Govee Table Lamp 2 Pro X Sound by JBL review: light up your party

The most surprising thing about Govee’s colorful smart lamp with a speaker built-in is that we didn’t get something like this sooner. We’ve had color-changing smart home lights that sync to music via an app, and we’ve had Bluetooth speakers with RGB lights — putting the two together feels like the natural next step.

The Govee Table Lamp 2 Pro X Sound by JBL ($179.99) combines snazzy lighting effects and decent sound into one fun, portable package. Unlike most RGB Bluetooth party speakers, it’s a functional lamp, and it also syncs with your smart home. And while it doesn’t pack enough power to rock a real rager, it’s the perfect size to add a little punch to your next gathering. It’s a smart light with party speaker aspirations.

The speaker / smart lamp combo isn’t totally new; Ikea’s (now discontinued) Symfonisk Lamp had a Sonos speaker built in (though you had to put a smart bulb in it to have a smart lamp). Govee also has a floor lamp with a Bluetooth speaker. But its new table lamp is more practical, more portable (thanks to a 5,200mAh battery), and a lot more fun. Individually controllable RGB and tunable white LEDs offer both fabulous party effects and practical task lighting when needed.

An upgrade to Govee’s smart Table Lamp 2, the Pro was first announced at CES earlier this year and is now available to buy. It sits 10 inches tall, with a 360-degree LED array sitting on top of a 10W full-range 2.5-inch JBL speaker. The Pro’s big additions over the Lamp 2 are the speaker and the battery. It also has a larger base, a wider lamp, and a top speaker grille with buttons for power, volume, playback, and cycling through preset scenes.

The lamp features 210 LED beads that can display full color as well as tunable white light up to 600 lumens, bright enough for a reading lamp. The base includes RGB lights that sync with the main display.

The lighting effects, of which there are over 100 presets as well as 16 that sync with music, are controlled in the Govee app, over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. There are a number of built-in sound and light scenes. My favorites include Forest, with tweety bird sounds and luminescent greens and yellows; Wave, with its ocean acoustics and wobbly blue lights; and Sprinkle, which sounds like a gentle rainstorm with a lovely aquamarine light soup.

Of course, you can also stream any music you like to the speaker via a Bluetooth connection to your phone. Sadly, there’s no option to stream over Wi-Fi or AirPlay 2 support. Unlike some party speakers, only one phone at a time can connect to its Bluetooth radio. You can have it listen for music from your phone’s speaker, but that feels rather pointless.

The dynamic lighting scenes roll, pop, twirl, blob, kaleidoscope, or spiral in sync with the music, and sync remarkably well to the beat (Govee claims a 32ms response time). The colors are vivid, and the effects are a lot of fun. Like a lot of Govee’s effects, some can be a bit intense, but there are several “soft” options, too. You can also create your own scenes.

When you’re done with dance parties, ambient options, such as a crackling fireplace or a soothing sunset, are nice, although the colors are still fairly intense. Settings for reading, work, and illumination make the lamp usable as a task light, too, and sleep settings with lullabies make this a nice addition to a nursery. Still, it’s too large and bright for bedside use, even at the lowest setting.

While you can use the lamp and app just with Bluetooth, connecting it to Wi-Fi lets you control the lamp through your smart home. It works with Amazon Alexa and Google Home over Wi-Fi, or you can add it via Matter to most platforms, including Apple Home. I added it to Apple Home and was able to turn it on or off, and change single colors with automations and voice — it responded instantly to Siri voice commands. There’s not currently a way to sync Govee’s scenes through Matter, though, so you’re limited to static lighting.

Smart lamp, standard speaker

This is a smart lamp, not a smart speaker. There’s no voice assistant, and you can’t control the speaker via smart home apps (although you can change songs with your phone’s voice assistant while connected over Bluetooth). It’s also a fairly basic JBL Bluetooth speaker. While it gets plenty loud, it has limited bass, but delivers clear vocals and decent mids — making it ideal for podcasts or radio.

Physically, it slightly resembles a full-size HomePod, but in sound quality, it’s more like a HomePod mini. It made a great exercise companion during my morning dance workouts, with Chappell Roan’s voice coming through clear and high as she hits those Pink Pony notes. Even cranked up to 93 percent volume, there was no distortion. But as mentioned, there’s hardly any bass. I tested it with Bad Bunny against a full-size HomePod; no contest.

You can pair two lamps together for stereo sound, and that’s your best option if you’re looking for a party atmosphere. On its own, it’s fine for a small gathering or to add some oomph to a workout, but for some real vibes, you’ll want two. I only had one unit, so I didn’t get to test this out. You could pair two HomePod Minis or two Alexa fourth-gen speakers together and get comparable sound for less money, but without the fun lighting effects.

The lamp isn’t weatherproof, but it is portable, thanks to its built-in battery. There’s no handle, so I had to sort of cradle it like a baby, but at 5 pounds, it’s light. I took it to the patio on a dry day, and my chickens joined the dance party.

For a more permanent outdoor party solution, something like the Sonos Move ($449) is a better bet, with bigger sound, longer battery life, and an IP56 rating. Or, if lights are a must, a proper party speaker like the JBL Pulse 5 ($249), which has built-in RGB lighting, an IP67 waterproof rating, and a nice big handle — but no Wi-Fi connectivity, so no smart home control.

I ended up using the Govee lamp mostly in my screened-in porch, listening to the news with morning coffee or enjoying music with an evening tipple, safe from the elements. I set an automation in Apple Home that turns on the lamp when the porch door unlocks, so it’s ready to go when we walk out.

The lamp can also pair with other Govee lights to sync them all to the music using its Dreamview setting. I have a tunable white set of Govee’s outdoor string lights on my porch, but if I had the RGB version, I could turn my porch into a party space.

Despite its world salad of a name, the Govee Table Lamp 2 Pro X Sound by JBL is a fun, reasonably priced combo of music and lights. It’s not the best speaker out there, and it’s a shame it’s not more versatile (a handle and some weatherproofing would go a long way), but with its smart home control and impressive lighting effects, it’s a useful and entertaining gadget.

Photos by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge