Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

So, I’ll admit off the bat- yes I’m keeping these and yes I’m purchasing a few more sets. Yes, it’s the best price / performance going on Amazon. And yes, the warm white is the better of the two LED options. The build quality is far better than others, the panels are larger and the battery pack is the best protected from the elements. (Buy rechargeable Batteries now anyhow, as no battery lasts forever). The critical problem with these is in the design. These could be so much better if the light itself and the panel could swivel independently on the horizontal plane. They only swivel on the vertical plane and it’s limited- the light will make contact with the panel section and prevent certain arrangements. Here’s why this is a problem: Not everyone’s home or landscaping is the same. However, you want the solar panels always facing south for optimal charge. But with this design, in order to accomplish that it requires the light to be facing north as a result. That may not be the most ideal configuration for your lighting needs. It’s highly unlikely you can outfit a whole yard with these and not have to make compromises for placement of the device, optimal sun exposure and lighting direction. If you don’t have all the panels getting roughly the same amount of sun exposure they will vary in strength and turn off at different times or begin to weaken earlier than others. So, there’s compromises being made..... What else is new? As an aside: don’t trust the reviews that are showing photos taken the first night out of the box or immediately after turn on! The batteries come precharged so you’ll see a much more uniform result before giving it a few charge / recharge cycles (again, depending on your landscape layout). The important photo to see is what they look like after they’ve been recharged a few times and on their way to turn off.... and then to know how many hours they lasted. If you notice the three to the left in my photo get a bit less sun. This is the result after about a week of trying to get things as perfect as I could. I can manage about 5.5-6.5 hours in Florida in November facing “approximately south” in an area that gets roughly 6 hours of sun, which isn’t bad I think. I figured their 8 hour claim was likely in exceptionally ideal circumstances and was realistic enough to not expect hitting that. With some optimization and experimentation I think I can better on this. So, expect to move them around a bit over the course of a week or so before getting things just so. That being said, not even considering the environmental issues or electricity costs, if you price the cost of in-ground lighting, cabling, a low voltage transformer and either a time or photo cells to manage turn-on and turn-off, there’s no contest in terms of value. We’re talking at least $500+ difference, not including installation costs. Throw in installation and electricity costs and environmental concerns and you’d be really foolish to not consider these at the top of the list of options. So, this truly is a five star item compared to all the other options out there both in-ground and in available Amazon solar options. But, you can’t have it all- be aware of what you are signing up for here. If you buy this you have to accept that they may not be perfect for your landscaping. Depending on your particular home, where it’s facing and what your needs are results will vary. But it’s certainly worth a shot given the headaches involved in other comparable options. By the same token I can’t get past the fact that if they simply used their heads and made a few minor design alterations that these would be orders of magnitude more functional and hassle free. First: Have the panel and light on different assemblies, allowing both horizontal and vertical swivel. Keep the LED assembly elevated above the panel enough to not have them intersect / get in each other’s way. Secondly: In a heartbeat I’d pay for a higher priced premium model with two (or one bigger one) rechargeable batteries and a larger panel for guaranteed 8-10 hours of working time even in a sub-optimal location. I think others probably feel similarly. Save yourself their disappointment and provide options. Even at $50 for two, it’s still leaps and bounds more affordable and simplified than buried landscape lighting. Thirdly: remove the obnoxious branding in white lettering on the front of the LED. Make it smaller, in a more subtle color or put it on the underside of the battery panel. It just looks tacky. If you had hired a qualified product designer before manufacturing truckloads of lights these features would likely already exist. Alas, par for the course with gray-market Far East Amazon options I suppose. Seems like they tend to ship 100k of something before even testing it and just cross their fingers.