Godox LC500R vs Godox ML40R
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 ML40R and the Godox LC500R, we recommend the Godox ML40R ($119 when we checked it on 2026-09-14) as the better godox video light for most people. The same key light with full RGB for the day it points at the wall. 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 ML40R RGB LED Video Light, Portable Full-Color Fill Light
$119.00observed
Lowest we have recorded: $109.00 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 ML40R
Best for: The same key light with full RGB for the day it points at the wall.
The Godox ML40R is the ML40Bi with full colour. Same body, same battery, same USB-C, same app; the difference is an RGB mode with saturation control and a set of effects, so it can be a key light on Monday and a coloured background light on Tuesday.
As a key it performs the same as the Bi. As a background light it is small, so it colours a patch of wall rather than a whole room; for a wall, the LC500R tube spreads further. Buy the R only if the light will change jobs.
Owners rate it 5.0 across its first 4 reviews, which is to say it is new.
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