We got our hands on the Govee Outdoor Spotlights 2 and they are so cool. Whether you are looking to illuminate an outdoor feature or just bring a bit of extra vibe to your backyard, Govee has cooked up a seriously awesome piece of outdoor tech.

Here’s our breakdown of the design, the tech, and how easy these lights are to get running in your smart home.

Out of the box, Govee gives you everything you need to get up and running.

There are no extra trips to the hardware store needed. You get the spotlight units, robust mounting stakes, an Allen key for adjusting bracket angles, and plenty of main line cabling. The stakes themselves feel super solid, ensuring your lights aren’t going to blow away in heavy wind or get knocked over easily.

Pro Tip for Setup: When you’re pushing stakes into the dirt, always check your ground first! You definitely don’t want to hit a stubborn rock and snap a stake, or worse, puncture an underground line to your garden watering system.

The lights themselves have a lovely, sleek design that sits unobtrusively in the garden.

Once you stake them down, the light heads are fully adjustable. You can tilt them precisely where you want; whether you’re lighting up a water feature, an outdoor statue, or casting a warm glow onto a favorite plant. Once you find that sweet spot angle, just tighten the bracket with the included Allen key (a big win for not having to hunt through the toolbox for spare tools!).

The only extra gear we brought to the table was a pair of garden gloves for digging around in the dirt, and a multi-plug enclosure box; more on that below.

Waterproofing and cable management heaven

I think my favorite thing about setting up tech outside is that cable management consists of burying cords in the dirt. If only it was that easy to cable manage inside!

That’s only possible because the Govee Outdoor Spotlights 2 pack an IP67 weatherproof rating, meaning they are heavily engineered to handle rain, dirt, and full exposure to the elements. Burying the thick, high-quality cables right under the soil was a breeze and leaves your garden looking clean with zero ugly wires tripping people up.

Govee was also generous with the cable length here. The long leads mean you can spread the lights out across your yard without worrying about running out of reach. Plus, if you have a larger space, you can seamlessly attach additional lights to extend your setup even further.

While the lights and cabling are fully weatherproof, you’ll still want to keep your main outdoor power source protected. Because we already had our single outdoor power point occupied, we picked up an Arlec Weatherproof Electrical Enclosure Box from Bunnings to house a power board. Purchasing and using this container gave us peace of mind that everything was completely protected from the elements. It fits the Govee power supply with plenty of room to spare for when we inevitably expand our garden lighting down the road.

Ease of setup and app integration

Setting up smart home gear should be smooth, and Govee nailed it here. Connecting the Govee Outdoor Spotlights 2 to Google Home via Matter was a breeze, and getting everything paired didn’t take long at all.

Before you start digging up your lawn, though, learn from our workflow:

The Golden Setup Rule: Always lay out your lights, extend your cables, and pair everything to the app BEFORE you start staking them into the ground and burying cables. It is vastly easier to troubleshoot connectivity or check cable lengths while everything is sitting on the grass than it is after you’ve buried the line.

Luckily, we experienced zero glitches during setup, and you can check out my setup video on Instagram. The Govee app gives you total control over your setup. We configured our lights on a custom schedule so they turn on automatically at dusk and shut off later in the evening. I love how simple smart app ecosystems make routine automation these days! There are also tonnes of presets to choose from or go fully customised and choose your own effect, light colours, and animation speed. Just make sure your lights are on to be able to adjust settings.

You also get full voice control through Google Assistant, making it effortless to turn them on or adjust scenes without getting off the couch. It’s always fun to call out “Hey Google, turn on the Roses”.

Performance: brightness and aesthetics

When these lights kick on, they look gorgeous. They are super bright and cast light remarkably well.

In fact, because they put out such a strong beam, you’ll want to carefully consider their positioning so guests aren’t looking directly into the globe light source.

We positioned ours pointing upward and into our gorgeous roses. While we initially thought about putting a dedicated light under every single rose bush, these spotlights cast such a wide, rich wash of light that it simply wasn’t necessary. Just the two Govee Outdoor Spotlights easily illuminated the whole section, making the garden pop once the sun went down.

The verdict

If you want an easy, highly customisable way to bring high-tech smart lighting to your yard, the Govee Outdoor Spotlights 2 are a total slam dunk. They combine bulletproof IP67 hardware with effortless Matter/Google Home pairing and bright, vibrant output.

If you are planning to upgrade your outdoor space, you can pick up a two pack Spotlight kit for $199.99 AUD, which is a pretty decent price. Or upgrade to the four pack for $399.98 AUD (but they are on sale for $299.99 AUD so get in quick!).

If you are buying direct from the website, use the code “CLEVERGEARMISH20” at checkout on Govee’s site for 20% off your entire cart, even if you’re purchasing more than just these lights. Have fun turning your outdoors into a beautiful smartly lit garden.