Govee Flow Plus (2 smart RGBICWW light bars)

Our analysis

Like the Philips Hue Play, this is a pair of smart light bars you stand behind your monitor or TV, but it runs from Govee's own app and a 12 V adapter with no hub, and lists Alexa, Google Home and Matter, where the Hue kit needs a Hue Bridge for its full feature set. It is for anyone who wants the desk to look finished, not for someone trying to light their face on stream.

What stands out

• Two RGBICWW bars with multi-zone color. Each bar can show more than one color at once, so the wall gets a gradient instead of a flat block of light.
• Music sync and 60+ scene modes. The light can follow what you are listening to, or you pick a preset and leave it.
• Govee Home app, Alexa, Google Home and Matter. You control them from your phone or by voice, and Matter lets them sit alongside other smart home gear.
• A glow behind the screen at night. Lighting the wall shrinks the jump in brightness between the screen and a dark room.

Where it falls short

• They light the wall, not you. If you stream or take video calls, they will not change how you look on camera.
• They run from a 12 V adapter, so you need a free outlet near the desk.

Look elsewhere if

• Your goal is looking good on camera: the Elgato Key Light is a 2800-lumen panel with adjustable color temperature from 2900 to 7000 K. If you play on a TV and want the wall to copy the picture, the Govee TV Backlight 3 Lite uses a camera to mirror the screen colors on its strip.

They take first place in our five best LED lights for a gaming setup and close out our complete budget setup as the finishing touch.