Sunbeam EL Strip review

Yet another Sunbeam product in DV Hardware's test lab! It's colored, 1.2cm width, 150cm long and it gives off a colored light what is it? An EL Strip!
Sunbeams EL Strip is basically available in orange, yellow, blue, green, light red, and many other colors.

First here's a quick look at the specifications and features of the EL Strip :

Features :

Self-adhesive backing sticks to anything stickable!
Fully bendable and configurable
It may be cut to different lengths all of which will glow individually
Comes in any color of the spectrum you can think of
Using a small power converter that is easily hidden and can run two light strips at once
Negligible power consumption
No heat generated from the strip(which is always well)
The Lightstrip is fully weatherproof
The connectors have been well covered in heat shrink so there is no chance of electric shock
Inverter almost reaches dumb
The Strip has longer lighting width than others
Plug&Play works right off your computer's power supply
Plastic and Off-the-shelf casing is a perfect style sales

Specifications :

EL Strip	Inverter
Brightness : >30 cd/m Burning life : >15000H(straight) Length : 150cm Light width : 1cm	Input Voltage : 12V (DC) Output voltage : ?90V(AC) Freguency : ?1KHZ


This is the package where the EL Strip came in

Sunbeams EL Strip came in a nice-looking retail package. The EL Strip kit consists out of the 2 parts :
- The EL Strip which is about 1.2cm thick (1cm is for the EL Strip wire and about 1mm on both the left and right is from the plastic sheets that protect the EL Strip wire) and it's 1.5m long. It has an adhesive backside so you can stick it to almost anywhere you want it to stick at.
- A small inverter with an adhesive backside so you can hang it in your case wherever you want it. Small negative note about this inverter : It produces a rather noisy buzzing sound although Sunbeam says it's quieter than inverters from other manufacturers. Mostly you won't even hear it actually because it isn't as loud as most fans so only when you have a very very quiet system you'll hear it. So it's safe to say that most users won't even hear the sound that it produces.

The EL Strip doesn't give off as much light as for example a Cold Cathode but I do have to say that it gives a nice effect! It's just bright on its own unique way and capable of lighting up a specific part of your case, like the edges.


The EL Strip kit ; The EL Strip and the small inverter


This is the inverter, like you can see on the second pic it's able to power up 2 El Strips


The EL Strip on my carpet


The EL Strip around the front panel of my case. If you look good at the first pic you'll see his limited bendability at the edges of the bottom, their is a solution for this, for more information check out this guide at Bit-Tech


Another cool usage, you can barely see it on these pics but the EL Strip gave a very cool glow under my screen!

Conclusion :
EL Strip can be used for many various modding projects, but one of its biggest limitations is its bad bendability, you can't bend it either to the left or to the right like EL Cables. So I think EL Cables are a better choice than EL Strips because they are more bendable and also because they have more usages (Like keyboard mods, around windows and fan holes,...) But you can still do many things with EL Strips as long as you're creative and use it on flat surfaces like the borders of your case or monitor.

Pro's :
- It's a cool gimmick
- The light looks cool especially in dark
- It's cutable
- Inverter can power up 2 EL Strips
- The EL Strip is cutable
- EL Strip doesn't generate any heat
- Has many usages if your creative

The bad stuff :
- Inverter produces a small annoying buzzing sound
- Limited bendability

This products receives a 7/10 from DV Hardware

Added: February 8th 2003
Product reviewed: Sunbeam EL Strip
Reviewer: LSDsmurf
Score: 7/10

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