Review on 🌈 GVM RGB Video Lighting 360°Full Color LED Light Kit with APP Control - 3 Packs 850D PRO Photography Lighting Kit CRI 97+ for Web Conference, YouTube, Gaming, Zoom - Aluminum Alloy Shell by Eric Alcantara

GVM is really upping its game with these latest lightbar releases. These 850D panels are a huge upgrade of their popular 800D light panels. The biggest improvement here over the old 800D has to do with power delivery. GVM claims they are 3.6 times brighter. In the real world I find they are actually 2x brighter. While this isn't a difference in brightness, GVM stated that this is still a very impressive increase in light output as the actual size of the light panels hasn't changed much from the old 800D panels and the new 850D panels. To realize this increase in light output, GVM 376 added additional LED beads to increase the power output. Instead of bare LED chips, they also put small lenses on each LED bead/chip, which also helps increase light output. These lenses also help spread the light over a greater distance. Interestingly, the GVM 880RS, for example, is rated at 60 watts and produces 11,200 lux at a distance of 0.5 metres. The 850D is rated at 40 watts, it's actually slightly smaller physically than the 880RS, but the 850D panels produce 18,000 lux at 0.5 metres! About 7000 lux more. That is why it is so important that you do not ONLY look at the power consumption of LED panels when determining the brightness. The other big upgrade is how you control those light bars. Previously, you had to connect the mobile application via Wi-Fi. This was a pain for a number of reasons. First, since your phone/tablet is connected to the lightbar's WiFi, it means you cannot surf the internet while it is connected to it. The other big issue was that simply connecting the lights was quite a hassle. You have to go into your phone's settings and change the Wi-Fi you were connected to and then return to the app to actually connect to the lights. It was a confusing process that took too long. Now you are connected to the flashlights via Bluetooth. No more trouble surfing the web while controlling the light. The application now connects to lamps much faster and takes very little time. The new GVM II application is beautifully designed and easy to use. I've never had an app crash, which I can't say about the previous app. The body is strong and durable. I have no doubt that I will be taking this three panel set from shoot to shoot. Each lantern also comes in these soft cloth pouches. I'm not sure how useful they are, but I think they will prevent the headlights from getting scratched inside the case. I want to emphasize how awesome it is that GVM actually includes a real case. I have another set of three lamps from Neewer and this case is just a thin fabric. They offer very little protection and are more suited to carrying all the lights around at once. These lights have no fans. It's a huge benefit when you're filming things like interviews or talking heads on YouTube. The lack of fans means these panels produce little to no noise. The heat is simply dissipated through the metal housing of the lights. There are a few extra accessories that you shouldn't sleep on. One is a rubberized mesh that slides across each panel, providing a much more directional light. The other is a real softbox with removable mesh. I have included several photos of these softboxes in this review. These are real softboxes, not just ultra-cheap fabric you wrap around lights like I've seen in some light kits from the likes of Neewer. I would recommend a softbox over a rubberized mesh as softboxes give off a nice soft diffused light and if you want the light to be more directional just attach the included velcro mesh. If you only want directional light and no ambient light (which reduces power output), simply remove the diffusing fabric from the softbox and leave it in the mesh. Another improvement is the RGB mode. With 800D panels, if you set them to a very low power output, say 1-5%, the color change will be very sudden and abrupt. You won't notice any subtle differences in shades. Now, with 850D panels, I can see subtle color changes even at lower power. The big advantage of these light panels is the lack of fans. The lights simply dissipate heat through the metal body of the lights themselves. No fans means no noise, making them perfect for things like filming interviews or even YouTube videos with talking heads. These plates have a thin, less opaque dispersion. This helps to achieve a better light throw. While it doesn't diffuse the light very well, it helps eliminate the shadows you sometimes get with these light panels and of course they don't affect the light output much either. I like the master/slave mode. the feature they have built into these lights. Simply set one light source as master and the rest as slaves. Then, when you make changes to the lighting settings in the main panel, the other sub-panels automatically change those settings as well. Not immediately, but very quickly. I can really only remember a few things that aren't impressive. The barn doors are plastic, not metal. This is of course not a problem, but I simply prefer the metal mount to the plastic mount. The other is the lighting stands, and it's nothing specific to this line of GVM lights. All of these lower-priced light bar kits come with very inexpensive light stands. While the stands aren't very impressive, they will do the job as these panels are very lightweight. One of the real advantages of these stands is that they can be quite low. In fact, about 50% lower than my Impact light and C-stands. While the mobile app works well, I'd still like a physical remote control. When you're on set sometimes you just don't want to go through the process of connecting the lights to your phone and prefer instant control with a remote control. Finally, I would like to say that the GVM customer support is fantastic. Much better than other budget light manufacturers like Neewer. I recently received a lighting kit from them and there was a small crack on one of the LED screens on the back. It was still workable and didn't seem to affect the function of the light at all, but that just bothered me. I sent them a photo of the cracked LED screen and 3 days later I had a brand new light panel on my doorstep. It even came in his own case. This was incredibly impressive to me and not the level of service I received from the other companies I mentioned earlier. In the end I am very happy with this 3 panel set. GVM has made several upgrades over its previous generation lighting kits. If you are looking for a great value set of inexpensive light panels with excellent lumen output as well as really good color accuracy I would highly recommend these.