Our Verdict
78%
A decent range of value-focused streaming gear, though some devices are more successful than others.
The Streamplify Complete Bundle is a full set of streaming gear – lights, mic, webcam, green screen and more – from the new Streamplify brand of streaming gear. The brand comes from same company that brought us noblechairs, Nitro Concepts, Endgame Gear and Kolink. Designed to take on the likes of Corsair’s Elgato brand, Streamplify provides a full range of streaming products, each of which you can buy individually or in the form of a bundle, such as the one we’re reviewing here.
The complete bundle includes a Streamplify CAM webcam, MIC microphone with mounting arm (as opposed to the mini tripod option), both the smaller LIGHT 10 and larger LIGHT 14 ring lights, a 200 x 150cm portable green screen and a HUB CTRL 7 USB hub. With a total price of £370 inc VAT, it’s quite the outlay, but a full £130 of that is taken up by the sizeable green screen. For most streamers, the £130 inc VAT starter bundle that includes the camera, mic (with mini tripod) and one light will be enough for a starting point.
Lights
Starting with the cheapest item of the lot, the £20 LIGHT 10 is a 10in ring light that comes with a surprisingly sturdy and easy-to-use, bendable-armed smartphone holder for holding your phone in the middle of the ring – ideal for vlogging – and a more conventional camera mount for fitting either a webcam or full-sized camera. It also includes a mini tripod with extendable legs, which will set the base of the light at a height of 15-18cm. The legs also fold into a convenient carry handle that’s again ideal for vlogging.
For just £20 in VAT, it’s a cracking bit of kit. The light is powered via USB and is strong enough for basic streaming and vlogging duties. The inline remote also provides power, brightness and three light-temperature settings (cool, warm and a combined mid-tone) making it versatile and easy to control.
The two main downsides to the LIGHT 10 are the limited height provided by the mini tripod (you’ll generally want a light for streaming to be placed above your head), and the strength of the ball joint that links the ring to the tripod. The latter would struggle to reliably hold up both the ring and any camera that’s much heavier than a phone or webcam.
The larger LIGHT 14 has a higher price tag of £65 inc VAT, but it delivers considerably more too. It comes with a proper telescoping tripod that can be set between 50-170cm and is topped by a sturdy hinge mount. The light itself is larger and much brighter than the LIGHT 10 too, plus it can be controlled by touch buttons on the ring or via a remote control (no AAA batteries included), with again variable settings for brightness (ten levels) and colour temperature (four settings).
Being mains powered, the LIGHT 14 won’t take up a USB port and even provides two USB sockets for powering any devices attached to it. There are also three camera hot shoe-style mounts inside the ring, along with a 1/4in-threaded hole, giving you plenty of spots to affix your kit. All told, it’s another impressive addition to the Streamplify kit.
Camera
We’re less impressed by the £60 CAM webcam. The camera design is neat enough. It’s very compact, with a folding, rubber-footed stand that works well for propping the camera on the top edge of a monitor, and it folds flat with a 1/4in thread for mounting on a tripod (or in one of the ring lights). An outer sleeve can also be slid left and right to provide a physical barrier for the lens, for extra privacy.
However, picture quality is a letdown. The image is oversharpened, grainy and doesn’t cope well with strong contrast. It’s certainly passable but the identically priced Logitech C920 is sharper, smoother and copes better with high contrast. The CAM could do with dropping in price even further to justify its poorer image quality.
When it comes to the MIC microphone, there are no such issues with its core function. While audio quality from the mic and its headphone socket (for mic monitoring and headphone output from your PC) certainly isn’t out of this world, it’s comparable to several other entry-level USB streaming microphones.
The mounting arm, despite looking thin and cheap, works perfectly well, with a well-balanced movement in its full range of motion, and its adjustment points for the mic mount are easy to undo and move, yet they still hold the mic securely when tightened. The included anti-vibration mount also does a good job of isolating any table knocks or rubbing sounds from holding and moving the arm.
However, despite having a threaded section on its base, the mic is held in place by a rubber ring system that just grips onto the threaded section of the mic. It’s tightened via a plastic knob on the underside of the vibration cage and the whole setup is awkward to fit and insecure.
Likewise, the otherwise quite effective metal grille pop shield is only held in place by the clamping force between the mic and vibration mount, and this force is only provided by how hard you push those two pieces together while you tighten the knob on the underside. We eventually got it fitted, but we have reservations about it staying in place with prolonged use.
Action
The penultimate addition to the Complete streamer bundle is the green screen. It rolls upwards from its case, and is held in place by a scissor-lift arm system. The case is mounted on castors and the feet on which they’re mounted rotate inwards to sit flush with the width of the case when in transit. It very much just feels like a perfectly decent but unremarkable, low-price green screen.
The final piece of the puzzle is the HUB CTRL 7 USB (£45 inc VAT), a switchable 7-port USB hub. Around the back are the seven client device ports and single host port along with the mains power input, and up front are seven buttons for powering on each device. RGB lighting shines out from slots above each socket, and you can slide a selection of clear plastic tabs into these slots, which are then used to indicate which device is plugged into which socket.
It’s essentially an analogue equivalent to Elgato’s software-programmable Stream Deck controller, but there’s no software and macro control. Despite this, it’s actually one of the standout additions to the Streamplify ecosystem. It saves you six USB ports and offers a really convenient way to turn your devices on and off.
Streamplify Complete Bundle Streaming Kit review conclusion
The full range of Streamplify devices has a few hits and a few misses. The camera’s image quality is a letdown for the price, the microphone’s mounting system is an issue and the green screen is perfectly fine but does nothing to set it apart from any other cheap green screen. Overall build quality is certainly basic across the range, but by and large this is fairly reflected in the price of each unit.
The USB hub and lights, though, are great entry-level options. What’s more, the whole kit is ripe for easy upgrades, due to its simple nature. In contrast, Elgato’s system is very slick and good quality but its reliance on software control can make it feel restrictive.
Whether this bundle is worth buying depends on whether you need a green screen. Many streamers swear by having one, whereas others don’t mind viewers seeing what’s behind them. For a streamer starting out, we’d certainly be inclined to go without.
Streamplify Complete Bundle Streaming Kit price
£370 GBP
Scores
Design: 18/25 | Features: 20/25 | Performance: 18/25 | Value: 22/25
Pros
- Well thought-out, useful designs
- Mostly good-value products
- Works well with other gear
Cons
- Sub-par webcam image quality
- Naff mic mounting system
- Basic build quality