Govee Glide Hexagon Light Panels Ultra Review

Can flat wall panel smart lights really break through their 2D limitations? Find out if the Govee Glide Hexagon Light Panels Ultra is up to the task.

Thanks to the efforts of manufacturers like Govee and Nanoleaf, smart wall panel lights now decorate many gaming rooms, media rooms, and bedrooms. The challenge for these companies is to innovate what are already spectacular-looking lights capable of a diverse number of effects. Govee began the journey culminating in the forthcoming release of the Glide Hexagon Light Panels Ultra with its Glide Hexa Pro panels. With several distinct lighting zones, these illuminated six-sided shapes achieve a 3D illusion that brings dull walls to life.

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Despite the popularity of previous Govee Hexa light panels, the Glide Hexagon Light Panels Ultra promises further advancements in wall panel technology. The latest lights showcase a mix of line and surface illumination that results in an even more convincing three-dimensional parallax effect. Also, the number of LED bulbs in the panels and chips controlling the complex lighting is significantly higher than in previous versions.

The Glide Hexagon Light Panels Ultra is set for release on September 25th, carrying a lofty retail price of $349.99. Buyers can choose the Meteor Gray version with somewhat more muted colors or Lunar White which unleashes the full vibrancy of its RGBIC bulbs. Demanding a considerable investment, Govee was anxious to showcase what makes these panels unique and graciously provided Game Rant with a Lunar White review sample. After putting these lights to the test, it's safe to say that the smart lighting world will never be quite the same.

The Govee Glide Hexagon Light Panels Ultra are the most dynamic and spectacular smart wall panel lights ever created. Benefiting from surface lighting and line lighting, the two modes combine to display amazing 3D effects. Each Hexagon panel boasts 129 LEDs with 10 microcontroller units, making them some of the most advanced smart lights on the market. Users can choose from many preset scenes or create their own patterns with the Govee Home app's DIY mode.The Glide Hexagon Light Panels Ultra are available in 2 versions with Meteor Gray emitting a softer light while Lunar White showcases the full capabilities of the panels' vivid illumination.

The Govee Glide Hexagon Light Panels Ultra ship in a surprisingly heavy, large black rectangular box. The graphics on the Lunar White box will please space exploration fans with a moon set behind an illustration of the light panels.

Upon opening the main packaging, buyers will find some promotional materials and a quick-start guide set on top of the 10 panels.

Among the box contents are 10 linking cables, a control box, a power adapter, and some additional double-sided tape. Govee also includes a small level to make installing the light panels in even lines much easier.

There are many similarities when installing the Glide Hexagon Light Panels Ultra compared to other Govee lights, but there are also some differences to take note of. The light panels already have three double-sided tape strips with Velcro ready for use, which could make them easier to safely take down compared to panels using other adhesive pads. The included linker cables can attach to six different points on the backside of each Hexagon but must be placed in a particular numbered spot as instructed by the app. Since the lighting effects with the Hexagon Light Panels Ultra are more complicated than previous panels, the installation process takes more time.

Govee suggests that buyers connect each panel to the controller box and power adapter to make sure that every light is working properly. Users are then instructed to open the Govee Home app which provides a short, helpful video showing the setup process. Installers have the opportunity to select from a collection of suggested designs or create their own shapes. Govee also provides some thin black cardboard Hexagons, so buyers can get an idea of how much space an intended design will consume. It's critical to arrange the panels correctly so that the Y-shape lines embedded in the lights are facing the same way, with the app assisting by flashing the upper right sections green.

Like with other Govee products, the mobile app will scan a room and hopefully locate the Glide Hexagon Light Panels Ultra for Bluetooth pairing. Users will then have to connect the panels to a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network for greater control outside the software, including with Google Home and Amazon Alexa.

Once it's time to actually place the Hexagon Light Panels Ultra on a wall, the app will guide users on what panel to stick on next and what numbered socket each linker should attach to. Fortunately, the linker cables are just the right length to hide behind the panels. There is also an option to select which Hexagon is the most practical to connect the power cord to. The process can seem a bit intimidating at first, and if a buyer forgets to position a linker correctly before taping a panel on a surface, it's difficult to fix the mistake without taking a light down.

However, once several lights are up, this slightly unusual setup becomes almost second nature. Each panel is quite heavy compared to Nanoleaf Shapes, for example, but the three Velcro tape strips do give the installed designs a secure feeling after sufficient pressure is applied.

In the Govee Home app, users are given a visual representation of their Hexagon Light Panels Ultra design toward the top of the screen. The main modes available are fairly standard for Govee lights and include Music, Color, Scene, and DIY. To achieve the best color accuracy possible, settings for brightness and relative brightness are accessible in many of the modes.

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Music Mode will instruct the light panels to react to pulsating beats either using the integrated mic on the lights or a smartphone microphone. Color Mode allows buyers to set individual or multiple panels to display solid colors. Scene Mode is where most people will spend their time since there are 60 preset scenes ready for use, many of which are tuned to showcase the new multidimensional effects. Finally, DIY Mode is quite overwhelming to experiment with, since it's possible to select the animation style and movement of effects on several different parts of each panel.

Govee fans often find that the mobile app is cumbersome and not particularly user-friendly to access its most important features and adjustments. The Hexagon Light Panels Ultra won't alter those impressions, but some of the additional complexity is related to the much more elaborate designs that are made a reality by the new lights.

Govee Desktop is also an option for buyers without some of the modes and customization present in the mobile app. Still, the software is critical to enable features of the Hexagon Light Panels Ultra like Govee DreamView and Razer Chroma support.

DreamView permits the light panels to sync with other compatible Govee lights. The software can act as a screen visualizer to program certain panels to mirror the scenes on portions of a monitor. Some additional setup is required here, but the results are impressive. That is especially true when a Hexagon Light Panels Ultra design is set directly behind a gaming monitor.

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Govee's PC software is relatively straightforward to use, but connections with lights would occasionally drop, which are solved only by reopening the program. Govee Desktop has improved considerably since its initial release, so hopefully these issues will soon become a thing of the past.

The Govee Glide Hexagon Ultra panels measure 8 inches by just under 7 inches, which is slightly smaller than Nanoleaf's Shapes Hexagons. Instead of a matte white finish, the Lunar White version has a glossy exterior. Regardless, the 10 included panels are more than enough to cover a significant amount of wall space. Unfortunately, Govee has yet to solve the problem of a dangling power cord which is an issue with other panels and light bars, forcing some clever cable management.

With regular new releases of wall panel lights including the Shapes Hexagons from Nanoleaf, it becomes a bit harder to have the same wow factor after installation. The Govee Glide Hexagon Light Panels Ultra aims to change that by adding more complexity with different lighting sections on the panels' edges, on lines running through the Hexagons, and with individual zones on the panels themselves. Shapes that appear to have a three-dimensional effect are the result of this elaborate lighting configuration.

To relieve any fears of disappointment, the Govee Glide Hexagon Ultra panels look like no other lights on the market. The impressive specs of Govee's latest innovation can give some insight into why the Hexagons are so dynamic compared to other panels. Each light sports 33 IC chips which is over 5 times the amount of the previous generation of Govee Glide Hexa panels. It's also far more than the number of chips Nanoleaf employs in its Shapes. The chips are spread out among the inner lines, borders, and surfaces of the Hexagon lights so that every section can benefit from individually controlled effects.

The internal chips of the Glide Hexagon Ultra lights are supported by 129 RGBIC LED bulbs per Hexagon which is also considerably more than competing panels. Each line is able to display three colors at the same time which gives a scene the ability to look entirely unique. If a buyer is tired of seeing the standard red and green color scheme for a Christmas scene, the Hexagon Ultra lights are capable of some far more unique animated patterns.

The Glide Hexagon Ultra panels also excel showing more simplistic single color scenes. These effects are where the overall brightness of the lights really shines as they cast a considerable amount of illumination near a wall. The panels also respond quickly to commands, although not as instantaneously as LED strips connected to screen mirroring kits like the Govee AI Sync Box.

Govee's latest lights also impress when it comes to integrating them in a gaming room or with a PC rig. DreamView allows the Glide Hexagon Ultra panels to sync with other Govee lights like the Neon Rope Lights for Desks. Taking advantage of the screen visualizing capabilities provided by the Govee Desktop software, a gaming experience can extend well beyond a monitor. It takes some thought to decide how to divide up the screen-mirrored effects among all the different lights, and the various panels and LED strips don't always respond to changes at the exact same time. Even so, the overall display far exceeds what a buyer could expect from a simple TV or monitor backlighting kit such as the Govee Gaming Light Strip G1.

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Razer Chroma Connect makes it possible to coordinate the lighting between a host of RGB PC case fans, mice, and keyboards. Once again, some work is required in the Razer Synapse app to activate the Govee module and add the Hexagon Ultra panels to some custom scenes. However, once set up, the feature works quite reliably, especially with more basic color patterns.

The Govee Glide Hexagon Light Panels Ultra are the most dynamic and spectacular smart wall panel lights ever created. Benefiting from surface lighting and line lighting, the two modes combine to display amazing 3D effects. Each Hexagon panel boasts 129 LEDs with 10 microcontroller units, making them some of the most advanced smart lights on the market. Users can choose from many preset scenes or create their own patterns with the Govee Home app's DIY mode.The Glide Hexagon Light Panels Ultra are available in 2 versions with Meteor Gray emitting a softer light while Lunar White showcases the full capabilities of the panels' vivid illumination.

After seeing what the Glide Hexagon Ultra panels are capable of, there is very little to complain about in regard to their performance. Making flat panels appear 3D is no easy feat but one that Govee largely achieves. With so much happening on each panel, the potential for unique scenes that can be shared with countless other Govee users is nearly unlimited. The fact that each lighting pattern is so distinct from any others makes it more tempting for owners to spend time in DIY mode.

Since the lights must be arranged and connected in a particular sequence and orientation, installation is more time-consuming than with previous light panels from Govee and Nanoleaf. Fortunately, the Govee Home mobile app does an excellent job guiding users during the process, even if there are some momentary drops in connection. The included linker cables are far less flimsy than the small plastic pieces used in other kits and snap securely into the backside of the Hexagons.

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Software is often a letdown when controlling RGB or RGBIC lights, and there is definite room for improvement with the Govee Home app. Having different lighting areas capable of showing a variety of colors and effects demands even more menus in an already cluttered app. Creating custom scenes is particularly challenging even on larger smartphones, and desktop software would be more practical for selecting small sections on each panel.

The ultimate stumbling block for the Glide Hexagon Light Panels Ultra is its cost. To somewhat justify the steep asking price, the weighty and glossy lights themselves look and feel like premium components even when turned off. Of course, how the Hexagon Lights Panels perform when activated is what really matters. What Govee has achieved verges on groundbreaking, so buyers will have to decide if the added splendor in a gaming room is worth paying twice or more the price of similar kits.

The Glide Hexagon Light Panels Ultra is quite possibly a glimpse into the future of more dynamic wall panel lights. As it stands, the number of IC chips and bulbs in each Hexagon is without a rival. Still, the high asking price of Govee's lights will have some buyers searching for more affordable alternatives.

Nanoleaf Shapes wall panel lights are available in a variety of Hexagons, Triangles, and Mini-Triangles. Similar to Govee smart lights, Shapes supports syncing with other Nanoleaf products with Connect+ technology as well as offering compatibility with Razer Chroma. Unlike the Hexagon Light Panels Ultra, Nanoleaf Shapes can also function as Thread border routers, hosting a fast mesh network of low-latency Matter-compatible light bulbs and strips. Users can also take advantage of touch gestures to adjust brightness or toggle between preset scenes.

Also in the Nanoleaf family are Lines light bars. Instead of large flat hexagons or triangles, these thin lights cast backlighting on a wall for a more subtle but attractive display. Nanoleaf Lines are an ideal choice for accent lighting on walls, rather than a blindingly bright collection of panel lights directly facing viewers.

Finally, Govee's previous Hexa lights deserve consideration as more budget-friendly options. The original Glide Hexa Light Panels are an especially attractive deal, with RGBIC technology allowing each Hexagon to display multiple colors simultaneously. These panels are somewhat raised, so they also cast backlit illumination on walls.

The Glide Hexagon Light Panels Ultra is a more direct evolution of the Glide Hexa Pro lights. While these panels also simulate a 3D effect, they don't include the number of LED bulbs or lighting zones boasted by more recent Light Panels Ultra.

Nanoleaf Shapes

$199

Nanoleaf Lines

$199

Glide Hexa Light Panels

$120

Glide Hexa Pro

$170

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The Govee Glide Hexagon Light Panels Ultra has more line and surface lighting zones, LED bulbs, and controller chips. This enables elaborate and unique animations and scenes.

Many gaming keyboards, mice, and headsets are RGB enabled with color-changing effects. To enhance the lighting from these peripherals, gamers often install RGB cooling fans and LED strips in PC cases. In recent years, other types of smart LED lighting like wall panel lights are common additions near PC desks.

Although it's usually simpler if all the RGB lights in a gaming room are made by the same manufacturer, there are smart home platforms and software solutions that can integrate many different types of devices into one ecosystem.

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An avid gamer since childhood, Adam Corsetti became hooked on video games after using the original Nintendo console. During college, he created a site aggregating gaming review scores and wrote features about the industry. Adam has since witnessed the popularity of video games rise further and become part of mainstream culture. Adam's video game interests include simulation, strategy, and sports titles on PC and consoles, as well as peripherals and hardware. As a seasoned freelance writer, he recently joined the Game Rant team and is excited to share his experiences and insights with readers.