Review: Govee outdoor String Lights and Flood Lights

Govee Flood Light.

While many of us spend a lot of time decorating our homes, we often forget about outdoors. One of the easiest ways to spruce things up is with light. I recently got two new outdoor lights from Govee; some smart outdoor string lights and smart outdoor flood lights. In this review I’ll look at what they’re like to set up and use and if I can recommend them for you.

Govee smart outdoor lights

In short these two outdoor light options are designed to bring colour and smart automated control to your yard. The string lights come in just under 50 and 100 foot lengths. Each bulb is made up of an LED light pad covered by a plastic housing. The housing feels solid and durable, not light or like it will break in a strong wind.

You can control each light individually, create segments of light or run the whole string at once.

The Flood Lights come in a set of 4 panels measuring about 5-inches across. You can mount these to a wall or fence, or use the included stakes to place them in your garden. There’s lots of cable so you can place them where you need them.

Both lights are water resistant too. Perhaps most importantly, with these Govee lights, there is no hub or bridge required for Wi-Fi connectivity and smartphone control.

Set up

Getting these lights set up took almost no work. Plug them in and they will right away be in pairing mode. Using the Govee app, you’ll connect the light to your home’s Wi-Fi for app and voice control. Using the app you can control the color, set scenes, and play with the different segments. The Govee Home app also let you fool around with preset scenes, color patterns and to use the music sync setting which will match the lights’ flashing and motion to the beat.

Key features

Dynamic Segmented Color

Govee String Light.

You can adjust the color of the Govee String Light using the Govee Home app. Tap simple single colors along the length of the string or for each flood light panel, or use Scenes or Schemes to play with different options.

There’s almost too many toys inside the app, from choosing “Style” to “Scene” “Color Matching Method” and “Mood” it’s often not clear what each of these words actually means for the light, so a lot of try it and see what you get. Some of the Scenes or effects flash or swirl around the light kit, while others are simple static colors and blends.

Govee app: so many options.

You can manually choose the colors for the different bulbs or panels of the light too, though after the initial novelty of this wears off, you’ll probably find a few favourites and leave it at that.

Syncs with Music & Audio

If you want a more dynamic experience, the Govee String and Flood lights can sync to music or voices. Just switch on this easy to find setting in the Govee Home app and the light will pulse, flash and adjust to ambient noise. The setting works well and is quite responsive to whatever it hears.

Outdoor & winter use

It goes without saying that it gets cold in Canada, and I got these lights very late in the season, meaning they saw snow almost immediately. Despite a big dump and temperatures of about -15 Celsius, they kept right on working, and I was able to control them from the comfort of my home using the Govee app.
With the string lights, again, that snow prevented me from turning my backyard into Margaritaville just yet but I did bust these out for Halloween and they worked great.

Covered in early winter snow: still going!

I will say the clips on the lights are small and rigid, and they wouldn’t clip to my eavestroughs at all. I know you can get special clips for that, and that’s something I will probably explore come spring. But if you’re hoping to clip these right on to something they might not work so well.

How bright are Govee outdoor lights?

Bright enough for safety & security.

I will say these lights are surprisingly bright. Well you can dim them and adjust them to almost any space or situation, at full brightness these actually work quite well at illuminating a large area for added home security and safety. The colour saturation is also quite good too.

Hands-free Voice Control

The Govee Home app is one way to control your Rope Lights, but you can also pair them with Google Home or Amazon Alexa too. I connected mine to my Google Home hub easily (go to the Google Home app and choose Add New Device), and was able to get the light to turn on and off as well as change colors, just by asking my digital assistant.

Overall Review Govee String Lights and Flood light

As I’ve said before about Govee, these lights are enough to knock my all-time favorite smart lights (Philips Hue) out of the top spot. These lights are ultra easy to set up, need no extra bridge to operate and they have a wildly customizable app that lets you do everything you want with a smart light. On the downside, the clips on the string lights aren’t as versatile as I’d be hoping for. Even so, I can definitely recommend these smart lights for your outdoor spaces.

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