Hypnocube Animated LED Cube

4x4x4 RGB LED cubes allow each of the 64 LEDs to be any one of 'lots' of colours. (This one is more honest than some: rather than claim 'millions', it reckons 4096, which means each of red, green and blue have one of 16 levels. Even that's probably an overestimate and you can't really tell all of those apart: eight levels is nearer to reality, making 512 distinct colours)By fading between colours in a pattern, some very pretty effects can be generated. I have a simple 'seven RGB LEDs' light in a corner, shining on the white wall paper, and it always draws appreciative comments as it slowly cycles between random colours. With a cube, whoever programs it can do even more impressive things: see the demo program on the hypnocube website for what this one can do.There are three sorts of the cubes. First are the ones you buy in kit form. That's an awful lot of soldering... and not every kit gives you some spares for when you mess up, or the microcontroller that runs the program that controls them.The second sort is like this one - you switch it on and it does stuff automatically. You don't have to do anything, but what it does is not under your control. You can, if you are brave, solder some sockets so that it can be controlled from a PC/Mac/Linux. Once you've done that, this one allows you to say which of its in-built effects are displayed (and how often) or do things like send a pattern / set a pixel / draw a line etc. But this is not its target market, because people who want more control go for..... the third sort, like Seeed Studio's Rainbow Cube. You can get it in kit form (with spare LEDs!) or ready made with an Arduino-compatible microcontroller attached so that you can program your own displays, including making it respond to the outside world with the option of doing so via a wireless connection. Mine is set so that its animated colourful display reflects the temperature and light level in the room. Currently, they're forty quid on the US Amazon site (they're normally about sixty pounds there). The Rainbow Box's case isn't nearly as nice, but the extra power and lower cost show why I'm only giving this one four stars.But if you think programming is for other people and you want a nice display, go for this one.

Amazon is amazing to deal with. Their return policy is awesome.

As my headline states, I purchased this programmed LED Cube light in early 2016. What I couldn't fit in the headline space follows;1.) Durability: Simply outstanding! The device is well made and sturdy enough to survive being dumped on the floor a couple of times over the years. With the exception of about 20 seconds when I moved the light from one room to another, its been on *continuously* since 2016 and not a single LED has failed.Even when we lose power the LED cube still runs, because when I set up the generator for my house the very first room that had to have power before the water system, heating, stove, lights and other purely convenient stuff, is my fancy computer and electronic gadget room that I refer to as my "home office".I think I used the room as an actual office for about 3-4 minutes on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2019 to upload some information to our accountant from the wonderful computer build I had at the time, which has since been replaced as my primary PC by a few more extravagant home builds. I want to keep up with ever advancing new technologies and get a bit nervous when my CPUs, GPUs, motherboards and other components fall behind a generation or two. The 2019 PC is still running as a media server, so I don't think I'm a frivolous person who wastes money on stuff merely because it's a little outdated. But, calling my PC playroom a "home office" is really an outright lie intended to fool family members, especially my wife, into believing the countless hours I spend gaming, creating 3d renders and animations for my own amusement, etc., is time devoted to work. My wife thinks I love my PCs more than her. She's almost completely wrong and it hurts my feelings when she says she's going to wear my fancy keyboard as a giant necklace so I listen to her instead of my PC, which I have playing through a very nice 1,000 watt sound system I got just for it. This may seem excessive for a PC, but I'm a little deaf in my left ear and want to be sure I can hear an enemy creeping up on me while playing a game. I tell my wife I really, really love her, while being secure knowing I have at least a dozen other excellent keyboards in case she ever actually carries though with her emotionally painful and outright cruel threat. But, I digress...back to the review!2.) Value for money: The LED light current cost is within $10 of what I paid for it in 2016. Considering the 24/7 use of it for 6 and a half years, so far, I'd say it provides more value than anything I can recall buying on Amazon more than 6 years ago. I just looked at the list of the other items I purchased on Amazon the same year, totaling more than 100 things. I've bought a lot of stuff for my real office, so a lot of those purchases are for business supplies & equipment. Out of all of the items purchased, including what were supposed to be high quality (and expensive!) long lasting things like office desks and chairs, the only item that still works and hasn't rotted, fallen apart or deteriorated is a glow in the dark Alien bendy figure. The Alien bendy has been repeatedly warped, twisted, thrown into walls and tortured in many creative ways by me and my grandchildren and I should give it a glowing review too. It's still here on Amazon, see; https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DRNFV6U/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s05?ie=UTF8&psc=1Giftable: Absolutely! I don't care if you like LED thingies or not. This LED cube would be a fascinating, colorful, and very enjoyable gift for anyone, young or old. Once you take a look at it going through its programmed routines it's truly difficult to stop looking. It's not only entertaining, but I've found looking at it is a good way to reduce stress and anxiety. It can absorb your attention to such an extent that whatever you're worrying about can fade into the distance, providing some relief for at least a little while. Truly, I think this would be a gift just about any human (and some animals...even my dog likes it!) being would like to receive.There's other similar devices here on Amazon that are cheaper, but in this case you get what you pay for. The other ones are cheaper because they lack quality and durability. I believe this one is the original LED Cube and I thoroughly doubt any of the others come close to the quality, value and durability of this one. Somebody who receives it as a gift won't be disappointed and neither will you if you buy it for yourself and you're a greedy non-sharer like me!

Just had it for about 2 weeks but very nice and almost hard to keep your eyes of it! Very ingenious for the sequence of light show. Note = picture sent here uses a fisheye lens so actually cubicle.

Being a big fan of 3D kinetic art, the HypnoCube caught my eye recently on an episode of the series "Limitless" as it sat flashing in the background on a desk. A little googling got me up to speed on the thing; another click & it was on the way. An impulse purchase to be sure, but a really great one! Amazing is not a strong enough word, this thing is downright enthralling. The 64 RGB LED lights follow a thirty minute program with no repetitions; and when it resets for a second 30 minutes, it changes things up a bit so that no two 30 minute programs are exactly alike. The makers claim this gives HypnoCube more possible combinations of display than there are atoms in the universe. A pretty tall claim, considering the size of the universe & all, but the point is valid enough I suppose: you won't get bored.Actual dimensions are @ 7"x5"x5" - the 4x4 inches refers to the actual space the led's take up. I especially like that the led's are frosted rather than clear, as it makes it much more enjoyable to watch. The lights flow seamlessly thru a nice array of patterns: wave, oscillating, spirals, windmill, fire, water, fireflies, etc. Right away I noticed that watching it both put me in an "alpha state" (same as watching TV) and seemed to be quite relaxing as well. I suspect that the cube possibly lowers blood pressure, & may also help hemi-sync tuning of brain...maybe used with specific music such as Steven Halpern's "Spectrum Suite" or similar stuff.The only downside I can see is perhaps a marked reduction in productivity, as this thing will draw you in & keep your attention.

This is one of the most fascinating series of LEDs in a cube. It runs on electricity (no batteries necessary) and changes patterns thousands of times a day. I never get tired of watching this wonderful and colorful cube full of beautiful LEDs. I just wish I would have purchased it sooner! You won't be disappointed but wait for a price break if it occurs.