Finding the Ultimate Smart Ceiling Light Isn't Easy—Until Now

When you are shopping for a ceiling light, you usually consider several things:

• How bright is it in lumens?
• What color temperature is the light?
• Can it display other colors besides white?
• Can you control it from your phone in addition to a standard wall switch?
• Does it work with Alexa or Google Home?
• Can you set up automations so it turns on and off on a schedule?
• Does it offer any animations or scenes?

Most ceiling lights on the market don’t have all of these features, forcing you to pick and choose which ones matter most to you.  Fortunately, Govee has solved this problem with their Ceiling Light Ultra, which checks every single box on that list.  Unfortunately, that solution doesn't come cheap.  It retails for $249.99.  When it goes on sale, highly likely between now and Christmas, the price can drop to the $200.00 to $220.00 range.

Still, this is a phenomenal light.  At 21 inches in diameter, it puts out a massive 5,000 lumens of brightness which is about the equivalent of three standard 100-watt bulbs (or three 15-watt LED bulbs).  You can tune the white light anywhere between a cozy 2,700K (very warm) and a crisp 6,500K (daylight), or switch over to the full range of RGB colors.  It works with a regular wall switch, the Govee phone app, Alexa, and Google Home (and, for that matter, Matter—the newer universal smart home standard that lets devices from different brands talk to each other locally).

Under the cover, it includes an array of over 600 individual LEDs.  You can use them to display custom graphics, which, admittedly, look like very fuzzy, low-res pixel art, or animate them using more than 100 built-in scenes.  If you are going for a disco effect, it even has a built-in mic to flash in sync with your music, though that is a feature I will likely never use.

I have a couple of these installed in my own home and I love their versatility.  So often you buy a tech gadget and regret it a few months later because a newer model makes it feel outdated.  While even more feature-rich ceiling lights may eventually come along, this one does so much right out of the box that you aren't likely to feel like you made a bad decision anytime soon.

Beyond this fixture, Govee makes a wide range of both interior and exterior home lighting, and operation is simple because all of their lights work together in the same app.  We are now in the era of the smart home, which unfortunately also means the era of being inundated with dozens of different device control apps on your phone.  Govee won't solve that problem entirely, but if you stick with them for your smart lighting needs, you can at least keep the app clutter down by running most of your lights from one place.

By Omar Billawala

Govee Ceiling Light Ultra on Amazon

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