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4.5
O.K. Why five star? First, if you want to flood the yard with light, shell out a grand or four for landscape lighting. Solar is much lower intensity, and if you are in the light pollution of a city solar will be VERY wimpy. In a darker environment, like our place in the mountains of North Georgia solar solars are adequate and (to quote my wife) “pretty”. Four of these interspersed over twenty feet light the deck surface for about ten feet around with color and intensity similar to a full moon on a clear night – and if you never see the light of a full moon on a clear night, it means your location may be inappropriate. No good blaming the manufacturer for that. Having said that, I have bought from Amazon several sets of solar lights, and none but these merit the “full moon” comparison. Light pattern is important. Most solars veer either toward light directly down (the small pool of light) or sideways (points of light). These, for us, find the best balance, a wider spread while shining rather brightly (and prettily) sideways. Also quantity helps. I have installed 24 and am ordering another dozen. I have read a criticism that the plastic is brittle. Not on ours – quite flexible and no breaks. As for longevity – our first set are four months old and perform as new. Also the set comes with a pack of replacement batteries. But some tips:• The bronze effect is nice, though a bit brash, but at a distance not too bad and so far is not weathering. The set comes with little chrome screws that catch the eye against the bronze to a surprising degree – makes it look mechanical and slipshod. Best buy some brass screws from ACE.• As always the instructions are a mess and I had a learning curve. There are two methods of fixing. 1) On top of a deck rail – the units come straight out of the box with side flanges ready to be set on top of the rail and screwed down into the wood. 2) Set on top of a post. What the instructions do not say (except by a picture without explanation) is that the bottom section with the flanges is an inverted tray, the same size as a four-inch post. If you like, the unit has its own imitation post that you pull out and discard. I did not realize this at first which led me to push the tray down on the post. This requires breaking out eight supports on the inside of the tray, but has the advantage that if you have slightly undersized posts give a tight fit. But other commenters complained that the unit was too small for their posts – I suspect they had not pulled out the tray. The point is, look at one light, pull out the tray and see what works for you.• You have to pull off the top lens-section to switch the unit from OFF to ON. It pushes back down into four loosey-goosey clips. Wind blows it off. So I put it back with a dab of hot-glue on each of the four clips. Seems tight enough now. If I need to replace the batteries with the spares provided I guess I will have to break and replace the hot glue – but that is manyana .So five stars? Sure. They could do better for a few bucks more and it would be worth it. But nobody would buy because it would be a few bucks more. And cheap is good. If I need to replace them every two or three years it will be less than the maintenance on that landscape lighting. Also in practice they fail one-by-one, so I am keeping several spare in case designs change.
