Throughout these few years, monitor light bars are on the rise. Many people will swear by them because it’s a great way to add light to where we need it the most – our desk, in front of the monitor. Yes, we have ceiling or overhead lights, but those will either have a shadow cast by our own body or head. Desk lamps will have a very strong directional light that – in my opinion – is distracting.
And that’s where a monitor light bar comes in. This Quntis Curved Monitor Light Bar IM measures at 66cm (or 26-inch) with the model number LI-HY-0201-GY. I chose to get this monitor light bar because of what it can do for me.
I am actually pairing this Quntis light bar with my Dell U4021QW that we reviewed a few years ago. This monitor is quite an anomaly because it is a humongous 40-inch monitor with an aspect ratio of 21:9 and 2500R curvature. I tried those straight monitor light bars before, but it created two streaks of light at the far edges of the light bar – which was certainly annoying and uncomfortable as the glare was too strong.
Unboxing
Let’s take a look at the unboxing first. The box in itself is a bit squished because of shipping – but the content inside is nicely padded and protected as it is literally covered in thick foam.
Within the box, we have a bunch of stuff:
- The light bar itself
- A remote control puck
- USB-C cable
- Power brick
- User manual and quick start guide
Setting it up
One great feature of the Quntis monitor light bar is the universal clamp. The U4021QW has a rather smooth and curvy back and there’s really no place for the light bar to slamp – so a friction fit is the best choice. Luckily, it has a piece of grippy silicone material that can literally stick onto the monitor. With the highly adjustable neck that can be configured at two points, I can get the light bar to sit firmly on the monitor.
I also tried this with a flat monitor as well – and it’s basically the same setup method. That universal clamp is nicely designed and is able to grip onto just about any monitor.
The USB-C port then connects to the light bar – and we’re all set. It is recommended to use the included 10W power brick, though if you know what you’re doing, you can use your own power source.
Remote control puck
This is actually one of the main reasons why I chose Quntis over other monitor light bar brands that we have in the market right now. It might not sound like a big deal – but I don’t want to continuously tap on the light bar to turn it on or off or to do basic brightness adjustments. Having a remote control like this Quntis light bar is just a great quality of life improvement.
This puck runs on 3xAA batteries and we can do quite a lot of things with it. There are adjustments for the brightness, the color temperature ranging from a super warm 3000K to a cool 6500K.
Of course, there’s also an auto mode that uses the sensor at the top of the light bar to read the environment’s lighting, then automatically adjust the brightness and color temperature.
We also have a button here labeled as “RGB” that controls the RGB light at the topside of the light bar. It’s meant to be an ambient light and we can change between different colors and lighting modes by toggling between it, but we can long-press on the RGB button to turn it off. Unfortunately, every time we turn the light bar on, the RGB light will turn back on by itself. It doesn’t seem to remember that the RGB light was turned off previously.
Using the light bar
After using this light bar for the past week, I have to say that I should have gotten it sooner. I work in front of my desk nearly 90% of my time when I’m awake. Be it work or gaming or just working on a project to dismantle and repair things – I do it in front of my monitor. I previously had to turn on the two studio lights that I have in the room to light up my table – but that created harsh shadows and I still can’t see what’s directly in front of me. This Quntis light bar solves that issue entirely.
Honestly, I do think that this light bar is a bit too bright at the highest brightness, so I only use it at around 30% brightness most of the time when I’m doing my work on my desktop. When I’m working on some other projects on my desk, then yes – turning it up to 100% is the way to go. I never have to rely on my room’s ceiling lights or the two studio lights anymore.
The Quntis light bar is designed in such a way that the light propagates out asymmetrically. It doesn’t shine on the monitor, and the light creates a 45° ray outward towards the user side. This angle is rather perfect as it only lights up the desk and not directly firing rays of light into my eyes.
Plus, I can actually also use the Quntis light bar as a filler light while I’m filming videos on my desk. The LEDs in the light bar has zero-flicker technology, which means it doesn’t flicker on camera and our eyes won’t be fatigued either. Perfect!
The RGB lights on the other side is something that I personally don’t really care about. The light is not that strong, and since my walls aren’t white anyway – most of the light is absorbed by the paint instead of being reflected into my eyes.
The two arcs are also independently adjustable, allowing a wide degree of freedom. While I have it parked in such a way now, I can easily just move the two arcs outward like a pincer if I need more light around the center of my desk. Kind of a niche use case, but it’s possible if I want to do so.
Should you buy the Quntis Curved Monitor Light Bar IM 66 cm (26 inch)?
Yes. You should. The price isn’t that premium either, as it sits at $75 USD and it’s actually way more affordable than other straight light bars that don’t offer similar premium features. While this Quntis light bar is aimed towards curved monitors, it can be used on a flat monitor too. It’s kind of futureproofing as we can still reuse the same light bar on a curved monitor when we decided to upgrade the monitor.
For all I have to say, $75 USD for such a huge quality of life improvement is definitely worth it.
Oh – this light bar is available in two different variants. The main difference is the backlight illumination. Our variant has the RGB lights, and there’s another variant with a warm white light.
