Guide · Christmas Lighting
Govee Permanent Lights vs a Professional Christmas Install: An Honest Look
Govee’s permanent outdoor lights are everywhere this year, and they’re one of the questions we get asked most. We don’t install them — Nord only does seasonal lighting — but they’re a genuinely fun product for the right house. Here’s an honest look at both, so you can pick the one that fits how you want the holidays to feel.
What Govee permanent lights are
Govee’s permanent outdoor lights are a do-it-yourself smart lighting system. Individual LED lights sit along a cable that you mount to the underside of your soffit, and the whole thing runs from the Govee Home app — colours, scenes, schedules, music sync and voice assistants.1 It stays on the house all year, so the same lights can do Christmas, Halloween, a birthday or a soft glow every evening.
What the DIY install actually involves
- It’s roofline work. Each light mounts to the underside of the soffit with an adhesive pad plus clips and screws, which means a ladder and a drill.1 One reviewer’s advice: plan your weekend accordingly.2
- Screws go into the house. Govee recommends clips and screws as well as the adhesive where lights face wind, moisture or heat,1 and a reviewer expected the adhesive alone to give out over time.2 In a Simcoe County winter, plan on the screws.
- Check your Wi-Fi first. The system uses 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi only, and Govee recommends the router be within about 30 feet of the control box.1 On a big house, a cottage or a rural property, that’s worth testing at the roofline before you buy.
- The control box needs a sheltered spot and power near where the run starts.2
The look
This is where the two really differ. Govee’s lights are individual LED points spaced along the cable — about 16 inches apart on the model PCWorld reviewed — designed to tuck discreetly under the soffit.2 Lit, they’re bright and colourful and read clean and contemporary, and the app can do effects classic lights can’t. The same reviewer noted that on smaller rooflines the spacing can look sparse.2
What you see by day matters too, because a permanent system is on your house all year. Commercial-grade permanent lighting typically runs in a track matched to your soffit or fascia, so it blends into the trim. Govee doesn’t: the light “pucks” are taped and clipped to the underside of the soffit, with bare wire running between each one. Tucked well it’s discreet from the street, but up close the wire is there all year.
Seasonal lighting is the traditional look: classic bulbs following the roofline, a lit wreath in the gable, garland on the porch and wrapped trees in the yard. Some people want one, some want the other. Neither is wrong — but it’s worth knowing which you’re picturing before you choose.
How long it lasts
This is our biggest reservation. A permanent system has to live through every season on your roofline — sun, ice, wind, freeze and thaw — year after year. Govee is a consumer smart-home kit, and how it holds up over years on a Canadian roofline is still unproven: PCWorld called its long-term durability untested and expected the adhesive to give out over time.2 If you buy it, use the screws, and give it a good look after its first winter.
Where Govee wins
- Year-round use. Every holiday, every evening, any colour.
- You own it. One purchase, then it’s yours to control whenever you like.
- The app is fun. Scenes, schedules and colour changes from your phone.
Where a full-service seasonal install wins
What you’re choosing with a professional seasonal service is the experience: the whole season handled for you.
- Nothing to buy, nothing on your ladder. We design it, supply commercial-grade lights custom-cut to your home, and install them.
- You see it first. A realistic mockup of your own home with the lights on, before anything goes up.
- It runs itself. A digital timer with battery backup turns the display on and off every night.
- It stays perfect. If a bulb goes out or a strand comes down, we fix it free within 48 hours.
- It all goes away. Takedown after the season and storage at our shop — nothing on the house or in the garage the rest of the year.
- The traditional look, with wreaths, garland and trees as part of the same display, and new colours next year at no extra cost.
For the bigger picture beyond Govee, see permanent vs seasonal Christmas lights, and for what a seasonal install costs, our cost guide.
Frequently asked questions
Are Govee permanent outdoor lights worth it?
For the right person, yes. If you want lights you can use all year, love changing colours from an app, are happy to own the system, and are comfortable doing the roofline work yourself, they are a fun product. Go in knowing how long it lasts on a roofline is still unproven, and that the wire between the lights is visible up close. If you want the traditional Christmas look and want someone else to handle the whole season, a full-service seasonal install suits better.
How hard are Govee permanent lights to install?
It is a DIY product, but it is still roofline work. Govee’s own guide describes mounting each light to the underside of the soffit with its adhesive pad plus clips and screws, using a ladder and a drill. One reviewer’s advice was to plan your weekend around it.
Do Govee lights need Wi-Fi?
They set up over Bluetooth and then run on Wi-Fi through the Govee Home app. Govee’s install guide says the system uses 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi only and recommends the router be within about 30 feet of the control box, so check your signal at the roofline before you buy.
Will Nord install or take down my Govee lights?
No. Nord only does seasonal Christmas lighting, and we only install our own commercial-grade lights, which we supply, maintain, take down and store. We don’t install, service or remove Govee or other permanent systems.
Do Govee lights look like regular Christmas lights?
Not quite. They are individual LED points spaced along a cable rather than classic bulbs, with bare wire running between each light. Unlike commercial-grade permanent systems, there is no track matched to your soffit or fascia. Lit up, they read clean and contemporary, with colour effects classic lights can’t do. If you want the traditional bulb-on-the-roofline look, that is seasonal lighting.
Sources: 1. Govee permanent outdoor lights installation guide — Govee · 2. Govee Permanent Outdoor Lights 2 review — PCWorld. Govee is a trademark of its owner; Nord is not affiliated with Govee.