TaoTronics Smart Nursery Light review: Create the perfect environment for your little one

I have a 19-month old daughter and have spent the better part of the last year and a half researching, purchasing, and trying the best smart baby tech I can find. I've used some of the best smart nightlights for babies and reviewed the VAVA Smart Baby Thermometer, amongst many other baby items.

I recently tried the TaoTronics Smart Nursery Light and I have to say, I'm impressed. It syncs seamlessly with the TaoTronics app (compatible with iOS and Android) so you can control your little one's environment directly from your smartphone. It features 25 different sounds and can emulate every color and shade of the rainbow with its light. It's outfitted with a brightness control and gives the ability to program your own modes according to your family's needs. You can set timers, create schedules, and command this device via Amazon Alexa or Google Home with convenient voice control. There's even a toddler lock so your kiddo can't mess with the settings you choose. I highly recommend this product to any parent looking for an excellent, affordable smart nursery light, sound machine.

TaoTronics Smart Nursery Light review: What I like

The great thing about the TaoTronics Smart Nursery Light is that you can control everything from the easy to use, free TaoTronics app. You'll receive a Connecting with Smart Device quick start guide with your purchase. All you have to do is download the TaoTronics app, register, and pair your smart nursery light. Once the nursery light is plugged into a power source, it will enter pairing mode automatically. The TaoTronics app picked it up right away — it was super easy!

Once you're in the app, you can start playing with all of the TaoTronics Smart Nursery Light modes. This nifty smart device is outfitted with 25 different sounds and seven pre-programmed default modes. There are 10 nature sounds: wave, waterfall, wheat, autumn, drip drop, rain, wind, fountain, flame (my personal favorite), and stream. There are seven animal sounds: frog, cricket, farm, sheep, napping cat, seagull, and cuckoo.

There are eight sleep sounds: lullaby, white noise, pink noise, fan, vacuum cleaner, wind chime, meditation (personal favorite), and radio. Oftentimes, I find that a lot of sounds via baby sound machines can sound artificial and cheesy, but all of these sounds sound pretty true to life. Some of the noises, like vacuum, farm, sheep, seagull, and radio, are kind of random, but hey, they sound like they're supposed to.

One of my favorite features on the TaoTronics Smart Nursery Light is the full spectrum of rainbow color it can produce. It is truly awesome. In the app, there's an option to turn the basic nightlight on and off, and also the option to turn on color mode. When you switch color mode on, you're presented with a full bar of every color and shade in the rainbow. You can make brightness adjustments as well. I love lights and I love color, so this was a really fun feature to play with.

Another excellent feature on the TaoTronics Smart Nursery Light is the ability to program your own modes. Like I mentioned previously, it comes programmed with seven default modes (sound and light settings). The seven default modes include blue light with waves, green light with frogs, red light with lullaby, aqua light with cuckoos, orange light with seagulls, and soft nightlight with no sound. You can program up to five of your own modes on top of that — so you can fully customize your light and sound settings.

When you want to program a mode, simply scroll through the sounds until you find the one you want. Adjust the volume to your desired level. Pick the color and the brightness setting you'd like to accompany that sound. If you want to add a timer, that's an option as well. Once you've picked all of your desired settings, simply hit the large plus sign in the drop down mode menu and your customized mode will appear in the mode menu immediately.

You can set zero to 24-hour timers via the TaoTronics app on your smartphone and 30-minute to 4-hour timers directly on the device. The setting controls on the TaoTronics Smart Nursery Light itself are somewhat limited. It's a lot easier to control everything (aside from maybe turning it on and off and adjusting volume) via the app on your phone. The TaoTronics Smart Nursery Light also gives you the ability to create a schedule.

Being able to create light and sound schedules for your little one is a useful feature because it helps with gentle sleep training. You can program different lights and sounds to turn on and off whenever you choose throughout the day. You can also choose when you would like your settings to repeat; whether it be every day, the weekdays, the weekends, a single day, or a day combo of your choice. This is really cool because you can program the TaoTronics Smart Nursery Light to automatically play your baby's favorite sound and light settings to lull them to sleep when it's bedtime, and program it to play livelier noises and brighter colors in the morning, giving baby the signal that it's time to wake up.

The TaoTronics Smart Nursery Light is outfitted with a toddler lock. Even if it's within arm's reach of your tiny tot, they will not be able to mess with your settings. You also have the option of voice control. You can ask Alexa or Google Home to turn the machine on and off as well as adjust the brightness settings.

TaoTronics Smart Nursery Light review: What I don't like

There really isn't much I don't like about the TaoTronics Smart Nursery Light. If I'm going to nitpick, I wish there was a way to control the color modes from the device itself. You can turn the machine on and off, adjust the volume, set a 30-minute to 4-hour timer, and pick a sound directly from the device — but there's no option to adjust the color modes. The color modes, the child lock, and the brightness adjustments can only be done from your smartphone via the app.

There are also a few odd sound choices on the TaoTronics Smart Nursery Light. I don't consider farm animals, sheep, seagulls, vacuum cleaners, or radio static to be particularly soothing. Nor am I likely to put my child to sleep listening to those sounds, but to each and their own. I could see the animal noises being fun during playtime, and perhaps the vacuum cleaner sound is for getting your child comfortable with the noise so you can clean while they sleep. However, the radio static stumps me completely - it is such a grating sound.

The competition

Hatch Baby Rest Sound Machine

A noteworthy competitor is the Hatch Baby Rest Sound Machine. This device combines nightlight, sound machine, and a time-to-rise alert in one easy to use device that you can control from your phone via the Hatch app. You can customize color, brightness, sound, and volume. You can also set programs to turn on and off automatically according to your family's schedule. This product is very similar to the TaoTronics Smart Nursery Light as far as features go, but it's more expensive. The Hatch will run you $60 whereas the TaoTronics will run you $40 for virtually the exact same capabilities.

Fisher-Price Smart Connect Deluxe Soother

I have the Fisher-Price Smart Connect Deluxe Soother and it's cool, but not as cool as the TaoTronics Smart Nursery Lamp. The Fisher-Price Soother offers three sound options: soothing music, nature sounds, and white noise. It offers three lighting options: soft amber night light, starlight projection (with multiple colors to choose from), and soft amber animal projection. You can control your sound and light settings as well as sleep timers via the Smart Connect app. You can also use the Sleep Stages tool within the app to create a personalized bedtime routine. Don't get me wrong — this is a great product, but I like the TaoTronics Nursery Light even more. It's a little less expensive and offers so much more when it comes to features.

TaoTronics Smart Nursery Light: Should you buy

You want a sound and light machine

This is a fantastic, smart product at an affordable price. It offers a plethora of features, programmable modes, and the ability to set timers and create schedules for gentle sleep training.

You love sound and color options

The TaoTronics Smart Nursery Light features 25 different sounds and a full spectrum of rainbow color light settings.

You love smart baby tech

This smart baby sound and light machine can be controlled via your smartphone (iOS and Android compatible) with the TaoTronics app. You can also voice control it with Amazon Alexa and Google Home.

You want the ability to control all of the settings directly from the device

The settings you can control from the device are limited.

Overall, I love the TaoTronics Smart Nursery Lamp. It's easy to use and pairs seamlessly with the TaoTronics app so you can create the perfect environment for your child directly from your smartphone. It offers a plethora of different sound and color settings, as well as the ability to program your own modes. You can set timers, create schedules, and use smart voice control via Amazon Alexa and Google Home. Plus, there is a child lock so there's zero chance of your curious toddler messing with your settings. The sounds are realistic, and the light colors are bountiful. It uses smart memory recall to restore the settings you used last the next time you turn it on. I highly recommend this product to any parent looking for a great, affordable sound and light machine.