Hi, my smart home needs are very simple--it's mainly just lighting. I have a lot of different lights that I like to control either through Google Home app or with speech through my Google Nest Mini. That's it, pretty much.

Up until recently I've really only used a few select "Govee" products (seems like it's kind of a "no-name" brand, so to speak, but also seems like they're fairly well known since they're affordable and on Amazon).

For me, it's mainly just a few smart bulbs, some smart plugs, and some LED strips.

Sometimes I go directly into the Govee app, because it gives me more control over colors, but they're also connected to my Google Home app, so I'll go there for simpler things (such as just turning them on/off and increasing/decreasing brightness).

I've started considering whether or not there are better things out there, and obviously, the first thing that springs to mind is Phillips Hue.

Is there any (or much) real-world benefit to going with something more name brand like Phillips (or any others for that matter) vs. what I'm already doing with my Govee lights?

Would I get any more features or added benefits by switching or are my needs simple enough that I'm fine with the cheaper option?

I have both the H6141 and the H6107 and they are the cheapest quality lights money can buy. They break after a few months without reason. The connectivity is awful and the lights are the shittiest cheapest lights on the market. I highly recommend staying away from this awful brand and their lights.

So I wanted to make a more immersive experience when Im watching TV or just playing games in general. Then I found out about Govee. They seemed pretty good, but I don't really know. Should I get Govee Led Lights strips, if yes what kind of Govee lights should I get? 😁

I was mostly looking for Led lights which can sync with the TV. Kind of like the Philips Gradient Hue Strips. Any tips?

3 blue LED's died which makes the lights not look nice as there is a random spot with the wrong color profile now. The individual color LED's are spaced out too much which makes the warm light and cold light very unnatural, warm light gives the room a green hue and cold light makes it look like an aquarium light. It is way more intense than what the camera shows. Also the color is not the same along the strip. The light gets more green as it goes further down the strip, you can see a huge difference where the start and end meet.

Overall I'm not happy, considering my 1 year warranty ended 2-3 weeks ago and now I'm left with a faulty product. I expect such quality and longevity from unbranded products. The only good thing is the app has a lot of functions, but other than that the strip itself is as good quality as cheap ones are for a higher price tag.

I realize Hue is considered overall better “quality.”

My entire home is Hue right now, but I’m considering a switch to Govee. I can essentially sell all my hue equipment, replace with Govee, and get more products (like floor lamps).

Will I notice a big difference? A huge feeling of a downgrade?

First year Costco member. I understand that Costco's warranty policy makes them pretty particular as to what they offer for sale quality-wise. Haven't really had a reason to test that policy, but my local Costco is offering the Govee permanent outdoor lights kits. Every fall I'm tempted by permanent lights, and online reviews have been pretty mixed in past years. If Costco is offering them is that sign of better quality?

If you have installed them, what's your take on them?

Thanks.

Bought some Govee light bars over the Phillips brand because of price and no need for a hub. Turns out even though my light bars are listed as a device that will work with their Bluetooth buttons, they don’t actually work with anything.

To find this out was a frustrating process and I’ve seen several other users on here find out their own device isn’t supported the same way. False advertising. Many people also seem to complain about the trash gateway system they have.

I bought a smart light so it could connect to things and actually function as a smart device, but I might as well have bought a regular rgb bar on a switch.

My objective would be to have some lights and sensors in my studio, it's not that complex and I could go with any brand at this point, but I would like something that is good for its price and have a good ecosystem for future expansion.

I have tried PHILIPS Hue and Nanoleaf ecosystems in the past years and I have to say they have fallen hard in quality especially their Apps are extremely unintuitive and got worse with updates - enshittification is real!

Govee seems interesting for the price - How really is it tho? From the app, to the bugs, to the ecosystem and quality, would you consider it?

I'm getting ready to install my govee permanent outdoor lights pro and I'm a bit nervous. My question is, how well do the lights hold up long term? My neighbor had some installed and they either fell down or he took them down. I don't want to use just the 3m take that comes with it so I'm looking for more secure ways to attach the lights. I've seen people 3d printing mounting brackets and have considered that. What are the recommendations for the most secure way to install the lights, and also how well are your lights holding up?

Done some googling and seems mostly a matter of preference/£?

Apparently Govee has a better app/better quality but for the price Lepro is decent, however the app isn’t great

Does this seem about right? Does anyone have anything much to add?

Can deal with a touch of frustration from the app for the price I reckon, looking at ceiling lights-Lepro is £27 down from £50 whereas Govee is £56 down from £70

This for me is a fairly substantial difference particularly as I’m looking to update at least 2 lights plus somewhere around 15 bulbs (albeit not all at once) Govee bulbs currently £12.34 down from £19, Lepro £14 down from £17 for reference

Prefer to stick with one brand for ease of having everything in one app otherwise I’d just get one of each and see!

I’d prefer

Every clip or photo i see featuring Govee, it is always in the context of a party or special occasion (flashy lights, constantly changing colours etc.). And the rooms tend to be really dark, with just the Govee lights showing of.

But how good is Govee for everyday use? For me personally, i need good and reliable lights that are strong enough for reading and doing stuff in general.

Has anyone bought these and what's your experience?

TIA.

Until this point believed that I would only enjoy the nice usable Bright warm white light in the daytime. & then fun scenes with purple and blue and pink and yellow moving at night ( like dreamlike and dreamland a, b, d; candlelight as we’re wind down and I read and he games. It’s been a while since we updated our Govee system so if anyone has any awesome recommendations for us as a couple that would be so sweet thank you so much in advance once again!! ❤️❤️ 🦋🐻🫧

Earlier I went to the auto shop and I saw that they had led strips for the cars and I was interested in them. I didn’t want to buy from them though because I already own quite a few Govee lights and trust the company. I felt inspired and saw that there was a flash sale and I bought the underglow lights and the strip lights.

I saw good reviews but I remember reading some bad ones on here so I want to know what are the goods/bad about the lights.

I bought a few smart bulbs on amazon and i'm having issues with them. First of all, I love how bright they are and how vivid the colors are but that's about all they have going for them.

-I can only control them via Bluetooth or by using Google home. Why are they advertised as Wifi smart bulbs? If I can control them from anywhere in the world using google home, why can't I do the same over wifi with the Govee app? This makes absolutely no sense.

-The automation rules will sometimes not work and resume the next day as if nothing happened. For example, I get home and all the bulbs missed their 16:30 turn ON time. If I turn them ON manually, they'll turn off at their programmed time like they should. If I don't do anything, they'll turn ON at 16:30 the next day as they should have the day before. This happens once every few weeks, why?

-They don't sync with each others and it's infuriating! Years ago I bought some LEPro RGB bulbs from amazon, they were cheap, like 25$ for 4. These will run the same effect without ever loosing their sync, even for days! The Govee bulbs start to get out of sync almost immediately and after a few hours, each bulb is just doing it's own thing. Why? I love running slowwww fade effects and this sync issue totally kills the show.

At 20$ a bulb, I was expecting MUCH better functionality. I bought these instead of more cheaper LEPro bulbs because I have many Govee LED strips around the house and absolutely love them. These bulbs are bright and look beautiful but the awful software they're running makes them a bad product.

Hey everyone,

I’m kinda stuck on choosing a brand for my set-up. I like govee because its cheaper than phillips and it is more customisable. But I also like phillips because I can connect it to homekit and it connects to razer chroma aswell.

Please help me out!

As you may guess from the title, I am trying to weigh the value of Phillips Hue to Govee Smart Home lights.

I currently have a single Hue bulb in a lamp in my bedroom (with a Hub connected to my router) and a Govee light strip under my desk in the office. I also have a normal standing lamp with normal bulbs connected to a smart plug from Smart Life.

I HATE having to go to a million different brands to control lights and right now I have more than I want. Luckily, the Google Home app keeps it all (mostly) in check since I try to only buy products I know have integration with it. So while it is manageable, I want to find an alternative to that standing lamp setup I mentioned.

I am trying to decide if it is worth it to get more Hue Bulbs or get Govee Bulbs to put in this lamp. Hue is so expensive but I know they are super quality, integrate well, and have good levels of brightness and color range. Not to mention, I already am invested in the ecosystem since I have the Hub. I only have experience with a Govee RGB strip, so I don't know how their bulbs stack up with their cheaper price. Are they gonna get as bright as Hue? Are they reliable for years to come? As far as their integration, I am pretty confident since they are super easy to set up and talk to Google Home. Does anyone have experience specifically with these bulbs or have any thoughts on them?

Appreciate the help!

I won a free set of LED strip lights from Govee a few weeks back, after entering a contest on this subreddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/razer/comments/wg04i3/giveaway_from_govee/); I was asked to post a review of them in return, so here we go.

The back of the box, for reference, is here:

https://imgur.com/VrhRQQB

The kit came with 10 meters/33 feet of light strip attached to a dongle, a detachable power cord, some mounting hardware and alcohol wipes I didn't use, and some written instructions I ignored.

The dongle has three big buttons: one for power, one for cycling through a selection of solid default colours, and one for cycling through colours with audio activation (which I personally found super distracting, but it's there for those who want it).

https://imgur.com/nwWKaFf

The idea was to just wrap it around the inside of my desk hutch (got the desk second hand over 20 years ago, and it was old then) to create enough ambient light that I could use my system at night with the lights off (so as to not disturb the family's tortoise with whom my desk now shares space with) and not be straining my eyes in pitch darkness.

https://imgur.com/ep8pOQE

The power plug was too wide to go into my UPS and still keep it flush to the side of the hutch, so I zip tied up a cheap extension cord to plug the power plug into, and crammed it next to my subwoofer. (I don't see any of it with the monitor in place.)

https://imgur.com/NHV8VOR

I cleaned the hutch area with hand sanitizer and a face cloth - the provided alcohol wipes were small and my hutch was dusty. With the area cleaned, and using just the adhesive backing on the LED strip, I ran it up one side of the hutch, across the bottom of the shelves at the back, down the other side, and 80% of the way across the bottom. I was reluctant to cut it at all, so I just left the excess on the roll and crammed it behind my subwoofer.

https://imgur.com/l1GwPic https://imgur.com/zEpQvbt

I installed the app on my phone, and was at first very dismayed by the size (~400MB!) and some of the User Agreement language, but after installing it, I only had to give it my email address to create an account, and for some reason I can't figure, it required location permissions to actually connect to the LEDs.

https://imgur.com/DCy58jo https://imgur.com/FDUvN9I https://imgur.com/2XVP1dR

The app states it only uses the 2.4GHz band, but still sees my 5GHz band, and it's the first choice to log in to alphabetically, so... eh. Once running the app had quite a few customization options for the LEDs, including dozens of mixed colour and movement patterns, as well as some ambient settings with accompanying sound effects (think 'rainfall' sounds with twinkling blue/white LEDs, or 'forest' sounds with green/yellow patterns). I ultimately settled on the 'Night' preset, which was subtle and didn't blink/flash, but had a two-toned colour pattern I liked.

The app also has an in-build store to purchase more of the company's products, but in my case I can safely ignore it since I just had to pick my pattern once and forget about it, turning the LEDs on and off from the physical power button.

https://imgur.com/ziNt9b0

I think it looks pretty good, and hits the sweet spot between straining my eyes in the dark and having the full force of the room lights on at 3AM. I am concerned about how well the adhesive in the strip will hold, but it's been a few days now, and it seems to be fine - if need be, there's always that mounting hardware it came with that I didn't use. A little more diffusion of the LEDs themselves would be nice; I might in the future look for some frosted plastic diffusion strips or some kind of translucent tape to cover it with to smooth out the light a bit.

---

Addendum: Razer Chroma compatibility? Well finding how to activate that wasn't obvious from the app interface, but there was a Razer logo in the settings, so clicked that, and it gave me a long set of instructions and hoops to jump through to connect the app to my PCs Synapse 3 installation. It looked like a headache, and I was happy with the Night colour preset, so I honestly didn't bother.

Addendum 2: I have Kraken 7.1 V2s (turns out Synapse 3 ignores these), a Tartarus V2 and I temporarily stole back my Blackwidow Chroma V2 from my wife's rig. Have to download more software, this time the Govee Desktop suite. Yay, more EULA reading! Wait. No EULA was presented by the installer. And suddenly (dons tinfoil hat) I am more concerned that the LEDs have a microphone. Not that I'm harbouring any international secret-worthy information, but still, it's a little creepy. At least it let me choose where it installs and didn't just unceremoniously dump itself on the C drive - I hate when software does that.

And I was right. The software is less than helpful. It didn't find my LEDs automatically, and there are no options for settings or anything to figure out why. The instructions said something about enabling LAN Control in the app on my phone, to make the desktop software see the LEDs so that the Synapse software on my desktop can see them (yikes), but my phone app lacks that option for some reason, and yes it's fully updated as far as I can tell. My desktop is wired, and the lights are obviously wi-fi, so since I'm not going to go out and buy a wi-fi nic/dongle for my desktop just for these lights, I guess that's where my review ends.

If they're going to use Chroma compatibility as a selling point, they're going to have to make sure it actually works. Guess it's back to the 'Night' preset for me.

Addendum 3: I am stubborn and have free time to waste today, so I dug up an old D-Link USB Wi-fi dongle for the sake of completion. Connected to the same wi-fi, the desktop software still can't see the LEDs, and I still have no LAN Control option in the phone app, even after deleting/re-adding the LEDs to it. Both the desktop software and the phone app appear to be in need up some updating.

---

TLDR: I taped some lights to my desk. Thanks Govee for the free swag, Thanks r/Razer for the contest, and thanks to u/Zhaopow for (randomly) picking me. :D