Philips Hue Festavia Globe Outdoor String Lights review: high-end smart lights designed for outdoor ambience

When I think back to IFA 2025, I still can’t quite get over just how many products Philips Hue announced. Whilst the new Hue Bridge Pro undoubtedly stole the show, there were plenty of other launches that caught my attention – and the new Philips Hue Festavia Globe Outdoor String Lights were definitely one of them.

Fast forward a few weeks and a set landed on my doorstep, giving me the perfect opportunity to test them properly. I’ve been using them throughout the harsh British winter, which – as anyone in the UK will know – is a pretty unforgiving test for any outdoor lighting. You’ll find all my thoughts below.

Philips Hue Festavia Globe Outdoor String Lights review: price and availability

The Hue Festavia Globe lights are available in several different buying options. There are two base kits to choose from – a 7-metre version and a longer 14-metre version. Philips Hue also offers extension kits in these lengths, as well as a larger 21-metre extension pack. The 21-metre option includes the connector needed to link it to an existing set, making it easy to scale your lighting across larger outdoor spaces.

I’ll include the full UK and US pricing further down the guide, but those base prices should give you a good idea of where they sit in the market.

You can pick them up directly from the Philips Hue website, as well as retailers like John Lewis and Amazon.

They also work best when paired with a Hue Bridge, so if you’re new to the Hue ecosystem, that will add an extra cost. I’ve included today’s best prices for the Bridge below:

Philips Hue Festavia Globe Outdoor String Lights review: unboxing set up

For installation, I decided to keep things simple and drape the lights across my garden fence. However, the bulbs themselves have small eyelets above each one, which means they can easily be strung between posts, or hung across a festoon pole.

They also use a low-voltage system, so installation includes just plugging the power supply into a standard outdoor socket. Not all of the best outdoor lights make setup this easy, but it’s something Philips Hue tends to get right.

The lights can also be integrated into a wider Hue outdoor setup using compatible connectors, meaning multiple strings can run from the same power unit in certain configurations. I haven’t gone that far with my own setup yet, but it’s nice to know the option is there if you want to expand later.

Connecting them to the Hue app is just as simple. Once plugged in, the lights appeared automatically during setup and were ready to control within a few seconds. If you’re already using Hue products, the process will feel very familiar, but if you’re new to the system, our guide to Philips Hue lights goes into more detail on how the setup works.

Philips Hue Festavia Globe Outdoor String Lights review: design and features

The Philips Hue Festavia Globe Outdoor String Lights combine the classic look of globe-style festoon lighting with Hue’s connected lighting platform. Each bulb is noticeably larger than the tiny LEDs used on the original Festavia lights, giving them a much more decorative look.

They use a distinctive Lightguide-style design with a visible inner tube that spreads colour and brightness evenly through the globe. Even when switched off, the glass-effect bulbs still look like part of the décor, which helps them feel more premium than standard outdoor fairy lights.

Each string uses integrated full-colour LEDs that can produce both vibrant colours and white light. Hue’s lighting effects and gradient features also work here, allowing multiple colours to appear along the string at the same time. Scenes can animate slowly across the bulbs, and if you’re using Hue Sync with music or entertainment setups, the lights can react to sound as well.

The bulbs are weatherproof and waterproof with an IP65 rating, and they’re also shatter-resistant, which means they’re designed to stay outside year-round.

Each bulb produces around 50 lumens of brightness, which admittedly doesn’t sound like much at first. However, that’s largely because these lights are designed for ambience rather than illumination. It’s also worth remembering that brightness adds up across the string, so if you have 20 bulbs, that’s roughly 1000 lumens combined, so the longer versions naturally produce more overall light.

One feature I particularly like is that each bulb can be individually replaced if it gets damaged. With many string lights, a broken bulb can mean replacing the entire set, so this design choice helps extend the lifespan of the product and reduces unnecessary waste.

Philips Hue Festavia Globe Outdoor String Lights review: performance

Overall, I really like the Philips Hue Festavia Globe Outdoor String Lights, mostly because it’s the first time the brand has released string lights designed primarily for outdoor use. The second generation of the original Festavia lights technically works 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 them and selecting effects felt very natural. They fitted seamlessly into my existing setup, and I quickly scheduled them to turn on at sunset and switch off automatically at 10pm when I usually head to bed.

You can’t control individual LEDs within each bulb directly, but you can use the colour wheel to create smooth gradients across the entire string, and there’s also a diffuse mode that lets you mix up to five colours at once.

I used the lights consistently throughout winter, and they’ve held up well to their IP rating without any issues at all. To be honest, I was expecting that anyway, especially as these lights are quite expensive. Since they’re still a relatively new product, discounts are fairly rare at the moment. If you’re not in a rush, it might be worth waiting for a sale, although with warmer weather on the way and the lights still being 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 are a premium set of smart lights that prioritise design, reliability and seamless integration with the wider Hue ecosystem. They’re not the brightest, but they excel at creating atmospheric, colourful lighting for outdoor spaces. If you’re already invested in the Philips Hue system, they’re an easy recommendation, but if you’re starting from scratch, cheaper alternatives may offer more flexibility for the price.

Philips Hue Festavia Globe Outdoor String Lights review: alternatives to consider

If you want to stay within the Hue ecosystem but spend a bit less, the second-generation Festavia lights are worth considering. They’re rated for both indoor and outdoor use, and although they look more like traditional fairy lights, they still look great.

Another option I’d recommend is the WiZ Outdoor String Lights. Visually they’re quite similar, and since WiZ and Philips Hue are owned by the same parent company, the reliability is still there. I’ve actually compared the WiZ outdoor string lights with the previous generation of Festavia lights before, so that’s worth checking out if you’re deciding between the two.