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?

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.

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 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

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?

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?

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?

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.

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.

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!

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.

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

Hey there! I have been looking at led strips for my room and found a lot of options. Online most people seemed to like the Govee products and I wanted to know if the rgbic leds was worth the extra $20. I got a cheap Nexillumi Strip, but when I tried it the lights were too far apart. I also found the govee lights here for much cheaper. Does anyone know if the vendor is safe? Thanks!

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!! ❤️❤️ 🦋🐻🫧

This may very well be one of us redditors, but I thought I would post it here because it is very helpful for customization.

***I have been researching permanent outdoor Christmas lights. I can save you a few hours of research in a few minutes of reading.

You can hire companies to install lights for you. Will cost around $3,000 depending on your house. Jellyfish, oelo, trimlight, and several others. Some of them will sell you a kit to install yourself. Will save about $1,000 or so. Most have their own propriety app and many have very poor reviews.

There are a few companies that sell diy light kits. Permatrack and Shawtech lighting. $600-$1000. One has their own app the uses wled. Both kits require a lot of assembly but extremely customizable.

Govee is interesting since it’s the lowest price point. They achieved this since they are a large company, their kit uses less leds than all the others, there’s no channel, and they don’t offer any customization for their kit besides length.

The lack of customization is going to turn a lot of people off. The issue with the Govee kit is most homes will need to jump gaps to illuminate different soffits. Meaning areas you don’t want lights to show up at. The 100’ kit includes one 12’ blank wire. That’s it… This kit will not fit most homes if you care about aesthetics.

On my home I have three gaps to jump. That means cutting and soldering in extensions. I have some soldering experience but not a ton. I have a $25 iron so nothing fancy at all. If you are intimidated by it don’t be. This is very basic soldering and very easy to do.

To test this I hooked up one strand and cut off the end plug. Still worked fine as expected. I then cut off the last led light. Again no issues all the others work fine. Then I added in a 12” extension and also no issues. I bought 3 cord 20 gauge ribbon cable from Amazon and heat-shrunk all connections. Tested and works great.

Right now I have 1/3 or my house done. I plan to finish this up over the next week. Once I do I will update my review once completed. I wanted to get the review out so people were aware you can modify this kit and it works great. I tested what’s there tonight and love the lights. Very bright and lots of different things you can do.

edit

I finished the install yesterday and uploaded a couple videos. Sorry for the yelling toddlers.

I ended up soldering in 5 extensions. One was 12" and the others were at least a few feet. The power supply will do 150' of leds so adding a bunch of extensions to the 100' kit shouldnt be any issue at all. What you have to be mindful of is voltage drop, but if you are not adding more led strands you might be able to theoretically extend the kit quite a bit. Later on down the line I might try to throw in 100' extension to reach my shed in the backyard. Maybe...

As I mentioned earlier use 20 gauge 3 wire ribbon cable. Its flat like what comes with it but will probably 3 color wires. Get a decent soldering iron thats $20-$25 or so. The really cheap ones really suck. Use heat shrink. I would recommend white but if you use black against a white soffit I will tell you the easy way to conceal it better down below.

Consider renting a cherry picker if you are going up 20'+. Im comfortable on a 24' little giant with the piece that mounts to the top to stabilize it more. A cherry picker would have been nice and you can rent them for pretty cheap. Couple hundred bucks maybe.

If your ribbon cable or heat shrink is not white to match your soffits buy a can of white plastidip (sold at home depot and lowes) and spray it once its installed. It sticks to everything and is extremely durable.

The govee kit does not include enough plastic brackets to help hold up wire. Because im customizing I needed more than normal. The screws it comes with the brackets are not self tapping so they are a pain to screw into the soffit. Especially on a ladder. At home depot and lowes you can buy cable clips in different styles. Those are hammered in to your soffit. They make flat ones that will hold up the ribbon cable very well. $8 for a large container.

Each led is addressable in the app. You can control each individual led to do whatever you want which is amazing. But the app is very mediocre. Basic commands are fine, but to fully customize its extremely cumbersome. But at least its doable.

Its super bright and the pattern it leaves on the siding is awesome. Its RGB so no white diode. That means cool white looks fine, but warm white is very meh. I wish it had a white diode in the led but at this price I cant complain.

My main suggestion is to plan before you do your install. Measure soffit lengths where you are installing and then plan accordingly. Direction is important because the lights will flow from one end to the other. I was soldering 20' in the air on a ladder because im a perfectionist. I wanted the jumps in exact locations so I could conceal wiring as much as possible. If you plan better than me you can do it all on the ground. Or rent a cherry picker and make your life so easy.

I cut up the last strand a lot. It was in several pieces because I kept changing things. Be mindful of the direction of the wiring. Its three white wires but one is marked with a gray dashed line. Make sure that line is connected to the same wire all the way down your strand AND its in the same direction. Also anytime you make changes plug in your kit to test to make sure it all illuminates.

I made a mistake and came up short on my 4th strand to finish my house. I cut off two leds from the 5th strand and soldered them in but they would not work. When I refreshed the strand in the app it would light up but would not light up at all besides that. I think there needs to be a minimum of four because in the app a strand is four leds. I didn't test this in depth but be mindful if you come up short and need to add in some leds from an unused strand. I ended up removing the prior 10 leds and repositioning to it fit my soffit correctly. Total time I spent was about 12 hours, but now its done for good. (hopefully)

Sorry its so long, but I know customizing this is going to be popular. Especially at this price point. Nobody else on the market can compete right now. Its a really great kit and looks amazing. After spraying the pieces that were not white its very well concealed. Cant see it from the street at all in broad daylight, you need to be under the soffit to notice them. Even then its not very noticeable.

Hopefully govee gets better stock of these and more people get to enjoy it. Dont be afraid to modify this kit, it works very well. The soldering needed is very basic, anyone can do it. My kids love the lights.

Edit: here is the link for the lights, and reviews… https://a.co/d/3RdZLGw

Has anyone bought these and what's your experience?

I don’t think you guys understand how sick Govee lights are!!! I hate to sound like an ad but I know if you guys are fans you’re going to like them as much as me. They INCREDIBLY enhance the immersiveness for me. I’m the kind of guy that loves visuals especially and the way these lights go is crazy. I honestly wasn’t sure how much I’d like them but I love them. My favorite scene is in episode 9 and I keep rewatching it with these lights because it just changed everything for me. I had to rewatch the entire season and the lights added so much emotion to it. 😭😭❤️ check out this video for an idea on what they look like.