Elgato Key Light Neo | The Best Budget Video Light Out
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Quick Overview
The Elgato Key Light Neo is a USB powered panel light. It has physical buttons and a knob to control the brightness, color temperature, and save presets.
In addition to physical controls, this is compatible with the Elgato Control Center app on desktop while using a USB connection. Finally, it can be controlled by both the desktop and mobile app while using Wi-Fi.
Controls and Build
Controls
Click in the knob to change from color temperature adjustment to brightness adjustment. Turn it to increase or decrease the value.
The buttons on the left are for saving lighting presets by holding to save a preset and then tapping it to recall. Power puts the light to sleep.
Build
The Key Light Neo is all plastic. It comes with a sturdy monitor mount with great adjustability. You can also use the ¼ inch threading to mount it to a different stand if you have one.
Inside the box is a 40 inch USB-C to A cable. It has USB 2.0 speeds. There's also a USB-A female to USB-A male extension cable that's 60 inches.
Performance
In pitch black darkness, even 400 lumens is actually decent. It doesn't overpower fine lines because it's one concentrated light source, but it's viable. If you have another light illuminating the background, it’s even better.
If you have daylight coming in from a window in front of you, it just looks fantastic. This has lighting that is not too harsh on the eyes.
About 600-800 lumens is about as much as I'd even go before this starts to become quite difficult to look at. This is due to the size and how close it is to your face since it’s monitor mounted.
1000 lumens is probably more useful if you mount it to something farther way. In complete darkness, while it's going to help the most with lighting up the entire shot, it is rough to look at, and it ends up concentrating certain shadows instead of filling them in just due to the size. Still, for one small light, I'm not going to complain at all.
Overall, the Key Light Neo will make you look excellent.
Specifications Caveats
There is one incredibly important caveat about the specifications you need to know before getting this.
The Key Light Neo has a color temperature range of 2900-7000 Kelvin like Elgato's other lights. But here's the important part - this light has 3 different maximum brightness ratings:
Connected with USB-A into your computer, this maxes at 400 lumens.
Connected with USB-C into your computer, this maxes at 700 lumens.
Connected with an external power supply like a fast charger, it can get to its true maximum of 1000 lumens.
All of that information above is on Elgato’s website, but I learned some more specifics by actually using this myself.
If you use the included USB cable, you're never going over 400 lumens no matter what you plug it into. I have a fast charging brick with 5V, but it still wouldn't go over 400.
Expect to buy another cable to use this at its maximum potential. When used USB-C with a fast charging cable into a PC, it was exactly as they said - 700 lumens. USB-C with a fast charging cable into a fast charging brick again 5 V, 3 amps 1000 lumens.
App connectivity
The second most important aspect about this light is the app connectivity. Unfortunately, not much as changed with the apps…
The phone and desktop Control Center apps are both extremely inconsistent. Sometimes they detect the light, sometimes they don't. Occasionally the light will just disconnect from the phone app and turn off even though it's in a power brick.
Fortunately, there are two alternatives. You can always manually adjust the brightness and color temperature with the knob. Additionally, since you have programmable presets, you can just recall those whenever you need and honestly never have to mess with the apps again.
Verdict
The Key Light Neo is excellent. If you need a small, portable, high quality light for your laptop or monitor, this is the one to get.
However, if you're a streamer at a desk, I would consider one of the larger lights like the Elgato Key Light or Neewer GL25B. They're easier to look at while still being brighter due to the larger surface area. They also will light up more of your background.
