IN A NUTSHELL..
The Xiaomi Mi Night Light 3 is an upgrade (mostly) from the Night Light 2:
- 🏃♂️ Featuring a more compact design while maintaining reliable motion detection
- ⚖ Lightweight
- ☀Dual brightness settings meet various needs
- 🔋 Chargeable battery – offerings up to 8 months of use on low brightness
- 🤏Shorter battery life compared to the Night Light 2’s (8 months vs. 15 months)
- 🧲Magnetic base – but not as versatile as it requires a surface to bounce light
- 🌎 Lacks the 360° rotation of its predecessor
For personal stories and pro tips – more details below.
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Illuminate Your Nights with Ease
Picture this: You’re fumbling around in the darkness, trying to avoid waking anyone up. Or perhaps your kids are hesitant to move at night due to the lack of light. Enter the Xiaomi Mi Motion Night Light 3. This clever device uses motion-activated technology to light up your space, ensuring safer and easier nights for everyone. Let’s dive into how this device can enhance your nighttime experience.
Design and Features Breakdown
1. Design and Build Quality: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The unit achieves a seek, minimalist design using white thermoplastic with a lacquered finish, similar to its predecessor. Its design is however more streamlined and feels more refined when held in the hand.
It’s lighter than it’s predecessor, at 117 g when considering the additional weight of 3 AAA batteries required in Night Light 2. The reduced weight does make it feel less “premium”. Not that it really matters when its being suspended from your wall/ceiling.
It has been designed for indoor use.
2. Motion Detection ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Night Light 3 has a 120° infrared sensor, so the light activates when it detects movement up to five meters away. Once triggered, the light stays on for about 15 seconds before automatically turning off, saving battery life.
You won’t have to worry about it turning on during daylight hours as it has a built-in photoelectric sensor, ensuring the light only activates in low-light conditions.
3. Battery Life ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Powered by a built-in lithium battery, the light provides reliable power without frequent replacement of batteries. Battery life is advertised to last up to 8 months on low brightness setting and 4 months on high.
The units we’ve installed are still going strong after 6 months of use on the low setting. But I will update this post in another 6 months to provide an update on how the battery holds up.
If you don’t mind replacing batteries in exchange for longer run durations, you may want to consider the Xiaomi Mi Light 2 which uses three AAA batteries, providing uptime of 15 months and 8 months of runtime for low and high brightness levels respectively. You can see my review of that model here.
4. Brightness Modes ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The unit offers two brightness settings – a low setting for gentle illumination (3 lumens) and a high setting for more intense light (15 lumens). This can be hanged on the side of the unit. The unit also allows you to keep the light on at all times if you want, but I recommend keeping it on Auto instead to save battery life.
We keep our unit on the low setting in the bathroom, which is perfect for smaller areas.
For comparison, the images below are of the lower and higher brightness settings. The top image being low brightness.
5. Versatility ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Being battery-powered, the units can be installed anywhere – you don’t need a power outlet. We’ve installed this specific model in the ensuite to help the kids during their night-time toilet visits, and have been very happy with the results.
The mounting base comes with strong double-sided adhesive for securing it on your chosen surface, and the light unit magnetically attaches to the base. Since the unit is flat you can’t change the direction of the light unlike the Xiaomi Mi Motion Night Light 2.
The adhesive is also very strong, so you don’t have to worry about it falling off.
PROTIP #1
Make sure you know where you want to mount the base
Similar to the adhesive on the Night Light 2, it is very strong and may take off a layer of paint if removed. Make sure you know where you want to attach the base before you remove the backing.
6. Operating Temperature ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Night Light 3 is advertised to operate in temperatures ranging from -10°C to 40°C (14°F to 104°F).
We’ve experienced several days of 104°F (40°C) and the units have operated as normal. Admittedly its only around 90°F (32°C) inside the house when no air-conditioning is running, but it shows that they can operate in hotter conditions.
PROTIP #2
Does not attach to metallic door frames like the Night Light 2
In case you came here after reading the Night Light 2 review, the base for this unit does not magnetically attach to metallic door frames due to the way its constructed. If you want this option, consider its predecessor.
Conclusion
The Xiaomi Mi Night Light 3 builds on its predecessor with a more compact design and a built-in lithium battery, offering up to 8 months of usage on low brightness. While both models feature a sleek design and reliable motion detection, the Night Light 3’s lithium battery provides greater convenience over the AAA batteries of the Night Light 2. However, the battery life on a full charge is shorter (8 months versus 15 months on low brightness settings).
The magnetic base and strong adhesive are retained, allowing for flexible positioning and easy installation. Both lights have dual brightness settings to cater to various needs. However, the versatility of the Night Light 3 is somewhat reduced as it requires a back surface to bounce the light and lacks the 360° rotation of its predecessor. Despite this, for families, this motion-activated light continues to provide peace of mind and safety during nighttime trips, blending seamlessly into our bathroom and hallways.
Sharing Corner
For detailed insights as to why you may want a motion night light, refer to our main post about motion sensor night lights here.
If the Night Light 3 tick all your boxes, you can find a link to it here.
If you prefer longer battery life and don’t mind using battery cells have a look at our review of the Night Light 2 here.
Let me know which type of night lights you use and how you’ve found them below. If there are any other questions you have, or want to share other tweaks you’ve found that can help the rest of us, please also do this below.
