Ikea launched the Ormanäs, its first smart RGB LED light strip, in the Netherlands. The news comes by way of Dutch tech site Tweakers, which notes that the Ormanäs is a four-meter, or roughly 13-foot, dimmable Zigbee affair for €29.99 (about $32) that works with the company’s Dirigera smart hub. The light strip is only available in the Netherlands for now, but Ikea typically starts its rollouts there before bringing products to the US and beyond.
The strip is simple and, judging from the images on Ikea’s site, won’t have individually addressable LEDs like some of the fancier strips on the market — which means the whole strip will show only a single color at a time. Still, it supports multiple control methods like the Ikea Home app and the Ikea Styrbar remote as well as Apple HomeKit, Google Home, and Amazon Alexa smart home platforms (through the Dirigera hub). It also supports Google Home and Amazon Alexa. And being a fairly standard LED strip, you can cut it to length in designated places.
The Ormanäs has a nice balance of features — it’s affordable, long, dimmable, and with Zigbee control, is likely to be very responsive. It’s rare to see a smart LED strip that ticks all of those boxes and also supports HomeKit and out-of-home control via the maker’s app — something the Dirigera hub improves on over Ikea’s now-defunct Trådfri Gateway.
I like these but I struggle to find a use for it in our house. What would you guys use it for?
Lots of use cases.
Kitchen cabinet lights.
Lights for walkways.
Rave room.
Nothing a lamp can’t solve or the sticky portable lights. But it’s reaching a point where a $10-15 strip of lights is also a affordable option.
I am thinking of using LED strips to light IKEA cabinets.
If you had a picture rail you could run some lights around it for a kind of ambient uplight effect without needing to use the big light.
You could hook it up to motion detectors and do all sorts. Wardrobes, corridor night lights for anyone getting up to use the toilet at night, etc.
We have one behind the headboard for soft or mood lighting. One that runs along the countertops in the kitchen and one around the sliding door frame.
I, personally, wouldn’t buy smart devices that force you to use a hub with them.