For walkways, pathway lights on stakes are a popular choice. Ideally, your property should have a mix of solar-powered outdoor lights, including ground lights, accent lights just above eye level, and fixtures installed on the roof or driveway. Best Fairy Lights: Amir Outdoor Solar String Lights.Best Accent Light: SolarBasics Luna Flame Bulb Solar Accent Light.Best String Lights: Brightech Solar-Powered Edison Bulb Lights.Best Motion-Sensor: Aootek Solar Motion Sensor Lights.Best Overall Value: Gigalumi Solar Pathway Lights.Here's our lineup of the best solar-powered outdoor lights we recommend, plus some tips on what to consider while you shop.įor more great ways to brighten your outdoor space, check out the best garden lights, solar pathway lights, and outdoor string lights. While some sunnier regions are going to naturally be better suited than others for solar power, solar-powered outdoor lights work in “most areas of the United States,” according to the U.S. With that in mind, it's crucial to think about placement for optimal sunlight exposure. These lights are available in several styles and use solar cells to convert sunlight into electricity, which is then stored. Plus you can use them just about anywhere you want-no outlet required. Solar-powered outdoor lights are a sustainable option that eliminates the need for long, ugly cords or constant battery replacement. On a practical level, they also help increase your property's safety and security. If you’re looking to use one of those platforms, check out Other good outdoor smart lights.For hosting barbecues or just having drinks the porch or patio, outdoor lights are ideal for creating a cozy and inviting space. This product worked well with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Siri Shortcuts, but it doesn’t support Apple HomeKit, SmartThings, or IFTTT.But we always prefer to use the highest form of security, whenever possible. When it comes to concerns about being hacked, smart bulbs are pretty low risk. Feit doesn’t offer two-factor authentication (2FA), a common security process that requires you to input a verification code when you log in to the app.And, even more confusingly, if you want to schedule an animation, the only way for it to work is if the animation was the last setting used before the bulb was turned off-you can’t simply tell the animation to happen at any time when the bulb turns on. Instead, to do either of those things, you have to create an automation, which you access from the main screen, under Smart Scenes. However, you can’t simply choose on or off, and you can’t pick a specific color and/or dimming level. For instance, when you click on Schedule, you can choose times for a bulb to go on and off. The Feit app can be confusing, and it has odd roadblocks. We also paired lights with these platforms to trigger lights with other smart devices (such as security cameras). Everything we tested can pair with some type of voice assistant, such as Amazon Alexa, Google Home, or Siri, so you can operate it by voice. We also set up Schedules and tested any other features. We used iPhone and Android devices to look at the app controls, to see how easy it was to set up and control the lighting devices, when you’re at home as well as away. (For suggestions, check out our guide to Wi-Fi routers and our guide to Wi-Fi extenders.) If you have problems getting good Wi-Fi outdoors, consider upgrading your router or adding an extender or repeater. Since all of these products are designed to go outdoors, we tested a variety of spots outside of our home to determine how well they stayed connected to Wi-Fi. For bulbs, we used a light meter to measure lux (or the amount of light that spreads in a given area), working with the same equipment, under the same conditions, at various angles and dimming levels. We also compared Color Rendering Index (CRI) ratings, when available, to judge color accuracy. We looked at specs for lumens, which is a measure of light output.
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