Govee Permanent Outdoor Lights Review

One time, several years ago, I got lazy about taking down holiday decorations and found myself with traditional multi-colored Christmas lights still stapled to the face of our house in June as a result. The shame was real when I finally got out on the ladder over the kids’ summer break to take them down, and it returned when I had to put them back up again a few months later.

I recall grumbling to myself at the time about how someone should make lights that could stay up year-round without looking tacky, and could change colors as needed for other holidays or significant occasions. Fast forward a decade, the Govee Permanent RGBIC Outdoor Lights (available at Amazon) have answered the call.

I tested them recently at my house in Florida in anticipation of college football (and the holiday) season. Here’s what I think.

About the Govee Permanent Outdoor Lights

Govee’s Permanent Outdoor lights help users transform their patio or home exterior with 73 pre-programmed “Scene Modes” and 16 million customizable color options. Each $299 package includes 72 LED eaves spanning 100 linear feet in six segments, and each dimmable, waterproof bulb has a maximum brightness of 26 lumens.

The product is easy to install using provided VHB glue and clips, and the lights are good for an estimated 50,000 hours in temperatures ranging from -4 to 140 degrees, making them a practical option for daily lighting or setting the mood at your next party, game day, or holiday event.

These lights also work with Alexa and Google Assistant, allowing for voice control and other smart scheduling options.

What we like

Setup is so easy it’s nearly automatic

I’ve spent more time than I care to admit tinkering with devices and their companion apps, and I’d be hard-pressed to name a product that was easier to get up and running than the Govee Permanent Outdoor Lights. In fact, connecting to the eaves was almost effortless in the Govee Home app, which automatically detected the strip lights the moment I plugged them in and guided me through a step-by-step process.

In this case, I benefited from using the app to control other Govee lights. However, first-time users should find initial registration a quick, simple process. Govee does most of the legwork from there, only making configuration as complicated as you want.

There are lots of customization options

There are myriad ways to add flair to your house with the Govee Permanent Outdoor Lights, with 16 million colors and options including everything from mood to birthstone, and customized down to the individual bulb in the app.

The dimming function on the lights allows you to draw as much (or as little) attention to your setup as you choose, depending on the vibe or occasion. There are also dozens of pre-set “Scenes” evoking emotions, holidays, nature, and more—plus DIY settings and an Effects Lab where your imagination can really run wild.

If anything, one could argue that there are too many options, especially when you start to fall down the rabbit hole of advanced “effects” available through the app. Ultimately, however, I found the base settings easy to understand, making it simple to manipulate my backyard layout as needed.

The lights are useful year-round

Holiday displays may be the most obvious use case for the Govee Permanent Outdoor Lights, but I’d expect many users will find regular (if not daily) reasons to power them up after installation—which, by the way, is an easy peel-and-stick process that takes less than 10 seconds per bulb.

Reasons for use run the gamut, but even when set to emit basic “white light” (a spectrum also adjustable from “warm” to “cold” in the app), I found the Govee outdoor lights provided comparable nighttime visibility to the market lights already framing our backyard shade sail.

What we don’t like

The bulbs aren’t as discreet as other Govee products

Whereas other Govee products, including the RGBIC Outdoor Strip Lights, lay flat on whatever surface they are attaching to, the permanent outdoor lights are more conspicuous, with each bulb rising about an inch above the surface.

Additionally, each bulb is attached to the surface individually (as opposed to the entire strip having an adhesive back), with added screw clips to ensure it’s securely fastened.

The style of the strip doesn’t dramatically change the view when viewing a home from a distance, and the added “bulk” doesn’t add any notable weight. But some who prefer the flat look (or don’t want visible strip lighting attached year-round) may be willing to sacrifice other specs to achieve that aesthetic.

It’s a relatively expensive investment

You definitely get what you pay for when you buy the Govee Permanent Outdoor Lights, but that doesn’t mean it won’t cost you. The 100-foot set I tested checks in at $299 on Amazon, and the 150-foot set is also priced similarly, at about $3 per linear foot. A 50-foot option is also available but will cost you an extra dollar per foot relative to the longer packs.

The lights are not trimmable like some strip lights, so you want to take some time to plot out the area you want to light to buy the appropriate length.

In my case, the back fascia of my house measured 54 feet long, and when I came up four feet short with the initial 50-foot strip, I wished I’d been more thoughtful about centering the lights before I installed them.

Certain features, like sound detection, could be improved

To paraphrase Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park, one could make the case that Govee engineers were so preoccupied with whether or not they could include a feature in this product that they didn't stop to think about whether it was truly necessary.

That is to say: The customization features included through the Govee Home app are cool and all, but sometimes it feels like the product is trying to do too much.

One of the features I was most intrigued by was the ability to sync the lighting to sound. But, other background noises (including the air handler, chirping birds, and cars driving nearby) made it more challenging to set the lights to music or speech than I hoped.

The technology definitely works, but I don’t see it as something I’d use often in its current state—which is true for many of the scenes and other effects baked into the software.

Should you buy Govee Permanent Outdoor Lights?

Yes, this is an easy holiday season upgrade for year-round use

If I had a dollar for every time I’ve had to throw away a string of Christmas lights that didn’t work, didn’t match, were twinkling for no reason, or had simply gone out of style, I would probably use the bounty to purchase some Govee Permanent Outdoor Lights—which are truly a game-changer when it comes to holiday light displays.

Like my favorite Christmas tree, it’s a relatively expensive seasonal upgrade that’s well worth the investment on that basis alone. And with these lights, you can leave them up and put them to use all year long without getting weird looks from your neighbors.