Malibu 3 Pack Solar Landscape Plastic Flood Light Set with Remote Panel, Textured Black #LZ413
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Malibu 3 Pack Solar Landscape Plastic Flood Light Set with Remote Panel, Textured Black #LZ413
Customer Review: Good value for the money, long life so far
Summary: 4 Stars
These are very good solar lights for the money. I purchased some 3 years ago and they are still working fine. They are a little dimmer over that time. Just be warned that they have a slightly blue color cast compared to non-solar lights.
I did replace the three 1500mah AA batteries with 2500mah AA when they were new for longer light.
I have recently bought 2 more for other parts of the yard.
Customer Review: Good, Works Fine
Summary: 5 Stars
It's solar, easy to install and it does its job. Good price. It's not as bright as those electric lights but for it works well for us who like no fuss lighting.
We'd love to have ones like this with amber colored lights. It works well in our garden.
Customer Review: Great Accent Lights
Summary: 5 Stars
These lights work great! They give off a surprising amount of light...nearly as much as the original Malibu 12-volt 4-watt spotlights which they replaced. You WILL need full, shade-free southern sunlight exposure for the solar panel but the 20 feet of wiring for each light allows some flexibility and the wires are simple to extend if you're a do-it-your-selfer.
Because our front yard faces north and gets a large amount of shade; I separated the solar panel from the circuit board/battery pack and mounted the solar panel on our south-facing roof. I ran a pair of wires down to the circuit board/battery pack which is mounted inside our garage. It was a pretty simple project and now we have "free" illumination of our front yard landscape from dusk to dawn.
We liked these lights so well, I bought a second set when they popped up as an Amazon Gold Box deal and now we have the second set installed in our backyard. It's a great feeling to have outdoor lighting all night long without the electric meter spinning away!
Customer Review: Great Product
Summary: 5 Stars
I have two sets of these spotlights. The remote solar panel is a great idea. I have placed it in an area that gets sun most of the day. These lights are both clear and bright. I have one spotlight illuminating a US flag. The top of the flag is 7 feet above the spotlight and the spotlight has no problem reaching and lighting the flag. The others I use to illuminate bushes along my walkway and around my patio fence.Customer Review: Great SOLAR LED lights
Summary: 5 Stars
As has been pointed out - these are LED lights powered by AA batteries - they will not replace your porch lights or your plugged-in landscaping lights. They will be no-where near as bright as incandescent or halogen lights. Their advantages: LEDs "burn" a long time, you will probably not need to replace the lamps. LEDs don't use as much power, so the same batteries will power them longer than incandescent, etc.
Some general notes about solar powered lights:
1) you need to place the panel where it gets direct light all day every day. This is key to recharging; more direct light means the lights will stay on longer at night.
2) Since they use batteries, which will need replacing, it's nice to get easy to replace batteries - AA NIMH are about the easiest to deal with.
3) self-contained lights are easiest, you can put them anywhere they get light. Light sets with a base and separate lamps allow you to put the lamps in shady spots, but you are limited by the cord length, as the base will still need to go in direct sun light, and the lamps will need to plug into the base.
About these lights in specific: I use these lights to light a 10' by 14' back porch. They have a base, and 3 lamps, each plugs directly into the base. I used the bolt-on installation adapters to install the lights under the porch roof and attached the base to the eaves. The base is in direct light all day.
The lamps are fairly bright. With my set-up, 3 lamps makes the whole back porch about 4x as bright as the full moon, just barely not enough light to read by. Getting full direct light all day allows the batteries to last all night (I installed mine in April; the batteries might not last all night in the dead of winter). I liked these well enough, I added two sets to light up the front porch and walk way. It's just enough light to not need the porch light, unless I'm expecting company.
Before installing them, I left the base in the sun all day, then connected the lamps at night, and walked around with them. This gave me a good idea for how bright they are and what distances they are good for. I strongly suggest making this kind of survey before installing the lights.