GE Cync Smart Hexagon Light Panels Review

Smart lights are an excellent way to add a little more versatility to your home’s lighting—and in recent years, smart lighting options have grown to include all different types of lights, from standard bulbs to accent lighting. GE is the latest to expand its line with the new GE Cync Smart Hexagon Panels (available at Amazon) —which are gamer-friendly accent lights that could add a touch of style to any environment.

But GE hasn’t exactly been the top player in the realm of smart lighting products over the past few years. That title would instead go to Signify’s Philips Hue range of lights, for their ease-of-use, excellent compatibility, and huge range of products.

I tested the GE Cync Hexagon Panels, and while the setup is a bit of a challenge and the smart home support is limited, these hexagon light panels look great, and are a nice addition to any modern smart home.

What we like

The smart lights are bright and vibrant

The most important aspect of these panels, of course, is how they look when they’re set up. Thankfully, they look great. The panels are able to get super bright, and support 16 million colors—so no matter what kind of look you’re going for, you should be able to get it from the Cync Smart Hexagon Panels.

GE says that the light panels can reach up to 1600 lumens, and I don’t think anyone will have an issue with the brightness. Even in brighter environments, the panels produced enough light to still create a fun effect.

These hexagon light panels offer versatile designs

The GE Cync Smart Hexagon Panels connect in sequence, one to the other. You can connect panels in any direction, so you can create a huge range of different designs. There are a few packs of panels, including a pack with 7 panels, and one with 10.

We’re reviewing the 10-pack, which means that it’s easier to create more interesting designs that span a wall, however buying a 10-pack also means you’ll pay more—$200 instead of $170 for the 7-pack. Once you’ve started, you can also buy a 5-pack extender kit for $100, however, you’ll need a 7- or 10-pack to get started.

The lighting panels offer a three-button remote that you can use instead of the app. There’s a basic power button, along with a button to cycle between flat colors, and a button to cycle between color effects. Alternatively, you can control them in the Cync app, which lets you get a little more granular with control over the lighting effects, on a panel-by-panel basis.

The companion app works well

Speaking of the app, it’s pretty well-designed and easy to use. You’ll start by setting your panels up in the app, which is a quick process, after which you’ll verify your design. You can group sets of lights together if you have more than one GE Lighting product, allowing you to easily turn them all on and off at once.

I quite liked how easy it was to customize lighting effects and colors from within the app. The app looks and feels modern, and most should be able to navigate it without too many issues.

What we don't like

The installation is challenging

Setting up the app is easy, but installing the panels themselves is a bit of a pain. It’s not too hard to understand how to install them, to be sure, but actually doing so is much more finicky than I expected.

Most of that has to do with the fact that to connect panels, you need to use a ribbon cable that’s very hard to push into the panel itself.

When the panels are on the wall, and you’re plugging them in by trying to push these cables into the tiny connector, you may run into some frustrating moments—I know I did.

Apart from the extremely annoying cables, the installation was relatively simple. The panels attach to the wall with included adhesive strips, and that adhesive is relatively strong—so you should find that the panels are secure enough. Also, however, you should keep in mind that removing the panels is likely to remove paint off your walls—so if you rent, beware.

The Cync app walks you through the entire installation process, and most customers will be able to follow along easily enough. Just get ready to deal with those pesky cable connectors.

These hexagon light panels have limited smart home support

The GE Cync Smart Hexagon Panels work with Google Assistant and Alexa. Yep, that’s it.

There’s no Matter support here, which is bad enough, but it wouldn’t have been quite as big a deal if there was HomeKit support. Unfortunately, you won’t get that either.

It’s possible that GE will eventually add Matter support for these panels, but that likely won’t be any time soon. In 2023, only supporting Alexa and Assistant isn’t really good enough.

Should you buy it?

Yes, if you fit the niche

The GE Cync Smart Hexagon Panels aren’t for everyone. For starters, you’ll need to be in the market for gamer-type light panels. They’re a cool decoration, to be sure, but not for every home aesthetic. Then, you’ll need to be a Google Assistant or Alexa user, if you want to integrate the lights into your smart home.

There are plenty of people like that, of course, and if you’re one of them, then the GE Cync Smart Hexagon Panels are worth considering. If you don’t fit that criteria, however, it’s worth going for the Nanoleaf panels instead, which are a little more expensive, but support HomeKit and IFTTT.