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Gardman Colour Changing Solar Lights / Crystalights
by abbadabbado
My mother in law went through a spate of buying us a variety of solar powered lights when we moved into our house a few years ago. One of the many varieties we have placed around our garden were the Gardman range of colour changing lights. I thought these were a really good idea when we first received them, much prettier than just your ... normal solar powered lights.
The design of the lights are quite slim and classic in appearance. They look a lot different from the average shape of solar light you can buy in many retailers.
Each light is just under half a metre in height, and they come with the solar powered panel on the top of the clear tube that acts as the stand. Whilst the tube is clear when the lights aren't on, there is a pretty bubbled effect running through the plastic.
The solar powered panel itself isnt too big for the thin tube and looks consistent with the design. I was wondering if this meant that the power would be reduced as the surface layer isn't as large as I would like.
Inside the solar panel, there is a rechargeable battery which obviously charges with the sun. You have the option to turn the lights on or off when it comes to dusk time in the garden. We have learnt that to gain maximum effect from each light, the trick is to leave the lights off during the day and then turn them on when the light starts to fade and then your garden will come alight in a range of coloured glows.
The effect of the lights when they have been sitting in bright sunshine for at least eight hours is lovely. The lights glow quite bright in their own right, and they stay lit all night literally.
Each individual colour of the lights stay on the primary standard shades of each colour in terms of green, red, blue etc. I think this works better for solar lights if you're choosing colours over clear lights.
To care for the lights, it's better if you remove them from the garden in the winter and rainy months as this will help prolong their lives.
We learnt the hard way with a couple of the lights we received. Their stakes on the base of the light is quite thin plastic, and when we tried to pierce some solid ground, we managed to snap one. Poor light had to sit in the garden propped up in a large flower pot.
Generally the lights are well made and quite strong for what you are buying. When you think about the fact that it's mainly plastic and not suitable for damp conditions, then these are hardy and last well.
We learnt that these lights came in a set of two and cost in the region of ten pounds per set. I think this is quite a high price to pay for just two lights, and not sure I would actually buy them myself. They are however a lovely present to receive.
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Homebase Soft Glow Solar Garden Lights
by blonde_girl774
I've been living in my house for nearly two years now and finally decided back in April during the hot weather that it was time I did something with my back garden. Now when I say back garden I feel that wild jungle would have been a more fitting description judging from the fact that wild beasts could have been wondering around in the ... foot high grass and I wouldn't have had a clue! Despite my garden being about the size of two double mattresses it's never really enticed me to do anything with it but when my friends suggested we sit in the garden with a bottle of wine during the hot weather I felt the shame creeping up my face! I took myself off to Sainsbury's Homebase and set about turning my unruly and wild jungle into a beautiful garden!
One of the things that I've always admired in my parent's garden is their rather modern looking silver solar lights which provide a beautiful illuminating effect over the whole garden at night... and even better it doesn't cost a penny once you've bought the actual lights! They're not overly cheap to buy in general but their advantage is that you don't have to run any wiring to them or supply any electricity. As long as the location gets direct sunlight then the lights are able to generate and store their own power during the day which is then released at night. In a way they're like mini satellites as the science is the same, they store solar energy while on the sunny side of the planet and then use it later! So the premise of the solar garden lights is that they store energy during the day and then light up automatically at night... almost as if by magic!
Once you open the box you'll find the light which is encased by bits of cardboard to stop it becoming damaged and also a small information leaflet offering you basic information - to be honest it's all quite self explanatory. The Soft Glow Solar Garden Lights themselves are basically a silver stick (with a diameter of around two inches) with a thinner point at the bottom (to push into the ground to enable the light to stand upright) and on the other end of the stick is a circular box containing the actual component that lights up. This has a silver lid on the top with a black panel on which is what collects the energy during the day. They're 23cm to 34cm in height as the height can be adjusted easily, I chose to do this by simply pushing the base further into the ground to get a matching height between my lights but you can also retract the base upwards too. Overall I think these lights look really quite modern and smart as well.
Installing the lights could not be easier... the idea of installing any sort of light fills me with terror; I even struggle with changing a bulb and still can't understand how I've never been electrocuted while in my own house! However these are officially my favourite lights to install... mainly because the whole process takes about fifteen seconds in total. You simply need to decide where you want them and then push them firmly into the ground, I found you do need to push about two inches or more into the ground to ensure they don't wobble and are quite sturdy. Mine have withstood strong winds and remained standing so I really think it would take a hurricane to move these! However there is a downside to these lights which is that they can only be installed in soft ground such as soil or a flower pot, unfortunately you'd have a hard time trying to drill them down into concrete so you'd need to consider something else really!
I installed my lights on a really sunny day and eagerly waited to see if my garden would look like Blackpool illuminations come night fall! By about nine o clock at night the lights were starting to glow softly, just as it turned into dusk and the sun went down. By about ten o'clock the lights were fully up and running, they were quite bright considering I'd always imagined solar powered lights to provide quite dull light. This light continued until about two in the morning when they did start to fade slightly and by about three in the morning two of the lights were flashing on and off... I felt like I had a runway in my back garden and was waiting for a plane to set down on my two double bed mattresses! On a dull day these lights clearly don't have the opportunity to store as much light up during the day which means the light at night is much dimmer and they don't last for as long either. These lights feature a dawn sensor which means they are aware when the sun is coming up and therefore switch back to their energy storing mode, ready to store up energy for the following night. However I have found that my lights tend to be switched off by about three or four in the morning because they've run out of power anyway.
In terms of colours I selected the silver lights but they also come in black, personally I think the silver ones look a little more expensive as they've got that chrome effect rather than the shiny silver effect. The lights are currently priced at £2.99 each in Sainsbury's Homebase which is quite reasonable in terms of other options available - there were some further down the aisle for around £25 which to be honest didn't look that much different to my ones. There are many different varieties that you can buy, such as ones where you can control when the light comes on and off, but for the price I really couldn't fault these quite simple ones at all.
I selected three of them and I've had absolutely no problems, I've had them for nearly two months now and they're still burning brightly each night so I'm really pleased with them. Ideally it would be good if they stayed on all night and if they worked even when it hadn't been a sunny day but we can't have everything can we? They've been out in the rain and the wind and haven't rusted at all which was one of my initial worries but they still look as good as new. I'm not sure how long they'll last but I can't really see why they'd break and they do come with a twelve month guarantee from what I remember. So if you want to brighten up your garden (literally) this summer then you should certainly consider these lights for an affordable and bright option!
Thanks for reading.
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Friedland Spectra Lite Bulkhead Security Light
by Boffyboffy
WHY I BOUGHT IT
I had a few unsavoury characters huddled in my (unoverlooked) porch and decided that I should fit a security light to dissuade them and illuminate their activities if they should try again.
CONSTRUCTION
Sadly this item is of the flimsiest construction. One blow of an elbow would destroy it. The ... plastic is of the lightest, brittlest construction. NOT for security purposes I would suggest.
INSTALLATION
Installation was a nightmare. It comprises the fiddliest of parts, located in the most fiddliest and 'inaccessible' places. What I thought would be a 15 minute wiring job turned out to take over an hour. (Why do designers do this? It took 5 different screwdrivers to install it> 5??? Why as many as 5 screwdrivers?)
MOUNTING
Mounting is by 2 (Not 4, but a mere 2) screw holes. Instead of being perfectly flush, it therefore wobbles on my slightly imperfect wall. I worry about possible water ingress.
OPERATION
Seems to be almost permanently 'on' to me, rather than only on intruder detection. Maybe thats just the setting...but who knows.
RECOMMENDATION
Friedland make fine doorbells. This seems to be an unsuccessful excurrsion for them. These units are reduced in price throughout the internet...I wonder why?
I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS ITEM unless you merely use it as a 'convenience' light for when someone approaches your door. Even then, its installation irritations points towards more suitable alternatives.
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