Godox LC500R vs Godox ML40Bi
Two of our picks from Best Godox Video Lights for Streaming and Vlogging: ML40Bi, ML40R, FL15Bi, LC500R and the EazyFlow Softboxes, compared side by side on the specs and trade-offs that actually matter.
Short answer
Between the Godox ML40Bi and the Godox LC500R, we recommend the Godox ML40Bi ($99 when we checked it on 2026-09-14) as the better godox video light for most people. A key light for a desk or a bag: bi-colour, battery and USB-C, app control. The Godox LC500R ($154 when we checked it on 2026-09-14) still makes sense if a background or a hand-held reveal on camera.
Godox LC500R Mini Handheld RGB Tube Light, 2500K-8500K RGB Stick Light with Barndoor&Soft Diffuseur, 20W 360°Full Color CRI 96+ 15 FX Effects LED Lighting Wand with APP Control
$154.00observed
Lowest we have recorded: $154.00 on (4 weekly checks)
Godox ML40Bi Bi-Color LED Video Light, Portable Fill Light, App Control
$99.00observed
Lowest we have recorded: $89.00 on (4 weekly checks)
Our take on each
Godox LC500R
Best for: A background or a hand-held reveal on camera.
The Godox LC500R is an RGB tube light with a handle, which makes it two things: a background light that lives behind a desk and paints the wall, and a light you hold up on camera for a reveal or a portrait. The barn doors and the diffuser in the box shape the spread.
It runs from its battery or from USB-C, so it works on a desk and in a bag. It is not a key light: a tube spreads light too evenly to shape a face.
Owners rate it 4.6 across about 150 reviews, the most in this group.
Godox ML40Bi
Best for: A key light for a desk or a bag: bi-colour, battery and USB-C, app control.
The Godox ML40Bi is the light to buy if a stream or a vlog needs one light. It is a compact COB with a built-in battery for a bag and a USB-C port for a desk, so the same light does both jobs. Colour temperature runs 2800 to 6500 K, which covers a face in any room, and the Godox app sets brightness and colour from a phone.
A metre from a face with the diffuser dome on, it reads as a proper key on a webcam and lifts a phone camera out of grain. Bare, it is hard light; budget for a small softbox or use the dome.
It is a new listing with a handful of ratings; the ML series before it has years of them. The mount is Godox's small ML ring, not Bowens, so a softbox needs the adapter. Owners rate it 5.0 across its first 6 reviews.
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