Introduction

You know what's fun about 2017? The same as 2016 - everything had RGB lighting added to it. When we thought it was done, more LEDs were added on top of existing ones. There are products today that can do a better job at lighting a Christmas tree, for example, than traditional ornaments. 2017 brought more lighting, but also more refined lighting. Gone are the days of the cheap $10 multi-color LED strip with a generic Bluetooth controller. Instead, we get addressable SMD RGB LEDs (and more abbreviations too!) which mostly support all the various motherboard LED and lighting controls. Then there's Corsair who has a plethora of RGB products that use not just their own lighting controllers and software drivers, but two separate sets of them too. Corsair Utility Engine handles their gaming peripherals, and Corsair Link handles the components that go inside the case itself. Today, we take a look at their new Light Loop (LL) series of fans aiming to take integrated lighting to where no one has gone before. Thanks to Corsair for providing the review sample.


As the name suggests, the Corsair LL RGB fans have a loop of lighting integrated into their frame. In fact, there is also a second loop around the central hub that houses more LEDs for what is essentially a double-loop setup. Corsair sent a 120 mm fan pack, and these packs (which also come in 140 mm fan size) are the best value for money and a complete set for most people. The image above shows everything you get here, which includes three 120 mm fans and, more importantly, everything you need to power and control the lighting as well. You can also get the fans as single packs if you need more fans, and we will go over what the pack can support. Let us begin with a look at the specs below.

Specifications

Packaging and Accessories

Corsair operates a web shop in the USA; however, the items used in this review came from a shipping hub separately, so we begin by taking a look at the product packaging directly. The product packaging here has adopted the black and yellow scheme from their "Corsair Gaming" lineup and is, as such, also used for their DIY components now, and this just takes it further with a more pronounced and colorful design. Taking off the plastic wrap, we see printed illustrations of two fans on the front that do an excellent job of showing how these LL fans can look when powered and on. This triple pack w/controller SKU has a fairly large box to accommodate the contents inside, and we see a note on the number of fans inside, along with its salient marketing and technical features on the front. This carries over on to the back and sides where we see more specifications and the marketing features in multiple languages. There are seals on the top and bottom to help keep the contents inside in check. There is also a hang tab at the top, which is a nice addition to the packaging.


Opening the box, we see the included items are packaged separately with the three fans at the bottom (or top, depending on how you opened it) and the accessories in their own yellow box underneath. Alongside the fans, Corsair includes a multi-language quick-start guide, warranty manual for Australians because of their specific warranty policy, two sets of self-tapping metal screws to help install the fans as case fans, a 6-fan LL120 RGB LED hub, and the Lighting Node PRO with an LED extension cable that goes from the hub to the Lighting Node Pro along with a male mini-USB to internal USB 2.0 header cable.


As with the other Corsair RGB fans, the LED hub is specific to these fans, so do not plan on using this with non-LL fans. The LED hub has six inputs marked, so you have to use connected devices in order, from 1-6 without skipping any, an outlet to where the Lighting Node PRO is connected, and a full-size SATA power connector to power the LEDs.


The Lighting Node Pro is a pretty small controller since it measures in at a mere 5.5x3x1.2 cm and has two LED channels. Each channel supports up to four of their addressable RGB LED strips or up to 6 LL/HD/SP RGB fans via the respective fan LED hub (and extension cable). Thus, you can control as many as twelve different LL120 RGB fans off a single Lighting Node Pro, for instance. There is a female mini-USB 2.0 connector on the back that uses the provided adapter cable, and thus, you also need an available internal USB 2.0 header on your motherboard as well as another spare SATA power connector for the Lighting Node Pro.