If you’re tired of crawling under the tree every day to turn it on and off I’ve got good news! Smart Christmas lights are here to make your life both easier and more colorful. Govee has updated its popular Govee Christmas String Lights with a generation 2 version.
In this review I’ll test them out here in my home and show you how they work, what they can do, and how they can make life a bit easier. I’ll also touch on improvements to this next generation model. I’ll wrap things up with the pros and cons and let you know if I think I can recommend this smart string light set for you.
I would like to thank Govee for supplying me with a set of String Lights 2 to review. While they have given me the lights at no cost they have not asked for, or received permission to have input into my content so you can consider these thoughts my own.
Govee Christmas String Lights 2
Summary
If you’re looking for a modern upgrade to your holiday home I can absolutely recommend Govee Christmas String Lights 2.
Pros
- The lights are easy to set-up
- App is convenient to use
- Smart light sync feature
- Lights are bright and can be dimmed
- Lots of color options
- Handy mapping feature that’s easy to navigate
Cons
- The lights are a little pricey
About Govee Christmas String Lights 2
The Govee Christmas String Lights 2 is a set of string lights specifically for your Christmas tree. This means you won’t get any special accessories like hooks, ties, or adhesives. Like ordinary Christmas lights, these Govee string lights use a green cable to blend with the holiday greenery and you could absolutely weave these in among a garland as well.
Because the lights use cool running LED bulbs, they don’t heat up making them incredibly safe for even real trees.
And if you use a white Christmas tree, you can pick the white wire version instead. That shouldn’t discourage you from using the Christmas lights for other occasions if you don’t mind buying extra accessories as the Govee app offers special light presets for other occasions like Easter.
Watch my FULL i-home review of Govee Christmas String Lights 2
Set up
Getting these lights set up and running is incredibly easy. Just plug them in and open the free Govee app and tap the plus sign in the top right corner to add the new light. It should recognize them right away and add them automatically to your app.
The app is going to be where you have full control over everything the lights can do. From applying simple single colors to adding moving light effects or even tying your lights in with every other light in your house, anything and everything is possible with these lights. At it’s very simplest you’ll never have to crawl under the tree again because you can simply tap to turn them on or off with the app, or set them up on a daily schedule so the lights will turn on and off all on their own. And of course because there is support for both Google and Alexa voice assistant, you can also ask your favourite digital butler to run the show for you.
New Features
While Govee continues to sell the older first-generation Christmas String Lights model, paying a bit more grants you some extra features with Christmas String Lights 2.
Extra Sizes
The first-gen version of the Govee Christmas String Lights was only available in 10-meter (33 feet) and 20-meter (66 feet) variants so if you want to decorate a tree taller than 2 meters, you’d have to buy a bundle which takes some extra steps to set up and uses an additional power socket. This newer second-gen version introduces 50-meter (164 feet) and 100-meter (328 feet) models for those larger trees— or even massive ones you might have outdoors, since, yes these are also outdoor rated.
Enhanced Durability
Govee made sure these lights can handle rougher weather conditions by redesigning both the lights and control box to meet the IP65 requirements. This translates to full waterproofing and dustproofing.
Integrated Chip
Govee made some internal improvements to the LED bulbs with each bulb featuring its own integrated chip as well as extra white LED beads allowing you to set the light color to a more natural warm white color. This opens up many new presets that utilize the white color. No matter what color or preset you pick, the overall performance and synchronization of the lights are better thanks to the finer control of each light through the IC chip.
Shape Mapping through Shape Camera
With less intelligent string lights, or even with Govee’s first generation model, if you weren’t careful about wrapping the lights around the tree precisely and evenly, or if you had a string that’s too long and you needed to just wind it in somehow, you could get a bit of an odd look.
Govee has solved this issue with what’s called Shape Mapping. Using the Govee app, it can intelligently analyze the entire tree through a video capture, which would pinpoint the location of each bulb on the tree- no matter where it ended up. Using the smarts integrated into this light and choosing a preset means that no matter what the effect is supposed to look like it will appear correct after you’ve completed Shape Mapping. So if you’ve got bands of light cycling around the tree, it’s always going to look smooth and even.
Here’s how to use it..
Open up the app and tap on the string lights. Then choose the settings gear in the top right. Scroll down until you see something called Shape Mapping or Lamp Bead Recognition and open that. It will have you capture a short video using the camera in the app and then it will save that information when it applies any preset lighting effect. It means almost any lighting colour or pattern that you apply to the tree will look correct… even if your wire wrapping is less than perfect.
AI Prompt
It seems like no product is safe from the clutches of AI, and the Govee Christmas Lights 2 is the latest victim. Certainly not a bad thing though, because you can chat with the app and ask recommendations for a lighting setup.
Custom Lighting Scenes Through AI
After you select your light, choose the AI prompt in the app to make text, image, and audio prompts to create some fancy scenes outside of the already diverse selection of presets. Just describe the type of effect you’re going for and let the AI bot figure it out.
Speaking of smart, these lights will also integrate into Govee’s AI-powered lighting synchronization, known as DreamView.
Coordination with other Govee lights
If you’re installing other Govee smart lights or holiday lights, it is possible to get them all working together on the same theme.
You can access this setting by choosing the Home tab at the top of the app and then scrolling down to DreamView, or there’s a second option; choose a light to start with, then select More, and scroll down to Sync All Lights, then select Go Create, and Create.
At the bottom you’ll first choose which lights you want to sync together. Then select the theme to apply. The app will start the show, and will tie it in with some music too if you want.
How do they look?
I think these lights look outstanding whether they are indoors or out. They are quite bright at full brightness and the extraordinary array of colors let you match any type of holiday decor. Whether you want simple single colors or a dancing light show, anything is possible.
If the AI features raise privacy concerns, you can still do things the old-fashioned way and choose from one of the 130+ lighting effects or make one yourself through the Govee app. Once you have familiarized yourself with some of the presets, you can switch to them on the fly via your Amazon Alexa-enabled or Google Assistant smart home product. You can also set timers to automate and trigger presets to your liking or have the lights synchronize to your favourite music beats.
Matter Support
Fans of the open Matter ecosystem rejoice! Govee is fully onboard with Matter allowing you to control the Govee Christmas Lights 2 through other ecosystems that support Matter like Apple Home.
Overall Thoughts: Govee Christmas String Lights 2
Overall, if you haven’t updated your holiday lights in a long time, now is definitely the best time to make an upgrade.
I’ll go over both the pros and potential cons so you can see if it might be a good choice for you.
On the pro side these lights are ultra easy to set up, and the app makes running and programming the lights incredibly easy. The fact that these lights will also coordinate with other newer Govee lights that you may have in your home means you can create a whole room or whole home display with just a few taps in the Govee app.
The lights are very bright or can be dimmed for a more subtle look, and they display thousands of colors. The Shape Mapping feature is absolutely genius for people like me who couldn’t wrap string lights straight around a tree even if you paid me. And the great thing about the Shape Mapping feature is that it’s incredibly easy even for a novice to use.
So what are the potential downsides? I think the biggest detractor for some might simply be the price. Getting this level of smart and coordination does come at a premium when compared to ordinary dumber Christmas string lights, but to some extent I think that’s expected.
Govee Christmas String Lights 2 starts at $129 USD / $179 CAD which is quite steep for mere Christmas lights. Fortunately, these products often go on sale so you might as well get them before the holiday season really kicks off. Both the internal and external improvements are worth the extra cost and the lights are impressively bright and vivid enough to use for other occasions too!
In short if you’re looking for a modern upgrade to your holiday home I can absolutely recommend Govee Christmas String Lights 2.
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