Thoughts on Govee?

[mynameGeoff]

Hey, how's your day going so far?

I wanted to ask everyone on their thoughts and experiences with Govee and their products.

https://us.govee.com/

 

For those unaware, Govee specializes on smart RGB lighting for desks, lamps, walls, etc. and is a budget alternative to Philips Hue and Nanoleaf lights. We've worked with them since mid September 2020 on sponsor spots here and there on ShortCircuit and TechLinked and were good to work with.

 

We had concerns about their longevity and QA process as some of us at the office had issues with their products in the past and some of us haven't had any issues. I wanted to run Govee by our community first before opening up talks regarding bigger projects.

If you've purchased some of Govee's products and have any feedback, we'd love to hear from you

[Colty]

Reports of fires and you need to give them your email for what should be a simple Wi-Fi device that only needs a local network. Oh, and reportedly the app can destroy battery life, so I wouldn't assume it's doing nothing in the background.

I didn't buy because of these reasons. I know electrical issues can happen with anything, but the necessary email and "hungry" app are enough to push me away.

I would be interested in a deep dive of what various "smart" apps are trying to do on your network, particularly the cheaper options, such as Govee. (though this isn't the right thread for vid suggestions, ofc)

[DANK_AS_gay]

So um...

This sums it up. Flames aren't cool on cars, and they certainly aren't here. This company seems to be "GaMErY gAMeR RgB". Not interested really. If I want RGB I'll spend the money for the tried and true stuff that works.

Those are just my thoughts, if you guys want to have them as your sponsor go ahead, it's not like I won't skip the sponsorship bit anyways.

 

EDIT: Spent some more time on the website and saw this:

How do they expect anyone to be dumb enough to try this. That camera would drive me crazy, let alone the awful backlights with at least a second of latency. How are they gonna analyze the footage? With some 3 cent ARM processor from China???

 

I mean, look at this image from a customer review!

Where is that red coming from??? the Orange G?

[darknessblade]

From a European standpoint if I look at the warranty Policy of what they have listed/explained on their site

 

I would avoid them. 

 

With as main reason that vague/obscure warranty rules like this are not allowed.

since they do not specifically say what is and isn't considered a defect that falls under warranty.

 

Like is the warranty VOID if you cut the led strip to size "with the listing saying its adjustable to size".

Quote

- For warranty claims not related to product quality, the buyer is responsible for shipping costs;

- For warranty claims not related to product quality, Govee will refund the full cost of the product. 

- If the product does not meet the requirements above, the return request may be rejected.

- Price differences cannot be refunded on Amazon's Black Friday Deals or Cyber Monday Deals.

 

Refund requests for the 30-day return policy expire 30 days after the warranty claim is made. For non-quality-related issues with expired warranties, returns will not be processed.

 

[Alvin853]

Don't compare Govee to Philips Hue, Govee is cloud only, the major selling point of Hue is the local control and not having to share all your data with the manufacturer. Also if the servers ever go down or Govee ends the service, you can't use them anymore. Unless you can convince them do add a "local control" option like Yeelight/Xiaomi does with their LED lights, I'm not a fan of Govee.

[XWAUForceflow]

I have three smart lightbulbs  (two bluetooth, one wifi) and they work as advertised. I found them to be an easy and fair priced solution for what I needed. I especially like the sunrise feature that we use on in the bedroom. They are not perfect, but they don't require anything other than the app to work.

[nayr995]

I have 2 of their light strips in my main apartment room. They have been relatively just feels like some of the app features are missing. Ex the only way to get the music sync function is by leaving your phone by the speaker so it can use your mic to sync the lights. I just wish it synced with output from the device instead. I have had the lights for 4-5 months just for referance

[Bluebull]

I have a total of 5 of their 16ft light strips, 8 of their RGBW light bulbs, and their LED Car interior lights.

 

LOVE GOVEE. SUPER user friendly,  Quality is AMAZING, and a side bonus of their app being usable on most devices and seamlessly pairing with my google home. 

 

(the LED lights I use around my rig and my house are all Govee. I tried Phillips Hue and after 2 bridges went out, I switched entirely to Govee)

[GhostRoadieBL]

Govee has been pretty solid for me so far, the neon strips are really easy to make custom neon signs and the bends you can get are far tighter than most of the cheap alternatives, expand-ability is not a strong feature for them unless you remain fully in their ecosystem so if you do go with them I'd avoid using the "control everything with one device" style statements.

 

I disagree with the company's requirement to sign in to use an app controlled device connected to a private network but that seems to be par for the course on nearly every app controlled device nowadays and simply causes more junk to get put into my burner proton account.

What really ginds my gears is the hoops you have to jump through to get the addressable leds to function without their controller app. Nothing stopping them from having an ARGB signal input connector so users can sync with PC LEDs or use other control systems with their products. It is such a niche gripe but worth them investigating as a "new feature" when they make the next revision, give me a long cable and sync with the ARGB software I want to use like ALL the other "gamer" style ARGB devices I would ever think to buy.

 

[danomicar]

They seem like a cheap (bad) smart lighting company. 

[mynameGeoff]

Appreciate everyone's input and feedback on Govee! I'll take what you all have provided to my contacts and see if it makes sense to move forward with anything.

 

Closing this thread