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This is the first time I've written a review on any product I've ever purchased but I felt compelled because these solar lights are made with very cheap plastic. I purchased 5 boxes for a total of 10 lights and 4 of the 10 broke. The glass top and light it provides is very good. However, the plastic part that connects the glass top to the stem is cheap plastic that breaks off very easily. Also, the plastic part that goes into the ground connecting to the stem breaks off very easily. I contacted customer service at and was pretty much told so sad, too bad. I even offered to buy the replacement parts but they said they obtain the lights directly from china and there are no replacement parts. They suggested I return the broken lights (at my expense) and new ones would be provided. Since the glass makes the light heavy, it wouldn't be worth the money to mail it back. Very disappointed.
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These lights are very nice in themselves. Blindingly bright LEDs, with low power drain. However, the batteries (only 1000 mah) they came with were lousy. When attempting to charge them up, they leaked and nearly ruined my charger. I replaced them with Ray-O-Vac 2100mah NIMH batteries (4/$7.47 at my local Wal-Mart total $14.94), and the lights lasted about 11 hours (until daylight) before becoming too dim to be useful. They charged up nicely, however, in partial sun on a bright, sunny day. I like the lights. Be advised: These lights require 3 AA NIMH batteries of at least 2000mah capacity for each light. Not super cheap, but worth the extra $.Best Deals for Moonrays 91754 Richmond Solar Light, Metal Path Light
After much perusing and research of different solar-powered lighting options for my front walk, I settled on the Moonrays model #91754. I compared products and prices at W*l-M*rt, Sh*pk*, H*me Dep*t, and Amazon, and based on my criteria, this one looked the best on paper. Here is how they have worked out in practice.BRIGHTNESS 5/5
These lights are rated at 30 lumens, which is about the highest I could find for solar-powered lights such as this. They are quite bright, and really light up my walkway. The '25x brighter' claim is based on a 1.2 lumen led bulb. There are actually two small LEDs (presumably 15 lumens each) on the underside of the cap with the solar panel on top. They shine down on a reflector which bounces the light out and down. The 'ribbed' glass housing bends the light into a kind of many-pointed star pattern, so it is not a perfectly even light pattern, if that's important.
BATTERIES 4/5
Included are three 1000 mAh, AA size, NiMH batteries for each light. The capacity is somewhat low, but they have worked fine for me. The lights are still going strong when I go to bed around 11 or midnight. If you have problems with the batteries, or want higher capacity, you can easily purchase replacements and pop them in. I prefer to use low-discharge NiMH batteries, but I would guess you'd be fine using traditional NiMH batteries, which are cheaper and have slightly higher capacity. Since they are charging and discharging every single day, the low-discharge batteries' main attraction is moot.
BUILD QUALITY 2/5
Based on other reviews, I was aware of the build quality issues with these, but had hopes that it wouldn't be a problem for me. It turned out to be somewhat of a problem. The top piece that houses the solar panel and batteries is fine, as is the glass that it attaches to. There are some plastic parts the connect the glass top to the metal stem which are very flimsy and easily separated. I tried super-gluing things back together with mixed results. The metal stem is basically a pipe with very thin walls. It doesn't look too strong, but I was careful and didn't have any problem with the stem bending or losing its shape.
There is a plastic spike that goes into the ground, and which the stem slides snugly over which has pretty terrible shear and flexural strength (hopefully I'm not misusing those terms). It is very short, so when forcing it into the ground it is nearly impossible to get it exactly vertical. If it is tilted at all, that will become obvious once the stem and top housing are placed on the spike. Unfortunately, this is where the problem comes in. If you attempt to adjust the angle in any way, the plastic spike will almost immediately snap in half, becoming completely useless. I think this happened with three of my six lights. If it does happen, you can just push the metal stem itself directly into the ground and all you lose is a little height.
QUALITY CONTROL 3/5
After the first couple of days, I noticed that one of my six lights seemed not to be charging. The light was so dim you could barely tell it was on. In case the batteries were just bad, I replaced them one evening with freshly-charged Eneloop NiMH AA batteries. That first night the light was as bright as ever, but afterwards the same problem occurred. I am left to conclude that the solar panel, for whatever reason, is not feeding charge to the batteries throughout the day, so I am left with the hassle of trying to orchestrate a return of two lights (since they come in packs of two) and figure out how to replace them, since Amazon is currently out of stock.
Overall, I still recommend these based on overall value. But, if you buy them, be very careful with the connection between the head and the stem (any significant bump can separate the entire light from the stem with no real way to fix it except maybe glue), and be even more careful when planting the spike or adjusting the tilt of the stem once it is on the spike. I love the look of the lights and how bright they are, but the build quality issues are a pretty significant annoyance and have obviously created extra work and hassle.
Honest reviews on Moonrays 91754 Richmond Solar Light, Metal Path Light
I had researched solar path lights and found Metal Hydride were the best batteries for brightness.These lights are advertised to be 25 x's brighter than most, and w/Metal Hydride batteries are everything I needed. They are indeed very bright!
I've recommended these to friends, and I was so plz'd I ordered a second set.
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These are absolutely beautiful lights that look so nice along a pathway or as a flower garden border. However, given how expensive they are, I expected better quality. First, several of them had glue blobs all over the top solar piece very tacky. Two of the four I ordered snapped the day I installed them one of the stakes snapped and one snapped at the base of the light (leaving the el-cheapo plastic connecter stuck inside the metal tube). I've used Gorilla glue on both and so far, it's held (two weeks). Just so you're aware, these lights come in several pieces top solar panel, glass sconce with plastic connector, metal tube, plastic ground stake. USE CAUTION when installing these, as the plastic stake will easily snap in half. Also, if you need to re-position once in the ground, take the sconce/solar light off first and CAREFULLY pull the tubing/stake out of the ground, pulling straight up. Any sort of twisting motion will snap that stake.PROS
*Beautiful rubbed bronze color
*Large, bright lights
*Light really does last about 6 or 7 hours
*Metal tubing, glass sconces
CONS
*Very cheap plastic stakes
*Flimsy plastic connector (connects light to metal tubing)
*Tubes (three of my six) were bent terribly out of shape because of poor packaging (they shove the stake into the tubing upside down, which bends that metal tube into an odd oblong shape). Have a rubber mallet on hand just in case you need to re-shape these.
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