Upgrade pick

This ring light has a built-in battery that can run up to 70 minutes at full brightness. It can also charge your phone while you record.

Light from the Lume Cube Ring Light Pro is as diffused and lovely as that of our top pick, but it offers a few quality-of-life improvements—albeit at a significant jump in price. Specifically, we love that it can be used wirelessly, can charge your phone, and remembers your favorite settings (with the included remote).

But these features are really only worth the added cost if you plan to use this ring light for professional purposes, like on photo or video production, or for frequent self-tape auditions.

Its light is as excellent as our top pick’s. The Ring Light Pro uses the same rim-mounted LEDs as the Elgato Ring Light, so the light it produces is just as beautifully diffused. Compared with some of the cheaper ring lights we tested, it’s a huge step up in comfort and appearance.

It can work wirelessly. Unlike our top pick, which needs to be connected to power to function, the Ring Light Pro has a built-in battery that can run up to 70 minutes at full charge.

In our tests, we were able to use it for more than four three-hour online Dungeons & Dragons games at relatively low power, turning it off in between uses, before it needed to be recharged.

Several of our testers who frequently do self-tape auditions praised this feature, saying it would make it easier to film in better locations in their apartments without being tethered to a wall for power.

You can change the settings remotely. The Ring Light Pro comes with a remote that lets you power the unit on and off, change the brightness and color, and switch between channels.

The remote turns off after a minute of inactivity, so you first need to turn on the remote (by pressing the power button) before turning on the ring light. Since most remotes are always-on, it took us some time to adjust to pressing the power button without seeing the light turn on immediately.

This ring light can charge your phone. Two 5-volt USB-A ports are on the back of the light’s control unit to charge your phone or other small electronic devices.

It can save your favorite settings. The included remote has a program button that saves your current settings. It can store up to three setting configurations.

This is especially useful if you’re using the Ring Light Pro for filming a project and need to make sure the lighting is consistent, or if you routinely use the light in a couple of different environments. It makes it easy to save the settings for each environment and then easily switch between them.

You can use more than one together. If you want to use multiple Ring Light Pros—for example, during a photoshoot or for video production—you can do so thanks to the built-in channel system.

You can assign different ring lights to different channels via either the remote or the on-body controls, and then change the settings of one light without changing the rest.

The LED panel on the back is really bright. If you turn the Ring Light Pro off via the remote, the screen on the back remains illuminated, which could be annoying if you keep it in your bedroom. Fortunately, this can be easily fixed by toggling the switch on the back to power down the unit.

Just remember to turn the switch back on before using the remote—otherwise, the remote won’t be able to power the light on.

Upgrade pick

This ring light has a built-in battery that can run up to 70 minutes at full brightness. It can also charge your phone while you record.

Light from the Lume Cube Ring Light Pro is as diffused and lovely as that of our top pick, but it offers a few quality-of-life improvements—albeit at a significant jump in price. Specifically, we love that it can be used wirelessly, can charge your phone, and remembers your favorite settings (with the included remote).

But these features are really only worth the added cost if you plan to use this ring light for professional purposes, like on photo or video production, or for frequent self-tape auditions.

Its light is as excellent as our top pick’s. The Ring Light Pro uses the same rim-mounted LEDs as the Elgato Ring Light, so the light it produces is just as beautifully diffused. Compared with some of the cheaper ring lights we tested, it’s a huge step up in comfort and appearance.

It can work wirelessly. Unlike our top pick, which needs to be connected to power to function, the Ring Light Pro has a built-in battery that can run up to 70 minutes at full charge.

In our tests, we were able to use it for more than four three-hour online Dungeons & Dragons games at relatively low power, turning it off in between uses, before it needed to be recharged.

Several of our testers who frequently do self-tape auditions praised this feature, saying it would make it easier to film in better locations in their apartments without being tethered to a wall for power.

You can change the settings remotely. The Ring Light Pro comes with a remote that lets you power the unit on and off, change the brightness and color, and switch between channels.

The remote turns off after a minute of inactivity, so you first need to turn on the remote (by pressing the power button) before turning on the ring light. Since most remotes are always-on, it took us some time to adjust to pressing the power button without seeing the light turn on immediately.

This ring light can charge your phone. Two 5-volt USB-A ports are on the back of the light’s control unit to charge your phone or other small electronic devices.

It can save your favorite settings. The included remote has a program button that saves your current settings. It can store up to three setting configurations.

This is especially useful if you’re using the Ring Light Pro for filming a project and need to make sure the lighting is consistent, or if you routinely use the light in a couple of different environments. It makes it easy to save the settings for each environment and then easily switch between them.

You can use more than one together. If you want to use multiple Ring Light Pros—for example, during a photoshoot or for video production—you can do so thanks to the built-in channel system.

You can assign different ring lights to different channels via either the remote or the on-body controls, and then change the settings of one light without changing the rest.

The LED panel on the back is really bright. If you turn the Ring Light Pro off via the remote, the screen on the back remains illuminated, which could be annoying if you keep it in your bedroom. Fortunately, this can be easily fixed by toggling the switch on the back to power down the unit.

Just remember to turn the switch back on before using the remote—otherwise, the remote won’t be able to power the light on.