The very best sensible rope lights?

I lately tried out Govee’s Neon Rope Gentle 2, a major improve from its predecessor, now that includes Matter compatibility. The thought of enhancing the ambiance of my workplace house with these sensible lights was fairly interesting, so let’s dive into what units them aside.

Govee has been a widely known participant within the lighting business for a number of years, offering a budget-friendly different to costlier choices like Philips Hue or Nanoleaf. But whereas there are many merchandise that every one these manufacturers match one another on, the concept of a customizable rope strip mild is exclusive to Govee out of the three. Different manufacturers like Cync do have their very own rope-like alternate options too, however Govee is making its personal providing even higher with the second-generation.

I examined the five-meter Neon Rope Gentle 2, which is available in a bundle that features the lights themselves, seemingly made from silicon. The standard is hanging, with the subtle lights making a extra enticing show when mounted on a wall than cheaper alternate options. They offer off a smooth, nice glow that isn’t overly vibrant or harsh.

Essentially the most time-consuming a part of the Neon Rope Gentle 2 is deciding on a design and setting it up earlier than set up. The bundle additionally incorporates clips with pre-applied adhesive, making the bodily set up course of simpler. The Neon Rope Gentle 2 introduces longer steel variations of those versatile steel clips for further versatility, a function lacking within the authentic model.

For further safety, screws are additionally included, however the adhesive clips stick nicely to nearly any flat floor, together with partitions, steel, and wooden. Nevertheless, they’re designed for single use, shedding their stickiness as soon as eliminated. Given the single-use nature of the sticky clips, cautious planning is important. A workaround I discovered includes utilizing command strips minimize to the dimensions of the clips, permitting for reuse as a substitute of disposal.

Govee’s app provides quite a few design choices. When you select a pre-installed design, the app will present the place to put the adhesive clips, simplifying the design course of. The app additionally provides a plethora of choices, together with extra colours and totally different scenes. A novel function is the music possibility, the place the lights react to sound, making a dynamic mild present. The app additionally provides pre-made scenes, a DIY possibility for creating your personal coloration combos, and an AI mode that may generate scenes for you. You’ll be able to even add a picture; the app will recreate its colours on the rope lights.

The Neon Rope Gentle 2 is appropriate with Google Dwelling and Amazon Alexa, which permits you restricted management of the sensible lights. You’ll be able to swap them on or off or modify coloration settings by way of your smartphone or sensible dwelling machine. Nevertheless, you’ll want to make use of the Govee app in order for you extra management.

A brand new function within the Neon Rope Gentle 2 is the flexibility to regulate the path of the lights. Govee’s earlier model restricted mild results from left to proper, and also you couldn’t do a lot else with them. Nevertheless, with the Neon Rope Gentle 2, you possibly can determine whether or not it lights up from the left, the suitable, up, or down. This enables for extra artistic freedom in your designs.

Govee merchandise have all the time been a favourite of mine, providing a cheap different to Nano Leaf and Philips Hue, and the Rope Gentle 2 isn’t any totally different. Whereas they will not be as vibrant as some choices on the market, the standard is comparable. The added Matter assist simplifies the setup course of, with compatibility throughout a number of sensible dwelling platforms and with different equipment.

The Neon Rope Gentle 2, whereas considerably difficult and time-consuming to put in, can considerably improve the aesthetics of an area when put in appropriately and with a little bit of creativity. They’ve actually given my dwelling workplace a little bit of sorely wanted coloration.