A porthole to the sky: Govee 21-Inch Sky Ceiling Light review

As is typical of the manufacturer, the Govee 21-Inch Sky Ceiling Light offers numerous options for creating personalized lighting on the ceiling. A particular highlight is the simulated daylight, which makes the ceiling light look almost like a porthole with a view of the sky. In addition, there are many direct and indirect lighting options available in cool to warm white tones, as well as millions of colors.

I’m not a big fan of the app, but it does offer numerous options, including connectivity via Matter. Installing the light, which weighs over 8 kg, requires some strength and a sturdy ceiling. Furthermore, with an MSRP of $400, the Govee Sky Ceiling Light is certainly no bargain.

The manufacturer’s suggested retail price for the Govee 21-Inch Sky Ceiling Light is $399.99. It is available at the manufacturer’s online store and on Amazon, among other places.

After recently taking a closer look at the COB Light Strip 2 Pro, one of Govee’s new products unveiled at IFA, we’re now reviewing another new product from the manufacturer. The Govee 21-Inch Sky Ceiling Light was also presented at IFA and is now available. What does this rather expensive ceiling light have to offer?

The Govee Sky Ceiling Light features a round design, with several other alternatives from the manufacturer already available in this form factor. However, the new model offers a few distinctive features. A total of three different lighting zones are housed in the high-quality metal enclosure, which measures 21 inch (53 cm) in diameter and about 4 inch (10 cm) in height.

First, there is the large central area, where 28 individually controllable LEDs—divided among three rings—are mounted behind milky Plexiglas. Around the outside of the protruding metal frame is another LED ring divided into 20 units. This is complemented by an outer ring that indirectly illuminates the ceiling and is divided into 12 individual elements.

This allows the 60 LED zones to be controlled individually to create custom lighting effects. The individual LEDs beneath the frosted panel in the center are not visible as separate points of light. However, the color effects here are also weaker and more diffuse than those of the two surrounding edge lights.

Govee also promotes its special blue light with a wavelength of 478 nm and an illuminance of 2,484 lx. This is said to boost vitality, although we were unable to confirm that within the scope of this test. However, we can attest that the lamp, with its brightness of up to 7,000 lumens, fills a room with bright, invigorating light.

As an alternative to fully illuminating a room, the outer LED ring can also be used to provide indirect ceiling lighting. This can create atmospheric effects or, for example, provide basic orientation during nighttime activities—such as a trip to the bathroom—without waking other household members.

We recently introduced the Govee app in our review of the COB Light Strip 2 Pro. The options available for the ceiling light are largely the same. As mentioned earlier, the app is a bit cluttered and colorful for my taste, although that is partly due to its many features.

Let’s start with the basics: establishing a connection via Bluetooth and 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi worked quickly and without any issues during our test. The center and the two edge strips, one facing inward and the other outward, can all be controlled independently. In addition to conventional white light ranging from cool to warm white, colors can be freely selected from presets or various color wheels. One downside is that brightness can only be adjusted for the entire lamp, meaning all three elements together.

Under “Scene” in the Govee app, there are numerous predefined scenarios from the manufacturer and other users to choose from, some of which include animations or color gradients. For example, a sky at different times of the day and in different seasons can be simulated. DaySync mode does the same thing automatically over the course of the day.

Under “Graffiti,” the 60 individual LED elements of the Govee Sky Ceiling Light can be set to the desired colors and various movement patterns. In Music Mode, the light flashes wildly in time with music or other sounds. However, this requires a nearby smartphone with a Bluetooth connection, as the light does not have a built-in microphone.

A relatively new feature is AI Lighting Bot 2.0. It uses voice, text, and image inputs to create AI-customized lighting scenarios. It reliably understood voice input, even though the AI’s responses in German are still somewhat error-prone. Whether the resulting scenes are appealing is a matter of personal taste.

Overall, the Govee app offers many options for customizing the lighting of the Govee Sky Ceiling Light. In addition to standard options such as assigning devices to rooms, this includes extensive smart home integration. Alongside Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, Matter is also supported, opening up numerous possibilities.

Importantly, the light is not limited to app control. With the right settings, it lights up in the last-used scene whenever it is switched back on after being disconnected from the power supply using a traditional “dumb” light switch.

Finally, we’ll share the impressions we gathered from using the Govee 21-Inch Sky Ceiling Light in practice. Let’s start with mounting it on the ceiling. First, four holes must be drilled in the ceiling after the lamp has been positioned in the room using the app’s calibration feature. The mounting plate is then fastened to the ceiling with four screws and their integrated metal anchors. 

Next, the lamp is suspended from the plate with a carabiner while the wiring is connected. In Germany, the wiring may only be carried out by a qualified electrician, but the three terminals make the task straightforward. Finally, the lamp is fitted over the ceiling plate and twisted to lock it into place. We would have preferred an additional locking screw accessible from the outside, simply for greater peace of mind. Installation is not particularly easy because of the fixture’s size and weight of over 8 kg, but it can be managed alone. It is easier with two people.

Once the ceiling light is hanging in place, it can reveal its full splendor. However, buyers should be aware beforehand that, at 21 inch in diameter and 4 inch in height, it is quite a bulky fixture on the ceiling. The scenes featuring a simulated sky—including passing clouds, if desired—and daylight are particularly impressive. The Govee Sky Ceiling Light then looks almost like a porthole in the ceiling, offering an unobstructed view of, for example, a bright blue summer sky—especially as the lighting effects can adapt to the time of day and season.

We measured a maximum power consumption of 120 W with all three lighting elements at their highest brightness setting. When the brightness is reduced or only some LED zones are in use, power consumption naturally decreases significantly. Standby power consumption when the device is switched off but still connected to the mains is virtually 0 W.