REVIEW – Have you ever wanted to add a fully customizable neon light to your room that can be curved into (nearly) any shape you’d like but didn’t want to pay hundreds of dollars for an actual glass custom neon sign? If so, the Govee RGBIC Neon rope light might be just what you’ve been looking for! The rope light is designed to mimic the look of a classic neon sign, and can be installed with bends and curves to different shapes.

The Govee RGBIC Neon rope light is a rope light made of many LED lights that can be programmed to nearly infinite colors and patterns. There are multiple length options, I’m reviewing the 3 meter version but there are also 2 meter and 5 meter models being released.

The Govee RGBIC Neon rope light feels like it’s mostly a rubber-like substance which provides flexibility and water resistance (though the control box itself is not water resistant, so be careful with where you mount it). This allows for pretty sharp bends, but not 90-degree bends. Like the neon signs that it’s mimicking it can only do curves of varying intensity.

The 10 included mounting brackets are 8mm in width (and 17 mm deep), I wish they’d included more but reviews on Amazon indicate that additional brackets are easy to find and cheap.

The rope light itself has a single plug end where the AC power and control unit connect to.

The 252 individual LEDs are very well diffused to the point that you cannot see individual LEDs at all. It’s a great neon-looking effect, when solid colors are chosen it looks very much like a neon light. When patterns or audio-responsive modes are used it creates some great effects while still not betraying the individual LEDs under the diffuser layer.

The first thing you should do when setting up the Govee RGBIC Neon rope light is to plan out your design on a floor, use weights or books to sketch out the shape. Next, you’ll install the wall brackets (there’s a sticky tape that seems pretty robust, but I recommend also using the included screws if possible).

After these are installed, it’s as simple as pushing the Govee RGBIC Neon rope light into the brackets and plugging it in. Notice in the picture below that when viewed from the side the mounting brackets and fairly thick body under the lights themselves is fairly visible. This isn’t a deal breaker for me, but the angled views are definitely less impressive than the head-on view.

The physical control box has strong adhesive as well, so it can be placed on any flat surface or hidden away. For full customization you’ll want to grab the Govee app (available for iOS and Android). Since I’ve reviewed many Govee lights (and bought some besides) I already had it installed. The next picture shows the add-a-device process. I’m blown away by the massive catalog of Govee smart products, each time I review a new Govee light it seems they’ve added dozens of new SKUs. Because of this, I found it easiest to search for “rope” and the 2/3/5 meter models popped right up:

Next up, you get the light customization menus, which are extensive. There’s a nice variety of prebuilt and community shared designs and color palettes, including audio-responsive options. I like that Govee allows you to do either app-controlled or device-controlled audio responsive options, I’d recommend the latter if you’re doing an audio responsive version so you don’t have to always have the app open. A microphone on the device itself listens to ambient noise and the Govee RGBIC Neon rope light reacts accordingly. I monitored network traffic with this mode enabled and didn’t see anything to indicate audio being sent over the internet from the device, but if you’re worried about this you could opt not to connect it to your wifi network and simply use the built-in lighting modes (there’s a dozen or so color and pattern options you can select from the physical controller).

On the 3 meter rope light I reviewed, the 252 individual LEDs are combined into 15 different controllable sections. Each section can have a custom color set, or you can create gradients from color palettes (or even auto-generated from images!), or you can be basic like me and mostly just use solid colors. I use the Govee integration with Google Home (Alexa integration is also available), which lets me turn on and off the lights as well as change colors, from my phone or from voice controls to Google Home devices.

The Govee RGBIC Neon rope light offers a great imitation of a classic neon sign, with the added benefit of highly customizable colors and patterns. The video below shows a variety of lighting patterns including some audio responsive modes, you’d be able to do just about anything you could imagine with this rope light.

The Govee RGBIC Neon rope light is bright when viewed head on, but isn’t sufficient to light even a small room on its own (unless you like very dim lighting). This device is great as an accent piece, but be aware it isn’t capable of serving as a primary light source.

The Govee RGBIC Neon rope light is a well-made product that allows you to add a creative lighting element to a wall or ceiling with just a few screw holes. Combined with the wide array of other Govee lighting options and integration with Alexa and Google Home/Assistant, you can add tons of custom lighting to your home or apartment (and at very reasonable prices compared to the competition). I’ve used or reviewed nearly 10 different Govee products over multiple years, and have only had one of their cheapest RGB light strips die on me, so reliability seems pretty good.

Price: $79.99 Where to buy: Amazon Source: The sample for this review was provided by Govee

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