Color | red, green, blue |
Connectivity Technology | Bluetooth |
Includes Remote? | No |
Light Source Type | LED, Neon |
Form Factor | Strip |
Auto Part Position | Center |
Compatible with Vehicle Type | Car |
Voltage | 12 Volts |
P**R
Best quality light strips, but poor dashboard design
I purchased the SUMK kit which contains the console + dashboard lights.Pros:1. This kit contains the best quality light strips by far. As shown in the attached photos, these light strips are a little smaller in diameter and thinner than what you will find in all other light kits/tubes. The two ends of SUMK’s light strips are also finished/coated with a black rubber material, which eliminates light bleed and prevents that annoying super bright spot at the ends, that you get/see with all other typical light tubes. SUMK’s light strips have zero uniformity issues which seem to be present in all other light tubes/kits out there. The end result is a sleek, refined look in all conditions (during the day when the light strips are off, and of course especially at night when the light strips are on). The light output/uniformity on the SUMK light strips is excellent. Better by far than all other kits I’ve seen/tried (from Basenor, Nestour, etc…).2. The emitter/connector is plastic but appears to be a better design and produces less heat than the other kits which have the metallic cylindrical shaped emitters. I believe the SUMK kit consumes less power than the other kits, but not 100% certain.3. The cigarette power adapter piece is shorter than those found in the other kits (see photo). This shorter adapter means that the tray in your armrest will not constantly touch/hit the power button on the adapter. This a big plus in my opinion.Cons:There is only one but it’s a big one. For some reason, SUMK decided to use two separate light strips for the dashboard. As shown in the attached photos, SUMK designed their dashboard light to be inserted underneath the aluminum trim piece of the dashboard. One light strip sits on the left (driver’s) side of the center display screen and the other light strip sits on the right (passenger) side of the center display screen. On the driver’s side, that light strip looks especially bad because there is a break/gap in the aluminum trim above the steering column. So, in this particular area, the light strip just kind of hangs there suspended with nothing above or below it. As you can see from the attached photo, this simply does not look good.It is so bad, that I decided not to install SUMK’s dashboard lights and have only installed their center console lights. I contacted SUMK customer service about the short-comings of their 2-piece dashboard design and it appears they are considering changing it to a 1-piece design (which presumably will be attached towards the top section of the dashboard… in same location as most other kits, instead of below the aluminum trim piece of the dashboard). Hopefully, SUMK will make this change soon because their light strips are by far the best.I’m definitely keeping SUMK’s console lights and hoping they will soon have a 1-piece dashboard light strip.UPDATE (Dec. 29, 2021):Well, after a few weeks with this product, I believe I have discovered what may be a flaw with SUMK’s emitter design. It gets so hot that it melts the black rubber (shrink tube) material at the end of the light tube. See attached photo. When this happens, the black rubber material partially covers/blocks the inner light tube… thus preventing all the light from traveling through the tube. The result is a rather dim light strip.Fortunately, I discovered a solution/work-around for this melting problem. As shown in the last photo, I simply cut/removed a part of the black rubber material towards the tip of the light strip… thus exposing the bare inner light tube. Basically, I removed enough of the black rubber material so that it no longer makes contact with the hottest part of the emitter. As a result, it never melts and no longer blocks the end of the inner light tube. So, with this modification, the entire light strip now stays bright & uniform as intended. I have notified the manufacturer of this design flaw. Hopefully, they will make the necessary change(s) to their design. Until then, I’m lowering the rating to just 2 stars. I still think SUMK’s light strips are the best out there. However, they need to work on & change the design of their emitter (so it does not get so hot). Another (& much easier) option is they could just keep their current emitter design, but modify the end of their light strips as shown in my last photo.Personally, I’m still quite happy with this product, but definitely would NOT recommend it to most folks, unless you don’t mind doing a little tinkering/cutting to get everything working just right.
Trustpilot
1 month ago
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