Has anyone purchased Solar LED Walk Lights for their back/front yards? I'm looking to add some to my new backyard so I can see the dogs late at night. Looking to get something like this..



6 for $25 isn't bad IMO and the backyard gets a lot of light for them to charge.

 

I've been looking at these, but I don't like the cheap plastic ones that HD has for sale, I've been looking at the metal ones that are a bit more expensive, sam's has a set of metalic (at least looking) ones for $50 for a set and they look more sturdy. I just don't like the $17-25 ones because they seem so cheap

 

Solar lights are worthless.

The emit light, but do not illuminate an area.

Christmas lights would provide you the same if not better illumination.

Get yourself some low voltage lighting, you will be much happier.

 

I just got the six pack of them from Home Depot for $18. They're not that great, but for $3 a piece you really can't expect much. They really don't illuminate much, but I just got them for decoration anyway. If you're looking to actually illuminate something, you'd be better off with some form of corded lighting.

 

Not really illuminate anything, but to add a spot of light out back.. my black dog is impossible to see at night... I just want a glimpse of him instead of staring into blackness.

 

^^ Solar lights won't help you with that.

Seriously, save your coin. You are not going to be happy at all with the results.

 

I think Scrib bought a good set.

All of the plastic ones I've owned sucked. Either the stakes broke or the solar panel fogged up to the point they didn't charge anymore.

 

They look cheesy, they emit less light than a firefly, and the temperature of the light is terrible.

Everything about them screams cheap afterthought crap.

Low voltage lighting or real landscape lighting FTW.

 

These appear to be higher end solar lights but I can't speak for how well they work. I was just curious to see what was out there and found them.

http://www.gardeners.com/Solar-Light...efault,sc.html

 

We just got these, and they work great.

http://www.qvc.com/qic/qvcapp.aspx/v...olar-Light-Set

 

^^ No offense, but my mom purchased those off of QVC....they are the same as all the rest...bad temp. light color, and no illumination.

She claimed when she watched on QVC they were supposed to be the best solar around...lots of light....now a few months later, she knows they are meh....and what's worse is the solar panel on top is getting "dull" and it appears this is resulting in even less light output.

 

Sigh o well.. flashlight it is!

 

Sorry but maybe she got a different set. These are bright white, and light up 3 feet all around the light as advertised. The solar panel is glass covered on top. You just need to clean the glass to keep it from fogging up.

 

I have the $4 ones from HD, and I use them as decoration. I don't expect them to actually light anything, so I'm happy. However, I do have about eight of them surrounding the back yard, and they do illuminate a fair amount of my back yard.

I also think you should get a low-voltage lighting system for accent lights. They really help and they look great over a bottle of wine!

 

As posted above they won't help at all with seeing the dog. I tried some on my walk way and they sucked even for that.

 

I bought some to just "illuminate" the landscaped area i have as a temporary solution till i finish the landscaping and put low voltage lights in. Solar lights are garbage. Mine are bright white LED and hardly "illuminate" is about all they do. If any one of them dont receive sun they wont light up, if its a cloudy day or 2 they dont charge and wont light up. Spend the money on low voltage lights. You will thank yourself. I will most likely replace the ones i put in with low voltage even though im not finished with the landscaping.

 

Don't waste your money. Install some malibu low voltage lights. You will NOT be happy with solar lights, unless you like the look of them during the day.

 

Like the others have said, low voltage is the way to go and super easy to install. Plus you can easily consume a few beers on the job

 

Alternatively, if you're doing it ONLY to see where your dog is at night, you could forget the lights and illuminate your dog instead. We have a light-up collar and a long light-up tag that hangs from his collar that we use to see our dog at night when we're in the country. We just make the night collar larger than it needs to be and throw it on so it fits over his other collar. Our light-up tag looks like the first image but has a D-ring to allow it to hang from his collar -- it isn't actually a collar cover like shown below.


This



+

This



Or only one of them will do you just fine to see where your dog is, although you'll only see the collar and not what your dog is actually up to. Both are $5-$10.

 

^Pretty good idea on the collar, but when my dogs are home I don't leave collars on them.. Don't know why, but I just prefer them without collars.

That leads to the problem of whenever I go to put a collar on them they KNOW they are leaving the house and go crazy! Don't think putting one on at night would be worth it

I will look into the low voltage lighting.

 

The solar lights dont really illuminate much. We have them along the driveway just so we can see backing up at night. Other then that they do nothing.

 

Solar lights five minutes ago with flash:


Another view with no flash, although not the same picture as above. You should be able to see four lights.

 

I got some 1 dollar ones from Home Depot and they work out well enough to light up my pathway at night so I don't step on any bugs at night when opening my door.

 

My parents have some in the backyard that are pretty good. Not just a cheapo set. They use them to illuminate the two walkways (no grass just landscaping) and path connecting the two that go from the exterior patios to the pool deck. They work great for that application. I would not however suggest them (even a 'nicer' set) for illuminating larger areas.

They're great for pathways/small areas, but otherwise I'd suggest some other form of lighting.

 

Could be the camera, but those are very dim compared to ours which really put out a lot of light. I don't even have to turn on any lights outside to see where I am walking, etc.