My backyard made me a smart color changing light switch

I agree. I was wrong. Stylish and fun lighting for your smart home – well, outdoors, at least.

Smart lighting it’s one of my favorite things about a smart home – it combines flexibility with form, allowing you to customize it the overall look of your room I just click a button. But, more than that sometimes pop of colorvery much in children’s rooms and outside on vacation, I haven’t found much use for color changing lights. I love the subtle white light effect combined with dimming for indoor lighting, and that love extends to outdoor lighting as well. Until this summer.

With the influx of new outdoor lighting products over the past year or so, I thought I’d take a look at how smart outdoor lighting has gotten: They’re color-changing and lighting products, along with The value of RGBICW (where you get colors and whites and you can control the LEDs individually), worth the extra money, or is it still pretty rather than pretty?

To find out, I tried different string lights, “fixed” outdoor lights, a large chandelier, and a wall light in my yard. Overall, smart outdoor lighting has come a long way, and while there is potential to go over the top, today’s options offer a great combination of fun and style – if you stick to one type. I focused on Govee in this case because it offers one of the widest fairways and has several wild options, including an 8-foot light wall.

Well-placed lighting always has the potential to enhance the beauty of your backyard or the ambiance of your backyard party, but connected, color-changing lighting offers several benefits. First, one setup works all year round. Instead of changing your lights for different seasons, you can simply use an app to change the look. And if you’re creating smart lighting, having the option to add color gives you flexibility.

I did Govee Prism outdoor lighting put on my house, and while I usually stick with the white face light, in the past few months I decorated my ears with different colors. These include shades of pink for Valentine’s Day, green and gold for St. Patrick, a beautiful pastel for Easter, red, white, and blue for Memorial Day, orange and purple for when my son was accepted to Clemson University, and then his school colors – orange and blue – for his graduation this month. (I can’t seem to escape the orange.)

Second, there is the benefit of communication; app control allows you to set your lights on schedule, sunrise and sunset, and control them easily with voice commands. Combined with motion sensors, outdoor lights can be a great security feature, lighting up the path while you’re walking or lighting up dark areas in your yard. I made about Govee outdoor lamp holder in my backyard, and when I go out at night to check on the chickens, it lights up as I approach. This is where I have found outdoor lighting to be the most beneficial for my yard, maximizing the use of my garden in the evening.

Today, colorful outdoor lighting still works best if you stick to one color. That’s because many interesting features – such as dynamic lighting – depend on proprietary software. Dynamic lighting is a great word for lighting, interaction, and display. These effects can also sync with music, TV, or computers to create a more immersive experience. Outside, music synchronization is very effective, helping to create instant excitement.

There are many outdoor lighting options with a variety of lighting options, including Nanoleaf, Philips Hue, Lifx, GE Cyncand Home Depot’s Hampton Baybut for variety and price range, it’s hard to beat Govee. Its product range has grown exponentially over the past few years, with new additions to each category, and it’s much cheaper than Hue’s outdoor products, which are the closest in terms of options.

Almost all of Govee’s new products support the Matter level of connectivity, and all work with Alexa and Google Home for voice control and lighting with other lights. I have an Amazon Alexa routine where I say, “Alexa, test the garden,” and all the lights come on. (Matter does not support dynamic lighting at this time, but it can control color changing, editing, and on/off).

Govee uses Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for setup and control. I’ve found that its Wi-Fi connection can last a long time – that’s one reason I prefer Philips Hue for my indoor lighting, with its strong Zigbee connection. But with Bluetooth as a backup, you can control the Govee’s lights with your phone as long as you’re close to it, which is usually when you want to change colors or turn on a feature. Govee’s software is a little less polished than its competitors, but it offers a lot of flexibility once you learn your technique.

I’ve found Govee’s AI Lighting Bot useful when nothing is pre-programmed, and I didn’t want to waste time creating my own. At the end of my son’s education, I asked him to make a “drama using orange and blue” on Govee standard outdoor lighting I put it in front of my house, and it made a beautiful sound that didn’t move around the edges.

The most fun we’ve had with the AI ​​Lighting Bot, however, has been with it Govee’s Lightwall. About 8 feet wide, the curtain-like light comes with its own frame, so you can place it anywhere in your yard for a perfect viewing experience—think outdoor cinema.

During the Kentucky Derby, my husband asked Govee to think carefully about the horse races and the runners. Its 35fps was nowhere near video quality, but enjoyable nonetheless. During my son’s card game in the evening, he and his friends played Spades, illuminated by the beautiful hand of cards on the Lightwall. He’s so easy to carry, so we took him to his graduation party, and it made the party really cool. But at $450, it’s more of a novelty than a necessity.

My favorite outdoor lights are still string lights. This combines lighting for work, decoration, and appearance, allowing you to go from bright white while preparing dinner on the grill to soft, more beautiful vibes at the push of a button. I recently swapped out the Nanoleaf outdoor bulbs hanging on my porch for new ones Govee Chromatic String Lights. Here, each bulb can display multiple colors at once, which adds dimension without overpowering. They are similar to Lifx outdoor cable lightsbut the main difference is that Govee’s are more spread out, which makes them look softer.

Overall, I like it Look for the Nanoleaf bulbs when they are gone; they have a beautiful glass design, but the Govee displays are very impressive, and I can connect them to other Govee lights using the Govee DreamView system, which connects the lighting to your Wi-Fi network so that many goods can show the same thing. The decision to switch instantly from al fresco dinners to summer socializing has been more fun than I expected.

Of course, the main problem is outdoor lighting and electric cables, and this is where solar is the best option. New Govee Outdoor Solar String Lights it has a 6-watt panel with a built-in battery and allows me to extend my lighting beyond when I have power around my vegetable garden. They are not as bright as powered string lights, but the clear filaments are beautiful, and the lights look like little pebbles hanging on my garden fence.

I can’t deal with a large wall of LED displays in my backyard, but my summer garden experiment showed me that outdoor RGB lighting can be amazing. It’s becoming useful in the home, too. I recently tried some of the New Philips Hue lighting who use color in subtle ways to create subtle textures that enhance a room rather than dominate it.

Overall, I still love the smart solutions that companies like Hue offer indoors, but Govee’s outdoor lighting proved me wrong when it came to my garden. Bright, RGB lighting has made it a welcoming, functional, and fun place to be this summer.

Photos and videos by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge