Philips Hue Festavia Globe Outdoor String Lights review: smart high-end lights designed for outdoor ambience
Thinking back to IFA 2025, I still don’t know exactly how many products Philips Hue announced. While the new Hue Bridge Pro undoubtedly stole the show, there were many other launches that caught my attention – and the new Philips Hue Festavia Globe Outdoor String Lights was certainly one of them.
Fast forward a few weeks and the set landed on my doorstep, giving me the perfect opportunity to practice well. I’ve been using them throughout the harsh British winter, which – as everyone in the UK knows – is an unforgiving test for any outdoor light. You’ll find all my thoughts below.
Philips Hue Festavia Globe Outdoor String Lights review: price and availability
Hue Festavia Globe lamps are available in a variety of purchase options. There are two base kits to choose from – a 7 meter version and a 14 meter long version. Philips Hue also offers extension kits for this length, as well as a larger 21 meter package. The 21 meter option includes the connector needed to connect it to an existing set, making it easy to measure your light in large outdoor areas.
I’ll include the full UK and US prices further down the guide, but those basic prices should give you a good idea of where they sit in the market.
| Row 0 – Cell 0 |
In the UK |
In the US |
|
Base Kit – 7 meters |
£139.99 |
$175.99 |
|
Base Kit – 14 meters |
£249.99 |
$219.99 |
|
Extension Pack – 21 meters |
£229.99 |
$362.99 |
You can download them directly from the Philips Hue website, as well as retailers such as John Lewis and Amazon.
They also work best when paired with the Hue Bridge, so if you’re new to the Hue ecosystem, that will add an additional cost. I’ve included today’s best Bridge prices below:
Philips Hue Festavia Globe Outdoor String Lights review: unboxing setup
For installation, I decided to keep things simple and put the lights on the other side of my garden fence. However, the bulbs themselves have small eyelets on top of each other, meaning they can be easily strung between poles, or hung from a festoon pole.
They also use a low-voltage system, so installation involves just plugging the power into a standard outdoor socket. Not all the best outdoor lights make setup this easy, but it’s something Philips Hue usually gets right.
The lights can also be integrated into a wider Hue setup externally using compatible connectors, meaning multiple cables can run from the same power unit in a given configuration. I haven’t gone that far with my own setup yet, but it’s good to know the option is there if you want to expand later.
(Image credit: Philips Hue)
Connecting them to the Hue app is just as easy. Once connected, the lights came on automatically during setup and were ready to control within seconds. If you’re already using Hue products, the process will feel pretty familiar, but if you’re new to the system, our Philips Hue lights guide goes into more detail on how the setup works.
Philips Hue Festavia Globe Outdoor String Lights review: design and features
Philips Hue Festavia Globe Outdoor String Lights combine the classic look of globe-style festoon lighting with Hue’s connected lighting platform. Each lamp is significantly larger than the smaller LEDs used in the original Festavia lamps, giving them a more decorative appearance.
They use a unique Lightguide-style design with a visible inner tube that distributes color and light evenly throughout the globe. Even when turned off, the glass-effect bulbs still look like part of the decor, which helps them feel much better than standard outdoor fairy lights.
Each string uses integrated full-color LEDs that can produce both bright colors and white light. Hue lighting effects and gradient features also come into play here, allowing multiple colors to appear in a series of threads at once. Scenes can come to life a little more with every bulb, and if you use Hue Sync with music or entertainment setups, the lights can react to sound too.
(Photo credit: Lizzie Wilmot / T3)
The lights are weatherproof and waterproof with an IP65 rating, and they’re also shatterproof, meaning they’re designed to stay outdoors all year round.
Each bulb produces about 50 lights, which admittedly doesn’t sound like much at first. However, that is because these lights are designed for ambience rather than illumination. It is also worth remembering that the light adds to the whole string, so if you have 20 bulbs, that adds up to 1000 lumens, so the longer versions produce more light.
One feature I really like is that each bulb can be replaced individually if it breaks. With multi-wire lamps, a broken bulb can mean replacing the entire set, so this design option helps extend the product’s lifespan and reduce unnecessary waste.
(Photo credit: Lizzie Wilmot / T3)
Philips Hue Festavia Globe Outdoor String Lights review: performance
Overall, I really like the Philips Hue Festavia Globe Outdoor String Lights, mainly because it’s the first time the brand has released string lights designed for outdoor use. The second generation of the original Festavia lights work outside as well, but they still remind me of Christmas tree lights, so I much prefer the Globe version.
I’m already heavily invested in the Philips Hue ecosystem, so controlling it and selecting effects felt very natural. They fit easily into my existing setup, and I quickly programmed them to turn on at sunset and automatically turn off at 10pm when I usually go to bed.
(Photo credit: Lizzie Wilmot / T3)
You can’t control the individual LEDs inside each lamp directly, but you can use the color wheel to create smooth gradients across the string, and there’s also a diffusion mode that lets you mix up to five colors at once.
I’ve used the lights consistently all winter, and they’ve held up to their IP rating with no problems at all. To be honest, I expected that, especially since these lights are so expensive. Since they are still a new product, discounts are rare at the moment. If you’re not in a hurry, you may have to wait for a sale, although with warmer weather on the way and the lights still new, it’s hard to say when that might happen.
Philips Hue Festavia Globe Outdoor String Lights review: verdict
The Philips Hue Festavia Globe Outdoor String Lights is a premium set of smart lights that prioritize design, reliability and seamless integration with the wider Hue ecosystem. They are not the brightest, but they are the best in creating an atmospheric, colorful light for outdoor spaces. If you’ve already invested in a Philips Hue system, they’re an easy recommendation, but if you’re starting out, cheaper alternatives can give you more price flexibility.
Philips Hue Festavia Globe Outdoor String Lights review: alternatives to consider
If you want to stay within the Hue ecosystem but spend less money, the second-generation Festavia lights are worth considering. They are rated for both indoor and outdoor use, and even though they look like traditional fairy lights, they still look great.
Another option I would recommend is the WiZ Outdoor String Lights. Visually they are similar, and since WiZ and Philips Hue are owned by the same parent company, the loyalty is still there. I’ve actually compared the WiZ exterior lights to the previous generation of Festavia lights before, so it’s worth checking out if you’re deciding between the two.
