Are smart string lights worth it? I've tested sets from Philips Hue and Nanoleaf to find out

Whether you prefer your decorations in minimalist white and silver or gaudy festive cheer, a Christmas tree just isn’t complete without string lights.

Thanks to the swathes of LED options on the market, gone are the days of hunting through the entire string to find that one pesky dud bulb that’s killed the mood, which is a big win for those of us who are old enough to remember.

Nowadays, we’ve got oodles of smart string light options at our fingertips, but are they worth the extra cash? In my opinion: absolutely.

A smart upgrade offers much more convenience in how you control your lighting and greater flexibility than you could ever get from standard LED string lights, with companion apps offering scheduling and voice control.

Smart features let you fine-tune the ambience to your liking with adjustable color and brightness settings, DIY modes, and more, opening the option to use those diddy bulbs year-round if fairy lights are your thing. However, the level of customization and convenience can vary between brands.

In preparation for my Christmas tree’s glow-up, I’ve tested four sets from Philips Hue, Nanoleaf, and Govee, focusing on the differences in features, usability, and convenience.

To save you some deliberation time, I’ve shared my findings below to light the way to your perfect set of string lights.

The essentials

As with most smart tech, the price of a set of string lights can vary widely, from super-cheap finds on Amazon to premium options. It helps to know exactly what you’re getting for your money, as you may well find you can get similar, or sometimes better, value from a lower-priced option.

To demonstrate this, the sets I’ve tested were similar in length, with most around the 66ft / 20m mark, aside from the Nanoleaf Matter Holiday Smart string lights, which are slightly longer at 78.8ft / 24m. I’ve collated the main elements to consider in the table below.

I’ve quoted the list prices above, but there are some joy-inducing holiday discounts at the time of writing, including a deal on the 66ft / 20m Govee Christmas Sparkle String Lights, which lowers the cost to just $64.99 in the US and £69.99 in the UK.

• Shop Govee’s full Christmas sale in the US

• Shop Govee’s full Christmas sale in the UK

Nanoleaf is aglow with holiday discounts too, having cut the price of the 78.8ft / 24m Nanoleaf Matter Smart Holiday String Lights down to $74.99 in the US and £58.49 in the UK.

• Shop Nanoleaf’s full Holiday sale in the US

• Shop Nanoleaf’s full Holiday sale in the UK

Companionable apps

Each set of string lights I tested comes with a companion app, but some are noticeably more user-friendly than others.

Nanoleaf gave me plenty of scenes to explore, and it was satisfyingly simple to create my own. The paint feature makes it easy to customize my color palette, with two bulbs popping into color in real time with each segment I filled in the app. I could also apply one of the many available dynamic motions to custom or existing palettes, such as random, pulse, and wheel.

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Preset scenes are abundant on the simple-to-use Govee Home app, which also offers access to loads of user-created options.

It was trickier to add colors to specific bulbs with the Finger Sketch feature than in the Nanoleaf app, since I had to select a block at a time and then choose smaller segments from there.

Fortunately, the Mapping feature for the Christmas Sparkle and Christmas String Lights 2 can make this easier. All I had to do was take three photos of the most prominent sides of the tree, use my finger to paint over the representation generated by the app.

It took a few attempts, as I had to tweak the lighting and keep my hands as steady as possible for the best results, but it's a fun feature that offers a higher level of creativity than the Nanoleaf and Philips Hue string lights.

There’s also a little more flexibility with the Govee AI feature, which accepts written, verbal, and image prompts, unlike Nanoleaf, where I could only use the former.

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I consider the Hue app to be the least user-friendly. Adjusting brightness and white temperature, and selecting single colors, is straightforward enough, but the settings for fine-tuning color placement and applying effects are very limited.

The process of exploring preset scenes is also flawed, and proved more time-consuming than those of its competitors. Each time I applied or saved a scene from the library, I was sent back to the dashboard, meaning I had to navigate back and scroll through the library again to get back to where I was.

Nonetheless, once my favorite presets were saved, it was simple enough to switch between them and alter the brightness.

Using voice commands via my Echo Dot naturally made life even easier with each set I tested. Though I will note that the connection process was trickier with the Nanoleaf string lights, as they wouldn’t play ball with my dual-band Wi-Fi network.

In or out?

If you’re only interested in a set of string lights to adorn the tree in your living room, you’ll be spoiled for choice. If you have dreams of adding that festive sparkle to your front yard, however, you’ll need to look a little bit harder.

Fortunately, all but one of the sets I’ve tested are stated to be suitable for outdoor use, with the exception being the Govee Christmas Sparkle String Lights. Here it pays to check the IP ratings of the string lights you’re considering, as this rating offers more clarity on whether you can use them as planned, or if they’re best kept within the confines of your porch.

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For example, the Philips Hue and Nanoleaf models I’ve tested have an IP54 rating, which means they’re best used in covered areas, as they won’t be too fond of wet conditions.

In contrast, the Govee Christmas String Lights 2 have an IP67 rating, which, in official terms, means they can withstand immersion in up to one meter of water for thirty minutes. This is the rating you’d want for any device that lives permanently outdoors, such as home security cameras, because they’re not afraid of a bit of rain.

Reel convenient

My final point is for those who despair at the thought of untangling the lights every year. I was ready to throw in the towel after testing just one set, which turned out to be the most inconvenient.

The Philips Hue Festavia lights are intended to be stored in one large bundle, which increases the chance of tangling, and the inconveniently placed velcro strap made it harder not to get the lights caught up when applying them to the tree.

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The Nanoleaf Matter String Lights and Govee Christmas Sparkle String Lights were less frustrating to work with, as they were stored in two and three bundles, respectively. If you want to keep things as simple as possible, I suggest going with an alternative format.

The Govee Christmas String Lights 2 are a prime example. Unlike a traditional fairy light setup, the LED lights are set into the cord. This makes them a little more subtle, but also means they can be stored and unwound from their reel, making them a great alternative if you’re tired of wrestling your string lights into submission every festive season.