These New Panel Lights Are Really Good -- Amaran Verge and Verge Max

[00:03] talking about lights on this channel. Like, if you're a big filmmaker, get a you're a streamer or you're a YouTuber and your personality, your lifestyle is what brings people to watch you. Cheap lights do the exact same thing. Which is

[00:19] actually why I'm doing this video. Cuz this light is nearly half the cost of the Elgato Keyite. And in a lot of ways, it's better. not every way. And we'll it's better. not every way. And we'll get into that. And it has a big old big

[00:35] take a look at these [Music] lights. A couple things to know beforehand. I like Amaran a lot. I think have a little bit of a personal bias here, but I like them because they're

[00:49] really good. My studio here is littered with Amaran lights. I meet up with them make top tier lights, and they're sponsoring this video. So, as usual, I the pros and cons about these lights. And I hope when they look at it, they

[01:05] are okay with my honest opinion in this, but it is important to me that you know that going into this video. Let's start with this guy first. The Amaran Verge. It's a super thin, super diffused light that is similar to the Elgato Keyite,

[01:17] but about 1 and 12 in smaller horizontally and with a handful of differences. The most important one being it is only $79 compared to the Elgato Keyite which is $159. Actually, I found it going for $1 139. I don't know

[01:31] if that's a permanent price or just a sale going on right now, but so almost half now. And it is almost the same brightness. Here are the two the lumen they are. Now, a couple other differences. First thing, it is USBC

[01:44] powered. Hallelujah. No more losing power supplies. It comes with a 30 watt charger, but any USBC power supply will do as long as it is at least 30 watts. that we'll get into in a second along with stream deck controls that we will

[01:58] right on the front of the light where you can change the color temperature and the brightness. What an innovation. This video is not a bash on the key light. deck plugins, but we've all been in that spot where the button stops controlling

[02:11] it. We all wish we could just reach up and change it real quick. Know what I mean? Having controls on the front should be a non-negotiable, but here we bottom of the light, whereas the Elgato key light has one on all four sides. And

[02:24] it has an option for their own mount called Verge Lock, which makes a little we'll get into that in just a minute. But this is where the price advantage quite as drastic as it sounded right at the get-go because the 140 160 140.

[02:38] We're going to call it 140. The $140 key light comes with a stand that sells on light comes with a stand that sells on its own for $40. The Verge comes standless. Now, I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing as long as

[02:51] you're aware of it. They do have options for other stands. For example, there's a desk stand that is $30. There is the Verge mount, which again we'll get into you can also find pretty cheap and

[03:04] robust desk mounts for like 20 bucks. Or maybe you already have some kind of having to buy an included one saves you a little bit of money. So, you have options, but that definitely closes the cost gap a little bit between the two.

[03:16] Let's do this. Here's where each light wins in each category to me. Let's put costs up there and let's go category by category. First, size. Elgato wins here, but by a pretty marginal amount. Definitely not enough to make a huge

[03:31] would call that a tie, especially since I never turn my brightness above like 5%. Let's make that the comment. Where do you put your brightness of your light up to? I swear mine's at like between 5 and 10%. Light quality. These are both

[03:44] temperature control. I'd make that a tie one to Amaran. I literally have an Elgato key light out there that is a charger goes to it. Control. I'm also

[03:56] their app is much better than Elgato. I think they both perform the same general purpose. But the fact that there are controls on the front of the light, quality. Going to give this one to Elgato. A lot of metal on the casing

[04:09] there. Definitely feels more heavy duty. This one is well, it's plastic. It's nice plastic and it looks good, but it's plastic. Elgato wins that one. And software. We will get into the app, but first I want to shift from talking about

[04:23] first I want to shift from talking about budget light to talking about budget light to talking about sheer size. It matches the size of some of my Aperture Professional domes, but it's only like an inch thick at its

[04:35] it's only like an inch thick at its thickest

[04:49] something like this is to get like true studio lighting, but you don't need the depth of a massive dome. Like this is a circular dome right here, but it's like 4 ft deep. Look at this. This is going to allow some of you

[05:04] professional lighting. And that's that, especially a round one, what it does for you is it gets more diffusion on your face. It creates a softer light. But something that's super important to

[05:17] that large, you don't have to have it as bright. You can disperse the same amount of brightness across a larger surface area. So, it's easier on your eyes, but and even more diffusion. A lot of the features on the Verge Max are the exact

[05:32] couple distinct differences. First, it's also USBC powered, but it takes 65 watts. It comes with a 65 watt charger. If you use your own, make sure it's at dials on the front, but this one's got a little screen on the front so you can

[05:45] got that same Verge lock on the back, but this one comes with the mount included. Probably because it's too large to just fit a little quarter20 pin right off. This also brings the price up to $250. Though, it's worth saying that

[06:00] if you're comparing this to another light, a normal light of the same size, that's still an incredible value. The included Verge Lock mount is super heavy duty. It comes with a really tall base pole and then an adjustable arm that

[06:12] with it is the included cable management, which are like these just cheap little plastic guys. I've used these before. They break. I wish they little bit a little bit more robust. Although, I bet I could fix this. Yeah,

[06:25] would work better than this. I'm going to try it. I'm going to try to finish it have a 3D printer or a friend with a 3D printer, I'm going to put the file I'm end up picking up this light, which of course are also linked down below, but

[06:38] want better cable management, yeah, grab my 3D file, print that off. This seems like an easy win. But the app, both of these lights connect to the new Amaran couple gripes with it. I've been giving the team feedback, but it's a pretty

[06:53] power button on the bottom till the blue light flashes. That means it's ready to the software. It's going to show you any nearby lights that are ready to pair. you're good. You get all your controls in the app. And they've also released a

[07:08] from their website. This lets you turn the lights on and off. It lets you go to preset brightnesses or warmth temperatures. You can activate effects like fireplace or broken TV if you want to use it for like ambient lighting in

[07:22] think a lot of you are going to have isn't really Amaran's fault, but it's that I've never had a desktop PC where Bluetooth actually works. Can someone that? like where where Elgato lights

[07:36] connect over Bluetooth. And I went into my settings and I troubleshoot my Bluetooth and Windows told me Bluetooth is broken. And when I said, "What's know." And for some reason, that has been the last five PCs I've ever owned.

[07:50] there, but it's something you should look into. Make sure you have working on picking up one of these lights. But all in all, I think it's going to do it. Verge is great. It's a cheaper version of the key light, but with controls on

[08:02] the front, USBC power, which I think are great upgrades. The Verge kicker. I shoot every video in front of a giant light like this, and to have

[08:15] streamers and content creators, priced for streamers, and thin enough that it's streamers, that's what made me go, "Fine, I'll do a lighting video." So,

[08:27] have any thoughts, just leave your favorite emoji down there or a random emoji for engagement because it helps me out a lot. Hit the like button, subscribe while you're down there, and as always, happy streaming.