I've been really enjoying working with Pixie Chromas. They're very easy to setup, minimal fuss with both wiring and software. The library is well documented and I've found things just work. My order was processed promptly and arrived quickly without any issues or hassle which is more than I can currently say for some big companies. All in all a great experience!

Christian | May 5, 2021

Absolutely fantastic. Truly plug and play.

For PIXIE PRO - Chainable Dual 5*7 Micro-LED Displays!

Unbelievably well done code and documentation! Bought these a year ago and regrettably didn't even open the box until now. Within 2 minutes of opening the box I had these scrolling text on my 40+ year old displays. I have a huge stash of MAN2A led displays I got at a flea market years ago which I never got around to using, but not anymore-now that I have these fantastic Pixie drivers up and going I'm gonna make a scrolling stock ticker display. I'm buying more.

Brian | April 23, 2021

Great little display, well documented

For PIXIE PRO - Chainable Dual 5*7 Micro-LED Displays!

I bought 6 Pixie displays (12 characters total). The first thing I built was a 60 channel (bin? level?) audio spectrum analyzer. I used a Teensy 4.0 and PJRC Audio board to do the FFT. The Pixies look great, and were really easy to use. I wrote code, using the Pixie online character generator tool, to control each column individually, so instead of 12 characters, I can control 60 vertical bar graphs.

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/Ir67gHBZ2hA

I am very happy with these and will buy 6 more when they are back in stock, hopefully in a different color. I like the red I have but would like to try other colors.

Brad | Feb. 9, 2021

Great build quality + great documentation = awesome product

For PIXIE PRO - Chainable Dual 5*7 Micro-LED Displays!

I picked up 2 Pixies to start playing around as I embark on an adventure of continuing to tinker with things, and these little displays are just the ticket. The build quality of the displays is great, and the fact that the display matrices are replaceable as an added bonus. I plan on picking up three more to build a display I can send messages and other things to. Thanks for a great product!

Matthew | Nov. 14, 2020

Brilliant both figuratively and literally.

For PIXIE PRO - Chainable Dual 5*7 Micro-LED Displays!

Really pleased with my Pixies; I've made two small "time/appointment/notification" displays for my partner and I while we're working, which can also be nameplates if/when we ever get back to office life. Interfacing and programming was straightforward, especially with the Github examples, and everything's working a treat.

Shipping to Canada was no better/worse than any other shipping to Canada, dispatched promptly, and arrived at the pleasure of Her Majesty's Customs.

Pretty excited about the SMD 'pixies' especially if there was to be a 595nm 'true amber' -- or (even better?) a bare PCB to source and make my own! Thanks for the work to make these things so great at what they do!

Junmin | Aug. 7, 2020

Pixies - excellent on all fronts!

For PIXIE PRO - Chainable Dual 5*7 Micro-LED Displays!

The Pixies arrived via USPS fairly quickly after ordering them. They were well packaged and arrived in good condition. The displays themselves are beautiful and simple. The added 3D-printed mount was pretty high quality and I set up and wired my Pixies in less than 20 minutes. I bought these for use on the Raspberry Pi as a display for my ADS-B receiver, though I know most of the documentation is for Arduino. I had messaged Connor on Twitter ahead of time, and he was kind enough to write a Raspberry Pi driver for me to use. Unfortunately, it didn't quite work properly on my Raspberry Pi Zero (still not sure why), and I was getting a jumbled output on the Pixies. I let Connor know, and we worked through several steps to reach a solution. The Pixies work perfectly now. Lots of thanks to Connor for his time and effort spent troubleshooting with me. I would definitely recommend these!

Joshua | Nov. 25, 2019

Great Product and Customer Support

For LIXIE II - The #NewNixie for Arduino! (Digit Kit)

Loved it! Fun build and a great conversation piece! I thought it would be difficult but the end code worked great and now the Lixie Clock sits in my place, as it should. ;)

Lisa | Sept. 24, 2018

Best "Not A Nixie" out there!

For LIXIE II - The #NewNixie for Arduino! (Digit Kit)

Very impressive displays, I can even read them without my contacts. Also far cheaper than a old Nixie tube that's even close to being this large. Some clocks online (with smaller tubes than these Lixie) seemed to cost $900-1,200. Wouldnt want those to get their cables yanked!

There was a slight delay before the Lixies were shipped due to an supply issue, but still arrived fairly quickly so that's OK.
However, I did have one faulty LED on a display upon arrival, but a quick message to Conner and he sent a replacement PCB free of charge.

With that small trouble out of the way, I got to cutting/drilling a base directly into my work desk. Not the most portable option, but definitely the cheapest as I already owned the cheap desk! The code was also easy for an Arduino first timer (I only had previous experience with PIC), just had a little trouble figuring out how to add NodeMCU support to the Arduino IDE at first. (Conner was very nice to help me with this) I programmed it with the Wordpress visitors example from Github and it's all working now. :-) Thanks!

* Super contrast, even in daylight
* Easy to both wire and code for with the chaining-LEDS
* Safe low voltage (5V) around my kids! (Can't be too cautious with little ones around)
* Much, much cheaper than Nixies of the same size
* One slight functionality issue that Conner immediately resolved for me for free

Thomas | March 18, 2018

Love it!

For LIXIE II - The #NewNixie for Arduino! (Digit Kit)

I only wish I could get a few more. It seems like every time they go in stock they're gone. This says a lot about Lixie. I only bought one to test it and see if I wanted to use it. So sad I didn't order 6 when I had the chance. My Laser isn't powerful enough to score polycarbonate...and even if it was, I could make my own circuit board but by the time I was done, it would cost more than Lixie. So, it's awesome and I'll have to keep waiting in the queue until I can get 3-5 more. So, although I am sad about not having 6 of them right now, Lixie is wicked cool. I even took it to work and ran it on my desk. It drew a crowd.

Response from Lixie Labs | April 18, 2018

Thanks Thomas! Sorry about the quick sellouts - each takes about 45 minutes to assemble from start to finish, and because they're so hip for clocks now, most people buy up 4 or 6 at a time. Working full time with shipping, I can only list about 40 a week, while there's several hundred on the mailing list sometimes! This blew up far beyond my expectations in the last year, I make my living here now! I really miss proper sleep cycles. Email me at connornishijima@gmail.com and I'll send you a coupon code to discount you a bit on your second order for your patience. :)

As for the displays, I'd like to offer up a fun new thing to try while you wait. I'm still working on documentation, but if you have an ESP8266-based controller, I've rewritten the Lixie library to support several new animation options, and an option to run Lixie code in an ISR to keep your own code running at the same time. :) Feel free to test it out here:

https://github.com/connornishijima/Edgelit

For the time being, Edgelit.h has a list of all the functions, most are similar to the original library.

Doug | Feb. 8, 2018

Excellent

For LIXIE II - The #NewNixie for Arduino! (Digit Kit)

They work great, easy to program. Need to do a little work to come up with a good mounting scheme... I'll get them again if I have a need (and they are available!!!!!)

Response from Lixie Labs | Feb. 14, 2018

Great to hear, Doug! Hit me up if you have any questions about mounting options, I've had a few customers share their designs in the past. As for availability, 2018 is going to have quite a ramp up in production. I'm partnering with SeeedStudio for machine assembly for the PCBs, and my laser cutting supplier Ponoko has been awesome with speed and support - so I should have a healthy supply of displays for you starting this Spring! :)

Manuel | May 4, 2017

Excellent device

For LIXIE II - The #NewNixie for Arduino! (Digit Kit)

The devices are excellent.
I've ordered 6 (I wasn't allowed more - hope this changes in the future) in order to make a clock.
This particular Edge Lit Display is well made - looks good and the use of neo-pixels makes it unique!
Hope there are more to come!

Peter | April 25, 2017

Fantastic, easy-to-use display

For LIXIE II - The #NewNixie for Arduino! (Digit Kit)

I finished my first project using a set of LIXIEs this week, and they were incredibly easy to use. They're very striking, and the nixie-like effect is great. I'm driving four of them directly off of an Arduino Nano, which is connected via USB to a Raspberry Pi, and they've been running steadily for several days at this point.

Looking forward to getting another pair and increasing the range of my display. Adding them to the project will be easy; it's a matter of creating two more cables to daisy chain them together. I recommend just using cut-down female PCB headers (these are what I used: http://amzn.to/2oHoY7R). I tried making some custom cables using DuPont connectors, but could never get a solid connection with them. Switching over to the headers let me knock out the cables quickly, and I haven't had any problems since.

One other word of warning - once you've received and ogled the displays, wrap them back up until you're ready to use them. If you scratch the front or back layers of plexiglass, it'll show up when those tiles are lit. I have a very minor scratch on one of mine and you really don't notice it, but it's better to be safe than sorry!

All-in-all a really great product, very happy I picked these up, now I only wish I'd ordered more :D

Response from Lixie Labs | Nov. 12, 2017

Thank you again for your business Peter. :) I wanted to check in and let you know that your review has actually been posted to the wall of our office since May, and has served as great motivation for me since! Do send a message if you ever have any questions. :) https://imgur.com/a/xLC70

Tindie

Lixie Labs

Overall Rating:

Review Breakdown

Average Ratings

All Reviews

Amazing product

Pixie Chromas are fantastic

Absolutely fantastic. Truly plug and play.

Great little display, well documented

Great build quality + great documentation = awesome product

Brilliant both figuratively and literally.

Pixies - excellent on all fronts!

Great Product and Customer Support

Best "Not A Nixie" out there!

Love it!

Response from Lixie Labs | April 18, 2018

Excellent

Response from Lixie Labs | Feb. 14, 2018

Excellent device

Fantastic, easy-to-use display

Response from Lixie Labs | Nov. 12, 2017