Quntis LED String Lights review: how I got dumb string lights to be smart

There’s a lot of great smart home and smart yard solutions out there. When it comes to string lights or solar string lights though, there’s also a lot of duds.
I was recently shopping for smart string lights and I found some that are low cost, seem durable and bright enough to illuminate my backyard well. I recently ordered the Quntis string lights for my yard.

Quntis Outdoor String Lights Review

I chose Quntis for my string lights mainly because of the one thousand-plus 5 star reviews on Amazon. While these aren’t technically smart bulbs, I did find a way to make them smart, which I’ll share shortly…

Installation

In my yard, we opted to string the lights back-and-forth over our fire pit area. We ended up stringing some rope to provide additional support and to avoid sagging. The hardest part of the installation was untangling the long string of lights. Quntis tried hard to keep the string organized with a cable wrap, but it still took some deft handling.

Each bulb socket in the string has a built-in hanging loop giving you some more creative freedom in using those included cable ties for hanging the lights. The included 5-foot extension cable also helps you make better use of the lights by not needing to place them so close to the outlet.

The lights went up extremely easily, and having the included properly sized zip ties as part of the package was a major timesaver.

Bulb Quality

With its plastic shatterproof housing, you can hang this string just about anywhere with confidence and not worry about drops. When it comes to weather resistance, it should withstand extreme snow and rain conditions thanks to the IP65 rating; I’ll have to evaluate after the coming winter.

It turns out the plastic Quntis uses for the bulb housing is anti-UV PET resistant as well. I’ll watch for hints of the housing turning yellow after long exposures, but in my few days with them in, obviously thertre’s nothing to worry about.

I know plastic is often associated to cheap but I appreciate how Quntis designed the bulbs to have a glass-look, with some vintage flair.
Quntis rates the lifespan of the string lights to 50,000 hours with each bulb consuming about a single watt. If any of the bulbs die out, you can purchase a set of 4 Quntis replacement bulbs for about $14 CAD.

Adding more strings

The Quntis Outdoor String Lights package comes in 53-foot and 101-foot flavors. The shorter variant includes a series of 15 lights, 16 cable ties and a spare bulb while the longer variant doubles the quantity of each.

Both options come with a 5-foot extension cord. If $71 CAD is too much for the 101-foot version, you can safely start with the $37 CAD 53-foot version and later buy extra sets to expand it. According to Quntis, you can easily daisy chain up to 25 more strings without requiring an extra socket.

No power switch

While I’m on the topic of connections, it’s probably important to point out that the light strings have no on/off switch. This is easily remedied by pulling the plug, but it might be a concern for some installations. You can get remote control over the string by adding a smart plug, which I did, and I promise I’m getting to.

Brightness

I was surprised at how bright these lights are. They are not glaring or obnoxious, but do you put out a decent amount of ambient light. They are just perfect for our outdoor lounge area and create a relaxing vibe, particularly due to their warm light color.

How to make Quntis sting lights smart

Naturally I’m always up for having everything connected to my phone and gaining remote access over my devices… Particularly outdoors. A few months ago I reviewed the GE Cync Outdoor Smart Plug. I decided to connect that outdoor smart plug to my string lights in order to be able to control them better.

Using Quntis string lights with Cync GE Outdoor Smart Plug

The Cync GE Outdoor Plug is one of the best smart plugs I’ve tested. Although the plug itself is quite large (2.6 × 1.5 × 2.3 inches), it does expand a single socket into 2 smart sockets each with their own individual physical trigger buttons, plus you can control the power of the sockets individually or together via Amazon Alexa, Google Home, the Cync app and Bluetooth. In addition to the extra socket, the weatherproof outlet covers are what separate the Cync GE Outdoor Plug from the Indoor version.

You can see my full review of this plug, but in this application, I simply plugged my string into the plug, which I already had set up and connected into my smart home. The Cync CE Outdoor Plug saved me the frustration of not being able to easily power the strings on or off. I was able to use the GE Cync app set the lights on a timer, to come on at sunset and power down at bedtime. Using the Cync plug I was also able to add voice control using Alexa and Google.

This dynamic duo setup has a minor caveat though. The Cync CE Outdoor Plug has no dimming function leaving you without a way to adjust the brightness of the string lights.

Overall review

Overall I’m really happy with these lights. They seem reasonably durable, though I will have to report back after a few months out in the Canadian weather. Lights are bright enough and look nice with the warm white tone, and the included zip ties in the package made installation quick and easy There was even a couple extra bulbs in the package.

Downsides? There is no switch as part of the strings, meaning you will need to plug and unplug them to power off and on. As noted, this is easily remedied by connecting an outdoor smart plug, so I’m all about this combination.

I can definitely recommend the Quntis string lights for you and your smart home or backyard.
The lights sell for about $84CAD/$73USD for a 100 foot string and about $51CAD/ $38UDS for 50 feet. The GE Cync smart outdoor plug sells for about $29USD/$57CAD