Which Govee Smart Lighting Kit Should You Buy?

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Smart lighting may be the quickest and easiest way to transform a space. It can spruce up your home decor and bring a futuristic feel, enhance your entertainment with synced lights, or change the mood of a room. Govee has quickly become one of our favorite brands in the smart lighting space, democratizing smart lighting with an incredibly versatile and surprisingly affordable range. But it's easy to get confused when you have so much choice. Seriously, Govee has too many products.

Fear not. In this guide, we will explain everything you need to know to find the best Govee smart lights. After extensive testing, we have singled out our top picks in different lighting categories. We also dip into prepping your space for installation, explore connectivity options, and decipher the somewhat cluttered Govee app. Want to explore other brands? You can find many alternatives in our Best Smart Lighting, Best Smart Bulbs, Best Philips Hue Smart Lights, and Best Nanoleaf Smart Lights guides.

Updated April 2024: We added the Neon Rope Light 2, Outdoor Neon Rope Light, TV Backlight 3 Lite, Galaxy Light Projector Pro, Permanent Outdoor Lights Pro, and honorable mentions and what to avoid sections with a couple of entries each, removed a discontinued light, and updated prices.

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Blazing bright, packed with vibrant color LEDs, and surprisingly affordable, the Govee M1 Light Strip is perfect for recessed areas in your home. The first Govee product to win me over was its economical light strips (we have several). At the cheapest end, there are single-color strips, but the best light strips have addressable zones, which means they can display multiple colors simultaneously for fancy effects. Like most Govee light strips, the M1 also supports music syncing. But the real reason to choose it is because it was the first Govee device to support Matter, meaning you can use it with Apple Homekit.

While you can change colors, brightness, or turn it off with your chosen smart home platform, you must dip into the Govee app if you want effects. Sadly, unlike some competitors, this light strip cannot be trimmed to fit your space, and it only comes in 6.5-feet (2-meter) or 16.4-feet (5-meter) lengths. If you don’t care about Matter, save some money with one of Govee’s RGBIC LED Light Strips.

Most light strips need to be installed in a recessed spot so the LEDs don’t dazzle you, but Govee’s diffused Neon Rope Light 2 looks good enough to remain in full view. You can mount it and bend it into curved shapes. I have the original Neon Rope Light installed on my stairs, but the latest version is more flexible. It works great as a subtle night-light but can also cycle through colors and play animations. Adhesive-backed metal brackets keep it in place (you get 10 in the box), and you can fix them more securely with the provided screws if you want. The Neon Rope Light 2 also comes with longer bendable clips, making it easier to get creative with your design (Govee has a bunch of suggestions in the app).

Both models work with Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa, but the Neon Rope Light 2 boasts Matter support out of the box, so also works with Apple HomeKit or Samsung SmartThings. You can use voice controls to turn the light on and off, change brightness, and choose solid colors, but you need to load the app to change scenes or have the “AI” generate animations based on your design (this requires you to shoot a short video). There is also a control unit with physical buttons for power, music syncing, and color cycling. On the downside, transitions can appear blocky because the LEDs are segmented, and you can’t extend this strip. Minor quibbles aside, it looks great and works reliably.

I also tested the Govee Outdoor Neon Rope Light (H61A8) ($200). It is mostly identical to the original Neon Rope Light, except that it is 32.8 feet long and IP67-rated for outdoor use, whatever the weather.

While you can get better smart bulbs, Govee’s Smart LED Bulbs are a solid choice if you already have Govee lights and want to put all your lighting under one umbrella. They boast tons of colors, scenes, and effects, and you can schedule them, change the color temperature, and dim them using the Govee app. Although they support Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, your phone connects via Bluetooth, so expect a short delay every time you connect. I prefer to use voice controls through Google Assistant. You can create groups of up to 30 bulbs to share scenes.

There are a few different models, and Govee does not do a great job of differentiating, so to be clear, we’re talking about the H6008 bulb.

For hypnotizing effects, nothing beats Govee’s Glide Hexa Pro 3D Panels. They light up all colors like most smart panels, but the animated effects are unique. You need to take your time with the fiddly installation, plan out your pattern in the app, and follow the linking instructions. You get 10 hexagonal panels that stick to the wall with strong adhesive and slot together with linking cables. They can also sync to music, or you can use Razer's Synapse 3 software to connect the panels to your existing RGB gaming setup.

While the 3D effect is undeniably cool, it might not be ideal for every setting. Thankfully, they don’t look as tacky as I thought they might. It’s a shame they lack touch controls (something Nanoleaf offers). Govee’s regular Hexa Glide panels are similar but without the 3D effect.

These modular bars clip together, and you can use them to form a frame or a big lightning strike on the wall, like we did in our game room. They go impressively bright if you have enough sections (we combined a couple of kits). You can pick any colors and apply them to individual segments. There are also some lovely animated scenes (the rainbow effect is our favorite) and a reactive mode that syncs to music. There’s no physical control option here, so we use Google Assistant to turn the light bars on or off and dip into the app to change colors or scenes.

They are translucent white plastic bars with visible seams between sections, so they look a bit ugly when turned off. Like all wall-mounted smart lighting, you are stuck with a power cable running down the wall.

Govee's AI Gaming Sync Box (8/10, WIRED recommends) is easily one of the best smart lighting options for gamers. Comprised of an RGB strip, two light towers, and an HDMI box capable of accurate color matching. Govee’s algorithms can recognize in-game actions and direct a light show to match. There are super-cool immersive effects for a handful of supported titles, including Apex Legends, Valorant, and Overwatch.

This system is pricey, takes up quite a bit of desk real estate, and requires a fiddly setup with lots of cabling. We’d also like to see Govee add support for more games, but the color-matching effects are solid, and this lighting is highly customizable.

Lighting behind your TV helps the picture pop, and color syncing can add to your immersion for action movies and fast-paced games. Govee’s slightly flawed Flow Pro Light Bars were a decent first attempt, but the Envisual T2 turns everything up to 11. Sadly, it still requires a camera pointed at your screen—that's how it can understand what's happening on the screen and tune the lights to corresponding colors. The color matching and build quality are much improved over the Flow Pro. The light strip gets bright and works well in a dark room as a low-level light source that won’t cause reflections on the screen. The dual camera has a hinge design (no adhesive needed), and there’s a mic in the control box for music syncing.

The installation and configuration are a total pain in the rear, but once completed and tweaked to your liking, this is a great light syncing system. It can also be grouped with other Govee lights to sync them too. Consider the Nanoleaf 4D Kit if you're not tied to Govee.

I also tested the newer and cheaper Govee TV Backlight 3 Lite ($90). It’s an upgrade of Govee’s older TV backlighting and has a single camera, but Govee has added fish-eye correction, warmer whites, and a better clip design. As the price suggests, the 3 Lite is better than the original but not as good as the Envisual T2.