Govee’s New Lights Enchanted My Backyard – Without Needing an Outlet

Govee specializes in highly customizable smart lights able to produce brilliant, colorful displays, from ceiling lights to curtains. But those are extravagant for most people. I tested a much more practical version: outdoor color lights packed with new tricks and one key advantage. Govee’s Outdoor Solar String Lights ($90) use a small black solar panel for charging, so you can put them anywhere.

This approach offers major benefits for everyone without easily accessible outdoor outlets, making these lights the best choice I’ve seen for porches, balconies, DIY patios, decks and more. I tried them out in my own yard, and the results proved a significant upgrade to my old setup — one afternoon of charging was enough for a full evening event.

However, you will have to handle the lengthy cables on Govee’s large smart bulbs. The 33-foot string is also best suited for smaller patios and porches and may struggle to light up large areas. But in return, you get beautiful display options. Here’s what I tried out.

The design and installation of this solar-powered light string

Govee’s light string is 33 feet, with 8 connected smart bulbs. These bulbs are far larger than typical string lights, but it’s still pretty small. You can light up a fair bit of an outdoor yard with them, especially a central space where people gather, but it’s not going to provide far-reaching radiance and you won’t get the fairy twinkle of a hundred lights like some prefer.

However, Govee’s limited design has advantages: The bulbs are especially durable, and the system is rated IP67 to resist water and dust, while the solar panel design has a temperature range of -4 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Govee rates the lights at a 30,000-hour lifespan.

I’ve experimented with many solar panel add-ons for security cameras and lights. Govee’s version impressed more than most. It has solid, durable construction, intuitive assembly and an included stake to bury it in the ground (or screw it in place). You can adjust the panel to any angle to catch the most rays.

The solar panel includes an on/off button for pairing and manual control, as well as a USB-C port for emergency charging, like grabbing a battery pack or taking the panel indoors to fuel a whole evening of celebration if there wasn’t much sun that day.

The lights themselves reach up to 50 lumens each, and you’ll want to think carefully about how to place or hang them. Between each light is several feet of cable; if you don’t want them spaced up so far apart, you’ll have to plan on how to bunch up the cable. Fortunately, they can easily hang from existing hooks, or you can use Govee’s ties.

The lights turned on and connected to Govee’s up with no fuss, but as I tested over several days, I did notice one downside. Since the solar lights try to reserve as much power as possible, they try to reconnect via Bluetooth when you reopen the app to adjust them. That takes several seconds every time and sometimes doesn’t work at all, forcing a manual connection on the solar panel itself.

Govee’s solar light performance proved a classy improvement

Govee says the lights last for up to 13 hours at the lowest brightness settings. In practice, I found an afternoon of sun was enough for three to four hours of glowing spectacle at higher brightness, although pushing it to the max will drain the battery swiftly.

The lights themselves also offer options for scheduling or turning on automatically based on ambient light conditions, which you can use to save battery or only turn the lights on when you want to. Or you can adjust brightness manually based on outside conditions and mood.

Light quality proved excellent, too, as this string light was able to light a significant area. While I’d like to continue testing under the summer heat and maybe even some winter snow to see how durable they are, I ran into no problems during my tests so far. The bulbs are responsive and almost infinitely customizable, which can feel overwhelming. That brings me to one of my favorite parts of Govee’s app: the scenes and AI prompts.

The many color options and scenes of Govee’s app

Sure, you can choose the DIY setting of Govee’s app and set the exact shade and glow pattern for each individual bulb, but that’s exhausting, and I do not recommend doing that. Instead, Govee offers superior alternatives, like its excellent scene selection options.

Scenes for these bulbs are categorized under Natural, Festival, Life, Emotion and more, with dozens of options in each. Some are steady glows, some twinkle, others pulse with light or shift to different colors, letting you choose between almost any look.

That means you can always change the lights to match a holiday by finding the right scene, but for casual days you can try options like Sunset, Glacier, Bonfire, Firefly and Flower Field. Some of the scenes flashed too much for my taste, but my top favorite was Aurora, which gently glowed between various blue, green and yellow shades. You can pick a steady orange or white for more normal lighting, too.

You should be able to find the look you want in scenes, but Govee also offers an AI assistant that you can give prompts like “I like moonlight” or “Give me a cozy, romantic vibe” to get more variations. There’s also a setting to sync lights to music, although that may be less useful outdoors.

Final thoughts on the Govee Outdoor Solar String Lights

This light string is pricey compared to nonsmart versions at $100, but it offers more advantages than any outdoor string lights I’ve tried, especially the solar charging that allows for placement nearly anywhere. Nearly everything worked well, although needing to reconnect the lights to Wi-Fi regularly can be a little frustrating.

Govee’s color options are once again unmatched, with scenes offering any color and lighting style you can imagine, including several shifting themes that were perfect for my backyard. The AI agent is a fun addition but largely unnecessary with so many scene selection options. Fortunately, it’s all free with no additional fees.

These lights are best suited for a somewhat smaller space from porches to balconies, but if you don’t have any outdoor string lights, you may as well start with some of the best. Or if you been looking for a smart upgrade that does far more than traditional white string lights, this could be an outside makeover worth investigating.

Tyler Lacoma

Editor / Home Security and Smart Home

Tyler has worked on, lived with and tested all types of smart home and security technology for over a dozen years, explaining the latest features, privacy tricks, and top recommendations.

With degrees in Business Management, Literature and Technical Writing, Tyler takes every opportunity to play with the latest AI technology, push smart devices to their limits and occasionally throw cameras off his roof, all to find the best devices to trust in your life. He always checks with the renters (and pets) in his life to see what smart products can work for everyone, in every living situation.

Living in beautiful Bend, Oregon gives Tyler plenty of opportunities to test the latest tech in every kind of weather and temperature. But when not at work, he can be found hiking the trails, trying out a new food recipe for his loved ones, keeping up on his favorite reading, or gaming with good friends.

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