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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program So I thought this light set may be cool thinking that solar panel tech has come a long way, along with rechargable battery tech and LED lighting. But this set disappoints.
Firstly, I don't think the design of this set is ideal. You have two lights attached by wire to a single solar panel/battery/control unit this forces you to place the lights relatively close together (within about 10 feet) and you have to do something with the wires like either hide them behind hedges or bury them. A much better design would have been to have a solar panel/battery mounted on each light independently thereby freeing you from having to deal with the wires and distance-from-charger placement issues. It would also make the lights much easier to move around and maintain.
The only advantage to this remote panel/battery design is that you could place the charger in an area which gets better sunlight and place the lights right up against a house or wall or under a hedge in the shade as long as the distance isn't too far, unless you want to do some custom wiring. But the chances are that if you are going to use this set to light a walkway or path, this would not likely be your scenario.
Second, I was expecting that the lights would be much brighter than they are. I have a Maglight LED flashlight that works on 2 AA batteries with single LED that is much brighter than these lights are and these lights have six LEDs apiece. In addition, the lights in my set are actually different from each other in that one has more of a yellow cast to the light and the other has more of a blue cast to the light indicating that they came from two different batches of LEDs. It would have been nice if they were the same! Ummmm... quality control?
And speaking of quality control, my unit was defective from the factory in that when I switched the set on after it's initial two-day solar charge, it would just turn the lights on immediately instead of waiting for darkness! I knew this couldn't be right. So I disassembled the solar panel/charger/battery/control unit to find a loose wire dangling from the light sensor. I soldered that wire where it was supposed to go, put the unit back together and got it working correctly so that the lights only switched on when it started to get dark. That is really poor quality control a blaring defect that could not have happened during shipping inside the sealed solar panel assembly.
The solar panel/battery/charger/control unit is plastic with a plastic strut about a foot long to raise it off the ground and a three inch plastic stake. You can change the angle of the head to best catch the sun, but the head does not rotate. The lights are housed in all aluminum bezels and seem to be plenty strong, but they are apparently not water tight as I've seen water droplets on the inside. They have what is about a 6 or 8 inch metal stake directly attached to an adjustable swivel base. They should have included strut for each of the lights so that they could be mounted higher than right on the ground where they cannot throw off much of a spread to light a path. I'll probably use a pipe on each one to raise their height to a more useful level for path lighting.
After a full charge on sunny summer days, so far the lights last for about seven hours, maybe a little more. I think they turn on too soon when there is still more than enough ambient light available. Unfortunately, there is no adjustment for that.
Overall, this set could have been much better. Unless you have a situation where you wish to mount lights in a shady area with little or no direct sunlight for the solar cell to operate, I would recommend finding lights that have a solar panel and battery attached to each light and ditch the wires. In addition, don't expect these to throw off very much light. They throw off just enough to dimly light maybe about a 5 or 6 foot swath of pathway per light, or maybe a single hedge or a small patch of garden, but they simply cannot compete with electric lights.
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To replace battery will cost you more than the value of the product, batteries needs to be changed ever so often. This is not the regular solar batteries like others.Product must be placed in direct (full) sun for optimal output.One light can be reoved for longer hours.Product cannot be place on house-it can only be placed on the ground.Suitable only for sunny states such as florida or tropical countries.Batteries cannot be rotated every 6 months as regular solar batteries.Product must be placed away from sprinklers and shrubs.uses batteries like what is in hand phones.Best Deals for Strathwood Solar Garden Path Spot Lights, Black, Set of 2
Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I'm on my third set of outdoor lights, so I have some experience with what works and what doesn't. I deliberately waited over a month to rate these to see how they performed. So far, the light output is excellent, despite the fact that I have them placed near street lights and exterior wall house lights, which can tend to reduce the output of in-ground lights. The appearance is very attractive. My lights are placed on either side of concrete steps up to the house, in flower beds, so they are watered regularly and have held up. Note that in order to make this arrangement, i.e., across steps, you will need to purchase a cover for the wire. My husband permanently affixed the wire cover down to the concrete step with Gorilla glue. I will update this review when the lights fail, as all of these tend to do over time. My first set was courtesy of Amazon Vine; however, on July 15 Amazon actually ran this for $12, plus no shipping on $25 or more orders, so I purchased another set.September 10, 2011: This is just to add that both sets of lights are still functioning perfectly.
January 21, 2013: Yes, these lights continue to work every night.
Honest reviews on Strathwood Solar Garden Path Spot Lights, Black, Set of 2
Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program Strathwood Solar Garden Path Spot Lights are, I feel, a bit below the average when it comes to spot lights. The materials it is made from seem a little bit cheap and liable to break. The cord connecting the lights to the solar collector is very thin and easy to break, also not all that long to allow you to put the collector in a sunnier spot in order to have the lights brighten a darker area where they sun does not shine as much. This by the way, is probably the only real strength to this product...the fact that you *can* put the solar collector in a sunnier spot and the lights themselves in the shade. Besides that I really didn't see any real quality to them. They shine different colors, which is noticeable in the dark. They do not last very long and if there isn't a good amount of sunshine, you are out of luck. Plus the wire that attaches the solar collector to the lights length makes it so you need to put the light relatively close together. Certainly you could not put one on one side of a walk way, and the other light on the opposite side or the wire would trip someone.Ours *did* work though, no shorts or mechanical problems, but it does seem to be a rather cheap feeling product that does not shine as brightly as other solar lights I have along my walk way.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Strathwood Solar Garden Path Spot Lights, Black, Set of 2
This Solar Spot Light was supposed to be a very bright spot light and it did not live up to that promise, it had a very dim yellowish glow not enough to illuminate anything and then it stopped working altogether. I am asking for my money back on this item, very disapointing! We live in Arizona where the sun shines all the time so it had plenty of time and sunshine to charge up the batteries!
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