Living In My GameSpace means living within a budget. Many of my choices have to consider price, and sometimes all of the bells and whistles are just too costly. I recently tested Govee’s flagship Permanent Outdoor Lights Prism Pro. The triple-beam lights can create amazing lighting effects, but their cost may be prohibitive: 150ft of lighting for $699, compared to less than $100 for 150ft of standard C9 lights. Lepro’s E1 AI Permanent Outdoor Lights land right in the middle of those two options, both in price and function. I’ve been pleased with all of the Lepro lighting I’ve reviewed, so I asked Lepro if they would send me a set of their lights. Let’s see if they are the Goldilocks of outdoor lights.
Specifications
- MSRP: (50’, 100’, 150’): $152.99, $254.99, $379.99
- Hardware Color: White
- Number of Lights (50’, 100’, 150’): 30, 60, 90
- Lighting Colors: 16M RGB+IC (WLED compatible)
- Lumen (White, RGB): 40lm, 20lm per LED
- White Light Color Temperature: 2200K – 6500K
- App Connectivity: 2.4GHz Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
- Control Methods: Lepro App, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant
- Voice Control: Yes
- Music Sync: Yes
Lepro Permanent Outdoor Lights: Installation
Each box of Lepro’s E1 AI Permanent Outdoor Lights includes a power supply, an in-line control box, and a 10-foot extension cable. The 100’ and 150’ sets also include an additional 5-foot extension cable. Each light has a 3M adhesive pad on the back for easy installation, with a single screw hole for added security. For further convenience, each light strand is split into 25-foot sections and is connected with watertight screw plugs. The connectors only align in one position, so there’s no risk of mixing the wires.
One major benefit of this type of light is that they don’t hang from hooks. To install the lights, you simply pick a starting point for your strand, pull off the first pad, stick the light to your eave, and repeat. The double-sided tape sticks to practically any surface, but there’s also a screw hole to securely fasten them if you are installing the lights on an extremely rough surface. I didn’t feel the need.
Lepro recommends placing the lights 2-4” from the wall for the best lighting effect, and I found that 4 inches flooded my walls with light. There’s no guesswork on where to place hooks, and the cables are held snugly in place without needing any other mounting hardware. The final installation is clean and barely noticeable, making the Lepro E1s a truly permanent option that doesn’t need to be taken down after the holiday season.
Lepro Permanent Outdoor Lights: Enjoying The Glow
Once the lights are installed, Lepro makes it very easy to get the most out of your display. Using the Lepro App, you can connect the lights to your phone via 2.4GHz Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. I have other Lepro lights in my house, so I use the Lepro App to control all of my lights, but lighting can also be controlled through Amazon Alexa and Google Home.
The Lepro Permanent Outdoor Lights’ single bulb can’t achieve the same color-blending effect and smooth transitions as Govee’s Prism lights, but the Lepro lights can still produce a great display. Each LED is individually assignable, so you can manually set the entire strand to a single color or choose each LED’s color. Once you have your colors set, you can add effects such as breathe, leftward, rightward, gradient, and circle, then set speed and intensity to create a flowing scene.
If you’re like me and don’t have a single artistic bone in your body, you can task the app’s LightGPM 4 AI Lighting Designer to create a design for you. Design inputs are made through text, voice, or image interpretation. From my simple “Christmas light display” prompt, the AI designer gave dozens of light scenes to choose from. Choices included solid colors, slow color transitions, flashing lights, back-and-forth chasing lights, and more, across a variety of color choices. You can even pick your favorite option and edit the colors, speed, and brightness, then use the EID code to copy the design to other Lepro devices.
Final Thoughts
Are the Lepro E1 AI Permanent Outdoor Lights the Goldilocks of holiday lighting? If you want complete artistic control, all the bells and whistles, and plan to create the biggest display in your neighborhood, then Govee’s Prism lights might be a better choice. But for someone like me who just wants more than a basic C9 light display and can afford the extra price of the Lepro lights, there are plenty of reasons to go with the Lepro Permanent Outdoor Lights.
Right from the start, the Lepro lights make installation simple. There aren’t any hooks to install, and the finished assembly sits flush against the surface and is barely visible when it’s turned off. Addressable lighting means you only need a single strand of lights to cover every holiday, party, or other event throughout the year. The white-light option also makes them perfect for everyday lighting.
Price is still a consideration if you are contemplating stepping up to the Lepro Permanent Outdoor Lights. C9 lights may not be as brilliant and versatile, but at a quarter of the price, they are still a strong option for simple display. If price is the only thing holding you back, I would suggest tracking the price of the E1s. They were on sale at a deep discount during Amazon’s Prime Day Deal in October. They are also currently on sale for 25% off during a Pre-Black Friday deal, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them go down even lower over the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend. That still gives you plenty of time to put together a great light display for the holiday.
