products, and in recent years it has branched out into new categories. Its latest product is the Monitor Light Bar Pro, and while it is aimed at the gaming segment, it doubles up just as well for regular use.

Now, I didn’t really pay much attention to monitor light bars, and that’s mostly because I never understood their utility. It wasn’t until I actually started using the Monitor Light Bar Pro that I realized just how wrong I was. Yeelight’s light bar does a great job lighting up my desk, and it does so without calling too much attention to itself. I’ve used it for just under two months now, and in that time, it has made a tangible difference to my desk setup.

And the best part (at least for me) is that the Monitor Light Bar Pro has a secondary  set of LED lights at the back that provide diffused RGB lighting. That alone makes it an easy recommendation in my book, but there’s more: you get a wireless dimmer knob, Alexa and Google Assistant integration, and it pairs with Razer’s Chroma devices.

So here’s what the Monitor Light Bar Pro has to offer, and why you should consider picking it up.

Yeelight Monitor Light Bar Pro: Pricing and availability

Yeelight Monitor Light Bar Pro review

The Monitor Light Bar Pro made its debut back in February for $130, and it is now available in North America and select global regions where Yeelight has an official presence. In the U.S., you can pick up the light bar at Amazon for $110 as of writing, and on Yeelight’s official site for $117.

Yeelight is running an exclusive offer for Android Central readers that brings the cost of the light bar down to $98 when you enter code ANDROIDCENTR — 25% off its retail price. The code works on Amazon as well as Yeelight’s official store, and is valid until April 30. So if you’re interested in the Monitor Light Bar Pro, you can pick it up using the code ANDROIDCENTR and save some cash.

Yeelight Monitor Light Bar Pro: What you’ll love

Yeelight Monitor Light Bar Pro review

As someone who writes words for a living, I’m usually in front of the monitor for most of the day. On average, I spend around 12 hours a day at my desk, starting at 6am in the morning.

Because I start early and don’t like switching on the downlights, I relied on Dyson’s $600 Lightcycle as the default desk light for the last two years. It’s a ridiculously over-engineered product that takes up a lot of room, but it does a good job illuminating my desk, and adjusts lighting automatically based on time of day.

Yeelight’s light bar provides all the illumination you could ask for, and the colors are highly configurable.

Yeelight’s Monitor Light Bar Pro is an easier solution for my use case. The light bar has a sleek cylindrical design that allows it to hold its own against the best monitor light bars, and it affixes to the stand via magnets — making installation a breeze. It can be rotated by up to 25 degrees, so if you have a large work surface, you can easily adjust the angle of the light bar.

The stand has a counterweight and hangs at the back of the monitor, and the light bar is powered by USB-C. It needs 10W of power, so you’re better off using the bundled wall plug to run the light bar.

Because of the low profile of the stand, the Monitor Light Bar Pro works with flat or curved monitors, and I used it with Xiaomi’s 27-inch gaming monitor for the last two months. The light bar has a string of LEDs that do a great job illuminating a workspace, and you get the ability to alternate between cool and warm hues.

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Yeelight Monitor Light Bar Pro review

Yeelight Monitor Light Bar Pro review

Yeelight Monitor Light Bar Pro review

Yeelight Monitor Light Bar Pro review

Yeelight Monitor Light Bar Pro review

The light bar also gets very bright; more often than not, I left it at the lowest brightness level, and that was more than adequate for my needs. The ability to manually set the color temperature makes a lot of difference in day-to-day use; I usually start off with warm hues and switch to cooler tones once there’s sufficient ambient light in the room.

What makes the Monitor Light Bar Pro stand out even more is the second row of lights at the back. These provide ambient lighting, and have RGB LEDs with 16 million colors. They don’t provide much in the way of illumination, but they’re not meant to; they’re solely for ambience.

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Yeelight Monitor Light Bar Pro review

Yeelight Monitor Light Bar Pro review

Yeelight Monitor Light Bar Pro review

Yeelight Monitor Light Bar Pro review

Light bar 100% illumination (5500k) (Image credit: Harish Jonnalagadda / Android Central)

You can adjust the brightness of the light bar and change colors with the Xiaomi Home app, but there’s an easier way: the Monitor Light Bar Pro comes with a bundled wireless dimmer knob that is fantastic to use.

The wireless remote makes it extremely easy to turn the light bar on or off and change the colors.

Yeelight Monitor Light Bar Pro review

For more granular control and the ability to set up modes for gaming or movies, you’ll need to use the Xiaomi Home app. It has a color wheel that lets you pick out lighting options for the ambient light, and you can also switch to the same hue as the main light. Similarly, you can select cool or warm tones for the main light and adjust brightness levels.

Yeelight Monitor Light Bar Pro: What needs work

Yeelight Monitor Light Bar Pro review

The only issue I have with the Monitor Light Bar Pro is the third-party integration, or lack thereof. The light bar officially works with Razer’s Chroma platform, but getting it to work with other devices in finicky at best, and it doesn’t connect to other RGB lighting services like NZXT Cam or Corsair’s iCUE.

I have a lot of Corsair products, and the fact that I can’t integrate the RGB lights with the rest of the devices on my desk is a bit of a letdown. But other than that, I don’t have any issues with the light bar.

Yeelight Monitor Light Bar Pro: The competition

Yeelight Monitor Light Bar Pro review

Yeelight’s light bar is a costly option in this category, and if you don’t want to spend as much, you can pick up alternatives for a lot less.

Baseus, a Chinese manufacturer that makes cables and charging accessories on par with Anker and Aukey, also makes a light bar that costs just $28, and as you’d imagine, there are a few downsides. You get just three color modes — 2800K, 4000K, and 5500K — and there’s no wireless remote. But if you’re looking for a budget-focused option, it nails the basics.

If you don’t care about the Monitor Light Bar Pro’s RGB lighting, you can save some cash and get the Xiaomi Mi Computer Monitor Light Bar. This is the first-gen model of the light bar, and it has the same set of LEDs for the main light, and you even get the same wireless remote. At $70, it is a good value.

Yeelight Monitor Light Bar Pro: Should you buy it?

Yeelight Monitor Light Bar Pro review

I use the light bar whenever I’m at my desk now, and it makes a tangible difference; my eyes don’t feel as fatigued at the end of the day.

Yeelight’s Monitor Light Bar Pro has everything you’re looking for in a light bar: it gets sufficiently bright, lets you easily change colors, has a wireless remote, and even has RGB ambient lighting at the back.

Use code ANDROIDCENTR to get the light bar for just $98.

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