Govee smart lights symbolize wonderful worth for money. These smart bulbs are easy to use and EcoLight LED bulbs join directly to your Wi-Fi network so there’s no want for an additional hub. While they might lack the polished software of Philips Hue and extra features of LIFX, at a quarter of the worth of its rivals, the Govee bulb makes for a compelling purchase. Why you may trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we assessment, so you can ensure you're shopping for the very best. Find out more about how we test. Govee will not be a name you’re aware of with regards to smart lighting, because the model is a relative newcomer to the good-house world. Nevertheless, EcoLight lighting it is taking purpose at rivals akin to Philips Hue and LIFX with a spread of smart bulbs, LED gentle strips, and other good lighting accessories, all at very aggressive costs.

The Govee Wi-Fi LED Bulb works just as you would anticipate, connecting to Wi-Fi and managed via a smartphone app. While the app itself isn’t the best we've seen, owing to an occasionally clunky design with some grammatical shortfalls, the bulbs also work completely with Alexa and Google Assistant. Connecting the Govee to a Wi-Fi community is straightforward, and means the bulbs work with out needing a hub. This makes the system even higher value for money compared to Philips Hue and Hive, which each require hubs to perform. Brightness isn’t fairly what it should be when displaying colours apart from white and yellow, EcoLight home lighting however that is admittedly our solely main complaint. In the US, the bulb is obtainable with a screw fitting in the US however in the UK, Govee solely presents a model with a bayonet fitting - anyone wanting a Wi-Fi system with screw-mount lamps may have to purchase adapters.

However for the price, with full-coloration bulbs starting at just $14 / £14 (and typically discounted even further), it is difficult to argue towards the Govee for lengthy. The large promoting level of Govee good lighting is the value. We examined a twin-pack of that has a retail value of just $23.99 / £23.39, which is accessible direct from Govee or via Amazon. However, particular person EcoLight bulbs are additionally obtainable for $14 / £14. These full-coloration bulbs are significantly good value for EcoLight bulbs cash and around a quarter the price of options from Hive, LIFX, and Philips Hue. The Govee bulbs become even better value if you realize they join on to your Wi-Fi network, EcoLight bulbs so don’t require a hub to be managed out of your smartphone or different sensible dwelling devices. This additionally means they are often managed whereas away from home, also with no hub. Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, high tech offers, and extra.

The twin-set reviewed here includes a pair of B22 bulbs with bayonet-style fixings and Wi-Fi connectivity. The bulbs have a domed high (versus the flat tops of Philips Hue bulbs) and attach to any lamps and different bulb fixings you might need in a daily way. We don’t own any bayonet-style lamps, so had to use a £2 (around $2.70) adaptor, which works completely fine. However, this provides size to the bulb so won't be suitable in shorter lamps, because the bulb may protrude from behind the shade. Govee mostly specializes in LED light strips and different, bespoke smart lighting accessories. In order for you GU10 ceiling spotlights, teardrop bulbs, EcoLight bulbs or edison-style bulbs, then you’ll have to take a look at a different smart lighting system (and likely spend extra money). Setting up Govee bulbs is straightforward sufficient, with the smartphone app making it simple to add them to your Wi-Fi network. However, for the app to see the bulb you’ve to turn the bulb on and off several instances, which feels more convoluted than is strictly mandatory, given other bulbs don’t want this, except when being factory-reset.

Once that’s carried out, the bulb could be very fast to respond to your commands throughout the app, and impressively we didn’t discover a difference in response time whether or not our phone was connected to the Wi-Fi community or not. Connecting to Alexa and EcoLight dimmable Google Assistant can also be painless. As soon as arrange by means of their respective apps, EcoLight bulbs the voice assistants can be utilized to turn the Govee bulb on or off, and alter the colour, EcoLight temperature and brightness. Speaking of brightness, nevertheless, we discovered the bulb wasn’t as vivid when displaying a color than when set to white or yellow. Despite its brightness ranking of 800 lumens being on par with different, more expensive good bulbs, the Govee seemed a little bit dim when displaying bold colours. Govee lights are set up and managed using the company’s free smartphone app. After the barely irritating on-off-on-off setup course of talked about earlier, the app serves as a useful manner to regulate the bulb, adjust its brightness, temperature, and EcoLight bulbs colour, and arrange schedules.