COB Strip or Discrete LED Strip for a Cove

Where dotting actually shows

A discrete strip looks continuous when you look at the lit surface. It stops looking continuous the moment there is a reflection: a polished ceiling, a glass balustrade, a gloss worktop. Each emitter reappears as a point, and the line of points is what the eye reads.

What COB construction changes

The COB CCT series here publishes 640 LEDs per metre under a continuous phosphor layer, against 120 per metre on the 2835 strip and 60 per metre on the 5050 RGBW. At that density, under one phosphor line, the emitting surface is effectively continuous and there is nothing for a reflection to break into points.

Cut length is the other practical difference

The COB strip publishes a 25 mm cut length against 100 mm on the 2835 and the DMX512 neon flex, and 50 or 100 mm on the 5050 RGBW depending on whether it is the 12 V or the 24 V model. A 25 mm cut follows joinery far more closely than a 100 mm one.

Colour rendering and where it matters

The COB CCT series publishes Ra > 90; the other three publish Ra > 80. Under Ra 80, timber, leather and skin tones flatten out. In a retail or hospitality interior that difference is visible; on a facade outline at thirty metres it is not.

When a discrete strip is still the right answer

When the run is long and a driver would be unreachable, the 2835 high-voltage series at AC 220 V and 1440 lm per metre is the answer and COB is not. When the detail has to change colour, the 5050 RGBW or the DMX512 neon flex is, and COB is not. Dotting is one criterion among three.