Over the past year, Govee has expanded its smart light offerings to include a new category: permanent Holiday lights. These types of lights are designed to be put up once and used all year long, allowing you to change the colors, patterns, and even shapes to fit whatever Holiday is coming up next.
In particular, I'm referencing three products from the company: Govee Permanent Outdoor Lights, Govee Christmas String Lights, and Govee Smart Curtain Lights. I've been using the Permanent Outdoor Lights for the past year and have had the pleasure of letting the Smart Curtain Lights illuminate the far section of my office since August.
Both the Curtain and Permanent Outdoor Lights are truly wonderful products that just keep getting better over time, especially with the latest updates to the Govee app. The best part is that I don't ever have to take them down and reinstall them. They're there when I want to use them and can be easily switched off otherwise.
Govee Curtain Lights
Govee's Curtain Lights are among the coolest smart lights I've ever used. The package comprises 20 vertically hanging LED strands linked together along a horizontal cord. You can hang these from any existing curtain rod or use the included 3M adhesive strips to stick them to any flat surface.
After physical installation, you'll scan the QR code with the Govee Home app and select which orientation you've set the lights up in. From there, you can select the colors and patterns from a preselected set of categories and options, browse the community for community-made patterns, or make your own.
The experience is identical to any other Govee app and they can even be synced with other Govee lights in your home.
Changing the colors and patterns is beyond effortless and just requires a single tap. You can save your favorites from the community to the appropriately named section and one-tap select these later down the road when you want to use them.
The lights are bright enough to help illuminate a dark room but they won't be replacing a dedicated lightbulb, similar to most of the best Govee lights which are mainly designed to be "moody" or festive.
I also really enjoy the fact that these don't use any kind of PWM dimming, converse to most color-changing LED lights on the market. That means I can use them even in a dark room without them making me dizzy since they don't flicker.
Govee Permanent Outdoor Lights: One year later
One year ago, I installed Govee Permanent Outdoor Lights in an effort to spruce up the curbside appearance of my home. The idea behind the lights is that you'll install them once and never have to take them down since the colors and patterns of the lights can be easily changed to match any given holiday.
But, as a person who lives in a very seasonal place, I wondered how well these would hold up after a full year of enduring each season's most harsh conditions.
Impressively enough, the Govee Permanent Outdoor Lights look just as good today as when I published the review.
Govee Permanent Outdoor Lights look just as good today as when I published the review.
Actually, they've gotten even better over the past year thanks to some substantial app and functionality updates that have been introduced since then.
My favorite of which has been the quick community selections in the DIY portion of the app. This new section in the app presents a dozen random selections from the community, giving you easy one-tap access to the best of the best community-made patterns and colors.
Best yet, you can just keep scrolling for more options as you would expect on any good social media app. If you really like one, long-pressing will add it permanently to your favorites, and many options can even be synced with other Govee lights.
And what's next? I'm really looking forward to trying out Govee Christmas String Lights as soon as we get our Christmas tree put up after Thanksgiving this year. I don't know about you, but we have to buy new lights every few years because they just don't last long.
Knowing how well-made Govee lights are and how long they've all lasted me over the years, I'm hoping this is the last pair of Christmas lights we ever have to get for our tree.
Plus, if you wait until Black Friday, I can pretty much guarantee that most (or all) of my favorite Govee lights will be on sale.
Now that Govee seems to have fully sorted its supply-side issues, the company's excellent Permanent Outdoor Lights are readily available for purchase. Plus, if you have the patience to wait until Black Friday, I'm willing to bet they'll go on sale.
