if you're someone that spends a ton of hours in front of a computer screen each week
then chances are you've probably looked into a monitor light bar at some point in time
and more than likely that number one light bar that has come up throughout your search
is made by a company called benq but as highly rated as the benq monitor light bar is
it is the most expensive product of its kind on the entire amazon marketplace but is that cost
really justified after all you get what you pay for right well that is the million dollar
question that we will explore further in this video as we weigh the pros and the cons of the
benq 109 dollar light bar versus the 35 light bar from consumer electronics company bases
first off big thanks to basis for sending over their monitor light bar for me to test
as well as for hosting a giveaway for my subscribers based in the us for those who qualify
in order to enter the giveaway you'll need to take these steps before commenting mr tech enter down
in the comments below subscribe to the channel if you have not already and then use the links
embedded in the description in order to follow my instagram and tick tock accounts and then comment
down below mr tech enter let's get into the specs for the bing queue and basis monitor light bars
now i've put together a cheat sheet here to summarize the major points of interest for
comparison dimensions are very much on par with respect to length and diameter of each of the bars
and the power input and the cable length are identical however the bend q bar can get twice
as bright as the basus at a max of 320 lumens as opposed to 160 but as we'll discuss later
on this doesn't necessarily mean that the benq is the unquestionable winner in the
brightness category benq also has a wider range of color temperatures with eight to choose from
versus three for bass suits however basis can accommodate slightly narrower monitors than being
q with a minimum of 0.3 inches but on the flip side the benq can support slightly wider monitors
up to 1.2 inches thick but definitely take these monitor size recommendations with a grain of salt
because i do have an lg ultra wide curved monitor that has a 1 inch thickness and both the benq and
the basis light bar monitor work just fine now as far as brightness levels go both light bars have
very good ranges of adjustment but you do get a bit more precision control with benq because
you're able to tap as well as long press the brightness button to manually adjust whereas with
basus long pressing the brightness touch button is the only method of toggling between the brightness
levels and the final notable spec here is that the benq monitor light bar does have a brightness
auto adjustment feature whereas the basus does not both monitor bars ship with very clean and
simplistic packaging with an image of the product on the front however the benq does include a brief
instructional summary on the very back which i actually found very helpful during initial setup
basus comparatively does not include instructions on the packaging itself but there is a quick start
guide inside of the box which includes very easy to read illustrations and steps to follow upon
opening the box for the basu's monitor light bar we're presented with the styrofoam encasing which
houses the quick start guide the usb to usbc cable and the monitor light bar itself which is wrapped
inside of a plastic bag and fully assembled meaning that it is pre-attached to the mounting
clip now there are two separate rotational systems with the design of the basu's bar the first allows
for the rotation of the light bar base that the bar is attached to the second allows for rotation
of the spring-loaded clip that secures the unit to the top of the monitor the clamp opens up to
nearly two and a half inches wide and there is a very grippy rubber pad on both parts that come in
contact with your monitor i do want to point out that due to the extremely flat plate the basu's
light bar is not going to lay perfectly flushed on curved monitors but as you can see this doesn't
mean that the bar won't be stable enough to get the job done now as far as the led light source
you'll notice that the leds sit behind a textured frosty diffuser which assists in softening the
light so it isn't too harsh which i really don't mind but this is also likely part of the reason
that the basu's lumen's output is much lower than with the bean cues there are three touch
buttons to the right of the bar that you're able to toggle in between to perform basic functions
from left to right we have the brightness dimmer the color temperature regulator and the power on
and off switch now as you might expect given the price discrepancy between these two products the
presentation with unboxing the benq light bar has a more premium experience feel upon opening the
box you're immediately presented with a diagram style layout that labels each and every area of
interest it's a good idea to hold on to this at least until you familiarize yourself with every
component let's kick things off with taking a closer look at the usb to usb-c 5-volt power cable
you'll notice that the cable has a flat design as compared to the basus which does help it lay
a bit more flush so it's harder to spot when it's mounted on top of your monitor and again each of
these cables are identical in length at 4.9 feet next we come to the monitor mounting suspension
clip which has a vastly different design than with basus the benq has a much more rounded back plate
and though both mounting clips have a good solid amount of weight to them the benq is noticeably
heavier another noticeable difference between these two clips that's a lot harder to show on
camera is that the basis clip has a much tighter suspension system meaning that the clamp pressure
is a lot stronger than what you're getting with benq this can be seen as both a positive and a
negative with bases because the tighter clamping power means that it's a lot harder for the light
bar to slip around on top of your monitor but you do have to be extra careful that the clamp isn't
clamping down on the screen with that extra clamp force without this additional clamping power for
the bases it would be virtually impossible for a flat design such as this to work with my curved
monitor so i really can't complain too much about it switching gears back to benq there's
technically only a single rotation point on the clip which is used to attach the light bar to the
top of the monitor because once the light bar is attached to the clip housing it's the light bar
itself that you're able to swivel to adjust the angle of the light comparatively if you examine
the basis light bar closely the bar doesn't swivel or move at all it's the base that it is attached
to that allows for the movement now as compared to two and a half inches the benq mounting clip fully
opens to just shy of 3 inches and as with bases both parts that come in contact with the monitor
are coated with a rubber padding to protect the surface and to help keep it from slipping around
features let's kick things off with comparing the physical buttons in their layout for each of the
light bars again basis features three touch controls in total and they are all placed to
the far right of the light bar the brightness adjustment button allows for toggling between
five to one hundred percent the color temperature button allows for adjustment between twenty eight
hundred kelvin which is on the warm end 4000 kelvin which is a mix of both warm and cool
and 5500 kelvin which is on the far cool end and of course the power button is on the very far end
benq comparatively has the touch controls much more spread out on the left we have the brightness
button which offers 14 levels of control that you can toggle in between by either short or
long press and then we have the color temperature adjustment button that allows for slightly warmer
and slightly cooler temperatures as compared to basis and the final physical feature to the left
of the light bar is the light sensor itself that is used to auto adjust the brightness depending
on the overall ambient light inside of the room on the right side of the benq bar we have the
auto dimmer button which relies on that light sensor that we just covered the indicator light
actually shines green when the auto dimmer is in use and finally to the right of that dimmer
button we have the power on and off switch okay guys time for a brief side by side demonstration
to support some of the concepts previously discussed take note of the embedded captions
which will highlight some of the settings and the color temperatures currently used let's get to it
do
all right guys let's get back to that million dollar question that i posed at the beginning
of the video if you decide to pay 109 for the benq monitor light bar do you get what
you pay for well it depends on your perception of value but i think the better question to ask here
is is the benq monitor light bar which clearly has a number of advantages over basis justified in
having a list price that is over three times the cost in other words is the benq monitor light bar
74 dollars better than basis after testing both of these light bars out extensively over the past few
weeks my honest answer is a definitive no while the benq does have a number of bells and whistles
that the basis unit flat out does not higher lumen output eight color temperatures a greater degree
of control for brightness levels i do not feel that these additional features amount to seventy
dollars you could literally buy two additional basis light bars with that difference if i'm being
honest throughout my testing i was searching for additional reasons to justify the discrepancy but
i just couldn't find enough compelling reasons the basis light bar does not have poor quality issues
it does not make buzzing noises when you raise up the brightness and it does not feel fragile
or cheap in fact the aluminum used for the basis light bar excluding the monitor clip
actually feels heavier and more solid than with the benq the eight color temperatures that the
benq offers as opposed to the three for the basis are great but are you really going to be using
all eight of them on a daily basis probably not and i could argue that the same is probably true
about max brightness you don't write that it's cool that benq can put out a max of 360 lumens
but are you really going to be maxing out a device such as this that sits right above your eye level
and fires straight down on your keyboard probably not if you don't like headaches and just to add
to that i actually find myself wishing that the benq brightness could dim down just a bit lower
similar to the soft output levels that you're able to achieve with the bases but on the flip side i
don't really find myself wishing that the basses could get a whole lot brighter as with the benq
this goes back to my point earlier on during the specs when i said that the benq's 360 lumens
doesn't necessarily mean that it wins the brightness category altogether
moreover dimensions are virtually identical between these two monitor light bars
so you're getting just about as much coverage with bases as you are with benq so with all of
these factors considered i'd have to conclude that at least for me the biggest selling point
where the benq monitor light bar is concerned is the hanging clip system which does sit much more
ergonomically on top of my curved monitor and the auto dimming feature which i do use quite a bit
but even with that considered i still feel that the basis 35 dollar price point represents a
significantly better value proposition i like the simplicity of the three controls on the far right
and the fact that the icons are the buttons themselves so i don't have to reach above them
as with the bin queue to use them additionally each of the three icons on the basis unit have
light indicators on at all times even when the bar is shut off so they're much easier to locate in a
low lit room okay guys before i wrap this one up i want to bring to your attention two additional
product samples that basis sent my way the quick charge pro and mini wall chargers each of these
devices feature both usb c and usb 3.0 ports and are compatible with tablets iphone 12 samsung
galaxy s21 and the list goes on the quick charge pro even ships with a usb-c cable in the box
and it supports a max of 100 watts so it can fully charge a macbook pro 15 in just over two hours
while the mini supports a max of 65 watts and is able to quick charge at macbook pro 13 and just
over two hours both of these quick charge devices have foldable plug prongs and they're very compact
and slim so they're really easy to toss inside of a bag when you're on the go if you're interested
in either of these products you can find a link in the description below and you'll also find
some additional promotional discounts and savings there as well well that about wraps things up for
this one if you found any part of this video to be helpful make sure to give a quick thumbs up and to
subscribe for more content like this i'll see you guys in the next video but until then peace