Essentially the most spectacular panels up to now

Govee made a reputation for itself as a less expensive, however nonetheless extremely spectacular, various to manufacturers like Nanoleaf and Philips Hue. It is a formulation that is been working effectively, as many shoppers, myself included, have begun to grasp that you may get an incredible expertise from Govee, and infrequently much more spectacular results, with out forking over a lot money.

With the introduction of the Glide Hexagon Gentle Panels Extremely, the proposition has modified considerably. These wall panels price considerably greater than Nanoleaf’s flagship panels, so how is Govee justifying such a premium price ticket?

Effectively, to chop to the chase, these are essentially the most impressive-looking gentle panels that I’ve ever seen, and that alone could be sufficient. Let’s take a better have a look at the Extremely panels, to see what else they carry to the desk.

Govee

Govee Hexagon Gentle Panels Extremely

Really useful

$280 $350 Save $70

The Govee Hexagon Gentle Panels Extremely are essentially the most impressive-looking gentle panels that I’ve ever come throughout. They’re positive to amaze, however additionally they include a hefty price ticket, which can restrict their attraction.

Professionals

• Shiny, vibrant lighting results
• Extremely adaptable mounting
• Easy and attention-grabbing animations
• Integration with Google House, Alexa and Razer Chroma

Cons

• Very costly
• No Apple House Package help

Specs, value and availability

The Govee Glide Hexagon Gentle Panels Extremely launched within the US on September 25 2023. They’re out there to buy now both by Amazon or from Govee straight at a value of $350 / €350. They’ve but to look on the Govee UK web site or Amazon UK, although I’d think about they will price round £350 once they do.

As I’ve already talked about, it is a sizable funding for a set of LED wall panels. A 9-pack of Nanoleaf Shapes Hexagons retails for under $200, for instance. It is price noting, although, that Govee tends to run wonderful reductions round Black Friday and Prime Day, so savvy consumers can seemingly save on the MSRP. The truth is, the panels are already diminished to $280 on Govee’s US web site, on the time of writing.

Setup and configuration

In the event you’ve ever configured a set of sunshine panels earlier than, then you definately will not be in for too many surprises with the Gentle Panels Extremely. The entire course of is guided by the smartphone software, and the toughest half is coming to a choice on the form that you just wish to make.

Within the field, you get 10 hexagonal gentle panels, 10 versatile linking cables, an influence adapter, a management field, a small spirit stage and the related manuals and documentation.

The panels simply stick onto your wall with self-adhesive pads, they usually join to one another with quick cables that clip into place. You may want to attach the panels in a selected order, utilizing particular numbered ports on the rear, so remember to observe the app directions and do not simply hook them up as you see match.

To be utterly sincere, I jumped the gun and wired them up incorrectly at first, however fortunately, the panels are simply faraway from the wall if it is advisable entry the rear. It’s because the self-adhesive pads additionally join with velcro to the sunshine panel, so you may take the panel off of the wall whereas leaving the pads connected. Very helpful should you make a mistake, or for future upkeep.

Nanoleaf is essentially the most well-known competitor, and its gentle panels use inflexible connectors moderately than cables. That is each a bonus and a drawback. The Nanoleaf panels are undoubtedly much less fiddly to get aligned and glued to your wall, however they’re additionally much less adaptable. In the event you wished to make your Extremely panels go round a nook, for instance, you possibly can try this with the included versatile cables, whereas the Nanoleaf Shapes would require a further accent.

App and sensible options

The Extremely panels connect with the identical Govee House app as the remainder of the manufacturers sensible lighting, so I knew precisely what to anticipate from testing out the Smart Curtain Lights and AI Gaming Sync Box Kit.

The app is straightforward to navigate, works reliably and has infinite customisation choices to configure and sync up your Govee merchandise. One of the best half, as is usually the case with RGB sensible lighting, is the wealth of user-generated lighting modes, that are continually added to by Govee followers all around the world. In the event you’re feeling inventive, you too can create your personal lighting modes from scratch, too.

It isn’t the prettiest app, for my part, nevertheless it’s very useful. Plus, it has the power to work with Google House and Alexa, so the Extremely panels can work seamlessly with the remainder of your sensible residence automations, should you use a kind of platforms.

Personally, I handle all of my sensible units by Google Home, and including the Hexagon Gentle Panels Extremely to the equation was as simple as could be. Now, they’re set to come back on at sundown, with the remainder of my sensible lighting, and swap themselves off at bedtime.

They will show the final used impact when toggled on or off by way of Google House, however to vary to a special impact, you will want to make use of the Govee app. You possibly can, nonetheless, modify the brightness or swap to a fundamental single-colour mode utilizing Google House, or by chatting with Google Assistant.

Efficiency and results

The principle factor that differentiates the Hexagon Gentle Panels Extremely from different gentle panels is the variety of controllable zones on every panel. When Govee launched its Glide Hexa panels, it supplied the power to regulate the color of every panel, in addition to show gradients, then with the Hexa Pro, it cut up every hexagon into three to create a 3D cube-like impact. With the Extremely panels, the 3D dice impact is retained, however a shiny, addressable define now traces the dice shapes.

This implies the sheer variety of results that may be displayed on these panels feels nearly limitless. You possibly can have the panels off and solely the define illuminated, illuminate a single facet of the “dice” at a time, illuminate the hexagons and maintain the define darkish – you get the thought, there are lots of choices.

Govee’s pre-configured results do an incredible job of showcasing all the probabilities, and the user-created DIY library is rising quick, with some actually inventive scenes beginning to emerge. To place it merely, I’ve by no means used a wall panel product that has supplied such a wealth of aesthetically pleasing and distinctive choices.

The panels are astonishingly shiny and vibrant, too. Mine often stay at about 25 per cent brightness, and if I wish to showcase them within the daylight, then I solely must bump that as much as round 50 per cent to have them wanting their finest.

As ordinary, there is a music-reactive mode, which depends on both a microphone that is constructed into the management field, or your smartphone’s mic. You may want to make use of the management field microphone to entry the extra spectacular results, although, because the smartphone microphone limits you to single-colour pulses of your entire array, for some purpose.

A few of the music-reactive results are fairly cool, however that is one space that might use some extra improvement. At current, there does not appear to be a solution to create DIY music results, so that you’re restricted to the six presets that Govee has offered. In equity, although, you do have lots of management over these presets, you may select which space you wish to gentle up, in addition to tweak the route, sensitivity and colors. Nevertheless, a full DIY choice can be even higher.

Verdict

The Govee Hexagon Gentle Panels Extremely are essentially the most spectacular gentle panels that I’ve ever laid eyes on. They provide an nearly limitless mixture of shiny and vibrant results that may simply brighten up your dwelling area. They’re additionally simple to put in, and have loads of flexibility of their mounting and positioning. The fast and easy integration with Google House and Alexa is a bonus, too.

The one downside is the value. $350 is some huge cash for a lighting product, so you will need to be very severe about your wall decor to even contemplate investing in one thing like this. In the event you’re a Twitch streamer or YouTube creator who’s constructing out a futuristic backdrop, although, there are few, if any, merchandise that may make as a lot of an affect as these gentle panels.