Elgato’s new Neo range is on the opposite spectrum of all the products that have come before, it aimed at everyday content creators and professionals rather than gamers and whilst the incredible design and feature-set is still there, there’s nothing that suggests a different strategy more than the Key Light Neo.
Whilst smart lighting isn’t new to the Elgato line-up, there’s never been something that is meant for the everyday person that maybe just wants to turn on lighting for a quick video call or to record something at their desk, with the ring light being the closest product, but still likely too large for most people to have at their desk.
Just like the rest of the range, the Key Light Neo is made of 60% of recycled products, with its super minimalist white design. It has a clever little cord wrap at the back of the unit, and an adjustable holder with a grippy pad to go onto the top of any monitor. I love the entire design and the plug and play nature, but I really don’t love that it only comes with a USB-A cord and a USB-A extender, and really would love to see a USB-C cord included in the box as whilst you’re likely to have one laying around, the white braided cable that it comes with matches the aesthetic nicely.
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Not only is USB-A painful for me as a Mac user, in the case of the Key Light Neo, it can only provide 400 lumens in comparison to 700 lumens with USB-C or 1000 lumens with an external power brick. 400 lumens will be more than enough for most people but it is a bit of an odd choice.
The Key Light Neo is super easy to use. It has four buttons, one which also doubles as a knob. Basically, you’ve got a button to turn it on and off, a knob that can be clicked to go between brightness and colour range (2900-7000K) which you then use the knob to either change brightness or colour range.
There’s also two other buttons that can be used for presets, so you might want a cool, bright light for during the day, and a warmer, duller light at night, and you can easily set these by holding down one of the preset buttons for 3 seconds, and then you’re free to go between them with a simple press.
Like other Elgato lights, you’re also able to use the Elgato Control Center app on either your computer or phone and controller the Key Light Neo over Wi-FI, and I’ve tested this with other Elgato lights in the past and it’s worked really well, but it’s worth noting that I wasn’t able to do so here as the pre-release software wasn’t available.
Elgato says that the Key Light Neo uses the same edge lit lighting to reduce glare, which is always a problem for me with lighting as I wear glasses, and it definitely does a better job than other key lights that I’ve used, but there’s always going to be a little bit there.
At $149, I’d highly recommend anyone have a Key Light Neo in their arsenal, as it’s just such a great way to improve how you appear on camera, no matter whether you’re at your desk or shooting something away from it.
