The Glide Hexa Pro is no exception and defeats practically everything in our best LED light strips collection simply by standing out as more of an art piece than something hidden under desks and the edges of shelving. I also would have liked to see an app for desktop PC sync like Hue and Nanoleaf offer. Besides animations, you can also set the Glide panels to glow in solid colors, with different colors for each panel, or you can use a tool that suggests color themes based on various styles (like Elegant, Gorgeous, or Science Fiction), scenes (such as Work, Leisure, Joy, or In Love), and color matching methods (complementary colors, contrasting, gradient, and so on). Both sets are so similar that deciding between them will have to be a personal preference if the 3D effect is enough to convince you. The Glide panels can be grouped with other Govee lights, and they can be scheduled on a daily or weekly basis. Windows Central is supported by its audience. And because there are several LEDs inside each panel, the Govee Glide Hexa gets insanely bright, almost too bright. The Govee Glide Hexa Light Panels are beautiful, easy to install, and offer a wealth of customizable animations. Additionally,Govee is using multiple RGBIC LEDs inside the panels, which offer tons of color gradients, smooth transitions, and various colors on any panel at any given moment. There was a problem. Theres also a three-button controller, a chunky AC adapter, a tiny level, and an orientation tool that helps you align the panels properly. Its not all bad, of course. Those points can be spent on rewards. That process was plagued by tight corners, uneven placement, and weak adhesive strips included in the box. Ben has been writing about technology and consumer electronics for more than 20 years. We steer you to products you'll love and show you how to get the most out of them. No complaints here! Considering there are no fixings to attach the panels to walls more permanently, these sticky pads will only last for a while, especially if they come loose often. And finally, the other significant omissions are Apple Homekit or PC support. The good news is that the Govee panels look striking once theyre installed, they answer to Alexa and Google Assistant, and they offer plenty of customization when it comes to animations. NY 10036. If you dont want to shell out the dough for Nanoleafs popular, touch-enabled light panels, Govee has a (marginally) more affordable alternative: the Govee Glide Hexa Light Panels, an obvious gloss on Nanoleafs Shapes line. That said, a few things are missing, minor tweaks, if you will, that could make them better. They undoubtedly influenced my newfound love of RGB once I found perfect kits that properly fit my room. Additionally, the app is also pretty finicky and occasionally frustrating. You have rough walls or textured wallpaper. You can also set up a light scene thats triggered when another Govee light is turned on or off. Edifier Stax Spirit S3 Headphones Review: Sennheiser MOMENTUM True Wireless 3 Review, Nanoleaf Shapes Ultra Black Triangles Review, Gozney Roccbox Pizza Oven Review: Restaurant-Quality in a Portable Package, Harber London Leather Desk Mat Review: More Than Just Stylish, 1MORE Evo True Wireless Review: Great Sound for the Money, Razer Kaira Pro for PlayStation Review: Robust Audio, Subpar Mic, It's Simple To Add Car Wireless Charging To, Tesla Model 3 and Y Aren't Affordable Anymore, Ford and Purdue Solved the Biggest EV Problem. They will stick to practically any surface after the recommended 30-second press, but some panels started to pop loose after a couple of days. However, if you want to make adjustments or change the color, the app is required. Meanwhile, Govees connectors were not only flexible but also had enough slack to get creative if needed. That said, the connector cables are over 6-inches long and flexible, which gives you a little slack to still think outside the box and come up with a fun design. Theres a new version on the way that makes the tiles look like cubes. The Govee Glide Hexa Light Panels have vivid colors and superb lighting, making them vibrant enough for any space. Budget smart home manufacturer Govee specializes in low-cost versionssome might say knock-offsof popular smart lighting products, with mixed results. Want to decorate your walls with glowing, pulsating light panels? Heres what we know, I recreated a perfect high school experience in The Sims 4, Cold Stones Nintendo-themed ice cream sundaes are a sweet way to beat the heatwave, Best graphics cards 2022: finding the best GPU for you, Wordle today, July 30: Answer, hints, and help for word of the day (#406), The best desktop computers for 2022: Dell, HP, Apple, and more, Vengeance review: a mystery with more on its mind than just murder, The 100 best movies on HBO Max right now (July 2022), We cant believe how cheap the Lenovo Yoga Chromebook is today. It's not unrealistic to suggest using any other pack of adhesive strips from a hardware store as replacements, but it would be nice to have access to more of the properly-shaped pads that come with the Hexa Pro. You want highly customizable and vibrant multicolor lights. The RGBIC LED layout allows for fine individual control of colors along every edge, so youre not just getting a single solid color in each panel. One key feature that the Govee Glide Hexa Light Panels lack is any touch functionality. Nanoleaf gets the credit for popularizing these kinds of wall-mounted light tiles. This 3D cube effect looks decent in the advertisements, so I took the weekend to see how they compare in the real world for our Govee Glide Hexa Pro review. Join 350,000 subscribers and get a daily digest of news, articles, and more. If Govee let us add 2-3 going out in different directions, itd open up even more creative designs. The app allows you to slide around virtual panels and explains which link cables to use and where. The Glide Hexa panels also lack the Nanoleafs touch abilities, and they dont offer support for Apple HomeKit or Thread, as Nanoleaf does. Once thats done, a setup wizard will ask that you test each panel by connecting them directly to the Glide Hexa controller one by one. The adhesive is likely to be the first thing to deteriorate, but replacements are easy, especially considering the smart mounting system these tiles use. A preview tool lets you see how your design will look on a generic wall, but you cant visualize your panels on your own wall with AR as the Nanoleaf app allows. Each Hexa panel is about 7-inches wide, and the corners are 3.5-inches long, meaning you can quickly cover a good four feet of the wall with vibrant colors. The Govee Glide Hexa Light Panels were a breath of fresh air by comparison. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Setup and usage are practically the same, and though you get fewer panels with a Nanoleaf kit, the asking price is lower at $200, so it balances out. Upgrade your lifestyleDigital Trends helps readers keep tabs on the fast-paced world of tech with all the latest news, fun product reviews, insightful editorials, and one-of-a-kind sneak peeks. The Govee and Nanoleaf panels may have very different installation procedures, but they are similar in terms of their nearly identical mounting plates, while the (again, nearly identical) pull tape allows you to remove the panels without damaging your wall. Whats great about the Govee Hexa is that the light panel easily snaps on and off the mounting bracket. I'm no stranger to Govee products; they initially caught my eye as an affordable alternative but proved to be much more. The panels themselves are hexagonalagain, similar to Nanoleafs Hexagons in its Shapes series, although the Govee panels have a thicker border around the lit portion, and they also glow from behind, throwing light back onto the wall. If so, I could turn these into an NFL logo or something neat. In contrast, Nanoleaf Shapes panels can be tapped and swiped to change light scenes, adjust the brightness, or even control compatible smart home devices. I like that you can change the direction of the lights and animations. The Nanoleaf Hexagon Smarter Kit gives you severn tiles rather than 10, but it is also $200. govee gliding Still, its a nifty feature that youll surely enjoy. Youll need the Govee Home app to do everything, from the initial setup to controlling all the colors, light shows, or pairing your panels to a music source to match the beat. While Govee didnt supply a lumen rating for the lights, they can get fairly bright when turned all the way up, especially if you set the color to white. Stick to smooth surfaces, and you'll impress any visitors with your unique 3D lights design. I must stress the importance of the planning process: Don't go sticking these panels to your wall until you're confident with a layout. A YouTube video linked directly in the app covers all the bases and prevented me from putting the connecting cables in the wrong way. Combined with a full in-app storefront, the experience becomes overwhelming for simple tasks. A range of automation options is available that let different Govee lights communicate with one another. A color wheel helps pick hues that are complementary in a handful of different ways. Govee hopes to market this notion with its new Hexa Pro RGBIC light panels, shipped as a pack of 10 hexagon-shaped plates with adhesive tape. Govee could open the API up a little wider and allow animated DIY scenes to be enabled remotely. Thank you for signing up to Windows Central. imore govee There shouldn't be any danger of anything falling off as long as you have the recommended type of smooth, non-textured walls, which I'll get into later. You're looking for something more artistic than bare LED strips. Luckily, it's not a permanent commitment since the Hexa Pro panels use adhesive pads rather than screws and mounts, so removing them once or twice would be simple enough if it looked askew or off-center. My primary point of reference was a strip of Nanoleaf Canvas tiles I had recently installed in the bedroom. A physical on/off switch is built into the cable, which is definitely helpful. We were fans of the Govee Glide, a cheaper clone (as our reviewer put it) of the LIFX Beam, as well as the Govee Lyra Floor Lamp, which bears a strong resemblance to Philips Hues far pricier Signe floor lamp. splicing Instead of one color on each panel, these can have multiple colors that change on the fly. Will Govee want to keep five-year-old products supported in their app while continuing to pursue the latest mobile operating systems? When testing the Govee LED Neon Rope Lights, I praised the inclusion of more robust fixtures because the clamps are outwardly visible, so sticking them to the underside of a shelf suffered from the weight of the heavy rope. The main draw of the Hexa Pro is the 3D cube effect, and it's certainly something to behold in person since it's somewhat tricky to capture in photos. Those sticky pads, which come pre-installed, are extremely strong and can easily take the paint off your wall. Adhesive pads make for an easy setup if you have appropriately smooth walls to display them. Govees Glide Hexa Light Panels are essentially bargain-priced Nanoleaf knock-offs, but they chop a lot of features and theyre not that much cheaper. 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For example, each hexagon has five ports on the back to send power to the next hex, but you can only hook one up to each previous panel. Inside the small box, youll get 10 tiles, all the connector ribbon cables, a power adaptor, a control box, extra sticky pads, an alignment tool, and even a level to ensure everything goes smoothly. Widgets are available on both iOS and Android, though its tricky getting them to do much more than a toggle off and on. Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, Thankfully, you can customize the brightness inside the app. Like the Nanoleaf lights, Govees Glide modular panels can be arranged in different patterns and can shine in millions of different colors, and you can choose from more than a dozen elaborate animations or create your own. Each Hexa connects to the next one, and the app has to be able to trace that line of power to light them all up. Digital Trends Media Group may earn a commission when you buy through links on our sites. I sat down for a design brainstorming session with pen and paper to develop an exciting design that would suit my space and use all the scenes Govee offers, fitting them into one of the only narrow spaces left. Just make sure you have suitable smooth walls for the built-in adhesive pads because they won't stick to wallpaper or stucco. Setting timers is easy. Govee pushes users to sign up for their Savvy User program, which gamifies engagement through an entire social channel built into the app. All Rights Reserved. And with the Glide Hexa, those directional options work on music, too. What the various style and scene names mean is pretty vague, but its fun to mix and match them. Overall, Im very pleased with the Govee Glide Hexa light panels and love everything the setup offers. The flexible linking cables will (unnervingly, until you get used to it) bend and fold over themselves as you move the panels into position. And if you really want to get creative, Govee has a DIY section where users can customize literally every aspect of the light panels or try setups from the community. Its so feature-packed that theres almost too much going on, to the point that youll need to spend some time getting familiar with everything. And again, compared to Nanoleafs Shapes lines, Govees solution is much thicker (but also less expensive). All in all, the installation process for the Govee Glide Hexa Light Panels was great. The Hexa Glide Pro looks fantastic when displayed openly to show off the beautiful diffused RGB lights, standing out as more of an art piece than most LED accessories. Govee manages to stand out with more of a unique 3D cube design, but the kit is close enough to a Nanoleaf Hexagon 7-pack 'smarter' pack. Plus, wouldnt it be cool if you could make the border one color and the inner section a different color. For example, theres an Ingredients tab that includes an image of Shrimp Meat, and a set of three colors that matches the image, which can then be activated on the Glide Hexa Light Panels. hexa architonic Nanoleafs Hexagon and Triangle line popularized smart light tiles, but its easy to spend a small fortune outfitting your office, game room, streamer setup, or DJ booth. The apps home screen is polluted with a rotation of banners promoting community events. While the app covers all the bases, it still tries way too hard to get users invested with its baked-in social network. He's a staff writer for Review Geek covering roundups, EVs, and news. Each hexagon panel has numbered ports matching little triangles on the wires to define the direction of the lights, and you follow each step individually. Pairing up the Hexa Pro set with the Alexa or Hey Google compatibility adds a whole other level of customization when you arrive home and watch the cubes spring into life just by asking them to. Thanks to flexible connectors and an ingenious mounting system, the Govee Glide Hexas are more customizable than most. Apple HomeKit support is a major omission. He's a staff writer for Review Geek covering roundups, EVs, and news. Lets find out! Get the best of Windows Central in in your inbox, every day! On the bright side, Id rather have strong adhesive strips over weak ones, which is a common complaint with some LED light strips. As expected with most smart lights, you can quickly add a timer, adjust the brightness, change the light modes, pick a custom color palette, or choose from a wide array of pre-sets. The app lets you use your phones microphone too, but its not quite as effective. As handy as that is, the selection process goes overboard in the Effects Lab. Similar to Nanoleafs panels (a phrase well be using a lot in this review), each Govee panel comes with a snap-on mounting plate and pull tape (two extra pull tapes are included). Once you get started, youll quickly find that the options and designs are almost endless. These new light panels are variations on the existing Govee Glide range, which features triangle shapes and flat hexagons. Why trust us? govee gliding This allows for a larger adhesive to be used and for the adhesive tab to be hidden. He's previously written for GottaBeMobile, SlashGear, AndroidCentral, and InputMag, and he's written over 9,000 articles. Govees light panels cut a lot of corners compared to Nanoleafs panels, but theyre not much cheaper. The included alignment tool and bubble level were huge time savers. When the time comes, I can just take the tile off the bracket, then pull the adhesive off. The user base would undoubtedly increase, and I hope it happens even for my own sake. An in-line microphone allows for real-time syncing with music that looks great. You can, however, configure Siri shortcuts to work with the Govee lights. Still, the result is exceptional as you watch colors tumble down in animated effects reminiscent of retro arcade games like Q*bert or Marble Madness. If you prefer the look of the Govee panels to that of the Nanoleaf lights (the competitors do have some key design differences) of if youve already invested in other Govee lights and want to say in the same ecosystem, the Glide Hexa Light Panels make for an eye-catching way of decorating your walls. Thanks to an in-line microphone on the power cable, you can pair the panels to a phone or computer or just let it listen to music and match the beat. The Govee Glide Hexa Light Panels were a breath of fresh air by comparison. The connectors for my Nanoleaf tiles were rigid, which limited their ability to be placed around corners. Id accidentally hit back and have to start over, wait for the Glide Hexa to pair again, then try to remember whatever menu I was in trying to customize the lights. And while weve tested several of Govees ever-expanding smart lights product lineup, the new Govee Glide Hexa Light Panels are some of the brightest and best. The thin, flexible strip that connects Govees light panels together will bend over itself as you move the panels into position.