We Found the Permanent Outdoor Lights Worth Putting on Your Home

Weatherproofing. Every model needs a weatherproof rating to survive outside, so if you don’t see one, don’t buy it. There’s usually a lower rating for the control box compared to the rest of the lights, so be sure you can put that somewhere that’s a little less exposed to the elements. (As mentioned above, make sure you have an outdoor outlet, and check if there’s only one on a certain side of your home in case it limits your installation options.)

A range of installation options. You’ll want a set that comes with plenty of options for your own installation, including adhesive and drilled mounting options. What you need will vary based on your home design and materials; e.g., you’ll want adhesive for homes you can’t drill into. WIRED reviewer Kat Merck, who tested a couple different permanent lights, especially liked sets that had holders you screw onto your home that the puck-style permanent lights can slide onto.

Controls for individual lights. This should be a no-brainer, but some cheaper lights won’t give you this ability or have more roadblocks for customized control. Make sure you’ll have easy individual controls or you might find yourself frustrated with the design results of these lights. It’s similar to design controls that you’d see on smart bulbs and smart string lights.

A great app. This goes hand in hand with the need for individual light control—a good app determines whether that and other features are accessible. Govee and Eufy, two of our favorite permanent outdoor lights we’ve tried, both have good apps that are easy to use and come with preloaded designs. These tech companies make more than just outdoor lights and make other favorite gear of ours, so they’re a good brand to trust to make a usable product and app. We also like Lepro’s more affordable lights, though the app had some extra hoops to jump through to get to controls, while Lumary’s app was a brutal experience for our tester.

Our Favorite Permanent Outdoor Lights

We’ve tested a handful of permanent lights on different homes, and have a few clear favorites. These options are all ones we recommend, provided your home exterior meets the constraints mentioned above.

This model from Govee has been one of our top picks in our smart Christmas lights review for a reason, and it’s still one of our favorite models at this price point for everything you’ll get with it. WIRED reviewer Simon Hill tested the 100-foot string that came with six sections, plus an extension code. He used adhesive and screw clips to secure the light pucks and cables, and found installation easy. This is a set that you can cut and splice, but he says that isn’t a task for the faint of heart. It has an IP67 rating, and an IP65 rating for the control box. The busy companion app has everything you could want within it: color controls, tons of Scenes (Govee’s lighting effects), scheduling abilities, and even a music sync option (though that felt a little gimmicky). There’s Matter support, and Govee can connect to Alexa and Google’s ecosystems for voice control. Simon says he’d like these lights to be closer together and the design to be a little more subtle, as you can see the cords pretty easily.

WIRED reviewer Kat Merck has tested two different sets of permanent outdoor lights on her home, and Eufy’s S4, incorporating RGB with both warm and cool whites, is by far her favorite. She’s found the app incredibly easy to navigate and find the features she wants, from preset holiday scenes (120!) and colors to schedules and brightness adjustments. There’s even an AI feature that lets you create customized light shows based on moods and scenarios. They were relatively easy to install on her home, which has nonstandard architectural features, as this set has extensions and can be cut and spliced. She says the lights aren’t quite as bright as the Lumary Max set below, but the brightness is adjustable. There’s also a radar motion sensor included, which she’s still testing. The Eufy S4 set also works with the Matter protocol, so it will work with Apple, Google, and Alexa’s smart home ecosystems. It’s got a waterproof rating of IP67 like the Govee set above.

Lepro’s E1 AI lights are a solid, affordable option, but you will have to get around the app’s AI to really get the most out of it. WIRED reviewer Martin Cizmar says these were easy to install with adhesive strips and occasional screws (the set included both) onto his porch roof, though he wishes he had installed them pointing out toward the street instead of down onto his porch so that they’d be more visible. He says they’re plenty bright, but make sure to point them outward from your home to get the best effect from the street. The app has plenty of good controls, but you’ll have to get around the AI mode first, which it will prompt you to use. Martin says he clicks through all of the AI steps and then can access regular controls afterward to control these lights like a smart bulb. You’ll also get different weatherproofing based on which size you get: While the 150-foot version has an IP65 rating for the lights and an IP67 for the power adapter, the 50-foot and 100-foot models have an IP65 rating for the light kits but no weatherproofing for the power adapter, so it needs to be in an enclosed outlet. If you’re using an outdoor outlet with no protection from the weather, then upgrade to the 150-foot size.

Options If You Can’t Install Permanent Outdoor Lights

Not every home is a good fit for these types of lights. I haven’t yet found a permanent light set that works with my home, so here’s what I’ve used instead, along with what I’m testing next as a potential solution.

Courtesy of Twinkly

Twinkly

Strings Multicolor

These lights are photographed on a tree, but they have a weatherproof rating of IP44 (for both the lights and the power supply) to be used outside. I love how much you can customize these lights. You’ll use the app to take a photo of however you’ve set up your lights, whether that’s around the tree, around your balcony’s railing, or along the front of your house, and then you’ll be able to customize the lights and pattern based on how you arranged it. There are tons of fun light designs already in the app, and you can make your own. It’s a good option if you can only do string lights but want smart capabilities. These lights are also compatible with Amazon’s, Google’s, and Apple’s ecosystems.

Courtesy of Cync

Cync

Dynamic Effects Smart LED Light Strip

GE Cync’s outdoor light strip is what I’m testing next for this story, along with the brand’s smart eave lights ($143). Since I have a balcony on my second floor with a metal railing, I love the idea of adhering an outdoor light strip to it to get the bright lighting effect you’d see with permanent lights. They’re waterproof with a rating of IP65, and look like a fun idea for anyone else with a balcony home design. This guide will be updated soon with my testing notes.

Permanent Outdoor Lights We Don’t Recommend

Lumary Outdoor Permanent Lights Max ($270 for 105 ft.): Lumary’s lights were frustrating and limiting for our tester. The instructions suggest installation from the left, which adds difficulty if you don’t have a power outlet on that side of your house. (Lumary confirmed this wasn’t required, but the directions made it seem mandatory.) The installation instructions also assume that your eaves are flat. WIRED reviewer Kat Merck, who tested this set, has eaves with cross-beams, which complicated spacing, and unlike other kits, Lumary’s doesn’t accommodate nonstandard architectural elements like peaks, gables, or sections without eaves. Further, the Lumary app is geared toward all Lumary smart light products (of which there are legion), so basic functions for the permanent lights—like timers and saving custom scenes—are deeply buried and not intuitive to use. Worse, when she tried to add the lights to the Lumary app on another phone, the lights’ power box stopped working and had to be replaced. She liked how bright the lights were, and the fact there’s a physical remote, but the app, power box shutdown, and architectural limitations compared with other sets make this one we’d skip.