Happy Saturday everyone! I actually bloody love these! Perfect for the garden. Usual links below... As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. By buying through any of the links below I will earn commission at no extra cost to you :) UK: (Coming soon) amzn.to/43uXQx1 US: amzn.to/3NpiGqP Global Website: us.govee.com/products/govee-curtain-lights?
Great review and comparison. Always like to hear both the good and bad points. Many reviewers only mention the plusses and don't ask the obvious (and sometime awkward) questions viewers may ask - particularly when the gear has been given foc for review purposes! I like you honest approach to the good and the bad and your upfront info about sponsorship where appropriate. Thanks again.
Made my day dude. Thank you. So many people accuse me of bias just because I'm sponsored and they seem to entirely ignore the fact that I present the good the bad and the ugly. This comment t is everything!
I just bought Govee, and it's really awesome. Yes, you can upload a gif or non-animated picture. The only drawback that i experienced was a dead LED. Support has been very helpful and is sending me a whole new curtain.
I’m guessing the Govee lights don’t have a ‘Layout Learning’ option like the twinkly? I like that I can mould them to whatever I’m putting them on and then scan the new layout so that patterns etc work.
Has anyone mentioned Twinkly has a 3d mapping function via phone camera within the app which does allow for better pixel type mapping? You can just throw a bunch of twinkly lights over/around an object and create a 3d animated light effect….
And it's just as terrible. I used it last year on my tree and wasn't convinced. Still, they look nice, but much like in this video, don't expect any real accuracy like in the ads/marketing.
I’m a bit confused, this video seems to miss the entire point of the twinkly lights, the camera based layout. Tho I have not actually used it I believe it allows the twinkly product to play animations even with the lights physically laid out in any patter, which makes them very flexible. These both seem like good products but I don’t really feel like they even compete in the same category as each other.
Nope. They are both curtain lights, designed to be hung from the top down. Yes you could technically hang the twinkly lights in a mess and the camera would locate them, but no one would because they are in the shape of a curtain. What you're saying makes sense for their Christmas tree lights that would be all over the place.
I switched from Philips Hue to the Govee system and it was the best move I made in light years! @GOVEE is amazingly simple to use, so even an oldier geek like myself can fill their disco dreams up to their ears 🎉 I have accomplished splicing 2 curtains, stringing Christmas lights, and using their neon ropes in art pieces! The GOVEE Community is super helpful and has superb customer service. ❤
I enjoy these side by side reviews, my only gripe is that you compare brightness not considering longevity of the lights. Often manufacturers will over drive the LEDs which shorten their effective lifespan. I've bought cheap daylight balanced bulbs that are super bright to begin with and then die after less than a year
That is something I realized with twinkly. I don't know how many hours govee is but twinkly lasts for 30k+ hours which for most people is going to be a lifetime. I only keep my lights on around 6 hours a day weekdays and have it on for 2 months. Doing the calculations they will last me 98.70 years and by then I will likely be dead as I would be nearly 120 by then. Can Govee do that?
I just looked it up and for the question govee string lights last 25k hours which is long but not to twinkly. Their permanent lights are rated to 50k but you are not using that on a Christmas tree like he was using it.
Love the review but many of the animations that you were trying to do on Twinkly are for their Squares product. I have 6 or 7 of their curtains running together and it's quite impressive but still can't do the animations you were selecting. However, as the Govee lights are of more fixed position and they do have 2x as many LEDs compared with Twinkly, I may be replacing my Twinkly setup with the Govee (although you can't set up more than 3 Govee curtains together). Also Twinkly allow for 3D set ups (not sure if Govee have that). I guess products for different uses.
How have i only Just found your channel ? The childish Kid In me likes the video i would offer a cookie but as were online i liked and You earned One more Subscriber ! haha, I love the Govee Light personally. Govee are my Go to atm for most of my RGB
Your reviews have sold me on choosing Govee for almost every special light product on my wishlist. However, I am leaving fun decorative lights for last when it comes to choosing smart home products as a I slowly build up a system, so I still have plenty of time to see developments in this area of smart home products. I Govee, as a brand, seem very focused on delivering better functioning alternatives to premium products by listening to what smart home fans want them to do (and direct communicating with those fans through sponsored reviews and comparisons on channels like yours, instead of trying to grab new smart home customers off the shelf in the hardware store the way the big brands like Hue do). So it would be REALLY great to see them start to deliver on more granular control of their products through Home Assistant. Delivering that kind of customization through the branded platforms like google home, alexa, homekit, etc seems like asking too much of brans, but Home Assistant it meant to be this great unifier, this bridge across the gaps, that can control almost anything and allow customization beyond a lot of products advertised functionality, and it keeps getting better and easier. I’d love to see makers like Govee, with a huge line of products that have a LOT of features and customization natively, work on bring at least some of what they can do in their own app farther into Home Assistant for the purposes of automations.
I've been using Govee for years now & have been pleased with all of their products. Only thing that was mildly disappointing were the RGB bulbs, and only because they're not very bright. But that gripe aside you can get a 2 pack of the Govee RGB bulb for literally $10 less than a single Phillips Hue RGB bulb.
Full disclosure - I own products of both brands. Last holiday season, I re-strung an old pre-lit 12ft Christmas tree. This tree had those ancient incandescent bulb strands. I got tired of tearing up my thumbs replacing 100s of tiny bulbs every year, so I upgraded to twinkly LEDs. The tree got around 2700 lights, but this was due to me catching a killer sale. IF Govee had a similar product at the time, I probably would have gone that route first since I already have a bunch of their products. HOWEVER, the Twinkly strand lights are amazing IMO. I was able to link all the strands to one group and control them as one item to be seen by Alexa or HomeAssistant. Being able to capture the whole tree via the camera scanning function allowed me to create some truly amazing effects. I think it really depends on the type of use case and what effects you are going for. Trying to compare one strand of holiday style curtain lights to the fixed grid type construction is not as a direct comparison of say, a Hue bulb to another brand of the same style light bulb. 'Trash' is a bit harsh even after seeing your review of both brands. Just MHO. Overall I always appreciate your takes, and I'm glad Twinkly actually has some real competition now in Govee. The only negative I had was the price when they are not on sale. Govee even started with some killer outdoor holiday light options last year, but where uber expensive and out of stock everywhere. Hoping the competition brings some killer options to shield my wallet from.
I have twinkly 400 led string iirc. It looks fine but has a few serious drawbacks: - some LEDs malfunction when in subzero (centigrade) temperatures - they usually light up in magenta color regardless of what they should be. When temperature increases, they function normally. The lower the temperature, the more lights get f$d up. - i have problems pairing the strings with the app via the router. I manage it eventually but it takes multiple attempts. - they skimped on gradients, so color changes are quite stepped, one could do much better and smoother
Yeah. I’ve never been on this channel before. Someone mentioned Govee lights to me and I wanted to see what they look like. I never heard of them or these Twinkly lights by brand name before. It just seemed like this person was trying to talk down the twinkly lights as much as possible rather than show uses they would be better for. Despite that, everything I can think of that I’d actually use lights for would be better with the twinkly type.
Not expecting much, but wonder if the Twinkly Curtain Lights might work better if the lights are set up in pegboard for regularize the separation and alighment. Presuming the bulbs even fit with the pegboard, which I suspect isn't a given.
A fair few Twinkly owners have used pegboards for this reason. It's easy to slate Twinkly, as the market leader, as Govee has the benefit of seeing what's already been done and then just copying it and enhancing it. I'm pretty sure Govee is a larger company than Twinkly, so has the resources for it.
I have had twinkly for several years and have been disappointed in trying to get even simple animations to look right. like the pinwheel. I tried stretching them and attaching both ends of the curtain lights which helped minimally. I was excited to see some other companies finally make a comparable product! So I truly appreciate this review! I thought the strands looked different. I'm going to buy govee immediately ❤
unfortunately the led's just aren't dense enough for the patterns to look proper. But if you put 2 or 3 of them together to make a tight led pattern it would look so amazing. Expensive yes, but totally worth it in the end.
I purchased two of these, after watching your video. The problem I am having is that although they can be linked in the app to play together, I was not aware that the power can't be linked. You have to plug in each individually, which is a drawback when using them outside. BTW, I watch every week and always enjoy your videos.
Only recently found this channel and loving these reviews. Regularly got me giggling like an idiot, yet I still come away super informed about the product - winning combo. Becoming a patron was a no brainer! Folks, if you've got a couple of quid spare please consider supporting this creator. 😁 Thanks so much Paul, and looking forward to more excellent content. 👍
2:59 To be completely fair the animations you're trying are designed more for the Twinkly squares. You need a much more dense led array to make them look proper.
I love the "Morgan Freeman" narration. While it's true that Morgan Freeman narration is inherently convincing, in this case you were spot on anyway. One of the reasons I watch your channel is for the comparisons and details about the product(s). You start right out of the gate with that. Great. One note in deference to Liz Truss: Nuclear codes "just work." No local mode in Home Assistant: Honestly, I don't understand why it doesn't. Govee is a great company in many ways, but the arbitrariness of which devices have local support in HA is profound. I'm intrigued by these lights. Not being a "lighting-oriented" person myself, I can still see a use-case for a giant message scrolling across a wall or set of curtains for a certain youngster of mine that seems able to ignore most other ways of trying to get her attention while she's online. Thanks for a great review.
Can you ask govee why they didn't include the lan api. And if they are going to bring it to this product later? Seems really dumb they left this product out of the lan api. They shouldn't be releasing new products at this point that skip local control.
I’m so fucking happy that u brought this up, I legit spent 3 hours putting twinkly lights outside around my house and none of the animations are looking how they r suppose to look. No matter how I arrange them. I’m definitely disappointed!!
I think the funny thing that gives has done is send all these promotional video makers only one curtain. If you do more than one curtain and connect them together which they market . It strips the whole assembly of about 90% of the functionality. No gif uploads no music reaction and about 10 scenes And if you do 3 it goes from about 10 scenes to about 3. Very shady marketing from Govee. And nowhere to find out any of this information other than to spend the time installing these and then find out after spending the time to install them.
Great video, as always. Question though, how did you get Alexa to recognize a DIY creation on a Govee product. This has been an unsolved mystery for me, and you seemed to have it working with the Bezos "Rocket."
The problem with govee is their API is garbage basically forcing people into their walled garden app. If you tried to command them via the API you can only address three strips at a time rather than individual LED's (basically limited to 10 addresses as opposed to the 520) Razer chroma, Signel, OpenRGB all the same issue Govee's API just wont allow anything to be done outside of their app.
Goddamit. I wasn't going to watch this as I thought I didn't need anything like this. But then I like Paul so I thought I'd watch for the humour. And then... Well, now I want some goddamn outside curtain lights. Curse you
All the reviews I have seen has been from UK and 1 Canadian. No one from the US. By the way you are entertaining, however I can’t justify spending that kinda money on lights. Got some led curtain lights 3 years ago regularly $40 clearance sale for $20 10’x13’ multiple functions warm white only but they stay on 24/7 for 3 years. No apps to connect, no hassles. My 3 favorite modes are the rain drops, glitter and snowflakes. I think there’s like 25 different modes but those are my favorite 3. I made my own curtain ties out of sequins fabric rolls you get from the fabric store.
Oh no, kill all the bees. Ill defend the Twinkly drawing mode, what you draew matched exactly with what it showed, and since Twinkly is designed for a pure gold Christmas tree you should have put both on a tree to compare.
Me. Hibbert, I just found your channel while looking up light reviews. love your video. I appreciate you giving information but also being entertaining. I can not subscribe, however, simply because you pronounced it “Gif” high the hard G. I’m sorry. Some things just can’t be ignored. Keep up the good work and I wish you luck with future endeavors.
Just been doing some research on the Govee curtain lights. Might be worth adding that folk online are reporting that when you link 2 or 3 of the Govee curtains then your lose the music functionality, and the range of anims is very limited. These are comments posted in recent months. Maybe future software/firmware updates may address these issues.
@@angelaacm8026 ....since post my comment, 6 months ago, I ended up with two of these curtain lights, & when I first got them, & linked them together to form 1 large curtain & what I posted above was true at that time. I subsequently moved one of my curtains into another room, so have not had them linked for several months, so I do not know if the app has been updated to change this condition in the past few months, maybe it has, but when I made the post, many other folk were commenting about these limitation when you link multiple curtains, AND my own testing also confirmed this around 3 or 4 months ago....so it was true then when I made the post. I will move my curtains together in the same room & re-test soon to see if there has been a software update - assuming there has been, thank you for alerting me to this change
Great timing Paul. I was about to buy a set of twinkly lights to set up in the roof of a retractable gazebo in the garden. I wanted to use a mode that emulates a star lit sky among other things and also wanted a music mode to sync with the RGB lights in the bar (it looks better than it sounds lol) now I will do a bit more research on the Govee version. I have to confess I have had some patchy results with my current Govee products that sometimes just loose WIFI connectivity and have to be set up again!
GREAT video! Hope this added to your bank account. I will look into Govee, because I had some experience with gen 1 and gen 2 Twinkly, and partially satisfied. Donated them away eventually.
Gotta love youtube, they are finding new ways to drive out the reason people come to youtube. This was a great video, I didn't know about the Twinkly lights. I figured the Govee were good, just not that good. Oh, you need a to add a Canadian link!
Have the fixed the app? I bought the Govee wall light last year after tons of good reviews on youtube, but the app was awful, you couldn't dim a scene, it was way to bright, if I dimmed the scene to 1% it was still the same as much higher, if i set it to a solid colour I could dim it to the correct level, but not the scenes. Had to return it because of this after googing and seeing it was a common issue.
OMG, I couldn’t stop laughing…. Mr. Socky, Bezos, and the missus are going to conspire to stick your butt in a Bezos rocket covered in Twinkly lights and fire you off towards Venus…. The sexy dance was sheer genius, but you’ve signed your death warrant. Gonna miss you Mate.
I bought twinkly lights today and I’m a little sad that I did some research before. But I’ll stick to mine for now since they aren’t bad and look good for my type of windows because the Govee lights would be a little off. Still happy but a little dissatisfied
hi again apart from not being able to make a playlist of scenes like twinkly can iv noticed that when you add another set 2 or 3 to the app you loose wifi and can only change scenes by blutooth
Does the Govee lights have the option to “map” them with your phones camera (if they’re organized in a messy way)? Also do they have other form factors that sync with them? Like strings, strips, icicles, garland, trees, c9 bulbs, festoons, etc? I do know that twinkly can connect more than 10 devices, but it can make it more time consuming to apply changes/map them with so many devices connected. Another thing that would be nice to know is the frame rate/refresh rate. That’s one thing twinkly could definitely improve upon. Some of the devices have a faster frame rate than others, but they’re nowhere near the frame rate of a true pixel.
Twinkly lights are a nice thing for christmas trees but a failure to create pixel art or any form of recognisable objects. Nice for changing colours, but these new Govee lights look amazing and I love the integration of scenes for she who must not be named.
Im honestly not surprised that the govee is the better option. Pretty much the only reason why I got rid of my govee stuff is because they were incapable of getting white right via my smart speaker (no matter what, it would always be blueish)
doood!! so funny; just high enough to burst out laughing. using your link i bought the govee kettle for my girlfriend (mothers day), she sobbed. cheers
i have been using Twinkly PRO for Christmas lights on a 3mt x 3mtr area using about 2000 LED string lights, Looks good but the animations dont look like they are supposed to be.
Hey Paul. I didn’t get your video suggested by the algorithm today. Had to go looking on your channel. I am subscribed and have been for a while. Dropping a like for the algorithm.
Probleme with twinkly, not much patern and not user friendly. Music synch not good I ordered govee, much easy set up, lots of patern and sound active better
It should be noted that well over a month later and the Gif feature does NOT work. All file sizes are apparently too big and cannot be uploaded. I've seen a couple people having success with very small file sizes that they have altered with camera apps but as a default the GIF's will not work.
Great review 👏 👌 😂 comedy relief is spot on 😂 Just working your title it doesn't do this review justice. Perhaps using.... LED madness- Govee vs Twinkly
I just got the Govee curtain. They are almost TOO bright. I have them set to 1% and it lights up my whole living room. I hope they allow them to be dimmer…
Glad u liked the curtain lights. FYI we did specially make the DIY mode knowing full well Jeff Bezos' rocket was on your mind and needed to be on your wall. You're welcome.
Very disappointed to see yet another Govee product on your channel which has failed to actually come to the UK market, I was excited to see a brand I recognised releasing the smart kettle in your video 2 months ago but yet it is still not available to buy on Amazon UK, this video again is 3 weeks old and the Amazon UK listing is not available, Swan launched their smart kettle before prime day so I now have a Swan smart kettle instead, at this rate I doubt these curtain lights will even be available by christmas, what is the point of watching your reviews if they don't actually release it to the rest of us 🤷♂️ p.s. love your content but severely disappointed in the lack of availability here
I hired a guy last time to do a perfect impression, but his prices went up since last time so I spent like a full hour learning how to do a Morgan Freeman impression 🤣 The result isn't bad for an hour's effort! 😂
Cursing RU-vid for not putting your videos in my feed for the last little while. I’ve missed the last four or five. Time to binge them and get my fill of Liz Truss jokes!
That your figures could drop is ridiculous, the site is informative, varied and very funny. Yet theres some guy eats a giant breakfast once a week and gets 3 million subs, ( no offence to the eating guy, I'm just making a point ) its crazy. You should be up in the 10 millions.. At least. I only have some wifi bulbs and a few wifi plugs worked by echo from my phone hotspot, but l like to keep up with whats new, and mostly for the laughs. Keep going Paul I'm sure it will turn around.
I have both, just bought the govee, but tbh, the build in animations on the twinkly are way better. govee has a lot, but only a few which I actually want to use. Im going with twinkly and may return the govee
