HitLights LED Light Strip with Premium High Density for Under Cabinet, Kitchen, Household& More (UL-Listed. 12V DC Tape Light) Non-Waterproof 600LED Warm White

When we first decided to install these under-cabinet light strips, I came to Amazon and purchased one of the inexpensive HitLights Standard Density Light Strips . The install was pretty easy; but, it just wasn't bright enough - even on the brightest setting. Honestly, the dimming option was almost wasted on those standard density strips. At that point, I went back to the drawing board and discovered these double density strips - which has turned out to be an excellent choice! The brightness range is far greater than the single density strips. Since I went through the install twice, here are some things I learned: 1) There are lots of options for using a DC dimmer with these lights; but, since I wanted to use an AC dimmer switch, I ended up using the HitLights Dimmable LED Light Strip Driver . The reason I wanted an AC dimmer is so I could hook this up to a Lutron Caseta dimmer switch . That switch, together with the Lutron Smart Bridge , allows me to program these under-counter lights to turn on automatically at sunset. A couple of hours later, they automatically dim so they don't seem too bright when we're watching TV. Honestly, the remote control options make these light strips really cool! 2) It's not obvious from the product page; but, if you're going to hook multiple strips together, be sure to use the HitLights High Density Connectors . They ship in 4 packs - and the standard density connectors won't work very well with these strips. The connectors are great for going around corners because these strips can be cut every couple of inches and then reconnected to go easily around corners. 3) On my first attempt, I just used the adhesive to attach these strips; but, it works far better to use aluminum channels. The lights stay put better with the channels and the installation looks better as well. A plastic light diffuser also comes with many of the channels that makes the light spread out better - and minimizes reflection off the counter tops. The only downside to using the channels is the additional cost. :) At the end of the day, these lights are excellent! If you're looking for flexible under-counter lighting that looks great, look no further than these light strips!

There are a lot of LED tape lights options on Amazon, many of which are cheap Chinese brands that use sub-par LEDs or have low LED density. I previously was using a cheaper LE brand tape strip and the difference of the HitLights in comparison is night and day. This tape has basically double the LED density as cheaper tape lights, so in the same amount of length, you get a lot of light output. Also, I find the color quality is really good with these (using the 3000K version). I installed these in aluminum channel with a frosted lens for use as under cabinet lighting and the high density of LEDs makes the lights look very uniform under the lens instead of pixelated LEDs. Another benefit of this tape is that it is cuttable every 1”, which gives you better flexibility to cut it to the exact length you need. Many cheaper tape lights are cuttable every 3” in length. I’ve only been using these for 4 days or so, but so far, I’m glad I spent the extra money to upgrade to this tape light.

These are nice and bright and when spread out provides a nice even shade of light under the cabinets. The color is probably more a cool white like a fluorescent however, not the warm yellow of an incandescent bulb but still nice none the less. A great price compared to other lights I have seen. I previously had some puck lights with bulbs that kept burning out & were difficult to replace. Sooooo glad I made the change, and what a difference! I used the HitLights connectors to link all the cut strips. Instead of cutting between the strip pads as the directions indicated, I cut right next to the LED leaving 4 pads to slide into the connector, thus making a good connection every time. You possibly sacrifice 3 LED's unless you don't need to daisy chain the next the strip to be used. You don't damage the LED when you cut next to it....just have to plan the next strip on the role to be an end point or sacrifice 3 LED's. Also, make sure that you slide the strip into the small channel on the connector and not overlay it. You may have to use a tiny screw driver to pry the strip end up over the connector pads. The double backed tape on the LED strip is useless. As recommended by other users, I purchased some good 3M double backed tape and it worked like a charm. I also used the HitLIghts 60 Watt Driver and Ecoxotics 60W Inline Dimmer. The dimmer was supposed to handle 5 amps, so why do they use small gauge wire??? Looks like 24-26 gauge. I have not used the dimmer much as I like the look of the LED's at their full bright state. I plugged the driver into Tresco's 120V capacitive On/Off touch pad mounted under a cabinet next to the LED strip, so I use that as my on-off switch. Power supply and dimmer are all hidden under my sink with just the LED strips & touch pad exposed under cabinet. With the 60W driver, I have room to expand the LED lights above the kick plate! My installation was perhaps easier as I was able to utilize some of my existing wiring from my puck lights. Could not have done that had I chosen the RGB multi-color LED's which requires 4 wires from the driver instead of the 2 wire for the mono color light set. I like these so much that I changed my review to 5 stars! I am truly enjoying these lights!

Overall, these are a very good product, and at this price a great value. I replaced T5 fluorescent lights both above and below cabinets in my home office, using these LED's and driver/transformers from Eversale. Some things to note: * While they don't produce as many lumens per foot as the fluorescents, they are effectively at least as bright. Since fluorescent tubes radiate 360 degrees, much of their light is wasted shining on the fixture. LED's radiate in an arc of about 120 degrees - perfect for washing a wall or desktop with light. * The very yellow color in some of the pictures of an illuminated roll is actually due to the caramel color of the tape itself. The light is much whiter when it's unrolled and not shining through the tape. A nice warm, but not overly yellow or green color. * These are "double density" - twice as many LED's per foot as the more usual 300 LED strips. Gives you more light, but the downside is the connectors made for such strips don't work, since the LED's are spaced too closely together. Edit: While I didn't realize it at the time, turns out you *can* use connectors on these double density strips - see the comment below by "Kowalski". If you need to jump over a longer space or for some other reasons a connector won't work, you're stuck with soldering wires to connect the pieces - a task that requires skill and a steady hand. * Re soldering: The solder pads are covered with a protective material that must be scraped off before they will "wet". * Re polarity: There are lots of negative reviews for LED strip connectors (again, these don't work on this product as discussed above,) complaining about the fact that sometimes the positive/negative polarity is "wrong". Think about it: If when standing beside the strip, positive is away from you and negative is nearer you, then the left end of the strip will have positive on the left, and the right end will have positive on the right. Not the connector's fault, just simple geometry. Same applies of course if you solder wires rather than use a connector. * If you do need to create a jumper to connect two pieces, turn a corner, etc. 20 gauge stranded wire (Radio Shack) is about the biggest you can actually solder to the tiny little pads. I've computed the voltage drop for this wire, and it's a few tens of millivolts for a several-foot run, so no worse than the tape itself. * There are many Chinese companies that make combination aluminum track and polycarbonate covers for LED strip lights. I thought these would be expensive, and looked hard for an all-plastic solution. When I actually priced them though, the aluminum track was cheaper per foot than the plastic cover! Haven't pulled the trigger on this yet - my lights are affixed with masking tape so far. Please comment on this if you've used any of the mounting systems. Hope this is helpful!

UPDATE 3: Product description and packaging are in the 44-48W range, which matches my recent measurement. I powered one end and observed 2.8A (33W), but when connecting both ends I observed 3.8A (46W). Raised my rating based on truth in advertising! Just remember you can't power more than 6-8 feet of this strip at a time. If you need the full strip, power both ends and consider adding a power tap to the middle. You'll see the difference! UPDATE 2: Seller convinced me to buy another one of their products (item B07SWZFMJJ - see detailed review there), warmer white at 2700K, which is rated at 48W. I found that connecting both ends DID increase current by 50%, and when connected that way the power WAS as rated and the lights really were brighter. Raising this review to 4 stars, still holding one back because they don't say in the product description that you can't power this strip from one end. (In fact, they provide connectors which imply you can connect two strips in series.) The entire industry is messing up by producing strips too thin to work without auxiliary wiring. UPDATE 1: Seller contacted me based on this review, and indicated that to get full power you have to supply wires to BOTH ENDS of the strip. The instructions don't say that and I've already returned the product so I can't test. The idea is that the resistance of the strip itself is too high to supply power along the strip, which isn't a good design choice! Beyond that, they clarified that the wattage rating is for the power supply, not the wattage used by the LED strip. I'll give them one more star for trying, but as long as the product description doesn't match the packaging and neither reflects what the device uses, I can't go higher than that. The product description says 48W, the packaging says 4.4W/m*16.4m=72W, the actual light strip draws 3.1A at 12V... which means it's only 37 watts. In other words, it's HALF the power the packaging says it is. It's also more blue than other 3000k LED strips. Item B00YMW4HME, from LEDMY, is also specified to draw 72W but actually draws 45W and is a warmer light than this one from Hitlights. Be sure to over-design your power supply by a factor of two because many of them will burn up at their rated power. PROS: It's narrower than other strips, so you can double up for more light. It's got smaller emitters closer together so it might throw less of a "dot" pattern than the larger emitters.