Govee LED Neon Rope Lights review: Personalize your gaming space with this radiant RGB strip

Customizable lighting is more popular than ever, whether used in a home entertainment system to enhance the movie-watching experience or brighten up a gaming setup. There are plenty of options for RGB lights, some easier to set up than others, and this is where Govee shines. Their latest rope-style strip light can be twisted and curved into whatever shape you desire with segmented lights inside.

They're no stranger to the LED lighting market, so Govee's latest offering had me excited. I never had a single RGB light in my room before Govee came along, and now I'm practically living in a nightclub. It's certainly a more affordable offering than most competitors, but does it do enough to stand out from the crowd? I spent a dazzling week testing it for our Govee Neon LED Strip Light review to see.

Govee Neon LED Strip Light: Price and availability

The RGBIC LED Neon Rope Lights kit is available on Amazon and the official Govee website with an $80 MSRP. This H61A0 model measures 3 meters/10 feet long.

Govee Neon LED Strip Light: What you'll like

I'm a recent convert to RGB lighting, something I thought was pointless until I started using Govee products and dived into their customization options. Once you use any of their kits that react to music with a moving spectrum of colors like this one, you'll see why I was convinced. Watching everything move in rhythm to my playlist is quite hypnotic, and it looks great in the background of a live stream. This latest rope light kit is bendy with LEDs encased in soft plastic, which helps to diffuse the usually harsh lights.

Check out Govee's advertisements for this kit to see that they intend for you to fashion the rope into shapes, lettering, or surrounding decorations hanging on your wall. One downside of living in a rented home is sticking things to the walls is a big no-no, so I've settled for draping the rope around shelves instead. Mounted high in the room, I can sneak the kit around ornaments and still see the dazzling colors it projects, and it's pretty fantastic. Anyone looking to fill a blank wall in their gaming space or living room could get creative here, perhaps flexing the string light into a gigantic Windows Central logo? You know you want to.

This 3-meter/10-foot kit ships with metal mounting clips featuring sticky pads, screws, and wall plugs. Naturally, they stayed in the box this time, but it's generous to see Govee didn't lump us with only sticky pads as the DreamView G1 Pro did. A three-button control unit houses a microphone and is hard-wired to the rope, but the power adapter is detachable and reaches around 150cm. With some clever cable management, you can carefully hide the thin cable and be left only with the 10 feet of LED rope visible.

As with most Govee products, their companion mobile app makes for a simple setup via Bluetooth. Available on iOS and Android, it's as easy as identifying your Govee kit and standing nearby so your device can connect. Once installed, the selection of customization and color themes is massive. I mentioned the hard-wired control unit earlier, which can quickly switch the lights on and off and move between solid colors or patterned modes if your phone isn't available. It's great in a pinch and would be very handy if you wanted to quickly set up the string lights for a party since the built-in microphone has the lights reacting to sounds.

The experience is much better with the app, so I can't recommend using the lights without it. You can switch to using the microphone on your phone to use the sound-reactive music mode, which helps if the lights are situated too far from your speakers to be truly effective. The Govee app focuses primarily on segmented color selection and themes, including the effects lab, a collection of nature-inspired mood lighting with accompanying sounds like rainfall and crackling campfires. Subtle blue lights spark up in sections to match the sounds of raindrops in one of my favorite modes, so it's not all about pumping tunes and dance parties.

Rounding off the app ecosystem is the support for smart devices which use Hey Google and Amazon's Alexa, allowing for voice commands to adjust the brightness and other settings. It makes for a great talking piece, with your house looking like a high-tech showcase all lit up in neon. I really can't fault this rope light kit, and Govee has outdone themselves with affordability and quality. If they keep all their products compatible with this single companion app, they'll remain high on my respect list just from the ease of use alone.

Govee Neon LED Strip Light: What you won't like

There's not much to complain about within the actual design of the Govee strip lights since, functionally, they're totally sound. The only complaints come in the restricted length since 10 feet isn't quite long enough to spell out the name of your favorite Xbox protagonist on the wall or create larger shapes. It's possible to have two strip lights next to each other, but each would require its own power source and must be managed separately on the Govee app. Again, it's not really a fault of the kit, but it's a shame you can't extend the rope. Best to plan out your ideas for shapes with 10 feet of string on the wall first.

Govee doesn't sell the mounting clips separately, so if yours become damaged from repeated use or you lose them, you'll have to find an alternative yourself. They're not overly complex mounts, but they are just the perfect width to grip the chunky plastic rope, so you'd need to match the specific measurements or find a workaround that still looks good displayed in your home. It's a repeating theme with Govee, the concept is fantastic and usually executed well, but aftercare is lacking with no way of purchasing extra parts. Stickers will only go so far, especially if you make too many blunders trying to mount the string lights to your wall, so consider your design carefully.

Govee Neon LED Strip Light: Competition

Compared to strips of LEDs that Govee sells, this rope-style strip light is quite a bit more expensive. Cheaper sets like the Govee RGBIC LED Strip Lights can offer 10 feet of customizable lights for around $22 on Amazon, but they're not supposed to be directly visible. The thick plastic tubing helps the rope-style light kit diffuse the bright lights and gives a unique selling point by acting as a custom art piece.

Govee isn't the only one in the flexible LED tube game either, with products like the 6.5-foot Twinkly Flex kit available on Amazon for $98 offering a suspiciously similar result. Govee beats out the competition here not only in value but with a more refined companion app experience. The Govee neon LED kit is an incredibly affordable way to impress guests in a more obvious way, like their Govee Glide RGBIC wall light, this time with a personalized twist.

Govee Neon LED Strip Light: Should you buy it?

You should buy this if ...

• You want a personalized LED art piece
• You're looking to liven up a gaming room
• You have enough wall space to get creative

You shouldn't buy this if ...

• You can't screw mounts into your walls or use stickers
• You want to create intricate designs longer than 10 feet

For anyone looking for some affordable LED lights that look good on their own, the Govee strip light is perfect. Bending into whatever creative shapes you like, the strip reacts to sounds and music to enhance a gaming session or light up a party without hiding behind frames or televisions.

With so many possibilities for creativity, this Govee rope-style kit has incredible value for money and is one of the best LED light strips available.  Featuring a sturdy construction that will withstand bending into almost any shape you should desire, the light strip looks fantastic on display with multi-colored, moving LED lights. The companion app makes for an easy setup and allows simple control alongside any Govee devices you may already own.

While 10 feet might seem like a lot, and it is decent, it's worth testing your design ideas before purchasing the Govee strip light to be sure. Although the strip can be bent and curved, your options are limited since it's not extendable. The wall mounts are not available for purchase separately, so you'll need to be confident in your design or find some wall mounts that match.