Is it bright in here or is someone steaming some hams?
RGB LED lightstrips have gone from niche gamer accessories to mainstays of modern housing decor. Brands from all corners of the market are now vying for your pick when it comes to lighting solutions, and this competition has led to innovations like brighter colours, more connectivity, sound responsive functions, and more. Govee is one such brand offering a lightstrip that can essentially do it all, with the Govee Strip Light 2 Pro.
The Govee Strip Light 2 Pro features densely packed RGBWWIC diodes (including warm and cool whites) that can basically do it all, as long as you’re happy with the Govee App’s definition of it all.
The Govee Strip Light 2 Pro comes well packaged with required power and fitting accessories all in the box. These are powered by a figure eight cable to a power box which then plugs into the controller, which in turn connects to the lights. The strip is on a spool, which is quite handy for trying out different placements and moving the lights around. Once you’ve made your choice, the adhesive strip comes away easily, and holds fast to its fixed position—so far, so good for my review setup.
This strip boasts a tonne of cut points meaning you can easily cut it down to fit your desired area, but extending it is much more challenging.
(Image credit: Future)
Length: 5 m (also available in 2 and 10 m)
Connectivity: 2.4 GHz Wi Fi + Bluetooth
Colours: RGBWWIC
Control: Mobile app recommended. Desktop app and Matter support for basic control.
Customise: Lots of cut points. Difficult to rejoin but possible.
Features: Mic for sound response
Price: $100 | £100 – 5 m
Govee’s website doesn’t say whether or not this strip is extendable, but the Amazon listing implied it. The pin points on the strip also look like they’ve been layered and joined to start with, so it seemed likely. Plus, I had some 4 pin connectors on hand, so I cut the strip a few times at pin points to try extending it. There’s a translucent plastic sealing over the front of the strip so I had to pull that back to expose more of the metal, and I removed as much of the solder as I could without having proper tools. My connectors are fairly standard but these strips are a bit thicker so I had to file down the inside of the connectors to get the strips to fit, but voila, we had light. Sort of.
In all of my tests I’d lose the green LEDs in sections closest to my cut point, sometimes I could get them to come back with pressure but usually not so much. As such, this strip is perhaps not the most DIY friendly. But, with proper tools or joiners, or even the ability to clear the solder better, I’d call these extendable. That’s if the app allows it.
One of the biggest selling points and hindrances of Govee’s current lineup, including the Govee Strip Light 2 Pro, is the only way to get full control is through Govee’s mobile app. Sure, they connect to most smart homes via Matter but you get fairly limited operation. Govee offers a desktop app too, but it’s also pretty bare bones. For anything more complex than turning it on or off or using predefined scenes, you’re likely going to be back at the mobile app, for better or worse.
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
The mobile app, Govee Home, is the true dichotomy of software. It swings between being quite simple to use and able to do a whole lot, to specifically limiting and a bit convoluted. There’s just so many menus as well as a social hub and a rewards section all packed into the same UI.
For the Strip Light 2 Pro, it’s easy to do things like change the colours, even by section. You can set some cool moving light effects, pick a palette, and have them respond to sound through their own mic or your device. They even sync up with other Govee and Razer RGB lit stuff with DreamView scenes. Telling different sections to be a specific colour and then respond to sound, however, isn’t possible.
The App is also needed to calibrate the lights, which includes telling the app how long it is after you’ve altered it with some scissors. It’s fairly intuitive, and especially handy if you want to use it as a monitor backlighting or desk runner and need those specifics dialled in. I didn’t have extra to add to it so I’m not sure how the app would handle adding sections, or how much one power unit can handle, but judging by the size of the power brick on it I’d expect it to light LEDs for dayz.
Both the colour and brightness on these lights are powerful and vibrant. I’ve caught a glimpse of flicker now and then on the lowest lumens, but at all other settings they’ve been steadfast. Thanks to those capable diodes, you can get beautiful gradients between colours, and they look stunning peeking out from under a desk.
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
✅ You like the Govee App: If you’ve got some Govee kit already and are happy with what the app offers then these are a great choice. Plus you can even sync them together with Dreamview.
✅ You want easy, beautiful colours: This strip features high quality densely packed RGBWWIC diodes that deliver the full spectrum and create beautiful gradients in between.
✅ You want options: Even while testing these lights I wasn’t really sure where to put them because there’s a lot you can do with lights this capable. These offer full colour range, including warm and cold whites for potential mirror or keylighting, complete with gradient capabilities, and integrated sound response.
❌ You just want some coloured lights: These lights are pretty pricy, but they also do a whole lot. If you’re not too fussed about particular colours or features you can get light strips far cheaper than this.
❌ You want lights visible on camera: The diodes on these are just too bright for that even on the lighter settings and will blow out most webcams with ease. These do a great job for lighting things from behind, but if those LEDs are directly pointed at the lens it’s likely not going to work.
❌ You want to extend: These lights are easy to cut down but a bit trickier to extend. Unless you’re very confident in your DIY abilities these will likely give you trouble.
These boast the full RGBIC spectrum complete with warm and cool whites. As such, they can suit any use case fairly easily, including key lighting if you diffuse them or settle them far enough away.
The hues all match up perfectly with the other Govee lights in my house too, creating a really cohesive look. If you’ve got one of the screen reading cameras from another Govee kit, it can even potentially do screen mirroring. The LEDs are too bright to be directed right at a camera for streaming, or probably pointed too directly at anyone’s eyeballs, but they easily handle throwing light from hidden spaces like under desks, behind monitors, or all over my drum kit.
Govee’s lightstrips have proven to be vivid, bright, and capable, but they aren’t the cheapest. The LED Strip Light 2 Pro retails for $100 | £100 for a five metre strip which is fairly on par for most reputable brands. You can get far cheaper strips out there that might suit your needs, but they’ll likely not look as good or do as much.
For the price, this strip is definitely one of the strongest and most feature complete, as long as you only want to do what Govee has planned for. Setting up a whole house with reels of strips, all working together on a vibe that syncs to music, would be as simple as a few taps in the app. Cutting specific lengths to rejoin and create sections not so much.
For someone wanting easy access to auroras, Govee’s LED Strip Light 2 Pro has a lot to offer. You get all of the colours, connectivity, and sound responsiveness included in the one package, that’s a breeze to get set up and flashing away to your tunes, games, or movies. It’s just not going to be the best choice for your super specific DIY lighting project.
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