Affordable RGB accent lighting helps you set the mood

I’ve been updating the gear I use to create video content for ZDNET editors and reviews. In addition to a new camera and microphone setup, I spent the last few weeks using a Moonside Lamp One to create accent lighting in my videos.

Where the site previously had blue, red, and black color accents, with the ZDNET redesign, we now see Energy Yellow and black. The Moonside Lamp One helps provide an appropriate accent light in my video content. But as a smart light it has much more capability than a single-color accent light, so I’ve been able to provide various other accent lighting effects for other work situations and for mood lighting in my home office.

Also: Now’s the time to try Govee smart light panels

Design

The Moonside Lamp One arrived in a small box and when I picked it up, I thought it was empty. The lamp’s negligible weight means it can be mounted on just about anything. A USB-C port on the back of the bottom powers up the light, and a USB adapter is provided with the USB-C cable.

The plastic light casing has a soft-touch finish with white color in the off position. There is no battery in the light so it must always be connected to power. The lamp provides 360-degree light, so it works well for lighting up the space behind it too.

Smartphone app

Moonside has an app available for both iOS and Android, giving the same experience on both platforms. Pair the Moonside Lamp One with your smartphone via Bluetooth to get started with lighting. Using the app, you can also create a Moonside account so that you can connect the light via Wi-Fi for use as smart lighting with Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and IFTT. Apple HomeKit is listed as coming soon.

The smartphone app is a bit confusing: After you’ve set up the connection, tapping on the lamp in the app toggles the light on and off. You need to press and hold on to the selected light to access all of the lighting options.

The app supports single-color lighting, brightness controls, mood lighting options, preset themes, custom pixel themes, and music themes. I was able to test and use each of these except the music theme, which I haven’t gotten to work yet.

There are more than 50 themes to choose from, many with lighting effects that include active transitions and color changes. You can mark your favorites and have them show up on the theme launch screen for quicker selection. There is currently no option in the software to create your own dynamic lighting theme. The custom pixel theme is a static theme, but it does give you full control over the pixels and colors, so you can get quite creative and design your own static theme.

Bottom line

The Moonside Lamp One provides compelling RGB custom accent lighting for $64.90. While the smartphone app needs a few tweaks, the lamp turns on and off reliably, with a vast number of color options and some nicely designed themes. I would appreciate the option to create custom dynamic themes, which could be added by a future software update. I also wonder about the life of the lamp and if there are options to replace bulbs that might burn out over time.

Moonside also makes a tall Neon Lighthouse lamp, and after experiencing the lovely lighting of the Lamp One, I may have to add one or two of these to my home office for additional accent lighting.