Specification
Size: 16.5 inches tall
Bulb Type: LED
Laser: No
Control: App and on-unit
Rotation: Yes
Sleep timer: Yes
Speaker: No
A star projector that you can use outside? But the idea of a star projector is to bring the night sky indoors, right? Well, yes. And technically, the Blisslights Oblivia isn’t a realistic star projector. Instead, it projects colorful nebulas on your walls, fences, shrubs and patio area. It is rather pretty, admittedly. But it’s highly impractical, and seemingly requires a very specific type of garden to make the most of it.
It’s safe to say that we personally aren’t huge fans of the Blisslights Oblivia, and we’re not yet sure if it will earn a space on our best star projectors list. There are a few reasons for that, which we’ll get into below. We do at least appreciate the design of the Oblivia — its big orb-like head looks like something from a science fiction movie, and it would look neat as part of a set smattered along a path. This would be ideal for those who can afford to buy multiple units and have an outside electrical socket because Oblivia requires mains electrical power connectivity at all times. Unfortunately, there’s no rechargable batteries or solar power, which seems like an obvious inclusion for an outdoor star projector like this.
If you’re looking for an affordable star projector, and the Blisslights Oblivia isn’t to your liking, you should check out the best star projectors under $100 and the best star projectors for kids.
Blisslights Oblivia review: Design
- Neat, futuristic design
- Needs to stick into soft soil with a spike
- Requires mains power
We love how the Blisslights Oblivia looks. It’s a big orb on a stick with a large, projecting eye — it looks like something from a Science Fiction movie. It’s also IP65 rated, meaning it’s water-sealed and weatherproof — ideal for use in outdoor environments.
You place the Oblivia in the ground using a spike. If you have a lot of grass, shrubbery or flowerbeds, it’s ideal — but if your yard is mostly concrete or paved, you’ll struggle to find somewhere to balance this. There’s no other mounting option either, without rigging up something bespoke or tying to a plant pot.
We do feel that the Blisslights Oblivia could be improved by including a solar panel and battery inside the waterproof device, so that way you wouldn’t need to connect to an outdoor electrical socket or run an extension cable if you only have indoor sockets. But we understand there may be additional costs involved with this, which could drive up the unit price.
In its favor, the Oblivia comes nicely packaged, and it’s easy to put together. You won’t find any instructions in the box, but you’ll need to scan a QR code on the box to find more information. There’s also an app you can download to give you a little more control over its functionality.
Blisslights Oblivia: Performance
- Multiple color projections to change between
- Soothing, attractive colors
- Not the biggest reach
- Using the app provides more control over projections
Because you need to put a stake in the ground to keep your Blisslights Oblivia steady, it likely limits where you can place it and what surfaces you can project upon. The images below were taken with the projector roughly three meters away from the wall it was projecting on. As you can see, the projection spread isn’t huge. It’s clear from Blisslights’ marketing that the Oblivia has been designed to be used in tandem with multiple projectors — but that becomes an expensive job.
It’s at least easy to use. Simply plug in the Oblivia and press the one button on the back of the unit to power it on. You’ll instantly be greeted with a colorful nebula. Press the button again to cycle through the available colorways. You’ll want to download the smartphone app to experience the projector’s full functionality as you can fine-tune the colors, adjust the brightness of the images, and more.
This clearly isn’t an accurate star projector because there’s not a single star in sight. But the colorful nebulas are at least soothing and relaxing and, admittedly, can look quite pretty set against a backdrop of brick walls and shrubbery. But the patterns are no different from those you’ll find in other, cheaper star projectors.
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Blisslights Oblivia: Functionality
- Needs to be connected to mains at all times
- App connectivity
The unit itself is well-designed, built to survive rain, wind and other inclement weather conditions. But, unless you have mains power wired throughout your garden, we personally would bring the device inside or pop it in a shed to reduce wear and tear from the weather.
We do like that the Oblivia has app connectivity, giving it the edge over most other star projectors that we’ve tried. The app is fairly basic, but you can at least use it to adjust the colors and brightness of the projections, as well as set a timer if you don’t want your garden lit up through the night.
The fact that the spike is the only way to stabilize the projector in your garden seems short-sighted. Not everyone has soft flowerbeds or grassy areas to stick something into. Those with paved patios will either need to tie it to something nearby, like a flowerpot, or come up with some bespoke system. All it would take from BlissLights is to include a flat-footed base that the spike could slot into. It feels like a quick play on a 3D printer would solve this problem, easily, if one was so inclined.
Should you buy the Blisslights Oblivia?
The Oblivia’s projections are nice, though not scientific but are most suited to users that have a garden or outside space. There are better star projectors that we would recommend for indoor use but this is the only projector we’ve reviewed over many years specifically designed for outdoor use due to its weatherproofing and stake-mounted design.
For indoor, more realistic star projections, we would recommend taking a look at the Orzorz Galaxy Lite or the Pococo Galaxy Star Projector, both of which have rechargeable batteries that enables users to take it outside in the garden in dry weather. You can simply charge them up and take them outside if you want to create some outdoor ambiance without any of the fuss. But remember that they are not IP rated, so won’t withstand any kind of precipitation like rain or snow.